In the extant vertical integration literature, the question of how the firm's portfolio of outsourced work is managed across suppliers has been relatively understudied. We seek to advance this area of research by examining factors that influence how concentrated the firm's outsourcing is among...

This paper examines emergent information systems and technologies and explains under what supply and demand conditions inter-firm modularization of information-based products and services and subsequent vertical de-integration of organizations is more likely. Research in organizational economics...

The predominant focus in research on organizations is either on private or public institutions without consistent consideration of their interdependencies. The emphasis in scholarship on private or public interests has strengthened as disciplinary and professional knowledge has deepened:...

Alfred Chandler's recent passing is cause to review and celebrate his many contributions to business history. It also presents an opportunity to highlight links between his rich historical analyses concerning organizational and industrial innovation and contemporary management studies of the...

This paper examines the effects of co-specialized information technology (IT) on the growth and performance of IT-investing firms as a driver of competitive advantages. By adopting resource-based and dynamic-capability perspectives on firm-specific IT systems, we first identify the mechanisms of...

This paper examines why and under what conditions firms will make unilateral relationship-specific investments to serve their transaction partners. We propose that firms are more likely to make unilateral relationship-specific investments when the investment yields economic spillover values for...

Organization theory suggests that various forms of performance ambiguity have governance implications for the strategic choice of control mechanism in organizational forms (e.g., Eisenhardt, 1985; Ouchi, 1979). Transaction costs theory emphasizes asset specificity as an important predictor of...