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Ethereum is a blockchain platform that supports smart contracts. Smart contracts are pieces of code that perform general-purpose computations. For instance, smart contracts have been used to implement crowdfunding initiatives that raised a total of US$6.2 billion from January to June of 2018. In this paper, we conduct an exploratory study of smart contracts. Differently from prior studies that focused on particular aspects of a subset of smart contracts, our goal is to have a broader understanding of all contracts that are currently deployed in Ethereum. In particular, we elucidate how frequently used the contracts are (activity level), what they do (category), and how complex they are (source code complexity). To conduct this study, we mined and cross-linked data from four sources: Ethereum dataset on the Google BigQuery platform, Etherscan, State of the DApps, and CoinMarketCap. Our study period runs from July 2015 (inception of Ethereum) until September 2018. With regards to activity level, we notice that it is concentrated on a very small subset of the contracts. More specifically, only 0.05% of the smart contracts are the target of 80% of the transactions that are sent to contracts. New solutions to cope with Ethereum’s limited scalability should take such an activity imbalance into consideration. With regards to categories, we highlight that the new and widely advertised rich programming model of smart contracts is currently being used to develop very simple applications that tend to be token-centric (e.g., ICOs, Crowdsales, etc). Finally, with regards to code complexity, we observe that the source code of high-activity verified contracts is small, with at most 211 instructions in 80% of the cases. These contracts also commonly include at least two subcontracts and libraries in their source code. The comment ratio of these contracts is also significantly higher than that of GitHub top-starred projects written in Java, C++, and C#. Hence, the source code of high-activity verified smart contracts exhibit particular complexity characteristics compared to other popular programming languages. Further studies are necessary to uncover the actual reasons behind such differences. Finally, based on our findings, we propose an open research agenda to drive and foster future studies in the area.

Purpose This study aims to provide a foundation for the development of subcontracts that suit takt production in construction. Design/methodology/approach This is a non-empiric conceptual study, which integrates takt production and general construction literature into new proposals for subcontract clauses suitable for takt production in construction. This study uses literature reviews, from which proposals regarding takt production viable subcontract clauses are conducted via logical reasoning. Findings A total of 13 proposals for takt production applicable subcontracts are provided in this study. The proposals emphasize detailed and collaborative planning, suitable payment methods and flexibility for takt plan modification. Originality/value Previous takt literature has not properly addressed the development of subcontracts for takt production, despite regular attempts to use subcontracting in takt production. This study aims to aid main contractors to create fair and suitable subcontracts, so that adhering to takt schedules could be more viable in practice. This study also acts as a foundation for further empirical studies regarding the subject.

Vegetable production in response to consumer needs is a challenge that involved sectors needing to work in concert to address. The study entitled the agribusiness development by collaborative brainstorming for the development of a demand-supply matching platform (DSMP) of good agricultural practices (GAP) vegetables between modern trade and hospital matching with community enterprises in Roi Et Province was conducted during the period July 2020 to September 2022 The findings as cognitive information demonstrated that all parties accepted each other’s proposition; as a result, that led to the creation of the platform with fairness and balance between demand and supply. The developed platform consisted of four sub-platforms. The first one is Kham Pha-Ung Vegetables Community Enterprise (KPUVCE) x Their farmer network is a collaborative platform of the supply sector and serves to produce vegetables to the specified quantity and to manage production risks. Another named KPUVCE x Hospital is a direct order matching platform between KPUVCE and a hospital with a short credit term. The third one referred to as KPUVCE x Subcontract of modern trade (middleman) is an indirect order matching platform between KPUVCE and modern trade through a subcontractor of modern trade to relieve the limitations of a long credit term of modern trade paid to KPUVCE with inadequate working capital for management; the subcontract of modern trade pays cash or offers a short credit term to farmers. The final one, KPUVCE x Extension sector x Modern trade x Hospital is a collaboration promotion platform. As a result, it was found that KPUVCE could increase vegetables for modern trade and hospitals by 85% on average, and only 15% which is a challenge to DSMP balance.

