This paper analyses the impact of competition among downstream firms on an upstream firm's payoff and on its incentive to vertically integrate when firms on both segments negotiate optimal contracts. We argue that tougher competition decreases the downstream industry profit, but improves the...

Efficiency arguments explain why commercial intermediaries exist and will continue to be involved in the exchanges despite the spread of digital networks. Commercial intermediaries provide producers and consumers with a set of information, logistic, securization and insurance (and liquidity)...

Firms such as Ikea, First Direct, Apple or Royal Canin think and act in an unconventional way. They build up new societal and economic territories around emerging cultural and social wants and trends. They use a proactive marking approach. They coopt outside stake holders and put the emphasis...

In agricultural subsectors, collective organizations such as producer groups or second-degree cooperatives frequently cope with management of brand names. The success of these brand names depends upon the ability of actors to collectively create, guarantee and sustain a stream of rents based...

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study on the governance to adopt in implementing a customer-oriented strategy. Our case study of a company in the aeronautics industry highlights the specific features of «embedded governance» designed to structure long-term relationships with...

L'externalisation croissante des activités stratégiques des entreprises pose le problème de la gouvernance des relations client-fournisseur. L'article présente les résultats d'une recherche sur le sujet à partir de six études de cas d'entreprises industrielles. Quatre configurations de...