Discussion paper
DP16803 Deals That Start When You Sign Them
This essay explores six sentences from Oliver Williamson— five providing context and the sixth the central topic. Decades ago, Williamson asserted that: (a) “substantially the same factors” (1973: 316) create governance issues not only within organizations but also in interactions between organizations; and (b) relational contracting might be useful in addressing these issues in both domains (1979, Figure II). More recently—in an informal conversation in 2002—he suggested a perspective on relational contracting that appears valuable in both of these domains: relational contracts as “deals that start when you sign them.” The bulk of this essay explores past, present, and potential research on this perspective.
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