1、 外文翻译 原文 Strategic Cost Management- Value Chain Analysis Approach Material Source:Business Publications Author: Chivaka,Richard Introduction The developments within the global economic environment require that finance professionals are not only adept at analysing internal operations but that they ar
2、e also exposed to, and thus experienced in, generating information relating to operations outside their own organisations. This external focus is a reflection of the customer-centric approach required for survival in the global business environment. In terms of this approach, the value of a product/
3、service is no longer internally determined but is now a function of the market needs. In addition, the external orientation has been brought about by the fact that processes on both the supply and demand sides of an organisation are increasingly influencing the costs of internal processes of the org
4、anisations. Value chain analysis has emerged (amongst other techniques such as competitor analysis and target costing) as one of the techniques that are useful in understanding and analysing both intra-organisation and inter-organisation processes in order to identify sources of competitive advantag
5、e. Definition of value chain A value chain is defined as “the linked set of value-creating activities all the way from basic raw material sources for component suppliers through to the ultimate end-use product delivered into the final consumers hands“. The basic logic behind value chain analysis is
6、that organisations should adopt an external focus in understanding and analysing costs arising from both intra-organisation and inter-organisation processes. This requires the involvement of suppliers and customers in understanding and exploiting sources of competitive advantage embedded in their in
7、ter-organisation processes. As such, the management of costs needs to take a broad focus that includes processes external to the organisation, i.e. cost management should take a value chain perspective. Value chain analysis is a tool that organisations can use to attain competitive advantage. This i
8、s realised by disaggregating an organisation into its strategically relevant activities so as to understand cost behaviour as well as sources of existing and potential sources of differentiation (Porter, 1985). Thus, gaining competitive advantage arises from the ability of an organisation to execute
9、 the value-creating activities in a more cost-effective way than an organisations competitors (Hoque, 2001). Strategic cost management using the value chain analysis approach According to Porter (1985), an organisations profitability is derived from two main sources, namely (1) the attractiveness of
10、 the industry in which it operates, and (2) its relative position within that industry. If an organisation has a strong relative position, that means it has competitive advantage against its competitors. In order to achieve competitive advantage, an organisation has to create value for its customers
11、 at a cost that is lower than the value created. The ability of an organisation to attain competitive advantage is seen as a function of generic strategies, namely cost leadership, differentiation and focus. In order to achieve competitive advantage using any of the three generic strategies, an orga
12、nisation performs activities such as product/service design, production, marketing and delivery. These activities collectively support the generic strategy chosen by the organisation. However, the activities do not add value in the same magnitude and, as such, it is important to understand their con
13、tribution towards the attainment of the organisations competitive advantage. This is where value chain analysis helps the organisation by systematically decomposing the organisation into strategically important activities, and facilitating the understanding of the impact of such activities on cost b
14、ehaviour and the realisation of its strategy. By focusing on activities, value chain analysis enables an organisation to understand the complex interdependencies in processes, activities, business units, suppliers and customers as a way of identifying opportunities for optimisation throughout the en
15、tire value chain. It also makes it easier to understand problems arising from co-ordinating the activities and processes that span functional and organisational boundaries. From a strategic cost management perspective, value chain analysis has two key characteristic attributes that make this techniq
16、ue very useful. These attributes are (1) a clear identification of the strategy chosen by the organisation, (2) its emphasis on sources of sustainable competitive advantage. The first attribute emphasises the need to manage costs of activities and processes in the context of the strategy selected by
17、 the organisation, i.e. making sure that activities and processes performed in the organisation are in sync with, and thus support, its strategy. In other words, there should be a strong link between the value chain activities and the organisations strategy. This might appear obvious but the reality
