Costing customer value: an approach for the agile enterprise

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract In adopting and developing the key elements of agility, there is a requirement for enterprises to overcome the philosophical challenges of a shift from mass/lean production to the customisation environment of agile manufacturing. There is a substantial body of knowledge supporting the use of alternative costing systems for operations and production management and particularly mass/lean production, yet none deal with the emerging philosophy of agility. This paper examines the operational cost environment of organisations seeking to attain agility. The paper considers and defines the inter-and intra-enterprise activities required to support the provision of total solution systems for customers. The paper evaluates the requirements at a strategic and operational level for costing in an agile environment. The operational issues for agile costing systems are explored and discussed through an implementation case study.The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

Services computing as the foundation of enterprise agility: Overview of recent advances and introduction to the special issue

“…Agility has been embraced as the new manufacturing philosophy for companies seeking to compete successfully in an uncertain and unpredictable business environment (Hooper, Steeple, & Winters, 2001). In a case study, Hooper et al revealed that the adoption of activitybased costing (i.e.…”

Agility assessment through qualification and quantification tools: a case study in an Indian pump manufacturing company

“…Methodology of achieving agility (Maskell, 2001;Vokurka and Fliedner, 1998;Assen et al, 2000) Flattened and team-managed (Maskell, 2001;Vokurka and Fliedner, 1998;Meredith and Francis, 2000;Hormozi, 2001;Bustamante, 1999;Assen et al, ,2000;Assen, 2000;Sohal, 1999;Hooper et al, 2001) 2 Devolution of authority Lack of empowerment, centralised and informal authority…”

“…Autocratic and stagnant Participation-based management and susceptible to changes and improvements (Owusu, 1999;Crocitto and Youssef, 2003;Hooper et al, 2001;Bustamante, 1999) 9 Customer response adoption Very slowly takes place because of bureaucracy Very fast and 100% response envisaged (Parkinson, 1999;Maskell, 2001;Meredith and Francis, 2000;Bustamante, 1999;Assen, 2000;McGaughey, 1999) 10 Product life cycle Long and ineffective Short and effective (Maskell, 2001;Meredith and Francis, 2000;Crocitto and Youssef, 2003;Christopher and Towill, 2000;Kirk and Tebaldi, 1997) 11 Product service life Long and inflexible; long mean downtime Short and flexible; least or nil mean downtime (Parkinson, 1999;Maskell, 2001;Meredith and Francis, 2000;Vernadat, 1999;Bustamante, 1999;Crocitto and Youssef, 2003;Zhang and Sharifi, 2000;Onuh and Hon, 2001;Ashley, 1997;Yusuf et al, 2003) 13 Short, Just-in-Time (JIT) purchase and least dead investment (Takahashi and Nakamura, 2000;Tersine and Wacker, 2000) 15 Cost management Traditional type (with classifications, namely, prime and overhead costs)…”

“…Management of costs using activity, strategy, quality and productivity-based costing systems (Hooper et al, 2001) 16 Automation type Direct and rigid automation (Dove, 1999) Flexible, smart and adaptable automation…”

Change factors requiring agility and implications for IT

“…''The ability of an organization to thrive in a continuously changing, unpredictable business environment (Dove, 2001).'' ''The ability of an enterprise to develop and exploit its inter-and intra-organizational capabilities (Hooper et al, 2001).'' ''Agility is the successful exploration of competitive bases (speed, flexibility, innovation pro-activity, quality, and profitability) through the integration of reconfigurable resources, and best practices in a knowledge-rich environment to provide customer-driven products and services in a fast-changing market environment (Ramasesh et al, 2001).''…”