IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v237y2014i3p1037-1053.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of asset specificity on maintenance financial performance: An empirical application of Transaction Cost Theory to the medical device maintenance field

Author

Listed:
  • Cruz, Antonio Miguel
  • Haugan, Gregory L.
  • Rincon, Adriana Maria Rios

Abstract

This study uses multivariate regression analysis to examine the effects of asset specificity on the financial performance of both external and internal governance structures for medical device maintenance, and investigates how the financial performance of external governance structures differs depending on whether a hospital is private or public. The hypotheses were tested using information on 764 medical devices and 62 maintenance service providers, resulting in 1403 maintenance transactions. As such, our data sample is significantly larger than those used in previous studies in this area. The results empirically support our core theoretical argument that governance financial performance is influenced by assets specificity.

Suggested Citation

  • Cruz, Antonio Miguel & Haugan, Gregory L. & Rincon, Adriana Maria Rios, 2014. "The effects of asset specificity on maintenance financial performance: An empirical application of Transaction Cost Theory to the medical device maintenance field," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 237(3), pages 1037-1053.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:237:y:2014:i:3:p:1037-1053
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2014.02.040
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221714001751
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2014.02.040?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jackson, Canek & Pascual, Rodrigo, 2008. "Optimal maintenance service contract negotiation with aging equipment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(2), pages 387-398, September.
    2. Kirk Monteverde & David J. Teece, 1982. "Supplier Switching Costs and Vertical Integration in the Automobile Industry," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(1), pages 206-213, Spring.
    3. Williamson, Oliver E, 1979. "Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractural Relations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 233-261, October.
    4. Tarakci, Hakan & Tang, Kwei & Teyarachakul, Sunantha, 2009. "Learning effects on maintenance outsourcing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 192(1), pages 138-150, January.
    5. Oliver E. Williamson, 1991. "Strategizing, economizing, and economic organization," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S2), pages 75-94, December.
    6. Macher Jeffrey T & Richman Barak D, 2008. "Transaction Cost Economics: An Assessment of Empirical Research in the Social Sciences," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-65, May.
    7. Ulset, Svein, 1996. "R&D outsourcing and contractual governance: An empirical study of commercial R&D projects," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 63-82, July.
    8. Howard A. Shelanski, 2004. "Transaction-level determinants of transfer-pricing policy: evidence from the high-technology sector," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 13(6), pages 953-966, December.
    9. Shelanski, Howard A & Klein, Peter G, 1995. "Empirical Research in Transaction Cost Economics: A Review and Assessment," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 335-361, October.
    10. Mirzahosseinian, H. & Piplani, R., 2011. "A study of repairable parts inventory system operating under performance-based contract," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 214(2), pages 256-261, October.
    11. Spiller, Pablo T, 1985. "On Vertical Mergers," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(2), pages 285-312, Fall.
    12. Mark L. Diana, 2009. "Exploring information systems outsourcing in U.S. hospital-based health care delivery systems," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 434-450, December.
    13. Janet Y. Murray & Masaaki Kotabe, 1999. "Sourcing strategies of U.S. service companies: a modified transaction–cost analysis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(9), pages 791-809, September.
    14. De Vita, Glauco & Tekaya, Arafet & Wang, Catherine L., 2010. "Asset specificity's impact on outsourcing relationship performance: A disaggregated analysis by buyer-supplier asset specificity dimensions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 657-666, July.
    15. Dranove, David & White, William D, 1994. "Recent Theory and Evidence on Competition in Hospital Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 169-209, Spring.
    16. Murthy, D. N. P. & Asgharizadeh, E., 1999. "Optimal decision making in a maintenance service operation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 259-273, July.
    17. Shafiee, Mahmood & Chukova, Stefanka, 2013. "Maintenance models in warranty: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 229(3), pages 561-572.