18、 is that many organisations suffer from inertia and, as a result, processes, activities and systems that were deployed a long time ago continue to be performed even though some of them are irrelevant and thus should be eliminated or at the minimum significantly modified. Thus value chain analysis re
19、quires an organisation to determine activities that are denoted as strategic value chain activities. These are activities that give the organisation the potential to create value for the consumer as a way of creating and sustaining competitive advantage. The process of determining strategic value ch
20、ain activities is based on the pull approach, which first identifies product characteristics that are valued by the consumers. Strategic value chain activities are those activities that are critical in the ability of the organisation to produce products/services that meet the characteristics determi
21、ned by customers. The second characteristic of value chain analysis is concerned with what the organisation is good at. Once strategic and non-strategic activities have been clearly understood, an organisation should then identify specific strategic value chain activities that it is good at. The ide
22、a here is that an organisation should exploit such characteristics as a way of creating value for the consumer. In order to do this, the organisation should address the question: What do we do best in order to distinguish ourselves from our competitors? The point here is that, even though most activ
23、ities are necessary in the provision of products and services, not all of them are critical in distinguishing an organisation from its competitors. In order to achieve competitive advantage, an organisation must perform activities in which it has a unique advantage. Once these activities have been i
24、dentified, creating and sustaining competitive advantage involves closely managing them by making sure that they are not only performed well, but that they are also well resourced. Conclusion Achieving competitive advantage using value chain analysis involves the management of costs by focusing and
25、supporting strategic value chain activities of an organisation. This is achieved by providing adequate resources to value chain activities that confer the maximum benefits to the organisation. Value chain analysis is therefore a strategic costing technique in that it provides a framework that links
26、an organisations activities to its strategy. As such, the management of activity costs is done in the context of the organisations chosen generic strategy. Value chain analysis also provides an end-to-end view of costs within the processes of an organisation and supports a broader view of cost analy
27、sis and cost management by incorporating both suppliers and customers in identifying sources of costs (waste) along the value chain of a product. 译文 战略成本管理 -价值链分析方法 资料来源 : 商业刊物 作者： Chivka，理查德 简介 在全球经济环境的发展要求 下 ，金融专业人士不仅 仅 要 善于分析公司的内部运作 ， 而且 他们也 要以以往的经验来 创造自己的组织以外的业务有关的信息 。这种外部的 焦点是在 全球商业环境中生存 中， 他 所
28、需要的 是 要 以客户为中心的方法 去 思考。 对这种方法而言 ，产品服务的价值不再是 由 内部确定， 而是以现在市场的需求决定 。此外， 已经 由 外部方向 所带来的事实： 一个组织同时在供需方面的活动过程越来越影响各组织内部流程的成本。 价值链分析已经出现（如竞争者之间的分析和目标成本等技术） ，它 作为 一种 技术，在 双方 组织内和组织间 的 流程 的理解和分析上 ， 并以用来 确定竞争优势的来源 ，是很 有 意义的 。 价值链的定义 一个价值链的定义为“创造价值，从基本的元件供应商的原料 作为 来源，通过所有的活动创造价值 ，最终以终端产品进入消费者手中 ” 。 背后的价值链分析的基
29、本逻辑是， 企业应通过外部焦点来了解和分析成本来自组织内和组织间的进程 。这需要供应商和客户的理解 及 利用在其组织间流程 中 嵌入 式竞争优势的来源。因此，成本管理需要采取广泛的关注，其中包括组织外部的流程，即成本管理应以价值链的角度 出发 。 价值链分析是一种工具，组织可以用来获得竞争优势。 这是实现其战略分解成一个组织的有关活动，以了解成本行为，以及现有的和潜在的分化来源（波特， 1985） 。因此，获得竞争优势来自于一个组织的执行能力，比组织的竞争 对手以更符合成本效益的 方式创造价值 （ Hoque， 2001） 。 战略成本管理使用的价值链分析方法 根据波特（ 1985），一个组织
30、的盈利主要来自两个来源，即（ 1）该行业中的工作，（ 2）其在该行业的相对 位置的吸引力。 如果一个组织具有很强的相对位置，这意味着它有针对其竞争对手的竞争优势。 为了取得竞争优势， 组织必须 为顾客去 创造 在成本上低于创造价值的顾客价值。 一个组织获得竞争优势的能力被看作是一个通用的策略，即成本领先，差异化和聚焦功能。 为了取得竞争优势使用任何三个一般性策略，一个组织执行诸如产品 /服务设计，生产，销售和交付活动。这些活动的共同支持该组织的通用战略选择。然而，这些活动添加的价值 不在同一数量级 ，因此，重要的是要了解他们对本组织的竞争优势的实现 所作出 的 贡献。 这 就体现出 价值链分析
31、 有助于系统地分解成具有重要战略意义的 组织活动，在成本行为和战略实现上，体现了这些活动的影响 。 通过 以 活动为重点，价值链分析可以了解一个组织作为识别整个价值链过程的优化机会的方式，活动，经营单位，供应商和客户的复杂的相互依存关系。这也使得它更容易 于跨越职能和组织界限 统筹的活动和流程 的理解 。 从战略成本管理的角度来看，价值链分析有 二 个关键，使 得 这一技术非常有用。 这些属性是：（ 1）本组织的战略选择明确（ 2）它强调的是可持续竞争优势的来源 。 第一个属性强调由该组织选择的战略框架内的活动和过程的成本 需要管理 ，即确保在 该组织的活动和执行过程是同步的，因此支持 它 的
32、策略。 换言之，应该有一个价值链之间的活动和组织的战略紧密联系。 这可能会出现明显的，但现实是，许多组织从惯性受苦， 作为 结果， 有些过程，活动和 那些在很久以前部署的系统继续执行，即使其中有些是不相关的，因此应予以消除或最低重大修改。 因此，价值链分析要求组织确定为战略价值链活动表示活动。这些活动，让该组织 有 潜力 去为顾客创造价值，同时作为 创建和维持竞争优势的途径。在确定战略价值链活动的过程是基于 拉 的方法，它首先确定 受到消费者的重视 产品的特点。战略价值链活动的那些活动 它 是 指 在该组织有能力生产 符合客户的特点 的产品服务 。 价值链分析的第二个特点是关注该组织 它 擅长
33、 什么 。一旦战略和非战略活动已清楚明 白 ，一个组织应该确定具体的战略价值链活动，这是擅长。这里的想法是，一个组织应该充分利用作为一个为消费者创造价值的方式等特点。为了做到这一点，该组织应解决的问题：我们该怎么办最好，以区别于我们的竞争对手呢？这里的关键是，尽管多数活动在产品 提供 和服务 上是 必要的， 但在区别 一个 组织 和它竞争对手的时，不是所有的都是 关键。 为了取得竞争优势，组织必须执行 具有独特的优势 活动。 一旦确定了这些活动，创造和维 持竞争优势 就 涉及密切 的 管理， 不但要 确保他们不仅表现不错， 而且他们 要 有充足的资源 。 结论 实现竞争优势的利用价值链分析 涉及到 关注和支持一个组织的 战略 价值链活动的成本管理。这 要 通过提供足够的资源 到 价值链活动， 并 赋予了 该组织 最大的利益。价值链分析 也由此 是战略成本技术，它提供了一个 使组织的活动到自己的战略上的 框架。因此，成本管理 活动 是在该组织所选择的通用战略的背景下 工作的 。 价值链分析，还提供了一个组织成本 过程 中 端到端的看法， 在成本分析和成本管理上提供一个更广阔的视野 ，资源供应商和 顾客在鉴定原始 成本 (废物 )时可 沿一个产品的价值链 进行 。
