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This chapter addresses social embeddedness effects on ex ante management of economic transactions. We focus on dyadic embeddedness, that is the history of prior transactions between business partners and the anticipation of future transactions. Ex ante management through, for example, contractual arrangements is costly but mitigates risks associated with the transaction, such as risks from strategic and opportunistic behavior. Dyadic embeddedness can reduce such risks and, hence, the need for ex ante management by, for instance, making reciprocity and conditional cooperation feasible. The chapter presents a novel theoretical model generating dyadic embeddedness effects, together with effects of transaction characteristics and management costs. We stress the interaction of the history of prior transactions and expectations of future business. Hypotheses are tested using new and primary data from an extensive survey of more than 900 purchases of information technology (IT) products (hard- and software) by almost 800 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Results support, in particular, the hypotheses on effects of dyadic embeddedness.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model for how consumers aggregate satisfaction with individual service encounters to form a summary evaluation of satisfaction, and further examines its effect on customers’ share of category spending (share of wallet (SOW)).

The data used consist of 10,983 completed surveys from 1,448 customers whose transaction-specific satisfaction with a retailer and their subsequent purchase behaviors in the category were tracked for more than four transactions. Mixed effects models were employed to test the relationship between the cumulative effect of satisfaction with multiple service encounters on SOW.

Cumulative satisfaction is a weighted average of satisfaction with specific encounters, with weights decaying geometrically so that more recent encounters receive more weight. More recent transaction-specific satisfaction levels tend to have greater influence on customers’ next purchase SOW allocations; this, however, is only the case for customers who are less than highly satisfied, with a rating of 8 or lower on a ten-point scale. Additionally, the impact of transaction-specific satisfaction on SOW is not linear. Highly positive transaction-specific satisfaction levels have a greater impact on SOW than negative levels.

Many companies monitor satisfaction across multiple service encounters. This study shows how one can aggregate these measures to arrive at a cumulative effect, and highlights the importance to discriminate between first, more and less recent encounters and second, low vs high levels of satisfaction to better understand customers’ spending among different providers.

Using a longitudinal data set with real customers, this paper identifies a new measure for taking into account the cumulative satisfaction, identifies the positivity bias, and shows how recency affects the relationship between satisfaction and SOW.

Interfirm contracts are a ubiquitous economic institution in market economies. In this study, we examine the determinants of one important aspect of interfirm contracts – contract duration. We begin with Joskow's (1987) study that demonstrated that contract duration is governed by mechanisms that economize transaction costs. Our study extends Joskow's study in several ways: First, while Joskow's study focuses on one particular area of extreme resource dependence, between the coal mine and the power company, we examine patterns of contract duration and their determinants across broader economic sectors, thereby providing a more general test of the key ideas in transaction cost economics. Second, we investigate the role of social institutions as a distinct mechanism underlying the design of contract duration, especially in terms of mitigating risks and transaction costs. Finally, by situating our study in China, we extend the research context beyond industrialized market societies to a transitional economy where interfirm contracts are an emerging economic institution. The empirical study is based on the analyses of information on 877 contracts from 620 firms collected in two Chinese cities, Beijing and Guangzhou, in 2000.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of implementing multi-view visualization methods to assist auditors in reviewing the integrity of high-volume accounting transactions. Modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems record several thousands of transactions daily. This makes it difficult to find a few instances of anomalous activities among legitimate transactions. Although continuous auditing and continuous monitoring systems perform substantial analytics, they often produce lengthy reports that require painstaking post-analysis. Approaches that reduce the burden of excessive information are more likely to contribute to the overall effectiveness of the audit process. The authors address this issue by designing and testing the use of visualization methods to present information graphically, to assist auditors in detecting anomalous and potentially fraudulent accounts payable transactions. The strength of the authors ' approach is its capacity for discovery and recognition of new and unexpected insights.

Data were obtained from the SAP enterprise (ERP) system of a real-world organization. A framework for performing visual analytics was developed and applied to the data to determine its usefulness and effectiveness in identifying anomalous activities.

The paper provides valuable insights into understanding the use of different types of visualizations to effectively identify anomalous activities.

Because this study emphasizes asset misappropriation, generalizing these findings to other categories of fraud, such as accounts receivable, must be made with caution.

This paper provides a framework for developing an automated visualization solution which may have implications in practice.

This paper demonstrates the need to understand the effectiveness of visualizations in detecting accounting fraud. This is directly applicable to organizations investigating methods of improving fraud detection in their ERP systems.

The land sector in Ghana, particularly skin lands acquisition and title registration are fraught with several issues including unreliable record-keeping systems and land encroachments. The paper explores the potential of blockchain application in skin lands acquisition and title registration in Ghana with the aim of developing a blockchain-enabled framework for land acquisition. The purpose of this paper is to use the framework as a tool towards solving some of the loopholes in the process that leads to numerous issues bedeviling the current system.

The paper adopts a systematic literature review approach fused with informal discussions with key informants and leverages on the researchers’ own experiences to conceptualize blockchain application in skin lands acquisition in Ghana.

Problems bedeviling skin lands acquisition and title registration emanated from the issuance of allocation notes, payment of kola money and use of a physical ledger to document land transactions. As a result, the developed framework was designed to respond to these issues and deal with the problems. As the proposed blockchain framework would be a public register, it was argued that information on all transactions on a specific parcel of land could be available to the public in real-time. This enhances transparency and possibly resolves the issue of encroachments and indeterminate land boundaries because stakeholders can determine rightful owners of land parcels before initiating transactions.

