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Transaction Costs, Clans And Corporate Culture

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  • Mats Alvesson
  • Lars Lindkvist

Abstract

For a long time it has been recognized that traditional bureaucratic modes of control are not very efficient in many highly uncertain, rapidly changing or otherwise troublesome situations. Inspired by transaction cost thinking different authors have suggested that clan form control or certain types of corporate cultures should do better in these circumstances. Among these, Ouchi (1980) and Wilkins and Ouchi (1983) stand clearly in the foreground and the transaction cost related clan developed by these authors is discussed at length in the article. Further we examine some empirical case studies indicating that other types of mechanisms than suggested by transaction cost reasoning seem to be involved. As a result we propose an extension of the clan concept to include three different kinds of clans: (1) the Economic‐co‐operative Clan, (2) the Social‐integrative Clan, and (3) the Blood‐kinship Clan. Next we discuss how clans or local cultures become established, including the possibilities for management to develop these kinds of patterns intentionally. Finally we set up some tentative hypotheses concerning the significance of‘economic’and ‘social’types of clans in ambiguous situations and the limits of the ideas of the transaction cost approach in explaining complex exchange issues in organizations.

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  • Mats Alvesson & Lars Lindkvist, 1993. "Transaction Costs, Clans And Corporate Culture," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 427-452, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:30:y:1993:i:3:p:427-452
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.1993.tb00312.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Bracci, Enrico, 2009. "Autonomy, responsibility and accountability in the Italian school system," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 293-312.
    2. Pantic-Dragisic, Svjetlana & Söderlund, Jonas, 2020. "Swift transition and knowledge cycling: Key capabilities for successful technical and engineering consulting?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    3. Noorderhaven, Niels G., 1995. "Transaction, interaction, institutionalization: Toward a dynamic theory of hybrid governance," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 43-55, March.
    4. Joel Bigley, 2018. "Assembling Frameworks for Strategic Innovation Enactment: Enhancing Transformational Agility through Situational Scanning," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Kwangho Woo & Joonmo Cho, 2016. "Transferring the Cost of Wage Rigidity to Subcontracting Firms: The Case of Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-15, August.
    6. Palvi Pasricha & Bindu Singh & Pratibha Verma, 2018. "Ethical Leadership, Organic Organizational Cultures and Corporate Social Responsibility: An Empirical Study in Social Enterprises," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 941-958, September.
    7. Anna Grandori, 1997. "Governance Structures, Coordination Mechanisms and Cognitive Models," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 1(1), pages 29-47, March.
    8. Pongsiri, Nutavoot, 2001. "Regulation and Public-Private Partnerships," Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) Working papers 30649, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
    9. Bedford, David S., 2020. "Conceptual and empirical issues in understanding management control combinations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

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