Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a importância das instituições cooperativas no mercado de crédito rural do Brasil, focando principalmente na visão de quem demanda empréstimos e tomando como estudo de caso a Cooperativa de Crédito Rural dos Fornecedores de Cana e Agropecuaristas da Região de Piracicaba - COCREFOCAPI. Discute-se a influência dos vários fatores presentes na decisão dos cooperados em escolher a COCREFOCAPI como principal instituição financiadora, e além disso, analisa-se as características socioeconômicas dos fornecedores de canade- açúcar da região de Piracicaba, sendo este público o alvo desta pesquisa. Para a análise empírica, foram elaborados e testados quatro modelos econométricos de resposta qualitativa, além de um conjunto de análises descritivas. Os dados foram obtidos através das bases do sistema de informação da COCREFOCAPI, e em especial, da utilização de um conjunto de questionários aplicados a uma amostra significativa de fornecedores de cana-de-açúcar cooperados da instituição. Os resultados mostraram que embora a política da COCREFOCAPI esteja focada em financiar principalmente a lavoura de cana-de-açúcar, foi observado que um grupo expressivo de entrevistados diversificam suas atividades econômicas, desta forma, eles procuraram outras opções de financiamento para cobrir a sua demanda por crédito. Por outro lado, observa-se que menores custos de transação se constituem como a principal vantagem da cooperativa frente a outras instituições de crédito, além disso, provou-se a existência de uma relação estatisticamente significativa entre capital institucional e crédito tomado na COCREFOCAPI. / This study aims to examine the importance of cooperative institutions in rural credit market in Brazil, focusing on the vision of those who demand loans, and taking as a case study the Rural Credit Cooperative of Sugarcane Suppliers and Ranchers in the Region of Piracicaba - COCREFOCAPI. The study discusses the influence of various factors in the choice of the COCREFOCAPI as the main financing institution by the cooperative\'s members, and also analyzes the socioeconomic characteristics of the suppliers of sugarcane in Piracicaba, which is the target audience of this research. For the empirical analysis, in this study have been developed and tested four econometric models of qualitative response, and a set of descriptive analysis. Data were obtained through the COCREFOCAPI information system, and particularly, through the use of information of the questionnaires administered to a representative sample of sugarcane suppliers. The results showed that, although the COCREFOCAPI policy is focused on finance mainly the sugarcane production, it was observed that a significant group of respondents diversify their economic activities, in this way, they sought other funding options to cover their demand for credit. Moreover, it is observed that lower transaction costs constitute the main advantage of the COCREFOCAPI over other credit institutions, additionally, it was proved the existence of a statistically significant relationship between capital and institutional credit taken in COCREFOCAPI.

Apesar de se constatar no mundo de hoje ferramentas financeiras altamente desenvolvidas, ainda existe uma fronteira que impossibilita uma grande parte da população mundial de baixa renda a ter acesso a essas ferramentas e suas inovações. A importância da existência das ferramentas financeiras está ligada, nesse trabalho, à oferta de crédito, que possibilita a alavancagem de um pequeno empreendimento através da obtenção de bens de produção e capital de giro. Um dos maiores empecilhos para que a fronteira se expanda é o alto custo de transação das operações de crédito para a população de baixa renda, devido a falta de garantias reais por parte dessa população e necessidade de escala para diluição dos custos fixos. Ao longo da História surgiram tecnologias bem sucedidas que se empenharam justamente em combater o problema da não transposição da fronteira financeira. Em especial, em Bangladesh, na década de 70, um professor de economia uniu-as resultando em uma sinergia que desencadeou o que alguns autores denominaram na literatura internacional "Revolução do Microcrédito". Entretanto, apesar desses avanços, não é certo que tais custos sejam baixos nos programas de microcrédito existentes hoje em dia no Brasil. Com a opção de continuar a ofertar o microcrédito, dado a função social desse empréstimo, as instituições com altos custos de transação se tornam insustentáveis financeiramente. A médio e longo prazo, seus fundos, destinados aos microempréstimos, são corroídos pelos custos, tornando-as incapazes de expandir a fronteira financeira através do aumento na oferta de microcrédito. Ademais, políticas recentes do governo brasileiro para o microcrédito estiveram mais voltadas ao benefício dos clientes finais, o que em alguns momentos prejudicou mais do ajudou as instituições de microcrédito a se desenvolverem no país. O trabalho avaliou o desempenho econômico de uma organização de microcrédito no Brasil e analisou como os Custos de Transação e as políticas do governo exerceram influência sobre a sua