500篇经典文献（46）

Abstract

A review of two economic theories Is utilized to provide theoretical support for the greater possible involvement by accountants in what has been caged strategic management accounting One of these theories is concerned with the underlying characteristics of enterprise products. It suggests that there is a need for accountants to consider the cost structure of not only their own firm but of all enterprises in the relevant market and ofpotential entrants. It also suggests that costs can not be considered in isolation from demand factors. The second theory to be reviewed is concerned with whether a firm’s cost structure permits its market strategy to be sustainable in the face of potential entry. This theory again emphasizes the intertwining of demand and cost factors and the need to consider these thctors simuitaneously. The use of this theory allows a new perspective to be taken to cost behaviour which is especially suited to high technology manufacturing.

Our analysis treats advertisements and the goods advertised as complements in stable metautility functions, and generates new results for advertising by building on and extending the general analysis of complements. By assimilating the theory of advertising into the theory of complements, we avoid the special approaches to advertising found in many studies that place obstacles in the way of understanding the effects of advertising. We also use this approach to evaluate advertising from a welfare perspective. Whether there is excessive or too little advertising depends on several variables: the effects on consumer utility, the degree of competition in the market for advertised goods, the induced changes in prices and outputs of advertised goods, and whether advertising is sold to consumers.

The limitations of equilibrium theory and of the stability analyses which justify it have led to considerable work on the development of a disequilibrium economic3.r Of the criticisms of stability theory, there are three which have motivated the approach taken in this paper. First, the fundamental question seemingly underlying most stability analyses seems inappropriate. Most papers seem to explore the question of developing an adjustment process which will converge to competitive equilibrium. A more appealing approach is the development of adjustment processes which are designed to reflect some realistic process and then consideration of the long-run position of the market if the process is stable. Second, the economic agents in a disequilibrium process should be aware, at least in part, of the disequilibrium in the economy, and adjust their behavior in response to the altered opportunities which are present. Third, in most markets, all the agents are in the market for their own gain and prices get set by a demander or supplier rather than a nonparticipating auctioneer.