Contracting In The New Economy

Today’s business environment is constantly evolving, filled with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity and driven by digital transformation, globalization, and the need to creating value through innovation. These shifts demand that organizations view contracting through a different lens. Since it is impossible to predict every what-if scenario in a transactional contract, organizations in strategic and complex partnerships must shift to a mindset of shared goals and objectives built upon a strong foundation of transparency and trust, working together to mitigate risk much better than merely shifting risk to the weaker party. Contracting in the New Economy helps you to not only develop this mindset – but also offers the practical tools needed to embrace the social side of contracting, enabling your organization to harness the value creating potential of formal relational contracts. Briefly sharing the theoretical foundations that prove relational contracting works, it goes well beyond theory by providing powerful examples of relational contracting principles in practice. In addition, the authors provide a practical and proven approach for helping you to put relational contracting theory into practice for your own relationships. First by providing a framework for approaching any contracting situation and helping organizations finding the best contract model for each situation. And then by sharing five proven steps you can take to create an effective relational contract for you own strategic and complex business relationships. For anyone involved in developing contracts —lawyers, in-house counsels, contract managers, C-level managers, procurement officers, and so on — this book will empower you to create powerful cooperative alliances that will help you reach —and surpass — your business goals in today’s dynamic new environment.

Research on contracting and organisational economics is progressing at a rapid pace. Nevertheless, what new ideas are needed in order to advance the frontiers of contracting and organisations research in ways that prove beneficial to society? This new book brings together scholars from around the world who have new ideas on the economics of contracts and organisations, otherwise known as transaction cost economics. The book is divided into three main sections. The first section presents ideas for improving the theoretical and empirical research in transaction cost economics. The second section shows how transaction cost economics informs on two important business issues -- corporate contracting and information technology (IT) operations. The third section presents alternative frameworks for examining contracting, organisational, and regulatory problems.

Europe and the United States confront common challenges in responding to the transformations of work and welfare in the 'new economy'. This volume examines new approaches to the governance of work and welfare in the EU and the US, surveys emergent trends and reflects on future possibilities.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of each of the sourcing business model. Readers will master the art and science of strategic sourcing by being able to chart a unique path that fits their capacity to apply more the full continuum of strategic sourcing concepts and tools.

As the structure of the economy has changed over the past few decades, researchers and policy makers have been increasingly concerned with how these changes affect workers. In this book, leading economists examine a variety of important trends in the new economy, including inequality of earnings and other forms of compensation, job security, employer reliance on temporary and contract workers, hours of work, and workplace safety and health. In order to better understand these vital issues, scholars must be able to accurately measure labor market activity. Thus, Labor in the New Economy also addresses a host of measurement issues: from the treatment of outliers, imputation methods, and weighting in the context of specific surveys to evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of data from different sources. At a time when employment is a central concern for individuals, businesses, and the government, this volume provides important insight into the recent past and will be a useful tool for researchers in the future.

This book contributes to our understanding of the transformation of work in the information economy, through a detailed examination of labor markets in Silicon Valley. It provides an original and insightful analysis of flexible labor including growing volatility in work demands and increasingly tenuous employment relations. Contributes to our understanding of the transformation of work in the information economy, through a detailed examination of labor markets in Silicon Valley. Provides an original and insightful analysis of flexible labor including growing volatility in work demands and increasingly tenuous employment relations. Examines the increasingly important role of labor market intermediaries. Shows that some workers clearly thrive in this vibrant context, but many face high levels of insecurity admist growing inquality.

The European Community (EC) has embarked on an ambitious legislative program for the new economy. In European Community Law for the New Economy professor Lucas Bergkamp analyzes the EC's current and proposed new economy legislation. The new economy, according to Bergkamp, is not only the internet, the information society, and biotechnology, but also a different kind of "old" economy, a different kind of corporate governance, and a different kind of government. Accordingly, in addition to the EC e-commerce, data protection, and biotechnology legislation, this book discusses also the grand principles of EC policy making (such as sustainable development and the precautionary principle), the theory of corporate social responsibility, and EC government reform. With its wide-ranging, insightful, and engaging analyses, and devoid of obliquity, EC Law for the New Economy is a unique publication. This book must be read by everybody who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the effects of EC legislation, the root causes of regulatory failures, and possible solutions to these problems. It is of interest to lawyers, politicians, policy makers, government officials, political scientists, advanced students and autodidacts. Lucas Bergkamp is a lawyer at the Brussels Bar and Professor of International Liability Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam - The Netherlands.

Contract work is more important than ever—for better or for worse, depending on one's perspective. The security once implied by a full-time job with a stable employer is becoming rarer, thereby erasing one of the major distinctions between "freelance work" and a "steady gig." Why hang on to a regular job for the sake of security if security can no longer be assumed? Instead, contractors, hired temporarily for specific knowledge and skills, market their expertise as they move from project to project. Even though their employment is precarious, a great many consider freelancing preferable to holding a "regular" job: the control they feel over their time and careers is well worth the risks that come with relatively uncertain cash flow. Freelancing Expertise is a qualitative study of decision making, work practices, and occupational processes among writers and editors who work in print and Web communications and programmers and engineers who work in software and systems development. Debra Osnowitz conducted sixty-eight extended interviews with representatives of both groups and twelve interviews with managers and recruiters, observed four different work settings in which contractors work alongside employees, and monitored blogs and online discussions among contractors. As a result, she provides a unique and sensitive assessment of a cultural shift in occupations and organizations. Osnowitz calls for a reconfiguration of the employer/employee relationship that accepts more variation and flexibility: just as "freelancing" has, over time, taken on many traits considered characteristic of traditional career paths, so might regular jobs make themselves more appealing to today's workforce by mimicking some of the positive aspects of transactions between clients and contract workers.