【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 that is often adopted in management accounting. Management accounting, as explained in leading textbooks, usually takes a valueadded perspective, starting with payments to suppliers (purchases), and stopping with charges to customers (sales). The key theme is to maximize the differencethe valueaddedbetween purchases and sales, under the assumption that this is the only way a firm can influence profits. We argue that the value chainnot value addedis the more meaningful way to explore strategic issues. Value added analysis, in which the firm focuses only on its own operations in looking for profit enhancement opportunities, can be quite misleading in two ways: The valueadded concept starts too late. Starting cost analysis with purchases misses all the opportunities for exploiting linkages with the firm39。s suppliers. The word exploit does not imply that the relationship with the supplier is a zero sum game. Quite the contrary, it implies that the link should be managed so that both the firm and its supplier can benefit. For instance, when bulk chocolate began to be delivered in liquid form in tank cars instead of ten pound molded bars, an industrial chocolate firm (., the supplier) eliminated the cost of molding bars and packing them and a confectionery producer saved the cost of unpacking and melting [Porter, 1985]. In addition to starting too late, the valueadded analysis has another major flaw。 it stops too soon. Stopping cost analysis at sales misses all the opportunities for exploiting linkages with the firm39。s customers. Here again, we contend that the relationship with the customer need not be a zero sum game, but one in which both parties can gain. For instance, some container producers have constructed manufacturing facilities next to beer breweries and deliver the containers through overhead conveyers directly onto the customers39。 assembly line. This results in significant cost reductions for both the container producers and their customers by expediting the transport of empty containers which are bulky and heavy [Hergert and Morris, 1989]. The value chain framework highlights how a firm39。s products fit into the buyer39。s value chain. For instance, under the value chain framework, it is readily apparent what percentage the firm39。s product costs are in the buyer39。s total costs. The San Francisco Chronicle recently adopted JIT for paper delivery to its printing plant, a program only possible with close supplier cooperation. Calculational Difficulties： We do not wish to imply that constructing a value chain for a firm is easy. There are several thorny problems to confront: calculating a value for intermediate products, isolating key cost drivers, identifying linkages across activities, and puting supplier and customer margins. The analysis starts by segmenting the chain into those ponents for which some firm somewhere does make a could start the process by identifying every point in the chain at which an external market exists. This gives a good first cut at identifying the value chain segments. One can always find some narrow enough stage such that an external market does not exist. An example would be the progress of a roll of paper from the last press section of a paper machine to the first dryer section on the same machine. There is obviously no external market for paper halfway through a continuo