IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/aaajpp/v23y2010i3p325-349.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Manufacturing competition: how accounting practices shape strategy making in cities

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Kornberger
  • Chris Carter

Abstract

Purpose - Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of cities develop strategies. The discourse of strategic management has become an obligatory point of passage for many city managers. This paper starts by posing an ostensibly simple question: why do cities need strategies? The commonsensical answer to the question is: because cities compete with each other. This paper aims to problematise the seemingly natural link between cities, competition and strategy. It also aims to explore the role that calculative practices play in creating city league tables that, in turn, function as the a priori condition that generates competition between cities. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is interdisciplinary and draws on the related disciplines of accounting, organization theory and strategy. The argument unfolds in four steps: first, it briefly provides some theoretical background for analysis and relates it back to strategizing and accounting as a calculative practice; second, it scrutinizes league tables as ana prioriof competition; third, it discusses the implications of the argument for city management and critical accounting; finally, it concludes with a discussion of the power effects of those calculative practices that shape strategizing in cities through the production of competition. Findings - This paper argues that city strategizing is best understood as a set of complex responses to a new competitive arena, one rendered visible through calculative practices, manifested through city rankings. The paper makes five key contributions: one, league tables reduce qualities to a quantifiable form; two, league tables create an order amongst an heterogeneous ensemble of entities; three, league tables stimulate the very competition they claim to reflect; four, once competition is accepted, individual players need a strategy to play the game; and five, league tables have important power effects that may result in unintended consequences. Practical implications - The paper contributes to understanding how calculative practices relate to strategy; it explores the organizational environment in which city managers strategize; in addition, it discusses the problem of civic schizophrenia. Originality/value - The paper seeks to open up an agenda for studying city management, strategy and accounting.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Kornberger & Chris Carter, 2010. "Manufacturing competition: how accounting practices shape strategy making in cities," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 325-349, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:23:y:2010:i:3:p:325-349
    DOI: 10.1108/09513571011034325
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513571011034325/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513571011034325/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/09513571011034325?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mueller, F. & Carter, C., 2007. "`We are all managers now': Managerialism and professional engineering in UK electricity utilities," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 181-195.
    2. Hoskin, Keith W. & Macve, Richard H., 1986. "Accounting and the examination: A genealogy of disciplinary power," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 105-136, March.
    3. Linda Wedlin, 2006. "Ranking Business Schools," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3941.
    4. Chris Carter, 2008. "A Curiously British Story: Foucault Goes to Business School," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 13-29, January.
    5. Harvey, David, 2007. "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199283279.
    6. Hoskin, Keith W. & Macve, Richard H., 1988. "The genesis of accountability: The west point connections," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 37-73, January.
    7. Ham, S.A. & Levin, S. & Zlot, A.I. & Andrews, R.R. & Miles, R., 2004. "Ranking of Cities According to Public Health Criteria: Pitfalls and Opportunities," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(4), pages 546-549.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kornberger, Martin, 2013. "Disciplining the future: On studying the politics of strategy," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 104-107.
    2. Pollock, Neil & D'Adderio, Luciana & Williams, Robin & Leforestier, Ludovic, 2018. "Conforming or transforming? How organizations respond to multiple rankings," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 55-68.
    3. Chris Carter & Stewart Clegg & Martin Kornberger, 2010. "Re‐framing strategy: power, politics and accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(5), pages 573-594, June.
    4. Frick, Karen Trappenburg PhD & Kumar, Tanu PhD & Mendonça Abreu, Giselle Kristina & Post, Alison PhD, 2021. "Benchmarking “Smart City” Technology Adoption in California: Developing and Piloting a Data Collection Approach," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt3797p0ws, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    5. Mennicken, Andrea & Kornberger, Martin, 2021. "Von performativität zu generativität: Bewertung und ihre Folgen im Kontext der Digitalisierung," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110925, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. McLaren, Josie & Appleyard, Tony, 2022. "Social movements, identity and disruption in organizational fields: Accounting for farm animal welfare," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. Alan McKinlay & Chris Carter & Eric Pezet & Stewart Clegg, 2010. "Using Foucault to make strategy," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(8), pages 1012-1031, October.
    8. Madlen Sobkowiak, 2023. "The making of imperfect indicators for biodiversity: A case study of UK biodiversity performance measurement," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 336-352, January.
    9. Metz, Ashley & Hartley, Paul, 2020. "Scenario development as valuation: Opportunities for reflexivity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    10. Baxter, Jane & Carlsson-Wall, Martin & Chua, Wai Fong & Kraus, Kalle, 2019. "Accounting and passionate interests: The case of a Swedish football club," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 21-40.
    11. Andrea Lucarelli, 2018. "Co-branding public place brands: towards an alternative approach to place branding," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(4), pages 260-271, November.
