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Review of Economic Studies Vol. 66 No. 4 1999

Informational Alliances

David P. Baron1; David Besanko2

1 Stanford University · 2 Northwestern University

Abstract

An informational alliance involves the consolidation of the private information of independent suppliers in anticipation of a contracting opportunity with a principal. An informational alliance is an intermediate form of organization between the consolidation of information as in a merger and the suppliers remaining separate entities. It can Pareto dominate a merger, independent contracting, and hierarchical contracting, so a principal can benefit by allowing suppliers to organize the supply network. An informational alliance forms at the nexus of internally-verifiable private information. The principal's contracting problem then involves a participation condition with a reservation value that is a function of type.

DOI
10.1111/1467-937x.00107
Volume
66
Issue
4
Pages
743-768
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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