Bureaucratic versus Craft Administration: The Relationship of Market Structure to the Construction Firm
研究建筑行业分包现象，发现项目复杂性、企业规模和市场规模是分包的主要原因，而非季节性波动；同时质疑Stinchcombe关于建筑企业采用手艺式管理的论点，提出企业规模、生产角色和分类问题更能解释其管理结构。
I would like to thank Harrison White for a number of helpful comments. Robert Miles, John Kotter, and Paul Lawrence also provided useful criticisms and suggestions. ThreeASQ reviewers contributed a great deal to the clarity and exposition of the arguments in this paper. This paper examines subcontracting and characteristics of firms in the construction industry. It argues that subcontracting by general contractors can be explained by complexity, size, and market extent. Data are provided to substantiatethese claims and to disconfirm the hypothesis that subcontracting isa responseto seasonal variability, a major alternative explanation. Extensive subcontracting has implications for the nature of the construction firm. The paper then examines Stinchcombe's (1959) thesis that construction firms are managed through craft administration. It is argued that firm size, role in the production process, and census classification problems are better explanations for the administrative structure of construction firms. This raises questions about the validity of Sti nchcombe's thesis.