Heterogeneity of plural forms : a revised transaction cost approach

Overview & Synopsis

This dissertation is composed of four chapters and addresses an empirical regularity about which very little is known: “plural forms”. In the first chapter, I intend to verify what has been theorized about plural forms and how this field has evolved over time. I identified two variables that underlie most of the theoretical explanations for the existence and stability of plural forms: asset specificity and uncertainty. However, these variables are very seldom explored, which points towards the need for novel contributions. In the second chapter, I am concerned with explaining the variety of plural form manifestations. I built a theoretical model integrating asset specificity and uncertainty to predict plural and non-plural forms. Next, I stressed that plural forms are heterogeneous and built hypotheses relating different types of uncertainty to different types of plural forms. In the next two chapters, I empirically confront my theoretical model and hypotheses with qualitative data. In the third chapter, I confront my model by performing an embedded clinical case study on the Korin company (in Brazil), which produces and commercializes multiple organic products; while in the final chapter, I intend to empirically confront both my theoretical model and my hypotheses and survey the procurement of inputs by 24 companies operating in the Brazilian Agribusiness sector. I find support for my model and for my hypotheses on both of these papers, indicating a path for further analyses.