Abstract
Associated with effects of scale, scope, experience and learning there are effects of firm size on transaction costs; in the stages of contact, contract and control. These effects are due to “threshold costs” in setting up contacts, contracts and governance schemes, and to differences with respect to the factors that cause transaction costs: bounded rationality, opportunism, uncertainty and transaction specificity of assets. Implications are considered for firm strategy and public policy.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berger, J., N. G. Noorderhaven, B. Nooteboom, and B. J. Pennink, 1993, ‘Understanding the Subcontracting Relationship: The Limitations of Transaction Cost Economics’, in J. Child, M. Crozier, R. Mayntz et al.,Societal Change Between Market and Organization, Frankfurt: Campus/Westview, in press.
Birley, S., S. Cromie, and A. Myers, 1991, ‘Entrepreneurial Networks: Their Emergence in Ireland and Overseas’,International Small Business Journal 9(4), 56–74.
Bol, A., A. Nijsen, G. Regter, and F. van Rossum, 1982,Employment and Labour Volume in SME, 1960–1980 (in Dutch), Zoetermeer, NL: EIM.
Coase, R. H., 1937, ‘The Nature of the Firm’,Economics N.S. 4, 386–405.
Elster, J., 1989,The Cement of Society: A Study of Social Order, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Granovetter, M., 1982, “The Strength of Weak Ties’, in P. Marsden and N. Lin,Social Structure and Network Analysis, Beverly Hills: Sage, pp. 105–130.
Johannisson, B., 1986, ‘Network Strategies, Management Technology for Entrepreneurship and Change’,International Small Business Journal 5(1), 20.
Johnson, J. L. and R. Kuehn, 1987, ‘The Small Business Owner/Manager's Search for External Information’,Journal of Small Business Management 24, 53–60.
NOBIN, 1984,External Information Provision of the Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Firm (in Dutch), The Hague: NOBIN.
Nooteboom, B., 1982, ‘A New Theory of Retailing Costs’,European Economic Review 17, 163–186.
Nooteboom, B., 1992, ‘Towards a Dynamic Theory of Transactions’,Evolutionary Economics (forthcoming).
Nooteboom, B., 1993, ‘An Analysis of Specificity in Transaction Cost Economics’,Organization Studies (forthcoming).
Nooteboom, B., P. S. Zwart, and T. Bijmolt, 1992, ‘Transaction Costs and Standardisation in Professional Services to Small Business’,Small Business Economics 4(2), 141–151.
North, D. C., 1990,Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Polanyi, M. 1962,Personal Knowledge, London: Routledge.
Rogers, E. M., 1983,Diffusion of Innovations, New York: MacMillan.
Rothwell, R., 1985, ‘Innovation and the Smaller Firm’, First International Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Symposium, Utah Innovation Foundation, Salt Lake City, 11–13 September.
Semlinger, K., 1991a, ‘New Developments in Subcontracting — Mixing Market and Hierarchy’, in A. Amin and M. Dietrich (eds.),Towards a New Europe: Structural Change in the European Economy, Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
Semlinger, K., 1991b, ‘Innovation, Cooperation and Strategic Contracting’, paper presented at the international colloquium on ‘Management of Technology: Implications for Enterprise Management and Public Policy’, Paris, 27–28 May.
Smeltzer, L. and G. Fann, 1989, ‘Communication Patterns in Large, Bureaucratic Organizations Compared to Small Entrepreneurial Organizations’,Group and Organization Studies, 198–215.
Williamson, O. E., 1975,Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications, New York: The Free Press.
Williamson, O. E., 1985,The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting, NewYork: The Free Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nooteboom, B. Firm size effects on transaction costs. Small Bus Econ 5, 283–295 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01516249
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01516249