Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. As such, it is in the public domain, and under the provisions of Title 17, United States Code, Section 105, it may not be copyrighted. / MBA Professional Report / In an effort to align sources with requirements, the Department of Defense has implemented initiatives that mirror industry's strategic sourcing practices. These initiatives include Consolidated Purchasing, Commodity Councils and Regionalization. This project will examine a successful Commodity Council (CC), a failed CC, and one in the early stages of development. We will seek characteristics common to both successful and unsuccessful councils, as well as characteristics that differentiate the outcomes. We will include a brief history of strategic sourcing as a long-term supply-chain management solution in the private sector, the impetus behind AF implementation of strategic sourcing through CCs; associated transactions costs, and finally, the resource management practices necessary to move beyond theory to practical application. The results are illustrated in a case study which will provide a template for successful implementation.

Business-to-business relationships within sustained monopolies, such as those within Defence Procurement, have received limited attention by Management Researchers. This is unusual because under these market circumstances typically there appear to be few incentives to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes despite their strategic policy importance. The purpose of this thesis is therefore, to determine the influential relationship factors between the UK Ministry of Defence and its Industrial partners within a predominantly monopolistic Defence Procurement business. The approach adopted for this research project is exploratory and inter-subject area. It uses quantitative and supportive qualitative data to examine the problem through an economic model using Supply Chain Management, Relationship Marketing and Transaction Cost Economics. A self-selected census of 54 business relationships is carried out from both the buyer and supplier perspectives through staff questionnaires and team leader semi-structured interviews. The findings from this research show, contrary to the expectation of the theoretical model, a positive relationship success situation with a spectrum of both positive and negative behavioural factors present. However, a significant adversarial influence is a suite of issues that are endemic to the business in question such as old products, obsolescence, staff and organisational upheavals, poor end-customer visibility and lack of investment in modern procedures and systems. Within the monopoly environment these accentuate managers’ frustrations due to lack of freedom of action. The primary contribution of this research is therefore, an increased understanding of the business-to-business relationship dynamics within long-term, closely coupled, collaborative, business-to-business arrangements as exemplified by UK Defence and the results are likely to be of interest to both academics and managers.

The purpose of this study is to produce new knowledge concerning the perceived effects of blockchain technology on transaction costs within supply chains handling physical goods through the created and hypothetical TCE-matrix. The study followed an abductive research approach where initial found facts were matched against an appropriate theory in order to be put in context and understood. The study’s data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with experts who were active within the research area and chosen based on their practical experience. The results imply that blockchain holds the possibility to affect five out of nine cells within the TCE-matrix out of the experts’ perception, through its increased trust and transparency between its supply chain actors within the network and the enhanced traceability of physical goods. This study further highlights practical implications concerning the technology’s adoption in practice. It is concluded that the blockchain is perceived to have an effect on transaction costs activities out of the TCE-matrix, which is found to be partly applicable when assessing the blockchains potential effect on transaction cost activities in a general manner, where further studies should apply the matrix in the assessment of one specific transaction to take full advantage of the matrix’ potential.

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The U.S. is experiencing the worst recession since the Great Depression. All levels of government have been hit really hard, this is especially apparent at the local level since services provided at the local level are woven into people’s daily life. Thus, how to “do more with less” is more urgent than ever before. The use of privatization came to surface as a sound solution for deficit-plagued governments as it is thought to be more cost effective and outperform the public sector in most cases. This dissertation contains two empirical chapters that examine determinants of privatization and specify the conditions under which it is optimal to buy and under which it is optimal to produce in-house. Chapter two explores determinants that contribute to the use of privatization at the local level in the U.S. This chapter incorporates spatial technique to perform the analysis, which is a different approach from much of the literature. Empirical results indicate that a local government’s sourcing decision is affected by its nearby local jurisdictions. External stakeholders’ involvement contributes to the use of outsourcing, whereas having a limited supply of service providers impedes it. Chapter three applies a transaction cost economics (TCE) framework complemented with a revenue volatility measure to disentangle the mechanisms that drive public services’ outsourcing decisions. Results suggest that, in general, services with higher asset specificity and higher contract management difficulty are less likely to be outsourced, and a robust and competitive market facilitates the use of outsourcing.

