ABSTRACT
In 1994, the Institute of Management Accountants and the authors launch a joint research project to document and analyze the cost management practices at Japanese firms. This project was a continuation of one initiated by Robin Cooper that had culminated in the publication of 23 Harvard Business School cases on the cost management practices at 19 Japanese firms and the book When Lean Enterprises Collide: Competing Under Competition. Japanese firms were chosen because they have extensive experience with competition among lean enterprises. This experience has given them time to develop mature cost management systems required to compete in a confrontational mode. The researchers visited 25 firms to collect information about the issues that led management to implement advanced cost management systems, the insights obtained from the information reported by those systems, and the actions taken based on those insights. After the research team had reviewed the findings from all the research sites, the team analyzed and synthesized the information.
