One striking development associated with the explosion of e-commerce is the increased transparency of sellers' quality history. In this paper we analyze how this affects firms' incentives to invest in quality when the outcome of investment is uncertain. We identify two conflicting effects. On...

In this paper I study how the make-or-buy decision of a firm depends on the organization of its peers. I consider a multi-firm framework in which firms choose whether to integrate into the supply of an intermediate input or to outsource its production, and choose the size of their supplier...

I study the effects of minority equity ownership by firms in their trade partners. Passive ownership promotes relationship-specific investments by both parties and increases the joint surplus. The relative attractiveness of partial backward vs. forward ownership depends on the specific nature of...

I study the prospects for collusion between rival firms which share technological know-how. Two common forms of technology sharing are compared: a research joint venture (RJV) and licensing. Under licensing, firms can use the licensing fee to elicit higher levels of Ramp;D than with the RJV....