Sustentabilidade Financeira, no curto prazo do Banco do Povo - Crédito Solidário na cidade de Santo André e adjacências. No período coberto pelo estudo, o Banco não foi capaz de se sustentar operacional nem financeiramente sendo expressivo o valor de subsídios que essa instituição recebeu até 2003. Expandir a carteira de crédito para gerar maior retorno dos empréstimos gera também altos custos de transação. Constata-se que no Banco do Povo - Crédito Solidário, uma parte considerável das receitas da instituição são advindas de Aplicações Financeiras, uma forma de segurança para a instituição, mas que barram o crescimento da Carteira Ativa. Se o Banco do Povo permanecer com a política de não aumentar as taxas de juros cobradas e ainda for obrigado a implementar um teto para suas taxas, como a sugestão do governo de 2% a.m, então o retorno sobre a Carteira de Crédito no Banco do Povo - Crédito Solidário não permitirá a sustentabilidade da instituição. Os Custos de Transação influenciam a Sustentabilidade Financeira da instituição de duas maneiras: por um lado os custos em relação às receitas são altos o suficiente para tornar a instituição ainda insustentável e, por outro lado, a maior parcela do custo de transação diz respeito aos recursos humanos, que apresentam baixa produtividade na expansão do crédito, o que gera um menor retorno na carteira de crédito. Isso talvez seja causado por conta da pequena história de vida do Banco do Povo - Crédito Solidário. Desse quadro, todavia, existem algumas atitudes que podem ser tomadas. A primeira é que o Banco aumente a sua Carteira Ativa reconduzindo os fundos das Aplicações Financeiras para o portifólio de empréstimos (expandindo a fronteira financeira). Ao mesmo tempo, recomenda-se uma política de diminuição de custos e aumento da produtividade dos recursos humanos. / Despite of the existence of high technologies of financial tools in the world, there is still a frontier which make the low income population incapable to access those tools and its innovations. The importance of those tools in this dissertation is connected to the supply of credit that enable small borrowers to buy inputs and capital to their small business. One of the major problems that stuck the frontier, and do not aloud it moving on, is the high transaction costs on credit supply for low-income population. It happens because the low- income population doesn’t have enough guaranties and credit organizations need scale economics to distribute fixed costs on a wild volume of credit. There have been well successful technologies to improve the access to credit for lowincome population in the world at the last three decades. In Bangladesh an Economics professor linked these technologies and developed a successful program which creates an impact that was called at international literature "Microcredit Revolution". It’s not clear, although, if these technologies are well developed and succeed in Brazil. However, the microcredit institutions continuous supplying credit because their social importance but they are still financial-self insufficiency. In such situation, at the long run, there won’t be any funds for them.. To compensate the difficulties of these institutions, the government policies for microcredit where directed to benefit the clients and the relevance of institutional self-sufficiency were taken as a secondary priority. This dissertation made an evaluation on financial performance for a microcredit organization in Brazil and also analyze how the Transaction Costs and the government policies had affected the financial self-sufficiency at the short-run in Banco do Povo - Crédito Solidário. It has concluded that Banco do Povo were not able to be financial self-sufficient and it needs a amount of subsidies yet. It is clear that part of revenue that comes from financial assets, which is a safety way to generate revenue, but forbids the institution to reach its goals. Considering that interest rates were kept high during the last years in Brazil, the strategy of guaranteeing revenue through investing part of the Banco do Povo capital on government bounds might not be sustainable at the long run. If Banco do Povo keeps interests rates in its current level, or be obligate to ceil its interest rate at a low level as the government suggestion to establish it on 2% per mount, then the return on loan portfolio won’t be enough to make the institution self-sufficient. The Transaction Costs have influence on Financial Self-Sufficiency in two ways: first the costs are bigger than the revenue and second, the largest part of the Transaction Cost are spend in human resources. The loan-officers productivity is very low when compared with the average productivity of other similar organizations in the world. It is possible that the reason for it happens to be Banco do Povo- Crédito Solidário short term of existence. Analyzing these aspects it is possible to find some suggestions to make, the first one is to improve the loan portfolio, transferring funds from financial assets to it (expanding the financial frontier). At the same time, it is necessary to diminish the costs and increase the productivity of the loan-officers.