<p>Allt fler företag har med tiden sett outsourcing som en lösning för att bli mer konkurrenskraftiga. Företag kan välja att outsourca kärnverksamheten och därmed ställs höga krav på leverantörerna och samarbetet. De frågor som uppsatsen söker svar på är: Vilken betydelse har förtroende vid outsourcing av produktutveckling? Hur uppstår förtroendet? Undersökningen avser att analysera hur förtroendet för leverantören påverkar outsourcingen av produktutveckling. Genom att diskutera förhållandet mellan förtroende och transaktionskostnader kommer dessa faktorers betydelse för samarbetet mellan kund och leverantör att presenteras. Syftet med uppsatsen är att få en förståelse för hur ett företag arbetar med förtroende mot leverantörer då kärnverksamheten utkontrakteras. Studien har genomförts som en kvalitativ fallstudie. Fem personer intervjuades, dessa innehade roller som, inköpare, outsourcing managers, patentansvarig, samt kvalitetsansvarig. Intervjuerna var semistrukturerade med öppna, strukturerade, frågor. För att analysera svaren användes en modell som föreslagits för analys av förtroende mellan parter av Greenberg et al. (2008). Enligt denna modell beror förtroende mellan parter på tre faktorer integritet, välvilja och förmåga. Alla aktiviteter som uppstår vid outsourcingen kan ses som transaktionskostnader vilka har delats in i, kontaktkostnader, kontraktkostnader och kontrollkostnader. Resultatet visar på en tydlig koppling mellan förtroende och reducerade transaktionskostnader. Förtroendet uppkommer genom kontinuitet och god kommunikation. Resultatet visar också att förtroende till en del är formaliserat och till en del icke-formaliserat. Av dessa är det formaliserade förtroendet mest betydelsefullt. Detta formaliserade förtroende var beroende av kontroll för att kunna utvecklas. Praktiskt visar studien att förtroende är en viktig faktor inom outsourcing av produktutveckling och att förtroendet uppfattas som betydelsefullt av flera typer av experter som är inblandade i outsourcing. Att studera balansen mellan formaliserat och icke-formaliserat förtroende och inom outsourcing av komplexa kärnverksamheter och denna balans betydelse för transaktionskostnader kan vara ett intressant ämne för framtida forskning.   </p> / <p>Over time more and more companies have started to look at outsourcing as an opportunity for improved competiveness. A company may choose to outsource its core business and this will be challenging for the suppliers and for the collaboration. This thesis is trying to answer the following questions: What is the importance of trust in outsourcing of product development? How is the trust formed? The investigation intends to analyze how trust in the supplier is affecting outsourcing of product development. The relationship between trust and transaction costs is discussed as well as the effect of these factors on the collaboration with the supplier. The objective is to reach an understanding of how a company uses trust in outsourcing of core business activities. The investigation was performed as a qualitative case study. Five respondents with roles as purchaser, outsourcing manager, patent attorney and quality assurance professional, were interviewed. The interviews were semi structured with open structured questions. A model, suggested by Greenberg et al. (2008), for analysis of trust between parties was used to analyze the responses. According to this model, trust can be related to three factors: integrity, benevolence and competence and different activities can be attributed to contact costs, contract costs and control costs. The result shows a clear relationship between trust and reduced transaction costs. The trust is developed through continuity and good communication. The result also shows that the trust is partly formalized and partly non-formalized and that the formalized trust is most important of the two. The development of formalized trust is dependent on control. Practical implication of the study is that trust is important in outsourcing of product development and the importance of trust is acknowledged by different experts involved in outsourcing. The balance between formalized and non-formalized trust in outsourcing of complex core business activities and the impact of this balance on transactions costs may be an interesting topic for future studies. </p>

The aim of this research is to develop, examine and validate a conceptual framework, which explains factors of the export supply chain relationship focusing on information sharing in export supply chain management field. This research seeks to understand the dyadic exporter-producer relationship in the export industry of fresh fruit and vegetables from Jordan to the European Union. Jordan supplies very limited fresh fruit and vegetable exports to the European market and the exporter-producer relationships are still weak, which impedes the emergence of a high performance supply chain within this promising market. There has been a lack of conceptual and empirical research on information sharing, which limits the understanding of the business relationship and there is no theoretical framework analysing export supply chain relationships. Therefore, this research examines the possible association between the following factors: relationship, network and transaction dimensions; information sharing; and export performance. A framework for the influence of information sharing on a dyadic exporter-producer relationship of supply chain management guiding this research is developed initially, based on three perspectives: relationship marketing theory, network theory and transaction cost theory. Qualitative methodology is used to achieve the research aim and objectives in Jordan. The research is comprised of two phases. In phase one, seven interviews with experts are conducted to refine the initial framework for key