Abstract The present study examines the management of transaction risks in supply chains. Risk management studies often ignore the wider supply chain context in which individual transactions take place. However, risk management strategies which are suitable to use when only a single transaction is considered may be inappropriate when other transactions in the supply chain are taken into account. This study addresses this issue by examining: (1) how risks arise as a result of interdependencies between the various transactions making up the supply chain; and (2) what types of contractual-based strategies actors can use to manage their risk exposure. To realize these aims, the study applies an extended Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) framework with a supply chain orientation. The framework illustrates how different types of interdependencies – pooled, sequential and reciprocal – expose companies to different sources of risk. Three strategies companies can use when facing barriers to risk minimization in sequentially interdependent supply chains are analyzed: risk transferring, risk altering and risk sharing. Examples from the agri-food sector are discussed to demonstrate the functioning of these strategies.

Although inter-firm coordination of quality management is increasingly important for meeting end-customer demand in agri-food chains, few researchers focus on the relation between inter-firm quality management systems (QMS) and inter-firm governance structures (GS). However, failure to align QMSs and GSs may lead to inefficiencies in quality management because of high transaction-costs. In addition, misalignment is likely to reduce the quality of end-customer products. This paper addresses this gap in research by empirically examining the relation between QMSs and GSs in pork meat supply chains. Transaction-Cost-Economic theory is used to develop propositions about the relation between three aspects of QMSs--ownership, vertical scope and scale of adoption--and the use of different types of GSs in pork meat supply chains. To validate the propositions, seven cases are examined from four different countries. The results show that the different aspects of QMSs largely relate to specific GSs used in chains in the manner predicted by the propositions. This supports the view that alignment between QMSs and GSs is important for the efficient coordination of quality management in (pork meat) supply chains.

The governance of outsourcing decisions in multinational enterprises has been theorised extensively through transaction cost economics, property rights theory, and the resource-based view. However, these frameworks, developed largely without reference to environmental constraints, provide insufficient guidance for firms navigating the demands of supply chain decarbonisation, scope 3 emissions accountability, and green value chain transformation. This article identifies a fundamental theoretical gap and proposes a conceptual extension to address it. The concept of ecological asset specificity, the degree of mutual dependency created through joint environmental investment and regulatory interdependence between supply chain partners, as a distinct governance variable absent from Williamson’s original typology were introduced. It is argued that this omission has practical consequences: firms that have made significant co-investments in supplier environmental capability face governance risks, including environmental asset stranding and regulatory exposure, that existing contractual frameworks cannot adequately anticipate or mitigate. Drawing on Gereffi, Humphrey, and Sturgeon’s global value chain governance typology, it is demonstrated that modular governance architectures, though widely adopted for their flexibility advantages, create structural disincentives for the relational investment that genuine environmental capability development requires. Relational governance, by contra The governance of outsourcing decisions in multinational enterprises has been theorised extensively through transaction cost economics, property rights theory, and the resource - based view. However, these frameworks, developed largely without reference to environmental constraints, provide insufficient guidance for firms navigating the demands of supply chain decarbonisation, scope 3 emissions accountability, and green value chain transformation. This article identifies a fundamental theoretical gap and proposes a conceptual extension to address it. Green outsourcing decision framework: governance form and environmental strategy by corporate climate type Corporate climate strategy type Recommended governance form Outsourcing configuration Primary environmental outcome Key governance instruments Make-or-buy logic Cautious planners Monitoring only; no concrete action Market Minimum environmental clauses in supplier contracts; periodic compliance questionnaires Buy on cost; environmental criteria as threshold, not selection driver Risk reduction; avoidance of reputational exposure from non-compliant suppliers Emerging planners Emissions targets set; no implementation Modular Supplier codes of conduct; third - party certification requirements; annual ESG audits Buy standardised; environmental compliance as codified specification Compliance attainment; audit - based verification of supplier environmental performance Internal explorers Strong internal focus; energy Hierarchy Internalisation of energy-intensive processes; selective Make where emissions are concentrated; buy where Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction; direct energy efficiency https://doi.org/10.17721/apmv.2026.166.1.200-216 efficiency outsourcing of low-emission peripheral activities environmental impact is negligible gains in controlled operations Vertical explorers Supply chain environmental focus Relational Co-investment in supplier environmental capability; joint emissions monitoring; long-term partnership contracts; shared green R&D Buy from committed partners; governance depth traded for flexibility; ecological asset specificity high Scope 3 emissions reduction; environmental capability recombination across the value chain; innovation offsets Horizontal explorers Cross-market environmental opportunity Modular Relational Green product licensing; environmental joint ventures; outsourcing to green-specialist partners in adjacent markets Buy green capability from adjacent-market specialists; build where proprietary environmental advantage is sought New market entry through environmental differentiation; green revenue stream development Emission traders Carbon market participation; offset focus Captive Market Emissions trading agreements; offset project outsourcing; carbon credit procurement from captive or spot-market suppliers Buy emissions reductions externally; internalise trading strategy and carbon accounting Net emissions position management; regulatory compliance through market mechanisms rather than operational transformation Source: (Kolk & Pinkse, 2008) Conclusions. The governance of outsourcing decisions in multinational enterprises has long been theorised through frameworks whose explanatory power, while considerable, was not designed for the environmental conditions that now define the competitive and regulatory la ndscape. Transaction cost economics, the resource -based view, and global value chain governance each illuminate important dimensions of the make-or-buy calculus, yet none of them was constructed with supply chain decarbonisation, scope 3 accountability, or the co -investment dynamics of green capability development in mind. Second, the governance form of outsourcing relationships is not neutral with respect to environmental outcomes: modular governance can enforce compliance, but it cannot sustain capability development, while relational governance, with its attendant costs of coordination and commitment, is the necessary condition for the kind of deep environmental transform ation that genuine supply chain decarbonisation requires. Third, green outsourcing is most productively understood not as a variant of cost arbitrage but as a form of environmental capability recombination – a strategic practice through which MNEs assemble , develop, and deploy environmental resources across organisational and national boundaries to generate sustainability outcomes that no single actor could achieve independently. These propositions do

Outsourcing has long been a strategy to decrease cost. Increasingly firms recognize the value in their supply chains and call on suppliers to innovate, both in products and processes. Innovation to increase quality and demand or to reduce costs is critical to firm and supply chain success. In a two-stage supply chain, we investigate the impact of focal firm and supplier innovation costs (and capabilities) on the type of outsourcing chosen and the resulting investments in process and product innovation. The focal firm determines whether to perform design (including product innovation in the form of quality enhancement) and manufacturing (including process innovation in the form of cost reduction) in-house, to outsource manufacturing/process innovation while insourcing design/product innovation, to outsource both manufacturing/process innovation and design/product innovation, or to codevelop product innovation while outsourcing manufacturing/process innovation. We also examine the conditions under which codevelopment is favorable, given the supply chain faces potential positive and negative synergies from either the colocation of the innovation activities or costs of collaboration. After characterizing the optimal outsourcing decision, we find that the decision to outsource is more nuanced than simply which activities to outsource but must include options to collaborate on particular activities and specifically product innovation. We offer the insight to managers that codevelop

(insourcing) or by another firm elsewhere (outsourcing). In the management of supply chains, supply chain professionals coordinate production among multiple In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) deals with a system of procurement (purchasing raw materials/components), operations management, logistics and marketing channels, through which raw materials can be developed into finished products and delivered to their end customers. A more narrow definition of supply chain management is the "design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supp Manufa… Outsourcing/partnerships This includes not just the outsourcing of the procurement of materials and components, but also the outsourcing of services that traditionally have been provided in-house. The logic of this trend is that the company will increasingly focus on those activities in the value chain in which it has a distinctive advantage and outsource everything else. This movement has been particularly evident in logistics, where the provision of transport, storage, and inventory control is increasingly subcontracted to specialists or logistics partners. Also, managing and controlling this network of partners and suppliers requires a blend of central and local involvement: strategic decisions are taken centrally, while the monitoring and control of supplier performance and day-to-day liaison with logistics partners are best managed locally. Performance measurement Experts found a strong relationship from the largest arcs of supplier and customer integration to market share and profitability. Taking advantage of supplier capabilities and emphasizing a long-term supply chain perspective in customer relationships can both be correlated with a firm's performance. As logistics competency becomes a critical factor in creating and maintaining competitive advantage, measuring logistics performance becomes increasingly important, because the difference between profitable and unprofitable operations becomes narrower. A.T. Kearney Consultants (1985) noted that firms engaging in comprehensive performance measurement realized improvements in overall productivity. According to experts, internal measures are generally collected and analyzed by the firm, including cost, customer service, productivity, asset measurement, and quality. External performance is measured through customer perception measures and "best practice" benchmarking. Warehousing management To reduce a company's cost and expenses, warehousing management is concerned with storage, reducing manpower cost, dispatching authority with on time delivery, loading and unloading facilities with proper area, inventory management system etc. Workflow management Integrating suppliers and customers tightly into a…

