In this paper we review contracting issues raised by a government’s decision to contract out activities linked to public services, as well as highlighting potential future research avenues. We first review the different kinds of contracting arrangements and public private partnerships used by...

The outsourcing of activities raises the problem of the management of buyer-supplier relationships, and in particular of their control. This paper presents a military analysis of the control strategies of a car component maker over its suppliers. The analysis suggests that different strategies...

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)...

This article presents the results of a study on buyer-supplier control in the manufacturing industry based on six case studies. Four buyer-supplier control configurations are proposed in a matrix according to the reciprocal dependence between the buyer and its suppliers. For each configuration,...

Considering the growing externalisation of strategic activities, the problem of the control of buyer-supplier relationships is crucial. Therefore, researchers usually propose modes of control that are adapted to various environments. However, the organisations are often considered as “black...