On the value of partial commitment for cooperative investment in buyer–supplier relationship

Does formal contracting foster cooperation in a buyer–supplier relationship? In line with the literature, we find that a renegotiable contract with relationship-specific joint investments does not make it possible to reach the first-best. However, we show that a renegotiable contract may induce more cooperation than an informal arrangement can. This result may help to understand how cooperation emerges in Japanese procurement practices, which typically involve relationship-specific joint investments and renegotiable contracts.