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Rating: 
Summary: Important Work, Great Fundamentals
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Important Work, Great Fundamentals
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Adding the insights of Corp Strategy to Cost Accounting
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Adding the insights of Corp Strategy to Cost Accounting
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: SCM is really a New Tool
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: SCM is really a New Tool
Review: 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.
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