This dissertation addresses an important empirical regularity that is still not very well understood: the same firm, in a given institutional context, simultaneously relies on different organizational arrangements to govern similar (or identical) transactions. I will follow Bradach & Eccles (1989) and Menard (2013) and treat this phenomenon as \'plural forms\'. The dissertation is composed of four chapters, each of which, providing different but complementary approaches to plural forms and serving as input for the next: the first half of this dissertation remains theoretical, while the second presents distinct qualitative empirical contributions on the theme. In the first chapter, I intend to verify what has been theorized about plural forms and how this field has evolved over time. I am especially concerned with the multiple theoretical explanations about the reasons why firms adopt plural forms, mainly because, to date, there is no consensus on the subject. To this end, I both perform some bibliometric analyses by surveying the ISI Web of Science platform and qualitatively review some significant papers on the subject. I find that the combination of asset specificity and multiple types of uncertainty underlies most of the explanations used over time and highlight that these could be interesting variables for a model predicting plural forms. In the second chapter, I am concerned with explaining the variety of plural form manifestations. However, in order to understand such variety, I build a theoretical model integrating asset specificity and uncertainty to predict plural and non-plural forms. Next, I emphasize that these arrangements are heterogeneous and, to keep my argumentation tractable, I define three categories of plural forms: \'between\' (or the combination of different modalities of organizational arrangements), \'within\' (or the combination oh hybrid arrangements) and \'combo\' ( or the combination of \'between\' and \'within\'). My hypotheses relate each of these three types of plural forms to the different typologies of uncertainty (market, technological and performance assessment) that capture the essential dimensions of the concept. In the next two chapters, I empirically confornt my theretical model and hypotheses with qualitative empirical data concerning the Brazilian Agribusiness sector. In the third chapter, I seek to verify whether the combination of uncertainty and asset specificity predicts the emergence of plural forms. Moreover, I assess whether different levels of uncertainty and of asset specificity (combined) determine the selection of distinct organizational arrangements. To this end, I perform an embedded clinical case study at the Korin company, which produces and commercializes multiple organic products. I am concerned with the procurement of distinct inputs (regular and organic corn, regular soybeans, poultry and antibiotic-free eggs), both with plural and with non-plural forms. I find support for my model and for the idea that different levels of asset specificity and uncertainty push towards the adoption of distinct organizational arrangements. In the final chapter, I intend to empirically confront both my theoretical model (i.e., if asset specificity and uncertainty predict plural or non-plural forms) and my hypotheses (i.e., whether different types of high uncertainty, subject to a certain degree of asset specificity, push towards different types of plural forms). To this end, I survey the procurement of inputs by 24 companies operating in the Brazilian Agribusiness sector and procuring 11 different inputs by means of both plural and non-plural forms. I make use of a 4-point likert scale questionnaire capturing my theoretical variables and perform some qualitative analyses. I find empirical support for my theoretical model and for some of my hypotheses concerning the diversity of plural forms, indicating a path for further empirical analyses. / Esta tese aborda uma importante regularidade empírica que ainda não é muito bem compreendida: uma mesma empresa, em um determinado contexto institucional, simultaneamente se baseia em diferentes arranjos organizacionais para governar transações similares (ou idênticas). Seguindo os trabalhos de Bradach & Eccles (1989) e Menard (2013), trata-se este fenômeno como \"formas plurais\". A tese é composta por quatro capítulos, cada qual proporcionando abordagens diferentes, porém complementares, sobre a temática das formas plurais, e cada qual servindo como insumo para o próximo capítulo: a primeira metade desta tese permanece teórica, enquanto a segunda apresenta contribuições empíricas qualitativas distintas sobre o tema. No primeiro capítulo, pretende-se verificar o que foi teorizado sobre formas plurais e como este campo tem evoluído ao longo do tempo. Em especial, busca-se conhecer as múltiplas explicações teóricas sobre as razões por que as firmas