The Role of Dependence Balancing in Safeguarding Transaction-Specific Assets in Conventional Channels
研究提出通过补偿性投资来保护传统渠道中中小企业专用资产的方法，发现代理商通过加强与客户的联系来降低对委托方的依赖，从而改善财务绩效。
The authors develop a theoretical extension to the basic transaction cost model by combining insights from dependence theory with the TCA approach. They introduce offsetting investments as a means of safeguarding the specific assets of small firms in conventional channels. The traditional TCA safeguards are insufficient here, because vertical integration is not feasible for the small firm at risk and long-term contractual protection is not present in conventional channels. Data from 199 manufacturers' agencies support the theoretical predictions. Agencies with more specific assets invested in their relationship with a principal attempted to bond themselves more closely to their accounts to safeguard those assets. Such bonding efforts resulted in a lower level of dependence on the principal because the agencies were better able to replace the principal if necessary. Also, their financial performance was improved when dependence was reduced, provided levels of specific investments were relatively high.