propositions and propose a framework for supply chain management. In phase two, there are ten multiple-case studies, which contain 40 semi-structured interviews, 40 hours of observations and archival records. These cases are primarily conducted with the selected exporter and producer firms in the export industry of fresh fruit and vegetables. Data are collected and analysed, based on key themes and a case study protocol, which individually explore each exporter-producer relationship ―case‖ in order to examine the proposed framework. Finally, the ten cases are cross-analysed to explain the key findings and to match them to the framework in order to validate it as the final conceptual framework for supply chain management. The research findings support the central premise that specific dimensions of relationships, networks and transactions are the key antecedents of information sharing, which in turn influences export performance. The findings confirm that the exporters and the producers are able to support their relationships through the benefits gained from these dimensions at the relationship, network and transaction levels of the export III Information Sharing in an Export Supply Chain Relationship Luai Jraisat supply chain. It is through this alignment that firms create better information sharing between them. Likewise, the findings suggest that firms will be able to gain strategic advantages from supply chain management based on information sharing and its components, namely content, sharing methods, sources and value, thus suggesting that the firms should apply information sharing to improve financial and non-financial export performance. The research makes key contributions to theory and methodology, and has policy and managerial implications. Theoretical contributions are made to the supply chain management literature by providing a holistic framework for supply chain management to understand the exporter-producer relationship. The research expands on the applications of the three perspectives combined and focuses on information sharing as a key factor. Methodological contributions are offered as this research connects the qualitative methodology to the theory, enabling an analytical generalisation of supply chain management relationships by examining both sides of the dyadic relationship to guide their information sharing. This research expands more on the validity and reliability aspects to ensure the strength of this qualitative empirical research. Policy and managerial implications are addressed for managers and policy-makers. The research limitations and guidelines for future research are discussed.

Esta tese questiona a orientação liberal de que a privatização é a melhor maneira para se encontrar a eficiência na entrega de serviços públicos. A maior parte dos serviços públicos não soberanos, de acordo com a visão liberal, deve ser privatizada ou terceirizada. A teoria da Economia dos Custos de Transação foi utilizada para verificar se, de fato, essa afirmação seria possível, em cenários cuja eficiência de mercado é questionável, ou seja, em territórios de fronteira, vizinhos na Argentina e no Brasil. O estudo procura validar o uso da matriz analítica dos custos de transação, desenvolvida por Oliver Williamson, para transações do setor privado, em serviços públicos de atenção primária à saúde. A resposta à pergunta se a hipótese discriminante de alinhamento pode ser usada para se explicar, comparativamente, a eficiência da atenção primária em dois territórios distintos é o foco da tese. A análise da atenção primária à saúde e suas características demonstrou que esses serviços apresentam alta especificidade nos territórios estudados e que dificilmente serão mediados por uma plataforma de governança de mercado. As diferenças na evolução institucional nos dois contextos resultaram em modos diferentes de governança. De modo comparado, o maior desalinhamento verificado na Argentina corresponde ao indicador de mortalidade infantil menos eficiente em contraste com o caso brasileiro, de modo consistente com a teoria. Entretanto, a validação desse achado é limitada pela amostra de dois casos, pela pouca disponibilidade de informações de desempenho na Argentina e pelo conjunto de variáveis residuais que não é homogêneo. / This thesis questions the liberal orientation that privatization is the best way to get better efficiency in delivering public services. The most of not sovereign public services, according to the liberal point of view should be rendered under privatization or outsourcing platforms. The theory of Transaction Cost Economics was used to verify if market structures should be chosen as governance mode where market is not efficient, specifically in localities in the reciprocal border of Argentina and Brazil. The study tries to validate the use of the analytical matrix of transaction costs, developed by Oliver Williamson for the private sector, now applied for the primary health care services. The answer to the question whether the discriminating alignment hypothesis can be used to explain comparatively the efficiency of primary care services in these two territories is the focus of this thesis. Analysis of the primary health care and its features demonstrated that these services are high specific and that they are unlikely to be mediated by a market based platform of governance. The differences in institutional development in both contexts resulted in different modes of governance. So compared, the largest misalignment that occurs in Argentina corresponds to the worst ratio of infant mortality in contrast to the Brazilian case. This is consistent with the theory. However, the validation of this finding was limited by a sample of two cases, by a limited availability of performance data in Argentina and by a residual set of variables that showed itself as not homogeneous.

