art%3A10.1007%2Fs00187-013-0176-0[3]

成本粘性外文

JManagControl(2014)24:301–318

DOI10.1007/s00187-013-0176-0

SHORTSURVEYPAPER

Coststickiness:stateoftheartofresearch

andimplications

ThomasW.Guenther·AnjaRiehl·

RichardRößler

Received:19February2013/Accepted:29June2013/Publishedonline:13July2013

©Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2013

AbstractCostfunctionsasthefoundationofmanagerialdecisionmakingusuallyassumealinearcostfunctionwith?xedandvariablecosts.Thelatteraredominantlyregardedasbeingidenticalforincreasingandfordecreasingactivitylevels.However,empiricalresearchshowsthatthedeclineincostsissmallerfordecreasingthantheriseincostsforincreasingactivitylevelsforthesameamountofchange.Thiseffectofasymmetriccostbehaviouriscalled‘coststickiness’or‘costremanence’.Ourpaperprovidesanoverviewofthecausesandoccurrencesofcoststickiness.Further-more,theempirical?ndingsoncoststickinessusingregressionmodelswitharchival?nancialaccountingdataarereviewedandanalysed.Weexploredifferentdetermi-nantsoftheeffectofcoststickiness.Acriticallookatthe?ndingsandmethodsofempiricalstudiesrevealsthelimitationofcurrentresearchandopensnewstreamsforfurtherresearch.Finally,implicationsoftheexistenceofstickycostsformanagementaccountingresearchandpracticearedrawn.

KeywordsCoststickiness·Costbehaviour·Costfunction·Costmanagement·Archivalresearch·Asymmetriccostfunction

T.W.Guenther(B)·A.Riehl

FacultyofBusinessManagementandEconomics,ChairofBusinessManagement,

esp.ManagementAccountingandControl,TechnischeUniversitätDresden(TUDresden),

01062Dresden,Germany

e-mail:thomas.guenther@tu-dresden.de

R.Rößler

FacultyofBusinessManagementandEconomics,ChairofBusinessInformatics,

esp.SystemDevelopment,TechnischeUniversitätDresden(TUDresden),01062Dresden,Germany

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302T.W.Guentheretal.1Costremanenceandcoststickiness

Thetraditionalmodelofcostbehaviourdistinguishesbetween?xedandvariablecostsandpositsaproportionalrelationbetweenvariablecostsandunderlyingactiv-itylevels.Thisrelationisgenerallyregardedasbeingindependentfromthedirec-tionofactivitychanges(decreaseorincrease)aswellasfrommanagers’deci-sionsonthecommittedresources(Balakrishnanetal.2011).Brasch(1927)wasoneofthe?rsttoquestionthiscostbehaviourwithhis?ndingsthatthecostcurveinthecaseofincreasingactivitylevelsdiffersfromthecostcurvefordecreasingactivitylevels,whichresultsinanasymmetriccostfunction(Malagoli1985).ThiscostbehaviourhasbeendiscussedinGerman-speakingcountriesunderthehead-ingof‘costremanence’fordecades(e.g.Malagoli1985;Kilgeretal.2012,p.140).Recentempiricalresearchofthe2000smostlybasedon?nancialarchivaldatahasshownthatcostsmayrespondasymmetricallytodecreasesandincreasesintheactivitylevel.Andersonetal.(2003)(theABJmodel)andsubsequentstudies(e.g.Balakrishnanetal.2004;WeidenmierandSubramaniam2003)?ndevidencethatthedeclineincostsissmallerfordecreasingthantheriseincostsforincreasingactivitylevelsofthesameamountofactivitychangeandlabelthattypeofcostbehaviour‘sticky’or‘coststickiness’.Conversely,‘anti-stickiness’meansthatcostsincreaselesswhenactivityrisesthancostsdecreasewhenactivitylevelsfallbythesameamount.

Thisimpliesthatonlysuchcostcategoriesthatarein?uencedbytheactivitylevel,i.e.variableorstepcosts,canbesticky.Stepcostsareconstantoverrangesofactiv-ityandchangebystepasthelevelofactivitychanges.Withintherangesstepcostsare?xed.However,withdecreasingactivitybeyondtherangetheybecomechange-ableandmissingbackwardadjustmentfordecreasingactivitylevelscanresultinstickiness.Fixedcosts,incontrast,arein?exibleandunchangeableoverashorterperiod.Overalongerperiod?xedcostscanalsobesticky.However,suchalongtimeframeisusuallynotconsideredininvestigationsintocoststickiness(Malagoli1985).

