Connecting managerial literature with organization theory and economic views on entrepreneurship, the paper provides a structural view of entrepreneurship as a distinctive mode of governance, that can be defined using the concept of human capital investibility (rather than a more vague notion of...

This paper criticizes the received distinction between complete and incomplete contracts, and argues that the nature of 'firm-like organization' cannot be understood within the frame of contingent contracting, neither complete nor incomplete. It proposes that 'firm-like' contracts are a...

This paper analyzes contracts (in particular as applied in inter-firm alliances) in highly innovative settings as organizational documents, thereby contributing in understanding the link between the organization of inter-firm relations and an increasingly important dimension of competitiveness,...

This paper inquires into how contracts can regulate the complex and uncertain matters on which strategic alliances get formed. It highlights that contracts can be 'light' without being mistakenly incomplete. It is argued that the contracts constituting and regulating strategic alliances are...

The design of a proper formalization of economic relationships, through contractual and non-contractual documents, and its interaction with informal governance, is a re-emerging issue in organization theory. In fact it is of considerable importance in an era of increasing uncertainty and risk,...

The paper presents an organizational analysis of so-called 'atypical work contracts', the purpose being to gain better understanding of their variety and to provide useful indications for their assessment, considering not only the legal alternatives but also the organization of work. Exploratory...

Based on an in-depth case study of Pilkington Plc, this study illustrates that received perspectives in organization theory and theory of the firm fall short of explaining organizational evolution. The framework of organizational evolution developed in this paper is combinatorial in two ways....