Contractual governance, business groups and transition

Raja Kali

The Economics of Transition, 2002, vol. 10, issue 2, 255-272

Abstract: We suggest a unified framework to explain the following stylized pattern in the development of contractual governance and industrial organization. Contractual governance in many emerging economies is characterized by relational contracting. Coincident with relational contracts are large, diversified organizations — often referred to as business groups. As institutions and market intermediaries develop, a process of transition from relational contracting to arms‐length explicit contracting takes place. During this phase relational and explicit contracts complement each other. Business groups initially expand in size, scope and increase the strength of ties. As development proceeds, a threshold is crossed after which business groups begin to unravel. This process of transition in contractual governance is often accompanied by a period of rapid growth, which eventually comes to a stop. JEL classification: L22, L14, O17.

Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0351.00111

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:bla:etrans:v:10:y:2002:i:2:p:255-272

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0967-0750

Access Statistics for this article

The Economics of Transition is currently edited by Philippe Aghion and Wendy Carlin

More articles in The Economics of Transition from The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().