Beyond markets and hierarchies: An economic analysis of vertical quasi-integration

Virgile Chassagnon

Table of Contents

Abstract

The industrial dynamics of capitalism are linked to transformations in organizational forms of production. We have moved from the integrated traditional firm described by Chandler to the disintegrated modern firm. These new trends in the industrial world, which occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, have led firms to interfirm cooperation and vertical quasi-integration. The aim of this paper is to examine these issues from an economic analysis methodology. It focuses on three authors who developed their own approach in the second half of the twentieth century: Williamson, Houssiaux and Blois.

JEL classification: B40, L14, L20, M20.

Keywords

  • vertical quasi-integration
  • network-firm
  • inter-firm cooperation
  • inter-firm power
  • Oliver E. Williamson
  • Jacques Houssiaux
  • Keith J. Blois