adotam formas plurais, principalmente porque ainda não há um consenso sobre o assunto. Para tanto, realizam-se algumas análises bibliométricas por meio de um levantamento de dados na plataforma ISI Web of Science e qualitativamente revisam-se alguns artigos significativos sobre o assunto. Como resultado, tem-se que a combinação de especificidade de ativos e vários tipos de incerteza se encontra subjacente à maior parte das explicações utilizadas ao longo do tempo e destaca-se a ideia de que estas poderiam ser variáveis interessantes para um modelo de previsão de formas plurais. No segundo capítulo, busca-se compreender o que explica a variedade de formas plurais. No entanto, a fim de compreender tal variedade, constrói-se um modelo teórico integrando especificidade de ativos e incerteza para prever formas plurais e não plurais. Em seguida, enfatiza-se que estes arranjos são heterogêneos e, para manter a argumentação tratável, definem-se três categorias de formas plurais: \"entre\" (ou a combinação de diferentes modalidades de arranjos organizacionais), \"dentro\" (ou a combinação de arranjos híbridos ) e \"combo\" (ou a combinação de \"entre\" e \"dentro\"). As hipóteses relacionam cada um destes três tipos de formas plurais com as diferentes tipologias de incerteza (mercado, tecnológica e de avaliação de desempenho) que capturaram as dimensões essenciais deste conceito. Nos próximos dois capítulos, o modelo teórico e as hipóteses são confrontados com dados empíricos qualitativos relativos ao setor agroindustrial brasileiro. No terceiro capítulo, procura-se verificar se a combinação de incerteza e especificidade de ativos prevê o surgimento de formas plurais. Além disso, avalia-se se diferentes níveis de incerteza e de especificidade de ativos (combinados) determinam a seleção de arranjos organizacionais distintos. Para tanto, realiza-se um estudo de caso clínico \"embedded\" na empresa Korin, que produz e comercializa diversos produtos orgânicos. Analisa-se a aquisição de insumos distintos (milho comum e orgânico, soja comum, frango e ovos livres de antibióticos), tanto com formas plurais quanto com formas não plurais. Encontra-se suporte para o modelo e para a ideia de que diferentes níveis de especificidade de ativos e de incerteza levam à adoção de arranjos organizacionais distintos. No capítulo final, confronta-se empiricamente tanto o modelo teórico (ou seja, se a especificidade dos ativos e a incerteza preveem formas plurais ou não-plurais) quanto as hipóteses (ou seja, se os diferentes tipos de elevada incerteza, sujeitas a um determinado grau de especificidade de ativos, leva à diferentes tipos de formas plurais). Para tanto, examina-se a aquisição de insumos por 24 empresas que operam no agronegócio brasileiro e adquirem 11 insumos diferentes, tanto por meio de formas plurais como de formas não-plurais. Utiliza-se de um questionário escala de Likert de 4 pontos, capturando as variáveis teóricas e realizam-se algumas análises qualitativas. Encontra-se suporte empírico para o modelo teórico, e para algumas das hipóteses que explicam a diversidade, apontando um caminho para maiores investigações empíricas

No início dos anos 2000 consolidou-se o quadro de significativas alterações e ajustes nas estratégias das organizações agrícolas. Destacam-se: a consolidação das organizações, a internacionalização dos sistemas de base agrícola, a inovação presente em processos e produtos e de natureza organizacional, a introdução da variável socioambiental, e a adoção de estratégias de transparência. A cooperação pode exigir investimentos especializados, e os incentivos para a sua realização dependem de mecanismos de controle de custos de transação. Com a presença de incerteza no ambiente econômico e nas transações, a flexibilidade planejada visa eventuais ajustes em face de eventos inesperados. Arranjos institucionais complexos (leia-se, contratos) são observados como forma de responder a necessidades apontadas. Além de confiança, reputação, e mecanismos relacionais, a evolução dos mecanismos sociais por trás dos contratos de sociedade é algo a ser desenvolvido. O presente estudo propõe que as cooperativas agrícolas podem desenvolver mecanismos de governança que geram uma competência adaptativa para enfrentar eventos inesperados. O presente estudo explorou uma visão retrospectiva de estratégias adotadas por cooperativas brasileiras. Assumiu-se aqui uma nova vertente analítica da \"História de Negócios\" e suas implicações voltadas ao sistema agroindustrial. Como diretriz de método, foram seguidas as etapas de identificação das principais estratégias relatadas nos estudos de casos escolhidos, sobre cooperativas, desenvolvidos entre 1991 e 2002. Na sequência compararam-se as estratégias com as diretrizes apresentadas no capítulo teórico. Admite-se que as estratégias que implicam em maiores investimentos em ativos específicos tendem a tornarem mais rígidos os arranjos e dificultam a plasticidade, ou adaptação, das cooperativas agrícolas - onde naturalmente as mudanças ocorrem de forma mais lenta - frente a choques ou eventos externos. / The early 2000s consolidated the framework of significant changes and adjustments in the strategies of organizations working in agribusiness systems. Of note are: the consolidation of the organizations themselves, the internationalization of agricultural-based systems, the innovation in processes and products, organizational innovations, environmental variables and the adoption of transparency strategies. Cooperative efforts may require specialized investments in the form of incentives that depend on transaction cost control mechanisms. The environmental and transactional uncertainties and the need for flexibility on the part of organizations are all considered in the relevant literature. Complex institutional arrangements (contracts) are seen as a means to meet these needs. In addition to trust, reputation and business relationships, the evolution of the social mechanisms behind the contracts of society is an area of study to be further developed. Farming cooperatives are good examples how unexpected events can be addressed and strategies of adaptation can be implemented. In this study, we presented a retrospective view of the strategies adopted by Brazilian cooperatives. We adopted a new analytical \"business history\" approach to agro-based systems. When researching this work, we noticed a lack of research into the history of agribusiness. As a guideline method, we followed the steps of identifying key strategies reported in chosen case studies of cooperatives published between 1991 and 2002. Subsequently, the strategies were compared with the guidelines presented in the work. We admit that strategies based on high levels of asset specificity become more inflexible the arrangements and difficult plasticity or adaptation of the agricultural cooperatives - where changes naturally occur slowly - in face of external shocks or events

The decision to vertically integrate services and deliver care has both management and policy concerns for healthcare in the United States. The change in reimbursement, which was enacted with the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, influenced the availability of post acute services for acute hospital inpatients. Prior to this change, post acute services were reimbursed based on cost similar to the pre DRG era of Medicare reimbursement. The change in payment had the potential to make discharging patients more difficult resulting in a prolonged length of stay without additional payment and at increased costs for hospitals. As a result of this change hospitals made arrangements to provide care for this population. The choices included vertical integration, contracting or hybrid arrangement and simply relying on the spot market. This makes or buy decision is a focus of this study. Were hospital decisions different after the BBA, than before this legislation?This study utilizes Oliver Williamson's transaction cost economics theory as the framework for the study and is a replication of a prior study by Chiu (1995) hybrid arrangement and simply relying on the spot market. This makes or buy decision is a focus of this study. Were hospital decisions different after the BBA, than before this legislation?This study utilizes Oliver Williamson's transaction cost economics theory as the framework for the study and is a replication of a prior study by Chiu (1995) The Williamsons theory is based on the proposition that three transaction dimensions determine the most efficient method of operation for a firm: uncertainty, frequency, and asset specificity. Depending on the "market", organizations may elect to arrange services through the spot market, contract for services, or vertically integrate the service. The study uses data from the American Hospital Association survey as well as the Area Resources files to determine if individual hospitals have made contract arrangements, vertically integrated, or relied on the spot market to provide skilled nursing services. Data is collected before and after the BBA and analyzed using multiple regression analysis and then subjected to significance testing. Sixteen hypotheses are tested that focus on the three dimensions of transaction cost theory. Findings support the importance of transaction frequency and asset specificity, while only weak support is offered for transaction uncertainty. The results differ from the Chiu study, which found strong support for uncertainty and weak support for frequency. This study is unique in that it examines data from two time periods surrounding a major reimbursement change in Medicare. It makes an important contribution to the empirical testing of transaction cost economics and the decision to vertically integrate in health care.

