Exploring the transaction dimensions of supply chain management

It is argued that firm cooperation in supply chain management can be classified as a hybrid governance structure in a new institutional sense. Using a key informant survey, exploratory data on transaction dimensions and supply chain management was gathered and analyzed. Findings suggest that the implementation of such cooperation is not a binary choice but rather a matter of varying degrees. All factors commonly associated with influencing transaction costs (asset specificity, uncertainty and frequency) are significantly higher for firms with more fully implemented supply chain management, making a more integrated solution advantageous. Additionally, the data suggests a strong influence of transaction frequency on the degree of asset specificity and uncertainty.