The Knot of Contracts: The Corporate Geography of Legacy Costs
以德尔福公司破产为起点，研究美国中西部老经济企业因遗留成本（如固定收益养老金）引发的危机，提出“合同之结”概念框架，揭示代际承诺如何限制企业演化与创新，并探讨管理层与政府行为如何加剧这一困境。
Abstract Burdensome past commitments are threatening a concentrated group of industries and communities, predominantly in the U.S. Midwest. Beginning with the bankruptcy of Delphi Corporation, this article documents the crisis for “old‐economy firms” with significant legacy costs. To understand the root causes of this legacy crisis, the analysis builds on previous research in economic geography and the results of a widely subscribed and unique “expert opinion” survey highlighting the corporate impacts of defined benefit pensions in the private sector. The result is a conceptual framework that describes the corporate geography of legacy costs: the “knot of contracts.” Specifically, the knot of contracts conceptualizes the role of intergenerational commitments in restricting corporate evolution and innovation, while underscoring time as a central component of the nature of the firm. Developing this framework requires linking microeconomic theories of the firm with the institutional aspects of firms' geographies. While referring to specific cases and proprietary data throughout, the article is principally concerned with understanding legacy costs. In addition, the intent is to uncover managerial and governmental behavior that tightened this knot of contracts and to expose the current managers' attempts to manage their firms through the adverse affects of the knot of contracts. The explanations in this article serve as a useful bridge between the realities faced by firms and their surrounding communities and the more abstract notions of the firm and competitiveness in the context of globalization.