As companies continue to globalize, manufacturers face the challenge of strategically adjusting their vertical integration and restructuring production and supply chains. This leads manufacturers to increasingly pursue two strategies of restructuring. On the one hand, in the form of outsourcing value-adding activities, the focus is being placed on the core competencies of the company's own production. As a result, the vertical range of manufacture within the company is decreasing, while outsourcing is becoming more and more important. On the other hand, companies are also pursuing the strategy of least possible dependency to secure production through regional procurement of resources and expansion of the necessary competencies by means of increased vertical integration. In order to understand the consequences and effects of these changes at the level of production planning and control (PPC), a model-based view is necessary for an expanded understanding of the processual context of these changes. The PPC is the essential steering instance of production. It combines long-term tasks, e.g. Plan Sales or Roughly Plan Resources, with short-term tasks, e.g. Schedule Throughput or Plan Resources in Detail. The main PPC task, Plan Sourcing, is an essential link with its tasks and procedures between the core processes of procurement and production in the company's internal supply chain. In the context of this paper, the PPC main task Plan Sourcing is to be considered in a model-based m

It has been proven that a model of the development of the meat product sub-complex is currently being implemented in Ukraine, which is based on vertically integrated industrial complexes with a full production cycle from feed mills to deep meat processing. Vertical integration is characteristic mainly for enterprises of poultry breeding, pig breeding and processing of their products, since in these industries there is a high level of concentration and mechanization, which contributes to the achievement of efficiency due to the scale of production in large business. It has been established that vertical integration of production makes it possible to ensure the raw material base of meat processing in the required volume and guaranteed quality; reduce transaction costs; minimize logistics costs through cluster development of the full production cycle in a certain territory; to optimize the tax burden due to the exclusion of taxes on intermediate products and the relocation of production to the territory with more favorable tax conditions; reduce business risks by distributing them to different market segments and controlling the entire production and sales chain; due to the provision of full control over the quality of raw materials and their complex processing, to expand the range, to respond to the changing demands of consumers, to increase the competitiveness of products, to reduce the cost price; improve information security of activities; to solve environmental problems with the help of waste-free technologies. Distribution relations in integrated formations of the meat product sub-complex can be built according to two models: price, which in practice can be applied in two variants: according to current market prices, or – according to estimated domestic prices; normative-distributive, which differs from the price model in that calculations are made not according to the intermediate, but according to the final result. We believe that now it is necessary to solve the problem of a balanced combination of a combination of large agro-industrial formations, medium-sized agricultural enterprises and personal peasant farms in the sub-complex, which allows to ensure the realization of the advantages of each form of management, economic growth in the industry and sustainable development of rural areas. The results of the conducted research provide grounds for determining the following areas of effective development of integration processes in the meat product subcomplex, on which it is proposed to focus the efforts of the state, business, industry associations and the scientific community: ensuring the effective entry of integrated structures into the global agro-food market; creation of a legal framework for property and distribution relations between participants of integrated structures, including the adoption of the Law of Ukraine on holding; development of scientific and methodological support in the field of organizational and economic mechanism of activity of integrated formations, taking into account the interests of all participants; concentration of investment activity of integrated formations on modernization of production and sales, development of breeding and genetic and fodder base.

In this chapter, we analyze the effects of levels of social relationship on the global supply chain networks vulnerability. Relationship levels in our framework are assumed to influence transaction costs as well as risk for the decision-makers. We propose a network performance measure for the evaluation of the global supply chain networks efficiency and vulnerability. The measure captures risk, transaction cost, price, transaction flow, revenue, and demand information in the context of the decision-makers behavior the network. The network consists of manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. Manufacturers and retailers are multicriteria decisionmakers who decide about their production and transaction quantities as well as the level of social relationship they want to pursue in order to maximize net return and minimize risk. The model allows us to investigate the interplay of the heterogeneous decision-makers in the supply chain and to compute the resultant equilibrium pattern of product outputs, transactions, product prices, and levels of social relationship. The results show that high levels of relationship can lead to lower overall cost and therefore lower price and higher product transaction. Moreover, we use the performance measure to assess which nodes in the supply networks are themost vulnerable in the sense that their removal will impact the performance of the network in the most significant way.