To read this content please select one of the options below:

Tied up and Shocked: How Relational Contracting with Suppliers Constrains Global Buyers during an Economic Crisis

Breaking up the Global Value Chain

ISBN: 978-1-78743-072-3, eISBN: 978-1-78743-071-6

Publication date: 4 August 2017

Abstract

This chapter is motivated by a surprising empirical finding: During the 2008 economic crisis, leading global buyers of labor-intensive manufacturing goods were more likely to terminate contracts with suppliers based in countries with strong formal contract enforcement institutions than with those in countries where such institutions were weak. We develop a formal model that explains this counterintuitive finding as the result of heightened reliance on informal contracting when the formal contracting system is unreliable. This explanation contrasts with recent characterizations of outsourcing as an exercise of real options and adds to understanding of the effect of using relational contracting across multiple borders.

Keywords

Citation

Wolfolds, S., Taussig, M., Hong, B. and Carlsson, K. (2017), "Tied up and Shocked: How Relational Contracting with Suppliers Constrains Global Buyers during an Economic Crisis", Breaking up the Global Value Chain (Advances in International Management, Vol. 30), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 157-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1571-502720170000030007

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited