■

Ring, P. S. and A. H. Van de Ven (1992). 'Structuring Cooperative Relationships Between Organizations'. Strategic Management Journal 13(7): 483.
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=809965&Fmt=7&clientId=44986&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Alliances and similar cooperative efforts are receiving increased attention in the strategic management literature. These relationships differ in significant ways from those goverened by markets or hierarchies and pose very different issues for researchers and managers. The alternative forms of governance in cases where multiple organizations repeatedly cooperate are explored. The criteria that bear on the choice of governance are risk and reliance on trust. Varying combinations of risk and reliance on trust will lead transacting parties to select among 4 nodal forms of governance: discrete contracting, recurrent contracting, relational contracting, or hierarchical managerial transactions. The analysis implies that the emergence of these relational contracts is a dynamic process. Levels of risk in deals and reliance on trust between parties can and will change over time, and with these changes parties will alter their choices in governance structures and accompanying safeguards.