This paper examines complementarity among vertical integration decisions in automobile product development. Though most research assumes that contracting choices are independent of each other, contracting complementarity arises when the returns to a single vertical integration decision are...

This paper builds coordination costs, transaction costs, and other aspects of the theory of the firm into a production chain model with an infinite number of ex ante identical producers. The equilibrium determines prices, allocations of productive tasks across firms, firm sizes, and the number...

We develop a new theory of the firm where asset owners sometimes want to change partners ex-post. The model identifies a fundamental trade-off between (i) a "displacement externality" under non-integration, where a partner leaves a relationship even though the benefit is worth less than the loss...

I analyse firms organisational choices when they face uncertainty about institutional conditions in foreign locations with heterogeneous final good producers and incomplete contracts. As firms learn about the conditions abroad, the increasing offshoring activity increases competition in the...

Casual observation suggests that cultural differences play an important role in business transactions, yet systematic evidence on this relationship is scarce. This paper provides a novel investigation of the effect of cultural distance on multinational firms' decisions to integrate their...

Casual observation suggests that cultural differences play an important role in business transactions, yet systematic evidence on this relationship is scarce. This paper provides a novel investigation of the effect of cultural distance on multinational firms’ decisions to integrate their...

Die Studie über den Einfluß neuer Informations- und Kommunikationstechnik auf die Grenzen der Unternehmung beschäftigt sich zuerst mit der Koordination ökonomischer Aktivitäten und dann mit alternativen Ansätzen zur Bestimmung der effizienten Unternehmensgrenzen. Anschließend wird der...