[fre] Contract Theories and Franchising Franchising is an excellent field of application for contract theories. This paper aims at surveying the recent literature on franchise chains and contracts. It focuses on the choice of contractual terms (the « contractual design ») with an emphasis on...

[eng] In this paper, we compare two theories of contract: the transaction cost theory and the incomplete contract theory. Our starting point is to study what is common to the two theoretical frameworks, that is to say the incompleteness of contracting. We show that the source of incompleteness...

In this paper we investigate the relationship between operating cost and number of bidders for local bus contracts in London. Using an original database on 806 calls for tender on bus routes, we find that a higher number of bidders, whether actual or expected, is associated with a lower cost of...

French municipalities often contract out the provision of local public services to private companies, and regularly choose the same private operator for a range of different services. We develop a model of relational contracts that shows how this strategy may lead to better performance at lower...

This outstanding book presents new original contributions from some of the world's leading economists including Ronald Coase, Douglass C. North, Masahiko Aoki, Oliver E. Williamson and Harold Demsetz. It demonstrates the extent and depth of the New Institutional Economics research programme...

This paper examines the impact of renegotiations on contractual relationship. Using an original data-set of expired public-private contracts in the French car park sector, we investigate the link between renegotiations and contract renewals. Indeed, if renegotiations led to surplus decrease,...

In this article, we use a large database of more than 3700 interfirm relationships in force between French firms in 2003 to study the way they achieve cooperation. We find that cooperation is enhanced by a partner's reputation. Our results also suggest that while formal contracts have a direct...

<title>Abstract</title> Franchising is nowadays a prominent way to organize the distribution sector. While previous literature suggests that monitoring issues are a critical determinant of organizational choices, it is rather silent on the optimal monitoring strategy once the organization of the chain is set....