2009 Volume 17 Issue 2 Pages 65-78
Intangible assets generate economic values in two ways: by maximizing individual asset's productivity, and by maximizing the joint-productivity among the assets through synergy. The contrast between the two is well illustrated in the human resource management. Management accounting research in the U.S. has focused on the management accounting's decision motivating function that enhances each worker's productivity, but paid little attention to the decision facilitating function that improves the joint-productivity among the workers. Because Japanese organizations emphasize the coordination and cooperation among the workers, management accounting research in Japan can make significant contribution to the world by exploring the decision facilitating function of management accounting. Another promising research venue is the interaction between the decision facilitating and decision motivating functions.
