Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/112716 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
University of Tübingen Working Papers in Economics and Finance No. 83
Publisher: 
University of Tübingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Tübingen
Abstract: 
Relational contracts - informal agreements sustained by the value of future relationships - are integral parts of global production processes. This paper develops a repeated-game model of global sourcing in which final goods producers decide whether to engage with their suppliers in relational contracting and whether to integrate a supplier into a firm's boundaries or deal with the latter at arm's length. The model predicts that the likelihood of vertical integration increases in the long-term orientation of cooperation parties. Combining data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Related Party Trade database with measures for long-term orientation from Hofstede et al. (2010) and World Values Survey, I find empirical evidence supportive of this paper's key prediction. To better understand if the relationship is causal, I apply instrumental variables approach using genetic proxies and inherited components of long-term orientation as instruments. Taken together, the evidence suggests that the level of long-term orientation of the home and host country has a positive effect on the relative prevalence of vertical integration.
Subjects: 
relational contracts
long-term orientation
international make-or-buy decision
JEL: 
D02
D23
F14
F23
L22
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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