    12. Spence, Laura J. & Rinaldi, Leonardo, 2014. "Governmentality in accounting and accountability: A case study of embedding sustainability in a supply chain," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 433-452.
    13. Irvine Lapsley & Peter Miller & Fabrizio Panozzo, 2010. "Accounting for the city," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 305-324, March.
    14. Leopold Ringel & Jelena Brankovic & Tobias Werron, 2020. "The Organizational Engine of Rankings: Connecting “New” and “Old” Institutionalism," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 36-47.
    15. Thomson, Ian & Grubnic, Suzana & Georgakopoulos, Georgios, 2014. "Exploring accounting-sustainability hybridisation in the UK public sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 453-476.
    16. Kornberger Martin & Pflueger Dane & Mouritsen Jan, 2017. "Evaluative infrastructures : Accounting for platform organization," Post-Print hal-02276737, HAL.
    17. Andrea Whittle & Frank Mueller, 2010. "Strategy, enrolment and accounting: the politics of strategic ideas," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(5), pages 626-646, June.
    18. Westerdahl, Stig, 2021. "Yield and the city: Swedish public housing and the political significance of changed accounting practices," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    19. Mehrpouya, Afshin & Samiolo, Rita, 2016. "Performance measurement in global governance: Ranking and the politics of variability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 12-31.
    20. Pollock, Neil & D’Adderio, Luciana, 2012. "Give me a two-by-two matrix and I will create the market: Rankings, graphic visualisations and sociomateriality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 565-586.
    21. Irvine Lapsley & Filippo Giordano, 2010. "Congestion charging: a tale of two cities," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(5), pages 671-698, June.
    22. Kornberger, Martin & Pflueger, Dane & Mouritsen, Jan, 2017. "Evaluative infrastructures: Accounting for platform organization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 79-95.
    23. Mohamed Chelli & Yves Gendron, 2013. "Sustainability Ratings and the Disciplinary Power of the Ideology of Numbers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 187-203, January.
    24. Boedker, Christina & Chong, Kar-Ming & Mouritsen, Jan, 2020. "The counter-performativity of calculative practices: Mobilising rankings of intellectual capital," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    25. Sander Merkus & Marcel Veenswijk, 2017. "Turning New Public Management theory into reality: Performative struggle during a large scale planning process," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(7), pages 1264-1284, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alan McKinlay & Chris Carter & Eric Pezet & Stewart Clegg, 2010. "Using Foucault to make strategy," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(8), pages 1012-1031, October.
    2. Bigoni, Michele & Funnell, Warwick, 2015. "Ancestors of governmentality: Accounting and pastoral power in the 15th century," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 160-176.
    3. Quattrone, Paolo, 2009. "Books to be practiced: Memory, the power of the visual, and the success of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 85-118, January.
    4. Jones, Michael John & Oldroyd, David, 2015. "The ‘internationalisation’ of accounting history publishing," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 117-123.
    5. Toms, Steven & Fleischman, Richard K., 2015. "Accounting fundamentals and accounting change: Boulton & Watt and the Springfield Armory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-20.
    6. Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Noguchi, Masayoshi, 2011. "The disciplinary power of accounting-based regulation: the case of building societies, circa 1960," MPRA Paper 28374, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Richard K. Fleischman & David Oldroyd & Thomas N. Tyson, 2011. "The efficacy/inefficacy of accounting in controlling labour during the transition from slavery in the United States and British West Indies," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(6), pages 751-780, August.
    8. Toms, Steven, 2014. "‘Cold, Calculating Political Economy’: Fixed costs, the Rate of Profit and the Length of the Working Day in the Factory Act Debates, 1832-1847," MPRA Paper 54408, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Stacchezzini, Riccardo & Masiero, Eleonora & Lai, Alessandro, 2023. "Histories as counter-accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Bettner, Mark S. & Frandsen, Ann-Christine & McGoun, Elton G., 2010. "Listening to accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 294-302.
    11. Mohamed Ali Dakkam, 2018. "qui et à quoi sert la comptabilité ? Un état de l'art et quelques réflexions théoriques pour dépasser le déterminisme des différents paradigmes," Post-Print hal-01907865, HAL.
    12. Valerio Antonelli & Fabrizio Cerbioni & Antonio Parbonetti, 2002. "The rise of cost accounting: evidence from Italy," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 461-486.
    13. Grisard, Claudine & Annisette, Marcia & Graham, Cameron, 2020. "Performative agency and incremental change in a CSR context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    14. Neu, Dean & Ocampo Gomez, Elizabeth & Graham, Cameron & Heincke, Monica, 2006. ""Informing" technologies and the World Bank," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 635-662, October.
    15. Pierre Labardin & Antoine Fabre, 2017. "Dynamiques du contrôle social et pratiques comptables: le cas des bagnes de Guyane (1852-1867)," Post-Print hal-01907537, HAL.
    16. Macve, R.H., 2015. "Fair value vs conservatism? Aspects of the history of accounting, auditing, business and finance from ancient Mesopotamia to modern China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 124-141.
    17. Neu, Dean & Everett, Jeff & Rahaman, Abu Shiraz, 2015. "Preventing corruption within government procurement: Constructing the disciplined and ethical subject," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 49-61.
    18. Walsh, Eamonn J. & Jeacle, Ingrid, 2003. "The taming of the buyer: the retail inventory method and the early twentieth century department store," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(7-8), pages 773-791.
    19. Constable, Philip & Kuasirikun, Nooch, 2020. "From cosmological to commercial form: A Buddhist theory of ‘form’, ‘space’ and ‘stream of re-becoming’ in mid-19th century Thai accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    20. C. Richard Baker, 1999. "L'Influence Des Savants Français Sur La Recherche Comptable Anglo-Saxonne," Post-Print halshs-00587746, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:23:y:2010:i:3:p:325-349. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.