Aligning branding strategies and governance of vertical transactions in agri-food chains

This article looks at the interactions between branding strategies and governance of vertical transactions. Branding strategy refers to the choice of information provided to consumers through a brand name. Governance refers to contractual agreements organizing transactions in vertical chains. We build on the logic of transaction costs economics to analyze these interactions. We provide an empirical analysis based on case studies to illustrate how governance structures are aligned with branding strategies. We show that the governance will depend on the salience of transactions. Critical or quality-relevant transactions are more tightly controlled than the others. We also explore the consequences of our results for the alignment principle described in Oliver Williamson's work.