Discussion of: Cross-National Differences in Cost Accounting of MNEs: Empirical Evidence from Anglophone Subsidiaries in Germany

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-102
Author(s):  
Samir Trabelsi
2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kajüter ◽  
Moritz Schröder

ABSTRACT Anecdotal evidence shows that multinational enterprises (MNEs) encounter difficulty in imposing their cost-accounting standards internationally because foreign subsidiaries prefer to follow their local cost-accounting traditions. Although prior research has revealed cross-national differences in management accounting, particularly between anglophone and German-speaking countries, the determinants and consequences for cost-accounting systems in foreign subsidiaries of MNEs are largely unexplored. This study therefore investigates the design of cost-accounting systems in German subsidiaries of anglophone MNEs. The empirical results reveal that anglophone cost-accounting traditions prevail in two-thirds of anglophone subsidiaries. Based on new institutional sociology, this study explores the determinants and identifies strong coercive pressures by anglophone parent companies, suggesting that anglophone MNEs standardize their cost-accounting systems globally using their home country cost-accounting traditions. The results also show that both management accountants and managers in German subsidiaries of anglophone MNEs assess their cost-accounting system as worse when it is shaped by anglophone traditions. Managerial implications are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002071522098786
Author(s):  
Steve R Entrich

This article examines the cross-national differences in socioeconomic accessibility to shadow education (SE) across 63 societies. Drawing on arguments from two competing theoretical models either emphasizing cross-national cultural, economic, and institutional differences (e.g. model of secondary schooling, scale of SE) or universally working social reproduction mechanisms (e.g. enrichment features of SE), this study provides a novel approach to understanding the role of SE for social inequality. More specifically, while the first model explicitly allows equality in access to SE, the latter suggests that SE fosters inequality under all circumstances. Using data from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and official sources, first, the difference in the probability of top in comparison to bottom socioeconomic strata to use SE is predicted separately for all societies, before analyzing what causes the found considerable cross-national variation in the socioeconomic gap in access to SE at the country level. Results indicate that differences in SE access are linked to incentives for high-performing students to use SE. These incentives are especially common in societies with higher educational institutional differentiation (e.g. early or mixed tracking schooling models). In societies with less stratified education systems, access to SE is more equal, wherefore the potential effect of SE to social inequality is dampened. Overall, findings suggest that simple generalizations based on existing theoretical models provide no comprehensive explanation for the connection between SE and inequality. Instead, prominent beliefs about the relationship between SE and inequality are questioned.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110198
Author(s):  
Bastian A. Betthäuser ◽  
Caspar Kaiser ◽  
Nhat An Trinh

A large body of literature documents cross-national variation in the level of inequality of educational opportunity (IEO) among children from different social backgrounds. By contrast, relatively little attention has been given to the extent to which IEO varies within counties and across regions. On the basis of data from the European Social Survey, the authors map variation in IEO across regions in Europe and show that IEO varies substantially within counties. This visualization of the heterogeneity of IEO within European countries highlights the need for researchers and policy makers to extend the current focus on cross-national differences and to investigate and address IEO at the regional level. The visualization raises important questions with respect to the contours, causes, and consequences of cross-regional variation in IEO.


2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Pisano ◽  
Mark Lubell

This article seeks to explain cross-national differences on environmental behavior. After controlling for a series of sociodemographic and psychosocial factors, it was predicted that national levels of wealth, postmaterialism, education development, and environmental problems are positively related to environmental behavior. The national-level variance is to a substantial degree explained by individual-level variables, capturing compositional effects. The remaining variance is explained by the contextual-level variables. All of the country-level variables are predictors in the expected direction, with the exception of environmental degradation, which is negatively related to behavior, and education development, which has no impact on private environmental behavior. More importantly, cross-level interactions show that in more developed countries, there are stronger relationships between proecological attitudes and reported proenvironmental behavior. These findings contribute to the growing cross-cultural research on environmental behavior pointing out the necessity of simultaneously assessing the effects of both individual and contextual-level forces affecting behavior across nations.


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