Management control of interfirm transactional relationships: the case of industrial renovation and maintenance

Abstract

This paper is focused on the way in which interfirm relations can be drawn up and controlled. Drawing on contracting theories a model is built of the management control structure of interfirm relationships. The model consists of three control patterns and of contingency factors that influence the choices between the patterns. Particular attention is paid to the role of trust. In building our model we take the perspective of the outsourcer. We try to refine our model by conducting case research in the field of industrial renovation and industrial maintenance. In this field we observed changes in the way outsourcing relationships are controlled. Case research can be very helpful for gaining insights into factors that influence the establishment of control structures of interfirm relationships. By comparing the results of our case research we found institutional, strategic, cultural and historical factors to be of great importance for these control structures.

The Mediated Effect of Formal and Informal Control on Governance Forms

“…Hypothesis 5 was accepted as well. Thus, the use of hierarchical rules appears to have a negative influence on informal control, as measured through the contractual structure (Mayer, et al, 1995;Meer-Kooistra & Vosselman, 2000;Şengün & Wasti, 2011).…”

“…The overuse of formal controls decreases trust (Smets, Oorschot, & Langerak, 2013), and trust reduces the need to use formal control mechanisms (Dekker, 2004;Meer-Kooistra & Vosselman, 2000). The benefits of this negative relationship between trust and formal control have been highlighted by numerous organizational scholars (Şengün & Wasti, 2011).…”

“…Thus, a number of studies was conducted on the selection of the governance form by examining transaction characteristics (Crandall, Eisenach, & Litan, 2010;Howell et al, 2010;Neumann, 2010;Waterman & Choi, 2011), the definition of the control structure based on the transaction characteristics (Ding, Dekker, & Groot, 2013;Johansson & Siverbo, 2011;Meer-Kooistra & Vosselman, 2000) and the influence of actionorganizing mechanisms on relationship outcomes (Reuver, 2011;Reuver & Bouwman, 2012;Eriksson & Laan, 2007;Langfield-Smith, 2008;Langfield-Smith & Smith, 2003;Şengün & Wasti, 2011).…”

La rupture du contrôle par la confiance dans les relations client-fournisseur

“…Les chercheurs en contrôle qui ont investi le champ des relations inter-organisationnelles ont largement intégré dans leurs travaux les apports de la littérature inter-organisationnelle (en particulier les travaux de l'approche transactionnelle et de l'approche de l'échange relationnel) et ceux de la littérature intra-organisationnelle (en particulier les travaux d 2 ) pour proposer des modes de contrôle correspondant aux diverses situations d'échange (Dekker, 2004 ;Dumoulin, 1997 ;Dumoulin et Gbaka, 1997 ;Froehlicher, 2000 ;Langfield-Smith et Smith, 2003 ;van der Meer-Kooistra et Vosselman, 2000).…”

“…En réduisant l'incertitude et les risques (Adler, 2001 ;Ring et Van de Ven, 1994), la confiance permet de développer des relations durables (Ganesan, 1994 ;Langfield-Smith et Smith, 2003 ;van der Meer-Kooistra et Vosselman, 2000), de favoriser l'engagement (Guibert, 1996) et de transformer des engagements problématiques en engagements crédibles (Karpik, 1996).…”