Do make or buy decisions matter? The influence of organizational governance on technological performance

This paper investigates how firms ’ decisions to outsource or internalize production affect their technological performance. While several popular arguments and some anecdotal evidence suggest a direct association between outsourcing and technological performance, the effects of firms ’ governance decisions are likely to be contingent upon several specific attributes underlying a given exchange. This paper first demonstrates how standard performance models can improperly suggest a positive relationship between firms ’ outsourcing decisions and their technological performance. Models that account for firm- and transaction-specific features are then presented, which indicate that neither outsourcing nor internalization per se result in superior performance; rather, a firm’s technological performance is contingent upon the alignment between firms ’ governance decisions and the degree of contractual hazards. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd