COMPLETION REPORTThe Diffusion of Japanese Management Accounting Innovations in Malaysia: A Comparative
Case Study Approach
Dr. Zubir Azhar
Senior Lecturer
School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia
THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCHThis study found that the Japanese culture and practices, which are often associated with Japanese organisations tosustain long-term performance of business organisations, appear to have been adopted in rather different ways in thedifferent context outside Japan. Nevertheless, the Japanese management accounting innovations remain to be usefulregardless of the context in improving business performance and in responding to changes in business environment.
Generally, Japanese management accounting innovations concern the integration between the strategy and value
creation and have given much emphasis on feed-forward control which is consistent with the studies and framework
proposed by Nishimura (2003; 2016). We are particularly intrigued by the implementation of amoeba management
in a Japanese subsidiary in Malaysia which happened to be visible at every level of the production and managerial
divisions (called amoebas) despite the fact that these are not in line with its Japanese parent company’s philosophy
which advocates decentralised organisational structure. While this has resulted in much emphasis on formalisationof planning to achieve desired performance targets, the interplay between power and responsibility appears to bedominated by amoeba managers and leaders, which diverts from amoeba management’s original philosophy that isrooted in Japanese parent company’s practice. Another set of findings derived from another paper have highlighted
that as much as accounting has influenced supply chain management (SCM) practices in a Japanese subsidiary inMalaysia, SCM also influences the accounting practices to a great extent. Interestingly, accounting appears to havereinforced its role in integrating various supply chain activities and relationships through the information that itprovides. Such findings are important in shedding light on the interactions between accounting and SCM as they
provide practical contributions that have important implications on SCM practices, particularly in terms of theirmutual roles in relation to the supply chain setting of a Japanese subsidiary company immersing in a business thatconcerns the distribution and sales of electrical and electronic products. Overall, we believe that this research project
has offered and promoted some best Japanese management accounting practices for other organisations to emulate andlearn from so as to improve their day-to-day operations and ultimately improve their business results.

1Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
1. October 2018, Tokyo, Japan, Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association (APMAA) (14th) Annual
Conference, Amoeba management and power-responsibility interplay: A qualitative insight of aMalaysian ICT company, Zubir Azhar.
2. October 2018, Tokyo, Japan, Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association (APMAA) (14th) Annual
Conference, Accounting information and SCM: A case of a Japanese subsidiary in Malaysia, ZubirAzhar.
3. August 2017, Osaka, Japan, Annual Conference on Management and Social Science (ACMASS)
2017, Amoeba Management Outside Japan: The Case of a Japanese Corporation Operating inMalaysia, Zubir Azhar.
Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)1.

Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Journal (forthcoming – in progress), The role of accounting
information in SCM: A case of a Japanese subsidiary in Malaysia, Azhar, Z. and Pitchay, A. A.

Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)
Nil2