Digitalization and language games in business planning: the case of IKEA Italia

In the current competitive environment, firms need to reshape their strategies, redesigning their business models in a very flexible manner. This requires the adoption of planning and budgeting procedures able to seize new market opportunities in line with the resources and capabilities developed in the organization. To do so, planning and budgeting procedures need to be conceived as communication practices which involve the most relevant organizational areas and hierarchical levels in defining the main strategic and operational objectives and consistently allocate financial resources. Both formal and informal interactions amongst organizational actors need to be promoted to make possible mutual adjustments and know how sharing. In this context, the contribution of management accounting systems and practices is not limited to the provision of accounting information, whose content, frequency, and timeliness depend on the decisions to be supported. This informational perspective, which informs the mainstream of management accounting research, assumes information as a commodity which, being standardized, does not consider the needs and meanings that emerge during its different uses in the specific organizational practices. A linguistic turn for accounting research has been called for by Macintosh, (2000; 2004), who explained: “Instead of treating accounting reports and information as commodities, it [a linguistic turn] means treating them as texts, narratives, discourse, and discursive formations. (...) A linguistic turn, following poststructural semiotics and Wittgenstein’s language game theory, could be a way of overturning the informational perspectives hegemonic grip on accounting research” (Macintosh, 2004, pp. 538, 539).