    18. Erica L. Plambeck & Stefanos A. Zenios, 2000. "Performance-Based Incentives in a Dynamic Principal-Agent Model," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 2(3), pages 240-263, April.
    19. Lyons, Bruce R., 1995. "Specific investment, economies of scale, and the make-or-buy decision: A test of transaction cost theory," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 431-443, May.
    20. Macher, Jeffrey T. & Richman, Barak D., 2008. "Transaction Cost Economics: An Assessment of Empirical Research in the Social Sciences," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-63, April.
    21. Masten, Scott E & Meehan, James W, Jr & Snyder, Edward A, 1991. "The Costs of Organization," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1-25, Spring.
    22. Erin Anderson, 1985. "The Salesperson as Outside Agent or Employee: A Transaction Cost Analysis," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 234-254.
    23. Coles, Jerilyn W. & Hesterly, William S., 1998. "Transaction costs, quality, and economies of scale: examining contracting choices in the hospital industry," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 321-345, December.
    24. Berrade, M.D. & Cavalcante, Cristiano A.V. & Scarf, Philip A., 2012. "Maintenance scheduling of a protection system subject to imperfect inspection and replacement," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 218(3), pages 716-725.
    25. Ho, William & Xu, Xiaowei & Dey, Prasanta K., 2010. "Multi-criteria decision making approaches for supplier evaluation and selection: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 202(1), pages 16-24, April.
    26. Benaroch, Michel & Webster, Scott & Kazaz, Burak, 2012. "Impact of sourcing flexibility on the outsourcing of services under demand uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(2), pages 272-283.
    27. William M. Dugger, 1996. "The Mechanisms of Governance," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 1212-1216, December.
    28. Brian S. Silverman & Jack A. Nickerson & John Freeman, 1997. "Profitability, Transactional Alignment, And Organizational Mortality In The U.S. Trucking Industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 31-52, July.
    29. Michael J. Leiblein & Douglas J. Miller, 2003. "An empirical examination of transaction‐ and firm‐level influences on the vertical boundaries of the firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(9), pages 839-859, September.
    30. W. Coles, Jerilyn & Hesterly, William S., 1998. "The impact of firm-specific assets and the interaction of uncertainty: an examination of make or buy decisions in public and private hospitals," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 383-409, August.
    31. Pauly, Mark V, 1987. "Nonprofit Firms in Medical Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 257-262, May.
    32. Masten, Scott E. & Meehan, James Jr. & Snyder, Edward A., 1989. "Vertical integration in the U.S. auto industry : A note on the influence of transaction specific assets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 265-273, October.
    33. Jin, Tongdan & Tian, Yu, 2012. "Optimizing reliability and service parts logistics for a time-varying installed base," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 218(1), pages 152-162.
    34. Mahar, Stephen & Bretthauer, Kurt M. & Salzarulo, Peter A., 2011. "Locating specialized service capacity in a multi-hospital network," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 212(3), pages 596-605, August.
    35. Brian S. Silverman, 1999. "Technological Resources and the Direction of Corporate Diversification: Toward an Integration of the Resource-Based View and Transaction Cost Economics," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(8), pages 1109-1124, August.
    36. Frédéric Dalsace & Michael J. Leiblein & Jeffrey J. Reuer, 2002. "Do make or buy decisions matter? The influence of organizational governance on technological performance," Post-Print hal-00457649, HAL.
    37. Ramji Balakrishnan & Leslie Eldenburg & Ranjani Krishnan & Naomi Soderstrom, 2010. "The Influence of Institutional Constraints on Outsourcing," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 767-794, September.
    38. Masten, Scott E, 1984. "The Organization of Production: Evidence from the Aerospace Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 403-417, October.
    39. Fallah-Fini, Saeideh & Triantis, Konstantinos & de la Garza, Jesus M. & Seaver, William L., 2012. "Measuring the efficiency of highway maintenance contracting strategies: A bootstrapped non-parametric meta-frontier approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(1), pages 134-145.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fu-Sheng Tsai & Chin-Chiung Kuo & Julia L. Lin, 2020. "Knowledge Heterogenization of the Franchising Literature Applying Transaction Cost Economics," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-27, November.
    2. Merkert, Rico & Mulley, Corinne & Hakim, Md Mahbubul, 2018. "Trade-offs between transaction cost, operation cost and innovation in the context of procurement and asset specificity – The example of the bus industry," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 173-179.
