The authors investigate the effect of managers' perceptions of two types of transaction-specific investments on their intention to terminate a current interorganizational relationship: (1) the specific knowledge necessary for a manufacturer's representative (rep) to carry out the selling function for a given manufacturer and (2) the specific knowledge reps acquire about their own customer accou...

This article discusses government regulation and the consequent compliance costs for the private sector from the perspective of transaction cost economics. In many cases, government regulation is shaped as legally binding standards. In order to comply with these standards, private sector firms meet various types of transaction costs, such as the bonding costs that the principal/agent relationsh...

Transaction cost economics argues that aligning transactions with governance structures leads to more efficient outcomes. While empirical evidence demonstrates that firms choose governance consistent with transaction cost predictions, the performance implications of governance choices are less well explored. Here I examine the cost of misaligned governance in the context of research and develop...

Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) theory is widely used to explain the appropriate governance structure for make-or-buy decisions. We adopt this theory to analyze firms’ decisions and choices about offshore outsourcing, domestic outsourcing and internal procurement. The main findings of this paper are as follows: When asset specificity is low, offshore outsourcing is preferable. As asset specifi...

The concept of boundaries as relational processes has been central and ubiquitous in the social sciences, especially in areas such as the formation of individual, group or national identities, the creation of class, ethnic or gender inequalities, or the social construction of professions, knowledge and science itself. A key theme running through these literatures is how symbolic resources are u...

This research empirically examines supply chain structure, price competition, and supply chain performance using data obtained from the GSA’s Federal Supply Service. The preliminary results show positive relationships between supply chain performance and implementation of electronic commerce initiatives to support both transaction and distribution channels. The potential contributions of the re...

We submit that the central managerial messages of transaction cost economics (TCE) have been lost ormisconstrued in academic debates thatmiss the underpinning logic of the theory. Critiques of TCE are often based on narrow and selective interpretations, indeed caricatures. Our goal is to set the record straight by examining TCE’s fundamentally constructive aims, logic, and its applicability in ...