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Relational Contracts

This section contains a body of literature on the subject of relational contracting, which considers the issues of governance structures based on the value of relationships between stakeholders.

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Relational Contracting and Managing Networks: New Public Management and the Search for Gains from Repeated Interaction (PDF)
Bertelli, A. and Smith, C., 2005
Presentation for the Biannual Meeting of the Public Management Research Association
This paper looks at relational contracts as an important tool for managing networks in the public sector. The authors propose that managers must terminate some relationships while maintaining the credibility to begin and cultivate others so as to make relational contracting most efficient.

USA

The Economics of Partnership Sourcing Versus Adversarial Competition: A Critique
Parker, David & Hartley, Keith, 1997
European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 3(2), pp.115-125
A study that examines two different forms of purchasing arrangement that feature in procurement literature. The study then looks at the defence sector as an example and concludes that the case for partnership sourcing over competition is not clear cut.

UK

An Empirical View of Contract
Macaulay, Stewart, 1985
Wisconsin Law Review, pp.465-482
In this update to his 1963 article, Macaulay argues that the analysis of social systems must play a more important role in the theory of contractual relations. The author concludes that relational sanctions, more often than not, help better understand the incentives behind the fulfilment of contractual agreements. 

USA

Ian Macneil's Contribution to Contracts Scholarship
William C. Whitford, 1985, 1985
Wisconsin Law Review, pp.545-560
A review of some of Ian Macneil's major thoughts on relational contracts which looks at the importance of understanding them in terms of relational webs and co-operative attitudes.

USA

Relational Contract: What We Do and Do Not Know
Macneil, Ian R., 1985
Wisconsin Law Review, pp.483-525
The paper examines the need for taking into account the complex pattern of human interaction as an element shaping all legal and social development.

USA

Relational Exchange: Economics and Complex Contracts
Goldberg, Victor P., 1985
Wisconsin Law Review, pp.527-543
This article examines possible frameworks for analysing price adjustments in private contracts. It also looks at the use of long term contracts for risk avoidance and co-operation.

USA

Contracts: Adjustment of Long-term Economic Relations under Classical, Neoclassical, and Relational Contract Law
Macneil, Ian R. , 1978
Northwestern University Law Review, 72(6), pp.854-905
An article summarising the transition between classical contract theory and relational contract theory. The author argues that the importance of relational contracts has increased as way of making traditional arrangements more flexible.

USA

Non-contractual Relations in Business: A Preliminary Study
Macaulay, Stewart, 1963
American Sociological Review 28, pp.55-69
A landmark study of the relational aspects of contracting in business. The author states that transactions are planned and legal sanctions are used when the gains are thought to outweigh the costs, arguing that ultimately planning and legal sanctions are often unnecessary and may have undesirable consequences. 

USA

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