Por que os padrões oficiais para produtos frescos não são adotados no Brasil? Apesar das vantagens expostas pela teoria econômica, padrões oficiais não são adotados. O mercado agrícola lida com a incerteza derivada de características inerentes tais como variabilidade e perecibilidade dos produtos frescos. Padrões homogeneízam bens, levando o mercado a ser mais competitivo. É esperado, portanto, que os agentes adotem padrões para reduzir tal variabilidade. Entretanto, no principal mercado atacadista brasileiro, o sistema atual de classificação não é previsível, e os agentes têm recusado a aceitar o novo padrão oficial. Os produtos são classificados de acordo com a qualidade observada no dia e os preços são então estabelecidos. Cada dia uma nova classificação é feita. Em alguns casos não somente os preços oscilam diariamente, mas também o que é definido como \"A\" hoje pode ser considerado \"2A\" amanhã. Sendo o padrão oficial voluntário, parte-se da premissa de que a adoção é uma decisão organizacional de cada firma. Duas hipóteses são feitas. Os agentes enfrentarão benefícios e custos antes e depois da adoção do novo padrão. Se os custos forem mais elevados do que os benefícios previstos, os agentes rejeitarão o padrão. De acordo com a perspectiva de governança, mesmo quando são esperados ganhos líquidos, os agentes tenderão a resistir à padronização se houver necessidade de investimentos que envolvam especificidade, e salvaguardas serão necessárias a fim de proteger quase renda. Na segunda hipótese, os agentes não adotam padrões porque se beneficiam da falta de delimitação dos atributos capturando margens que estão em domínio público. Assim, os custos da mensuração dos atributos estariam afetando a padronização. A análise empírica tem foco nas transações entre atacadista e varejista de tomate fresco que ocorrem no principal mercado atacadista brasileiro. A pesquisa integra: análise da estrutura contratual do arranjo e do mercado dos agentes envolvidos na transação; um estudo de caso; e uma análise da relação entre custos para adoção do padrão oficial, custos de mensuração e especificidade do ativo. Origens dos dados: survey com atacadistas e varejistas. Como resultados, a padronização requer alto nível de investimento específico e, portanto, custos de transação seriam altos. De acordo com a perspectiva de governança, não haveria incentivos para agentes investirem em tecnologia sem salvaguardas. Os dados empíricos observados na situação atual foram baixo nível de investimentos específicos, incerteza secundária (Williamson, 1985) derivada de potencial devolução de mercadoria, e alta freqüência da transação. Sobre custos de mensuração, esses são potencialmente altos. Os agentes levam muitas horas para realizar a compra, precisam ir várias vezes por semana ao mercado e os consumidores reclamam por terem que fazer a seleção. / Why are official standards not adopted in the market for fresh food in Brazil? Despite the advantages widely claimed by economic theory, official standards are proposed but not adopted. Agricultural markets include uncertainty derived from inherent characteristics such as variability and perishability. Standards homogenize goods, leading to more competitive markets. It is to be expected that agents will adopt standards to reduce variability. However in the major Brazilian wholesale markets, the present grade system is unpredictable, and agents have been refusing to accept new official standards. Products are classified according to the quality observed and then the prices are established. Each day a new grade is ascribed. In some cases, not only do prices oscillate daily, but also what is defined as grade \"A\" today might be considered grade \"2A\" tomorrow. Since official standard is voluntary, we assume the adoption as an organizational decision of each firm. Two hypotheses are made. Agents will face benefits and costs before and after the adoption of a new standard. If the costs are higher than the expected benefits, agents will reject the standard. According to the \"governance perspective\", even when net gains are expected, agents tend to resist standard adoption if it requires specific asset investment and safeguards will be required in order to protect quasi rents. The second hypothesis is, agents don\'t\' adopt standards since they get benefits from the lack of delimitation of attributes through capturing margins in public domain. Thus, measurement costs of attributes based on official standards are affecting standard adoption. Empirical analysis is focused on fresh tomato wholesaler-retailer transactions on the main Brazilian wholesale market. The research integrates: analysis of the contractual arrangement and market structure of the agents involved in the transaction; a case study; and an analysis of the causal relations between official standard adoption and measurement costs and asset specificity. Data sources: survey of wholesalers and retailers; exploratory interviews with wholesale market agents. Standardization requires high level of specific investments. Technology is product specific thus costs would be high. Thus according to governance perspective there are no incentives for agents to invest in technology. The findings are low level of specific investments, secondary uncertainty (Willianson, 1985) derived from potential merchandise return and a high frequency of transaction. About measurement costs, these are potentially high since agents take several hours to buy the product and consumers complain about doing the selection. Long ago, public administration spent resources trying to introduce unambiguous standards. The results may contribute to public policy by showing the determinants based on efficiency principles that are confounding the implementation of standards.