Practically, blockchain technology has the potential to deal with the numerous issues affecting the smooth operation of skin lands acquisition and title registration in Ghana. Once the enumerated issues are resolved, there will be certainty of title to and ownership of land and property to drive investments because lenders could more easily ascertain owners of land parcels that could be used as collateral for securing loans. Similarly, property developers and land purchasers could easily identify rightful owners for land transactions. The government would be able to identify owners for land and property taxation.

This paper contributes to the literature on blockchain and application to land acquisition and title registration with a focus on a specific customary land ownership system.

The past decade has witnessed a trend toward unbundling of enterprises that were once highly integrated in vertical forms or horizontally as conglomerates. The economic forces behind these changes simultaneously enabled collaborative relationships that replaced command‐control coordination. While such change has been widespread, the food industry serves as an example of an industry where such strategies have been incompletely pursued. This paper aims to provide a microeconomic explanation of three bases for the emergence of collaboration and network formation: transaction costs, interdependence in value creation processes, and shared resources.

Within a setting of the food industry, a microeconomic theory of firm level choice of transactions is presented and extended to consider market level equilibrium in where persistent relationships are defined to compose an integrated economic network.

The paper presents a framework for identification of the optimal pattern of relationships across firms to compose networks that could enhance the competitive advantage and the economic performance of the food sector.

While performance of the food system has been the target of extensive public policy, that policy has typically viewed food enterprises as autonomous units operating through competitive markets. This paper provides a framework that highlights an economic rationale for collaboration across food enterprises that offers enhanced performance while maintaining essential aspects of competition.

This article outlines, in a very practical manner, the various methods available to investment advisors when trying to effect securities transactions for their clients. The authors examine several different ways the transactions may take place while describing in detail the pitfalls and concerns that must be considered by the careful practitioner. It also contains helpful illustrations to understand the transactions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an eight-step procedure – transaction formalism protocol (TFP) – in the area of infrastructure management. The proposed TFP is developed from two perspectives: TFP Specification (conceptual) and TFP Tool (application). This paper introduces the TFP Specification and discusses the TFP Tool in detail.

To develop the proposed TFP Tool, a five-step methodology was used: identify and select existing standards, benchmark standards, link and build on these standards, develop the proposed TFP Tool and validate the protocol.

The TFP Specification defines each step as a function for which inputs, controls, mechanisms, tools/techniques and outputs are specified. The TFP Tool comprises a set of forms and guidance that the transaction development personnel, including transaction analysts, transaction designers, software developers, process modellers and industry experts, will use to define transactions in infrastructure management domain.

The proposed TFP Tool enables transaction development personnel to define transactions effectively and efficiently for information and communication technology (ICT)-based solutions through defining information in a structured, consistent and easy way.

The TFP Tool was built on existing standards incorporating their shortcomings, including lack of a step-by-step procedure to help guide the personnel what to do next, lack of transaction monitoring and improvement steps and lack of standardised forms to collect information in a prescribed format for implementation in ICT-based collaboration systems. The proposed Tool was evaluated and found to be feasible, usable and useful.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the forms of coordinating transactions used by a large beef slaughterhouse and processing companies and their suppliers of beef cattle, and to identify the reasons for the adoption of plural forms of governance for their transactions with cattle suppliers.

A case study format was selected for this investigation. The focal company selected offers a large number of products derived from beef for different commercialisation channels in the domestic and foreign market. A non-probability sample of 30 suppliers (cattle farmers) of the focal company provided data on finished steers sold in 2010, according to the three types of governance used in the transactions (spot market, forward contracts and long-term contracts).

The simultaneous use of more than one type of governance structure to coordinate similar transactions has been termed plural forms of governance in the literature. In Brazil, new forms of governance, such as formal and informal contracts, have been adopted for transactions between beef processing companies and cattle farmers, in addition to the use of spot market and vertical integration. It has been shown that the adoption of plural forms reduces the risk of complex transactions; and is a strategy to deal with unpredictable institutional environments and high heterogeneity of both suppliers and distribution channels.

The research provides empirical evidence of plural forms of governance, as well as the reasons for the adoption of this strategy by firms, which contributes to the ongoing theoretical discussion on this subject.

The paper has implications for company supply chain management.

This paper presents theoretical review on plural forms of governance, new empirical evidence and determinant factors for their adoption.

Economic theories applied to the study of buyer‐seller relationships draw to a large extent on the problems caused by specific investments. This contribution aims to develop a new perspective on specific investments that accounts for their value‐adding character and also to present a transaction‐centred definition of customer relationships.

The contribution draws on a comparative review on literature on business networks and economic theories focused on industrial buying behaviour.

Provides a transaction‐related definition of customer relationships in order to distinguish between different kinds of relationships and provides a framework to how relationship management is able to enhance marketing activities.

Specific investments are a powerful tool for differentiating the market offerings of a company. One central implication is for managers to realise on which stage of the market arena such differentiation is likely to be successful: transaction, relationship, segment or value network. This is the starting‐point for investing in a relationship portfolio conducive for the value generation of the company.

The paper shows that the value potential generated by specific investments is not fulfilled in the realms of present marketing literature. Also it is the first contribution to present a framework capable of treating phenomena of customer relationship management, relationship marketing and network marketing on the same footing, while still respecting the original motivations of those approaches.