Competence relatedness, asset specificity and vertical integration : an integrating model of transaction cost economics and the competence perspective
Doctoral thesis
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/162393Utgivelsesdato
1998Metadata
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Sammendrag
This study develops a conceptual model that explains vertical integration as a synthesis of
transaction costs economics and the competence perspective. It is proposed that variables
derived from these two perspectives are complementary and interact in the vertical integration
decision. The underlying behavioral assumptions in the two perspectives are examined and
discussed. The assumptions of opportunism and bounded rationality as used in the TCE-
framework are respecified and based on a synthesis of transaction cost economics,
evolutionary economics and the resource-based perspective.
The model developed was empirically tested on a sample of Norwegian hydroelectric power
stations industry. The results from the test show that the concepts derived from the two
perspectives have substantial impact on the vertical integration decision. Consequently, the
synthesis provides a much more powerful framework for explaining vertical integration, than
the two perspectives may contribute in isolation. Accordingly, the two perspectives should be
integrated into a unified framework sharing the same set of assumptions. Transaction cost
economics and the competence perspective are not, as previously argued, in conflict, but are
complementary. In the last part of the dissertation theoretical and managerial implications are
presented and discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.