    3. de Jonge, Bram & Teunter, Ruud & Tinga, Tiedo, 2017. "The influence of practical factors on the benefits of condition-based maintenance over time-based maintenance," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 21-30.
    4. Ivlev, Ilya & Vacek, Jakub & Kneppo, Peter, 2015. "Multi-criteria decision analysis for supporting the selection of medical devices under uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 247(1), pages 216-228.
    5. Rim Zouari‐Hadiji, 2023. "Financial innovation characteristics and banking performance: The mediating effect of risk management," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 1214-1227, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lajili, Kaouthar & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2005. "Revisiting Agency and Transaction Costs Theory Predictions on Vertical Financial Ownership and Contracting: Electronic Integration as an Organizational Form Choice," Working Papers 05-0106, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    2. Miguel Cruz, Antonio & Maria Rios Rincon, Adriana, 2012. "Medical device maintenance outsourcing: Have operation management research and management theories forgotten the medical engineering community? A mapping review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(1), pages 186-197.
    3. Gonzalez-Diaz, Manuel & Arrunada, Benito & Fernandez, Alberto, 2000. "Causes of subcontracting: evidence from panel data on construction firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 167-187, June.
    4. Mikko Ketokivi & Joseph T. Mahoney, 2020. "Transaction Cost Economics As a Theory of Supply Chain Efficiency," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(4), pages 1011-1031, April.
    5. Fernández Olmos, Marta, 2010. "The performance implications of "grow or buy" decisions in the wine industry," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 256-264, June.
    6. Steven Globerman & Aidan Vining, 2004. "The Outsourcing Decision: A Strategic Framework," International Trade 0404007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Francine Lafontaine & Margaret Slade, 2007. "Vertical Integration and Firm Boundaries: The Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(3), pages 629-685, September.
    8. Richard Carter, 2012. "Transaction Cost Empirical Work," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 13, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Marta Fernández-Olmos & Jorge Rosell-Martínez & Manuel A. Espitia-Escuer, 2009. "Vertical integration in the wine industry: a transaction costs analysis on the Rioja DOCa," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 231-250.
    10. Manuel González & Benito Arruñada & Alberto Fernández, 1997. "La decisión de subcontratar: el caso de las empresas constructoras," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 21(3), pages 501-521, September.
    11. Hermano, Víctor & Martín-Cruz, Natalia, 2013. "How to Deliver Foreign Aid? The Case of Projects Governed by the Spanish International Agency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 298-314.
    12. Fan, Joseph P. H., 2000. "Price uncertainty and vertical integration: an examination of petrochemical firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 345-376, December.
    13. Robert Gibbons, 2010. "Transaction‐Cost Economics: Past, Present, and Future?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(2), pages 263-288, June.
    14. Bigelow, Lyda S. & Argyres, Nicholas, 2008. "Transaction costs, industry experience and make-or-buy decisions in the population of early U.S. auto firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(3-4), pages 791-807, June.
    15. Coles, Jerilyn W. & Hesterly, William S., 1998. "Transaction costs, quality, and economies of scale: examining contracting choices in the hospital industry," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 321-345, December.
    16. Sharon Novak & Scott Stern, 2009. "Complementarity Among Vertical Integration Decisions: Evidence from Automobile Product Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 311-332, February.
    17. Michael E. Sykuta, 2010. "Empirical Methods in Transaction Cost Economics," Chapters, in: Peter G. Klein & Michael E. Sykuta (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Transaction Cost Economics, chapter 16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Christian Balcells, 2022. "Determinants of firm boundaries and organizational performance: an empirical investigation of the Chilean truck market," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 423-461, April.
    19. De Vita, Glauco & Tekaya, Arafet & Wang, Catherine L., 2010. "Asset specificity's impact on outsourcing relationship performance: A disaggregated analysis by buyer-supplier asset specificity dimensions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 657-666, July.
    20. Peter G. Klein, 2010. "Vertical Integration," Chapters, in: Peter G. Klein & Michael E. Sykuta (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Transaction Cost Economics, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:237:y:2014:i:3:p:1037-1053. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.