This study traces the financialization of the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson from 1990 to 2000. Previous research has explained financialization in terms of the influence of actors (e.g., fund managers and financial analysts) and accounting technologies (e.g., increased use of stock options and financially oriented incentive systems) associated with what Hopwood (1983) labelled the vertical axis of organizational action. Our case, however, shows that the horizontal axis of organizational action (Ericsson’s inter-firm relationship with the lead firm Vodafone) played a pivotal role. This horizontal axis is theorized by drawing on accounting literature relating to inter-firm relations and more general literature concerning two types of supplier adaptations in global value chains: first, the design and exchange of products; and second, production processes and organizational structure. Horizontal pressure from Vodafone compelled Ericsson to adapt its product design and development processes, which in turn created conditions for vertical pressures to accrete. We found that actors (an Ericsson supply chain manager and Vodafone’s purchasing director) and accounting technologies (a global price list) informing the horizontal axis of organizational action played vital roles in supplier adaptations. Such actors and accounting technologies are viewed as ‘purely operational’ in prior work, but our findings suggest they initiated and sustained a financialization process with far-reaching and long-lasting effects within Ericsson. Indeed, both actors and accounting technologies which, at first glance, may seem to have little connection to financialization processes, played a central role through the constitution of a horizontal axis of organizational action.

本研究追溯了瑞典电信公司爱立信从 1990 年到 2000 年的金融化。之前的研究已经从参与者（例如，基金经理和金融分析师）和会计技术（例如，增加使用股票期权和财务导向的激励系统）与 Hopwood（1983）标记的组织行为的垂直轴相关联。然而，我们的案例表明，组织行动的横轴（爱立信与领先公司沃达丰的公司间关系）发挥了关键作用。这条横轴是通过借鉴与公司间关系相关的会计文献和更多关于全球价值链中两种类型的供应商适应的一般文献来理论化的：首先，产品的设计和交换；其次，生产过程和组织结构。来自沃达丰的横向压力迫使爱立信调整其产品设计和开发流程，这反过来又为纵向压力的累积创造了条件。我们发现参与者（爱立信供应链经理和沃达丰的采购总监）和会计技术（全球价目表）通知组织行动的横轴在供应商适应中发挥了重要作用。这些参与者和会计技术在之前的工作中被视为“纯粹的操作性”，但我们的研究结果表明，他们发起并维持了一个金融化过程，在爱立信内部产生了深远而持久的影响。事实上，乍一看，参与者和会计技术似乎与金融化过程没有什么联系，