Good project, good product? Valuing activities in the product development department of a manufacturing company

This paper analyzes the role of accounting devices in valuing product development. In a study of two product development projects within a multinational manufacturing company, ManuCo, we observe how multiple accounting devices enact multiple versions of the value of specific product development activities. The resultant ambiguity about the ‘real’ value of these activities presents a practical problem in situations when a decision must be made about what activities to pursue. Using a conceptual framework from research on multiplicities of order (Mol 2002), we characterize how such ambiguity is resolved through the mechanisms of privileging, calibration and suppression. Our findings contribute to the understanding of interaction between multiple accounting devices, and its consequences for organizational development trajectories.

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