Prototyping inom ABC och BSc. : Erfarenheter från aktionsforskning i tre organisationer

Sammanfattning: This dissertation focuses on how to use prototyping as a method for developing models in Management Accounting and Control Systems, a field in Business Administration. It combines three emerging theories: prototyping, Activity Based Costing (ABC) and the Balanced Scorecard (BSc). Prototyping is an alternative to the traditional systems development method. In prototyping end-users play an important role in being a part of the development team in the design of models for ABC and BSc. The study is conducted as action research projects. Together with controllers and their co-workers, in three organisations, I am engaged in four prototyping projects between 1988 and 2003. The cases are Gunnebo Fastening, Kinnarps Office Furniture and the local community organisation for Childcare & School in Västervik. The main result is that we can show that it is possible to develop models for ABC and BSc with prototyping. It is also possible to develop models for the different versions of ABC and BSc that Cooper & Kaplan and Kaplan & Norton suggest. We learn that prototyping is a process in loops consisting of four phases: exploration, experimentation, evaluation and evolution. This type of prototyping is labelled Experience based Prototyping, E-Prototyping. The contributions from the study are of two kinds. The major contribution is that with the E-Prototyping process we can see a further development of the knowledge of prototyping. In E-Prototyping I have put together various theories on prototyping into one process and identified the four phases of exploration, experimentation, evaluation and evolution. The second kind of contribution is found in models for ABC and BSc, developed with prototyping. Both ABC and BSc theories continue to be developed and I have followed that development for almost 15 years. We have been able to show, both theoretically and practically, that prototyping is an alternative to the stepwise system development method that Cooper & Kaplan and Kaplan & Norton suggest. It is a method that allows us to follow the various versions of the theory of ABC and BSc with our prototypes. We are also extending BSc theory when we use the BSc prototype Cockpit as a model for quality control and when we introduce the combination of ABC and BSc as a basis for what the C and S label value for money.