Contracts and Trust in Alliances: Discovering, Creating and Appropriating Value

Paul Vlaar contends that strategic alliances and other forms of cooperation, such as buyer-supplier relationships, joint ventures and offshoring initiatives, increasingly stand at the basis of competitive advantage. Although contracts and trust play a crucial role in such relationships, prior studies on both governance solutions are generally confined to single theories, paradigms and viewpoints. Drawing on an in-depth case study, survey data and conceptual developments, the author advances a more integrative framework. He probes issues such as:

• the tension between the need and the ability to contract
• trust and contracts as co-evolving and self-reinforcing phenomena
• contractual functions other than coordination and control
• dialectical tensions stemming from contract application
• standardization of contracting practices.

By exploring these topics, the book offers novel perspectives on the role of trust in interorganizational relationships, shifting our attention and creation to the discovery of value by collaborating partners.

The book offers novel perspectives on the role of contracts and trust in interorganizational relationships, shifting our attention from the creation and appropriation to the discovery of value by collaborating partners. The book will be useful for managers as well as practitioners interested in the governance and management of inter-organizational relationships. It will also be an important resource for academics and students interested in strategy, organization and organizational theory.