Managing Inter-organizational Relations on Complex Projects: Project Owner Commercial Strategy

Our paper uses an intervention-based research method to develop a conceptual framework for explaining the development of commercial strategy by the owners of complex projects. It thereby makes a contribution to theory for analysing vertical inter-organizational relationships. Traditionally, research in the area draws heavily on transaction cost economics with a focus on the nature of the transaction between owner and supplier. Issues such as the structure of the supply market, the point in the economic cycle, and the institutional context are largely ignored. This paper thereby moves on from TCE.