Transaction costs theory and coordinated safeguards investment in R&D offshoring

Vinit Parida, Joakim Wincent and Pejvak Oghazi

Journal of Business Research, 2016, vol. 69, issue 5, 1823-1828

Abstract: In a multi-case study of R&D offshoring relationships in large manufacturing firms, this study develops an alternative view to that of transaction-cost theory, which argues that safeguard investments during the transition lead to higher transaction costs. This study outlines how fear of opportunism and the potential to violate agreements drive the need for complex safeguard devices. Results show that the sample firms benefit from high initial coordinated safeguard investments, because those investments reduce transactional costs overtime. More specifically, the study lists critical activities of such coordinated self-enforcing safeguard investments and calls for future attention to how firms manage transaction costs in R&D offshoring to secure long-term value.

Keywords: Outsourcing; R&D; Internationalization; Asset-specific investment; Opportunism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296315004865
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:69:y:2016:i:5:p:1823-1828

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.10.063

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().