The integration of two vertically linked business units allows the single owner to choose the compensation contracts of the managers of the two units coordinatively and thus internalizes a contracting externality when there is technology or production synergy. On the other hand, vertical...

This paper investigates the effects of stock out avoidance and market competition on corporate holding of finished goods inventories. We consider two adverse consequences of stock outs: immediate foregone profit and long-run loss of revenue from the shift of customers to more reliable sources of...

The concept of vertical architecture defines the scope of a firm and the extent to which it is open to final and intermediate markets. A firm can make or buy inputs, and transfer outputs downstream or sell them. Permeable vertical architectures are partly integrated and partly open to the...

The risk of supply disruptions due to suppliers' financial problems plays a prominent role in manufacturers' risk portfolios. Even large suppliers (e.g. Delphi) could file for bankruptcy, and manufacturer's actions, such as financial subsidies to the suppliers, affect profoundly suppliers'...

What type of businesses do unions target for organizing? A dynamic model of the union organizing process is constructed to answer this question. A union monitors establishments in an industry to learn about their productivity, and decides which ones to organize and when. An establishment becomes...

Without the 'spillover effects' of open content production, the growth in Wikipedia editing activity between 2002 and 2010 would have been halved. That is the central finding of research by Aleksi Aaltonen and Stephan Seiler, which analyses editing data by Wikipedia users to show how content...

Cloud computing, which can be described as a technology for provisioning computing infrastructure as a service, runtime platform as a service, and software as a service, is considered as a keystone for innovation in the IT area. However, a limiting factor to innovation through cloud computing...

The article studies theoretical and methodological foundations for the organization­ of the real economy. It analyzes the forms of market coordination in the real sector — the price mechanism and the hierarchy. The article studies­ the extent to which the organizational institutions of an...