The governance of economic exchange: Technology, relationships, and the structure of contracts

My goal in this thesis is to better understand the governance forms used in technology licensing. In particular I would like to understand why contracts differ among otherwise similar transactions. My inquiry suggests these differences are attributable to the differences among the technologies themselves and to differences in the relations among transaction dyads. The first explanation I call technological variability and this concept refers to several differentiating qualities of a technology (such as appropriability and stage of development) and the fact that these qualities prescribe certain elements of technology license contracts. The second explanation I call relational governance, a concept which holds that qualities of the dyadic relationship between exchange partners (such as past license contracts together or collaborative research projects) function as a governance mechanism, easing the costs of contracting and therefore effect the content of the license contracts.