IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/clb/wpaper/200802.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Make-Or-Buy Theories: Where Do We Stand?

Author

Listed:
  • Rosanna Nisticò

    (Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica, Università della Calabria)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the state-of-the art and the directions for research on the make-orbuy problem. After thirty years of research efforts, we now have numerous contributions explaining different aspects of the nature and existence of the firm. The search for a unified theory, however, still remains, at a theoretical level, a challenge. The task is not easy, perhaps because the theory of the firm develops along two different strands, one analyzing the factors influencing the boundaries, and the other one relating to the internal structure; or because, even inside the same research strand, it is not really easy to grasp the similarities and differences between contributions that have followed one another in rapid succession over the last few years. This paper examines the theories concerning the make-or-buy problem, focusing on recent contributions that have tried to develop a unified framework and emphasizes the role of incomplete contracts as a common and significant trait of the theories discussed

Suggested Citation

  • Rosanna Nisticò, 2008. "Make-Or-Buy Theories: Where Do We Stand?," Working Papers 200802, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF.
    • Handle: RePEc:clb:wpaper:200802
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ecostat.unical.it/RePEc/WorkingPapers/WP02_2008.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2008-12
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter G. Klein, 2005. "The Make-or-Buy Decision: Lessons from Empirical Studies," Springer Books, in: Claude Menard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), Handbook of New Institutional Economics, chapter 17, pages 435-464, Springer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Alain-Désiré Nimubona & Bernard Sinclair-Desgagné, 2011. "Polluters and Abaters," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 103-104, pages 9-24.
    2. 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.
    3. Künneke, Rolf & Groenewegen, John & Ménard, Claude, 2010. "Aligning modes of organization with technology: Critical transactions in the reform of infrastructures," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 494-505, September.
    4. Horsky Sharon & Michael Steven C. & Silk Alvin J., 2012. "The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-Industry Analysis," Review of Marketing Science, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-35, October.
    5. Alex Eapen & Rekha Krishnan, 2019. "Transferring Tacit Know-How: Do Opportunism Safeguards Matter for Firm Boundary Decisions?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 715-734, July.
    6. Di Corato, Luca & Moretto, Michele & Rossini, Gianpaolo, 2017. "Financing flexibility: The case of outsourcing," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 35-65.
    7. Altman, Ira J. & Klein, Peter G. & Johnson, Thomas G., 2006. "Scale as a Transaction Cost Variable in the U.S. Biopower Industry," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21141, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    8. Patricia Everaert & Gerrit Sarens & Jan Rommel, 2010. "Using Transaction Cost Economics to explain outsourcing of accounting," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 93-112, July.
    9. Roehlano M. Briones, 2013. "The Structure of Agricultural Trade Industry in Developing Countries," Trade Working Papers 23420, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    10. M. Moretto & G. Rossini, 2015. "Vertical flexibility, outsourcing and the financial choices of the firm," Working Papers wp1009, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    11. KANI Masayo & MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki, 2016. "Understanding External Technology Sourcing in New Product Development Projects: Bilateral vs. unilateral contracts," Discussion papers 16104, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    12. Alger Ingela & Ma Ching-to Albert & Renault Regis, 2012. "Experience Benefits and Firm Organization," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-35, September.
    13. Joan Ramon Rosés, 2005. "Subcontracting and vertical integration in the Spanish cotton industry," Economics Working Papers 816, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    14. Lasse B. Lien & Peter G. Klein, 2013. "Can the Survivor Principle Survive Diversification?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(5), pages 1478-1494, October.
    15. Rafael Pardo & Ruth Rama, 2013. "Is the Pro-Network Bias Justified?," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(3), pages 21582440134, July.
    16. Michael G. Jacobides, 2008. "How Capability Differences, Transaction Costs, and Learning Curves Interact to Shape Vertical Scope," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(2), pages 306-326, April.
    17. Traversac, Jean-Baptiste & Rousset, Sylvain & Perrier-Cornet, Philippe, 2011. "Farm resources, transaction costs and forward integration in agriculture: Evidence from French wine producers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 839-847.
    18. KANI Masayo & MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki, 2013. "Determinants of Demand for Technology in Relationships with Complementary Assets in Japanese Firms," Discussion papers 13033, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    19. Aubert, M. & Bouhsina, Z. & Codron, J.M. & Rousset, S., 2013. "Pesticide safety risk, food chain organization, and the adoption of sustainable farming practices. The case of Moroccan early tomatoes," Working Papers MoISA 201304, UMR MoISA : Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (social and nutritional sciences): CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, INRAE, L'Institut Agro, Montpellier SupAgro, IRD - Montpellier, France.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:clb:wpaper:200802. 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: Giovanni Dodero (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decalit.html .

    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.