研究動機：(1)深入探討中小企業成功的原因(2)探討中小企業內部及外部資訊交易成本低的原因 (3)探討中小企業機動性高對其經營行為及經營績效的影響研究方法：個案研究法，共收錄七個產跨產業的個案研究發現：(1)中小企業主親自負責促銷及其廣泛的人際關係網，對其外部資訊交易成本的降低有很大的幫助(2)中小企業主親自參與每個部門的運作提高部門目標的統一程度並提高內部資訊傳遞到產生共同目標的速度(3)中小企業主的集權作風有助於提高其機動性(4)中小企業因為必須倚賴網路來取得所需的資源，所以十分強調關係的經營，也會與離職員工維持良好關係(5)中小企業在本國市場面臨生存壓力時，本國市場不足以支持規模經濟或被少數大廠壟斷，則中小企業在外銷市場上的表現較佳(6)中小企業擅長針對商機，做產品的修正或細部設計差異以求更有效滿足目標市場的需求。

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to find out when Research and Development (R&D) becomes a suitable attribute for a production company to outsource. In an environment where innovations are following up quickly up and uncertainty about the type of innovation and customer is a fact, external sourcing can bring a competitive advantage. The empirical evidence shows that when R&D is outsourced the total cost does not increase at a due cause of outsourcing in this given study.</p><p>Although a lot of theory explains outsourcing as a cost increasing factor, the internal experience and frequent relation between the technical production company Beta and its R&D vendor company Alfa can decrease costs considerably due to lower communication and governance costs. This was not explicitly expressed in related theory and is therefore a contribution to the academia as well as for managers who seek to find an answer to the question of when to outsource and when not to outsource.</p>

Bakgrund: Svenska banker och försäkringsbolag spenderar stora summor och resurser på sina IT-system, vilka oftast sköts internt. IT-kostnaderna utgör för banker den näst största kostnadsposten i resultaträkningen och därmed utgör över 20 procent av den totala kostnadsmassan. Marginalerna inom bank och försäkringsbolag minskar i Sverige samtidigt som ITs komplexitet ökar med krav på integrering medgamla bank- och försäkringssystem. IT-outsourcing och joint venture med ett IT-företag är vanliga organiserings former och inget nytt fenomen i Finland inom bank och försäkringsbolag. IT-outsourcing har både för- och nackdelar. Syfte: Att beskriva och analysera begreppet outsourcing kopplat till hur aktörerna på den finansiella marknaden i Sverige hanterar och bör hantera sin IT-verksamhet. Metod: Vi har använt oss av en tvärsnittstudie och intervjuat de högsta ansvariga för IT inom bank och försäkring i Sverige och Finland. Vi har även intervjuat divisionschefer och IT-leverantörer på den nordiska marknaden. Resultat: IT är inte för banker och försäkringsbolag någon kärnkompetens och utgör heller ingen hög specifik tillgång och är därför lämplig för en viss sorts outsourcing. De flesta svenska banker har uppnått skalfördelar inom IT- drift, men försäkringsbolagen är inte lika kostnadseffektiva och har inte uppnått skalfördelar i samma utsträckning som bankerna. IT-driften är en standard tjänst som är lättare att specificera i kontrakt och därmed är en god kandidat för outsourcing. IT-förvaltning och utveckling ligger närmare bankernas och försäkringsbolagens kärnkompetens och bör inte outsourcas. Däremot utgör vissa delar inom IT-utveckling och förvaltning inget unikt värde och är i princip en standard för alla aktörer och kan därmed outsourcas. Detta förutsätter att företaget bygger en professionell inköpsorganisation som kan hantera problemet. Genom att IT-utvecklingen blir mer komplex är ett joint venture förhållande med ett IT-företag en bra lösning. Den finska IT- outsourcing marknaden skiljer sig från den svenska på grund av att svenska banker och försäkringsbolag är större än de finska motsvarigheterna och de svenska aktörerna tappade förtroendet för IT-outsourcing på grund av dåliga avtal under början av 90-talet. / Background: Swedish banks and insurance companies have spent considerable amounts of money and resourceson their IT-systems. IT-costs constitute the second largest cost after personal costs for banks, which mean over 20 percent of the total costs. The margins in banking and insurance industry are diminishing in Sweden, and at the same time they are facing more complex applications that have to be integrated into 30 years old IT-systems. IT- outsourcing and joint ventures are common in Finland, whereas Swedish banks and insurance companies have the IT-function in- house. IT-outsourcing is not a new phenomenon, and it has both advantages and disadvantages. