Abstract

The first purpose of this research is to study how and whether the joint use of lean production, value stream costing and accounting performance measures contribute to performance. Comparing a first-order and second-order structural equation model with survey data from 368 American production facilities, we find that lean production and management accounting practices (value stream costing and accounting measures of variance) collectively – rather than additively – affect performance. This finding indicates that organisations obtain greater performance by integrating lean production and management accounting practices into a system. The second purpose of this research is to determine whether the length of time organisations have employed lean production (‘time with lean’) moderates the joint effect of lean production and management accounting practices on performance. We find that the joint performance effect is positively moderated by the time with lean (i.e. we find a positive progressive learning curve). This contradicts the traditional wisdom on learning, which suggests that the benefits from learning are degressive. We argue that this positive moderation derives from the difficulty of understanding relations between multiple variables and the need for organisations to promote system-wide coherence via holistic changes.

摘要

本研究的第一个目的是研究精益生产、价值流成本核算和会计绩效指标的联合使用如何以及是否有助于提高绩效。将一阶和二阶结构方程模型与来自 368 个美国生产设施的调查数据进行比较，我们发现精益生产和管理会计实践（价值流成本核算和会计方差度量）共同（而不是累加）影响绩效。这一发现表明，组织通过将精益生产和管理会计实践集成到一个系统中可以获得更高的绩效。本研究的第二个目的是确定组织采用精益生产的时间长度（“精益时间”）是否会调节精益生产和管理会计实践对绩效的联合影响。我们发现联合绩效效应随着精益时间的增加而得到积极调节（即我们发现积极的渐进学习曲线）。这与学习的传统智慧相矛盾，传统智慧认为学习的好处是递减的。我们认为，这种积极的调节源于难以理解多个变量之间的关系，以及组织需要通过整体变革来促进全系统的一致性。我们发现了一个积极的进步学习曲线）。这与学习的传统智慧相矛盾，传统智慧认为学习的好处是递减的。我们认为，这种积极的调节源于难以理解多个变量之间的关系，以及组织需要通过整体变革来促进全系统的一致性。我们发现了一个积极的进步学习曲线）。这与学习的传统智慧相矛盾，传统智慧认为学习的好处是递减的。我们认为，这种积极的调节源于难以理解多个变量之间的关系，以及组织需要通过整体变革来促进全系统的一致性。