Deals that start when you sign them

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Robert Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
Relational Contracts ◽  
Relational Contracting ◽  
Informal Conversation ◽  
Central Topic

Abstract This essay explores six sentences from Oliver Williamson – five providing context and the sixth the central topic. Decades ago, Williamson asserted that: (a) ‘substantially the same factors’ (1973: 316) create governance issues not only within organizations but also in interactions between organizations; and (b) relational contracting might be useful in addressing these issues in both domains (1979, Figure II). More recently – in an informal conversation in 2002 – he suggested a perspective on relational contracting that appears valuable in both of these domains: relational contracts as ‘deals that start when you sign them’. The bulk of this essay explores past, present, and potential research on this perspective.

Relational contracts and value chain governance: exporter approaches to overcoming transaction costs in Rwanda's coffee sector

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Gerard ◽  
Maria Claudia Lopez ◽  
John Kerr ◽  
Alfred R. Bizoza
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Foreign Firms ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Relational Contracts ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Relational Contracting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Coffee Sector

Purpose In developing countries, local buyers often rely on relational contracting based on reciprocity and trust. This paper analyzes relational contracting and global value chain (GVC) governance by focusing on how domestic and foreign coffee exporters in Rwanda confront challenges.Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 representatives of Rwandan private, Rwandan cooperative-owned and foreign exporters, and four coffee sector stakeholders.Findings Foreign firms export most Rwandan coffee, and local exporters express concerns about their ability to compete. Rwandan exporters face challenges accessing capital, competing with foreign firms and managing high transaction costs. They use relational contracts to reduce transaction costs, and they benefit from a monopsony zoning regulation that reduces competition. Foreign exporters face regulatory challenges: a government-set coffee price and the zoning regulation. They vertically integrate to reduce costs and lock in suppliers through prefinancing.Research limitations/implications Future research should analyze differences between local and foreign exporters in other contexts to advance understanding of the different challenges faced and contracting approaches used.Originality/value Few GVC governance studies address the role of relational contracts in contexts where enforcement is costly. Considering relational contracts within GVCs can improve value chain analysis, specifically in the developing countries where many GVCs start.

Governance of supplier-customer relations: An empirical review

2007 ◽  
Vol 158 (12) ◽  
pp. 406-416
Author(s):  
Jon Bingen Sande
Keyword(s):  
Transaction Cost ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Customer Relations ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Forest Industry ◽  
Relational Contracts ◽  
Relational Exchange ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Relational Exchange Theory

The forest industry is riddled with exchange relationships. The parties to exchanges may have diverging goals and interests, but still depend upon each other due to non-redeployable specific assets. Formal and relational contracts may be used to deal with the resulting cooperation problems. This paper proposes a framework based on transaction cost economics and relational exchange theory, and examines to what extent empirical research has found formal and relational contracts to deal with three different governance problems. To that end, I review the results from 32 studies in a range of settings. These studies generally support the view that exchanges characterized by high degrees of specific assets should be supported by formal and relational contracts.

TO THE QUESTION ABOUT SPECIAL TYPE OF OCCASIONAL WORDS IN RUSSIAN

2019 ◽  
pp. 305-307
Author(s):  
N.N. Zaitseva
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
Formation Mechanisms ◽  
Basic Part ◽  
New Words ◽  
Language System ◽  
Informal Conversation ◽  
Mobile Part

The lexical level is the most mobile part of the language system. This mobility is in many respects caused by word-formation mechanisms. In live informal conversation the process of occurrence of new words is continuous and active. The basic part of new words is created according to productive models. The share of occasional ways in word-formation is less. However, it grows, as the occasional way in itself is more expressive and more emphatic. In the work we will pay attention to the words created by means of one of the ways of occasional word-formation.

Narrow Content

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juhani Yli-Vakkuri ◽  
John Hawthorne
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Mental Content ◽  
Thought Experiments ◽  
Hilary Putnam ◽  
Central Topic ◽  
Tyler Burge ◽  
Narrow Content

Narrow mental content, if there is such a thing, is content that is entirely determined by the goings-on inside the head of the thinker. A central topic in the philosophy of mind since the mid-1970s has been whether there is a kind of mental content that is narrow in this sense. It is widely conceded, thanks to famous thought experiments by Hilary Putnam and Tyler Burge, that there is a kind of mental content that is not narrow. But it is often maintained that there is also a kind of mental content that is narrow, and that such content can play various key explanatory roles relating, inter alia, to epistemology and the explanation of action. This book argues that this is a forlorn hope. It carefully distinguishes a variety of conceptions of narrow content and a variety of explanatory roles that might be assigned to narrow content. It then argues that, once we pay sufficient attention to the details, there is no promising theory of narrow content in the offing.

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