Construction of the academic discipline ekonomistyrning

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this text is to contribute to theunderstanding of a specific academic discipline (in Swedishcalled Ekonomistyrning). Another purpose is to contribute to arenewal of this field. Theoretical bases are theories from thesociological field like new institutional theory and theoriesof social constructions. The text consists of two parts. Thefirst part is about the academic discipline and the second isabout newer practices and a renewal of the discipline. In thefirst part twelve prominent academics give their views ofdifferent aspects of the discipline. The images are groupedtogether in different categories and also discussed from aninstitutional theory point of view. The second part puts focuson the pragmatic orientation in theory and on two kinds ofnewer production in practice. Two companies that producetelevision programmes and four biotech-companies are described.Interpretations are made regarding the nature of theirmanagement and control activities. Contributions from the firstpart are that (1) there are two aspects of the discipline. Thefield has first of all a strong pragmatic orientation but alsosmall and growing academic influence. The limit (2) for what isconsidered ekonomistyrning are wider and not so obvious asbefore. Traditional parts of the discipline (3) like budgetinghave been questioned and reconsidered. Consultants (4) havecreated room for new concepts like JIT, BPR, TQM, BSC and SCMinside the discipline. Contributions from the second part arethat (1) individuals are self managed and guided by theirknowledge and that these companies use (2) a "new" kind ofmanagement systems like e.g. milestones. These kinds of newpractices give vital contributions to the discussion about arenewal of the discipline. Arguments are given (3) forregarding management and control as human activities ratherthan technical questions. This calls for an extended use of newmodels, of a different language and of new images based onsocial sciences.Keywords:Ekonomistyrning, Management Accounting,Management Control, Social Construction, Institutional theory,Images taken-for-granted.