Basedonoverheadallocationsheets,Brasch(1927)examinestherelationbetweenvariablecosts(wages,repairandmaintenancecosts,costsforothermaterial,aswellastotalcosts)andhoursworkedinafactoryformachinetools.Herevealsstrongstickinessforcostsofrepairandmaintenanceandremarksthatthesecostsinactiv-itydecreasingperiodsare1.5foldhigherthaninpriorperiodsofincreasingactiv-ity.AllthecostcurvesofBrasch(1927)showsimilarpatterns(Fig.1).However,thecostcurvesofsinglecosttypescanbeirregularandrandom.Accordingly,itmustbecriticallystatedthatBrasch(1927)probablyusestheaveragecostsofdif-ferentcostcentres,resultinginsmoothedcurveswithlimitedreliability(Malagoli1985).

2Causesandoccurrenceofcoststickiness

Themainreasonsforcoststickinesslieintheomitted,premature,delayed,impossible,orinappropriateadjustmentofthecommittedresources(e.g.,plantandequipment123

成本粘性外文

Coststickiness:stateoftheartofresearch

303Fig.1Costcurvesunderchangingactivitylevels(followingBrasch1927)

orpersonnel)tochangesintheactivitylevelofthe?rm(Malagoli1985).Thus,coststickinessisnotaphenomenonthatmanagerscannotprevent.Furthermore,itisaresultofmanagers’decisionsaboutresourceadjustment.Andersonetal.(2003)describethecausesasfollows:‘Stickycostsoccurbecausethereareasymmetricfrictionsinmakingresourceadjustments—forcesactingtorestrainorslowthedownwardadjustmentprocessmorethantheupwardadjustmentprocess’.Amissingdownwardadjustmentofthecommittedresourcesinaperiodofloweractivityleadstocostsofholdingunusedcapacityduringthisperiod.Themosttypicalreasonsforthesedecisionsaredescribedbelow.

2.1Legalreasons

Especiallytherequirementsofemploymentandsociallegislationfordismissalanddownsizingstaffmakeitdif?http://wendang.chazidian.companieshavetoadheretonoticeperiods,whichinsomecountriesincreasedependingontheemployee’sseniority(Malagoli1985).Furthermore,giv-ingnoticeinsomecountriesrequiresavalidreasonfordismissal,suchasopera-tionalredundancyorbadconduct.Pregnantwomen,staffonmaternityleave,anddisabledpersonsaresubjecttospecialprotection.Inaddition,thepossibilitiesofdownsizingresourcescanberestrictedbyinstitutionslikethesupervisoryboard,theworkscouncil,oractivelabourunions.Insomecountriessuchinstitutionshavehighbargainingpower.Theyhavethecapacitytonegotiateandtoprovidemoresocialprotectionandjobsecurity(Callejaetal.2006).Anotherlegalrequirement

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304T.W.Guentheretal.concernslong-termpurchasecontractsasthe?rmmusttakenoticeperiodsintoaccountandconsiderpaymentsfornon-called-upservices,e.g.contractuallyagreedpenaltypayments(Malagoli1985).However,stickycostsdonotnecessarilyoccur.Insteadofretainingthecommittedresourcesduringaperiodoflowerdemand,theman-agercandecidetocuttheresourcesandbeartheadjustmentcosts.Theseadjust-mentcostsincludeseverancepaytomotivatelong-timeemployeestoleavethe?rmwhencapacityhastobedowngradedaswellasthecostsofsearchingfor,hir-ing,andtrainingemployeeswhenthedemandisrestored(BalakrishnanandGruca2008).

2.2Reasonscausedbysocialandpersonnelpolicy

Todaycompaniesareregardedassocialsystems,whichhavetocomplywiththesocialconditionsandexpectationsoftheirenvironment.Furthermore,companiesthemselvesmayfollowsocialobjectives.Both?nallyresultinreluctancetoadjustresourceswhensalesdecline.Basedonitspersonnelpolicy,acompanymayrefrainfromdismissalstoshowthatitstandsbyitsemployeeseveninperiodsofdecliningdemand.Stickycostscanalsoresultforexamplefromvoluntarysocialbene?tsasitisdif?culttocutemployeeachievementsinaperiodofdecliningdemand.Thedis-missalofinvalids,unmarriedmothers,orolderormoresenioremployeesmayalsobeoutofthequestionduetosocialconsiderations(Malagoli1985).However,thedistinctionbetweenstickinessduetosocialresponsibilityandstickinessduetoeco-nomicintentionisdif?culttomake(Malagoli1985).Forexample,insomeindustriessocialbene?tsareessentialpreconditionsforrecruitingquali?edemployees.Further-more,companiessometimesrefrainfromcarryingoutdismissalsbecausetheycanleadtoalossofthe?rm’sreputationaswellastoalossofmoraleandproductiv-ityamongtheremainingemployeeswhencolleaguesaredismissedandworkteamsareseparated(Andersonetal.2003;Tondock2011).Furthermore,theemployeeturnovermayincreaseasaresultoferodedloyalty.Thus,dismissalsmayresultinhigherorganizationalcosts,suchasmoralecosts,whichalsohavetobeconsid-eredaspartoftheadjustmentcosts(Andersonetal.2003;BalakrishnanandGruca2008).

