Transaction Costs, Early Sourcing Policy and Supplier Performance: A Test of An Administrative Innovation in Two Firms

本研究对当前有关美国产业竞争力的争论具有理论和实践意义。它涉及一个行业内企业之间和企业内部买卖双方关系的最优结构、成本和质量。本项目将调查两家大型美国跨国耐用消费品和资本货物公司的产品交付过程和供应商关系的表现。它也有可能增加我们关于如何促进创新的知识。在三个研究目标的框架下研究供应商绩效。首先，最近大量使用威廉姆森交易成本模型的实证工作得到巩固和扩展，以产生假设，具体说明买方公司内部和外部供应商之间以及外部供应商之间的绩效差异。其次，最近在两家公司实施的供应商管理方面的行政创新提供了一个机会来检查一种适用于内部和外部供应商的“关系”合同形式。第三个研究目标侧重于两家参与企业在成功实施供应商管理创新方面的差异；假设差异的基础是企业垂直整合政策的不相似性。

This research has theoretical and practical implications for the current debates about America's industrial competitiveness. It involves the optimal structure, costs and quality of buyer and seller relationships between and within firms in an industry. This project will investigate the product delivery process and the performance of supplier relationships within the context of two large U.S. multinational consumer durable and capital goods firms. It also has the potential of adding to our knowledge on how to foster innovation. Supplier performance is studied in the framework of three research objectives. First, the recent spate of empirical work using Williamson's transaction cost model is consolidated and expanded to generate hypotheses specifying differences in performance between suppliers inside and outside the buyer firm and between outside suppliers. Second, an administrative innovation in supplier management recently implemented in both firms provides an opportunity to examine a form of "relational" contracting that applies to both inside and outside suppliers. The third research objective focuses on differences between the two participating firms in the success of implementing the supplier management innovation; the basis for the hypothesized differences is the dissimilarity of the firms' vertical integration policies.