Strategic Cost Management: The New Tool for Competitive Advantage [Hardcover]

Shank Govindarajan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1993

In this book, Shank and Govindarajan demonstrate how strategic cost management - an analytical framework which relates meaningful accounting information to a firm's business strategy - is changing accounting practices in leading companies. Using case studies, including Ciba-Geigy, Ford, Motorola and Texas Instruments, they show how the tools of strategic cost management - value chain analysis, strategic positioning analysis and cost driver analysis - provide a sustainable competitive advantage over companies whose cost systems are in disarray.

Editorial Reviews

Review

H. Thomas Johnson Retzlaff Professor of Quality Management, Portland State University, author, Relevance Regained Here is a balanced and penetrating review of the information companies need to support continuous learning—perhaps the only sustainable source of competitive advantage. I recommend Strategic Cost Management to all executives, regardless of background or experience. -- Review

About the Author

John Shank is Noble Professor of Management Accounting at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. He has published twelve books, and is an active consultant.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 271 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (August 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029126517
• ISBN-13: 978-0029126516
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,364,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SCM is really a New Tool, August 5, 2000

By 

T SUBBARAYUDU (GURGAON, HARYANA India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strategic Cost Management: The New Tool for Competitive Advantage (Hardcover)

The analysis of the Siemens Electric Motor Works case is excellent. Though the case is presented in Cooper and Kaplan's "Design of Cost Management Systems", the analysis here is outstanding. It provides an excellent platform to demonstrate how the "ABC View of Costs" - as distinct from the "Traditional View of Costs" provides useful insights into potential starting points for starting a Kaizen exercise ; and measuring progress on such an exercise once it gets started. The Baldwin Bicycle case is another excellent case where the contrast of results using conventional analytical tools like BCG matrix and NPV on the one hand, and SCM on the other lead to different results and clearly establishes the superiority of the SCM methodology.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Adding the insights of Corp Strategy to Cost Accounting, January 15, 2004

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strategic Cost Management: The New Tool for Competitive Advantage (Hardcover)

If you, like me, are interested in Cost Management and think that most companies would do better if they invested more care in this topic, you might be interested in this book. The core idea of the book is to marry cost management (management accounting) with the insights that have been developed in Corporate Strategy over the past 20 years. What we get is a richer and more informative use of management accounting, but one that is more difficult to apply because it relies less on simple formulas and rules.

I like the way the book uses cases to show the additional insights you get by using their approach by comparing it to the results you would get from the case with the traditional approaches. The authors are honest about the complications and difficulties and that helps us better assess the trade-offs.

This is a book that requires some background in traditional cost accounting and then after this book you will want to do more reading study and real-world analysis. It isn't a panacea nor does it try to be. But it sure is interesting and helpful if you care about the subject.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Important Work, Great Fundamentals, December 28, 2001

By 

Sandy Paige (Davis, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strategic Cost Management: The New Tool for Competitive Advantage (Hardcover)

I have taken John Shank's required first year class at Babson College (MBA program, first year) and bought this for more background since he requires no textbook for the class. It takes much of Michael Porter's work and merges it with a cost accounting angle. The book was exactly the mix of Michael Porter and John Shank that Shank preaches in the classroom and is critical to a responsible understanding of any manufacturing-based operation. From my perspective, it is probably most useful to business operators/managers -- far more so than consultants. The sample cases are a good mix in their simplicity and relevance -- I will refer to the book for years to come.

I bought it used through Amazon and paid about $10.00 -- it was promptly delivered in perfect condition.