2.3Reasonscausedby?rmandoperatingpolicy

Companiessometimesrefrainfromdismissinghighlyquali?edstaffandemployeeswhoworktogetherwellasateam.Thisleadstostickycosts.However,itcanbedif?cultto?ndequivalentspecialistswhenthedemandisrestored,andtheperiodofvocationaladjustmentuntilanewteamworksef?cientlycanalsobelong.Sim-ilartohumanresources,managementexpectingafutureincreaseindemandmayholdunutilizedassets.Thereasonslieintheconsiderableadjustmentcosts,includingcostsforreacquisitionandreturntoserviceaswellascostsforlosingandrebuild-ing?rm-speci?cinvestmentslikecustomizing(Andersonetal.2003).Thesecostscanbesigni?cantlyhigherthantheidlecapacitycostsinaperiodofloweractivity(Malagoli1985).Holdingexcesscapacitycanalsoprovideabasisforreactingfaster123

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Coststickiness:stateoftheartofresearch305tofutureincreasingdemandaswellasforsustainingrealoptions,e.g.waitingandsee-ing,especiallywhenthemanagementisuncertainaboutthefuture(Mahlendorf2009;Tondock2011).Additionally,repairandmaintenanceworkcanbeusedtobridgeaperiodoflowerdemand(Malagoli1985).Thus,theassessmentofthefuturedemandalsoin?uencesthemanagers’decisionaboutholdingoradjustingthecommittedresources.

However,managers’incentivescanmitigatethestickinessofcosts(cf.Sect.3.2).Whencompensationislinkedtopro?tandwhenmanagerswanttomeetearningstargetstheyaremoremotivatedtoreduceresourceswhentheactivitydecreasesandconstrainthebuildingupofresourceswhentheactivityincreases(Balakrishnanetal.2011;KamaandWeiss2010).

2.4Psychologicalandagency-relatedreasons

Stickycostsbasedonthereasonsabovemayresultfromthetrade-offofadjustmentcostsandholdingcostswithregardtothetotaloptimumforthe?rm.However,stickycostsmayalsooccurattheexpenseofthecompany,i.e.themanagerhim/herselfcanbeareasonforstickycosts.

Basedontheagencytheory,managersareself-interestedandmakedecisionstomaximizetheirownutility.‘Managersmayretainunutilizedresourcestoavoidper-sonalconsequencesofretrenchment,suchaslossofstatuswhenadivisionisdown-sizedortheanguishofdismissingfamiliaremployees,contributingtostickycostbehavior’(Andersonetal.2003).Inthiscontext,empire-buildingbehaviour,i.e.man-agers’enthusiasmforincreasingtheresourcestheycontrolwhenactivityincreases,butreluctanttocutthemwhenactivitydecreases,isessential(Balakrishnanetal.2011).Cognitivede?cits,theadherencetooldhabits,thefearoflosingtheirjob,aswellasthesluggishnessandlackofdecision-makingcompetencecanalsoleadtoinef?cientbehaviourandcontributetoasymmetricalcostbehaviour(Mahlendorf2009;Malagoli1985).Allthesereasonsimplythatcoststickinessmayoccur‘evenforresourcesthatcanbeadjustedwithoutincurringanyrealadjustmentcosts,althoughsuchcoststickinessmaynotbeinthebestinterestsofthecompany’ssharehold-ers’(Balakrishnanetal.2011).Inthiscasepsychologicaladjustmentcostscanbeobserved.

Intotal,managers’decisionsaboutresourceadjustmentarebasedonthe?rm’ssocialandpersonnelpolicyandonthetrade-offbetweenadjustmentcosts(economicandpsychological)andholdingcosts.Bothadjustmentcostsandholdingcostsaredrivenbytheactualsaleslevel,thecurrentcapacityutilization,themanager’sexpec-tationaboutthefuturedemand,aswellasthemanagerialincentivesandpsychologicalaspects.Thus,itispossibletocategorizetheoccurrenceofcoststickinessasillustratedinFig.2.

Category1representsahighratiobetweentheexpectedadjustmentcostsandtheholdingcosts.Thismeansthatthehighertheratioinaperiodofdecreasingdemand,thelessopportunityandeconomicmotivationexisttoreducethecoststotheactiv-itylevelandtopreventstickycosts.Incategories2and3theadjustmentcostsaresimilartoorlowerthantheholdingcosts.Thus,itwouldbepossibletoadaptthevariablecoststotheloweractivitylevel.However,therearedifferentopportunity-

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