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate if IT-outsourcing is suitable for banks and insurance companies with a focus on the Swedish and Finnish market. Furthermore, analyses on which part of the IT-function is core and strategically important for banks and insurance companies, and which part of the IT-function is a standard procedure that does not create value. Method: The paper has been carried out as a survey and interviews with the IT- responsible and divisional heads from the biggest Swedish and Finnish banks and insurance companies. Results: IT-production is not a core competence nor high asset specificity for banks and insurance companies. Swedish banks have reached economic of scale in their IT-production, but insurance companies do not possess the high cost effectiveness that banks have in their IT-production. IT-production is a standard service and easy to specify in contracts, which have an effect on outsourcing decisions. Application management and development is near the core business and should not be outsourced. However, some parts in development are standard and could be outsourced if the company can build a good and competitive purchase organisation. Application development is such a complex matter and that is why joint venture with an IT-supplier will be preferred in the future. The Finnish IT-outsourcing market differs from the Swedish, because the Swedish companies have bigger IT-organisations, furthermore the Swedish IT- outsourcing market was destroyed in the beginning in the 90s. The bad experience in Sweden has led to loss of faith in IT-suppliers on the market, this has a large influence on outsourcing decisions.

This study uses academic literature from peer-reviewed journals to assess the literary consensus of the three perspectives. The literature has been found by using specific keywords and an assortment of scholarly databases. The analysis of the literature is structured according to explanations for alliance formation, the attainment of advantages, and disadvantages according to the perspectives. The study is written in article format. Conclusions: The perspectives both overlap and differ from one another but focus on different aspects and incentives. There are, however, more similarities between the resource-based and knowledge-based views. Transaction cost theory and the knowledge-based view are narrow explanatory models, whereas the resource-based view offers a broader view on alliances.

The purpose of this thesis is to find out when Research and Development (R&amp;D) becomes a suitable attribute for a production company to outsource. In an environment where innovations are following up quickly up and uncertainty about the type of innovation and customer is a fact, external sourcing can bring a competitive advantage. The empirical evidence shows that when R&amp;D is outsourced the total cost does not increase at a due cause of outsourcing in this given study. Although a lot of theory explains outsourcing as a cost increasing factor, the internal experience and frequent relation between the technical production company Beta and its R&amp;D vendor company Alfa can decrease costs considerably due to lower communication and governance costs. This was not explicitly expressed in related theory and is therefore a contribution to the academia as well as for managers who seek to find an answer to the question of when to outsource and when not to outsource.