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo estudar a importância dos custos de transação nas operações em mercados futuros no Brasil. Para isso, foi proposta, primeiramente, uma sistematização dos custos de transação, dividindo-os em sete categorias, expostas a seguir: 1) aprendizado e capacitação; 2) taxas da bolsa e corretoras; 3) liquidez do mercado; 4) administração da operação; 5) margem de garantia; 6) necessidade de pagamento de ajustes diários; 7) tributação. O custo relativo à tributação, em particular, face à percepção de que não havia uma clareza quanto às suas características, foi também sistematizado de maneira que pudesse ser compreendido mais claramente. Pessoas físicas e pessoas jurídicas são tributadas diferentemente nas operações em bolsa de futuros, sendo que há diferença também dentro da própria classificação de pessoa jurídica - tributadas com base no lucro real, presumido ou arbitrado. Feita essa caracterização, foram estudados de maneira mais acurada alguns custos em particular, para o caso de pessoa física e com aplicação aos mercados futuros brasileiro da BM&F. Os custos analisados foram: tributação (IRPF e CPMF), taxas da bolsa e corretora, margem de garantia e ajustes diários. O que se propôs foi a aplicação de três métodos distintos e complementares, que possibilitassem sua mensuração. O primeiro método baseou-se em séries históricas de preços; o segundo utilizou-se de técnicas de simulação Monte Carlo, através de modelos ARIMA-GARCH; e o terceiro método também usou a técnica de simulação, porém, através de um modelo teórico mais simples. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que em certas situações os custos podem ser muito elevados, e que pesquisas relativas aos mercados futuros que admitem ausência de custo, ou que utilizem apenas as taxas cobradas pela bolsa e corretoras, podem estar incorrendo em erros consideráveis. Para evidenciar essa argumentação, na presente pesquisa chegou-se, por exemplo, a valores de custos de transação médios que variaram de 2 a 6,5% do valor inicial do contrato. Os métodos utilizados permitiram analisar a influência de diversos fatores na magnitude dos custos: tempo de operação, grau de capitalização do agente, volatilidade e tipo de operação (compra ou venda de contratos). O que se concluiu foi o alto grau de dependência dos custos de transação analisados com relação às possíveis trajetórias de preço, durante a vida do contrato. Ao considerar que no início do contrato a real trajetória de preços que será verificada é desconhecida (incerta), nota-se a existência de um risco de custo, que pode ser assimétrico entre as partes compradas e vendidas. O risco de custo acaba diminuindo o benefício de administração de risco oferecido pelos mercados futuros, tendo efeito semelhante ao risco de base. Porém, o risco de custo independe de operações no mercado físico, algo que não acontece em se tratando da variável base. / This research had the objective to study the importance of transaction costs in the context of Brazilian futures markets. To do that, it was proposed, primarily, a transaction cost systematization, dividing them into seven categories as follows: 1) learning and qualification; 2) exchange and brokers fees; 3) liquidity of market; 4) operation management; 5) margin; 5) cash settlement; 7) tributes. The tributes cost, that was observed as being not clearly understandable by the agents of the markets, was also systematized in a manner to be better comprehended. Natural person and legal entity are taxed differently in the futures markets exchange, and there are some differences between the proper classifications of legal entity, related with the way it is charged. Done this characterization, it was studied in a more accurately manner, some costs related with natural persons, applied to Brazilian futures markets traded at BM&F. The costs analyzed were: tributes (IRPF and CPMF), exchange and brokers fees, margin and cash settlement. It was proposed three different and complementary methods, to make possible the measurement and the understanding. The first method was based in historical price series; the second one utilized Monte Carlo simulation, based on ARIMA-GARCH models; the last method also used simulation techniques, but with a simpler theoretical model. The results demonstrated that in certain situations the costs can be very large. So, futures markets researches that consider absence of costs, or that use only the exchange and brokers fees in their analyzes, can be incurring in considerable mistakes. To present an evidence of this argument, it was obtained, for example, average transaction costs between 2 and 6,5% of the initial value of the contract. The methods utilized allowed to analyze the influence of the several factors in the transaction cost value: the length of operation, the degree of capitalization of the agent, volatility and type of operation (selling or buying contracts). It was concluded that the transaction costs analyzed is large dependent of the futures price trajectories during the period of the contract. Considering that in the beginning of the operation the real trajectory that will be verified is not known (uncertain), it implies in a risk cost that can be asymetric between the buyer and seller of the contracts. The risk cost diminishes the risk management benefits offered by futures markets, having a similar effect of basis risk. However, the former one does not depend on spot market operations, something that does not happen when the subject is basis.