What determines ABC success in mature sites?

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine ABC success determinants in mature ABC sites. Design/methodology/approach - The study surveys 65 users of an ABC system in service and manufacturing firms. Findings - The stepwise regression results indicate that top management support is the key determinant of ABC success in mature ABC firms. Other determinants examined were resource adequacy, education, performance improvement and reward link, competition intensity. Research limitations/implications - Past research has shown that top management support is critical in the early stages of ABC adoption and if withdrawn is a major cause of ABC implementation failure. Despite the technical benefits of ABC adoption the extent of change, the resource commitment and the management of conflict and power means that careful consideration of the determinants of success is crucial. Many researchers have examined this at initial implementation or have confounded their results by not distinguishing the stage of adoption. Very few have researched beyond the initial implementation to examine what factors continue to ensure ABC success once fully integrated. Practical implications - Practically any ABC adoption needs to secure top management support from inception through to routinisation and integration. Originality/value - The novelty of this study is in the way ABC success is measured, that participants were users of the ABC system and that the sites examined are only mature adoption sites. By examining only 'mature' ABC sites the differences in the stages of implementation are not confounded in the results.