This paper aims to propose effective auction mechanisms for the carrier collaboration problem with bilateral exchange, which is generally the problem of how to realize the potential of carrier collaboration over a bilateral exchange transportation network (e.g., a B2B e-commerce logistics environment). Carriers offer the lanes with the highest marginal costs for subcontracting, while they are allowed to bid on bundles of the lanes. We construct a bundle double auction (BDA) for the one-unit demand case in which the lane offered by each buyer (transportation service purchaser) is only required to be covered with one truckload once. The BDA mechanism realizes incentive compatibility, individual rationality, budget balance, and asymptotical efficiency. We then propose two mechanisms, called BDA-1 and BDA-2, for the multiunit demand case in which each buyer asks for one or multiple truckloads of transportation service. Both mechanisms are effective but differ in incentive compatibility and realized social welfare. The computational study shows that all proposed mechanisms are practically implementable and lead to considerable cost savings for the carrier collaboration network, and most of the benefits generated via collaboration are assigned among carriers. We also numerically analyze the impacts of three operational factors: network structure, the degree of self-served lanes, and the number of lanes in the network.

The duties and responsibilities of the parties signing a contract are governed by the previously agreed terms of the contract. General conditions are a standardized form of pre-printed contract which specifies the general project rules and relevant commercial terms. The contracts are developed and published by various associations and professional bodies and are widely used in the construction industry. In the Malaysian construction industry, there are several standard forms of main contracts and nominated subcontracts. However, for a domestic subcontract, the main contractor prefers to use a bespoke contract, which results in contract disputes. Drafting a complex contract can be time-consuming and expensive. It also requires the involvement of the legal team to provide legal opinions and advice on its content. Hence, this study intends to identify domestic subcontract attributes and critical conditions to overcome the major issue of unclear terms and conditions for the domestic subcontract. A set of attributes and critical conditions have been established through a detailed review and analysis of twenty-two (22) bespoke contracts collected from the industry and an extensive literature review from published articles. Content analysis was done on leading academic journals in construction engineering and management. Clarity, consistency, parties, risk, language, and format of the domestic subcontract are some of the attributes. Meanwhile, payment, liquidated damages, delay, subcontract sum, termination, variation order, practical completion and defect liability period, commencement and completion, and safety provision are the most crucial conditions discovered through extensive review and content analysis of the bespoke contracts. The advantage of establishing these characteristics and critical conditions is that they serve as a prerequisite for the development of a domestic subcontract framework

In construction industry, almost every construction project has to deal with construction contract, due to the project complexity and high financial risk. The contracts are developed and published by various associations and professional bodies and are widely used in the construction industry. Contract conditions are intended to specify the duties and rights of the contractual parties and must be properly drafted. Contractual parties under a particular contract must be aware of the details of the contract conditions. In Malaysian construction industry, there are several standard forms of main contracts and nominated subcontracts. However, for domestic subcontract, main contractors prefer to use bespoke contract, which the parties modify the standard contracts by omitting several clauses or adding new clauses; thus, potentially compromise the completeness and accuracy of the contract. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine the crucial conditions in the domestic subcontract commonly approached by main contractor in construction projects. A quantitative research method is adopted and the data have been collected by survey questionnaires. There are a total of 100 valid responses received from the construction industry practitioners in Malaysia. The survey objective is to rank the conditions in domestic subcontract from the most to the less important. As the result, the top 5 of relatively important domestic subcontract conditions, out of 27 conditions, are the terms of payment and final account, extension of time, variation, contractor’s and subcontractor’s obligations, and performance bond. The results of these surveys will enhance the contractual knowledge of main contractor and domestic subcontractor and improve awareness of crucial conditions that are prerequisite for the development of domestic subcontract.

We explore patterns of vertical integration in the US airline industry. Major airlines subcontract portions of their network to regional partners, which may or may not be owned. We investigate if ownership economizes on ex post renegotiation costs. We estimate whether airlines are more likely to use owned regionals on city pairs with adverse weather (which makes adaptation decisions more frequent) and on city pairs that are more integrated into the major's network (which raises the costs of having adaptation decisions resolved suboptimally). Our results suggest a robust empirical relationship between adaptation and vertical integration in this setting.

Separation of ownership from management, multidivisional firm organizations, delegation of production decisions to worker teams, delegation of pricing and advertising decisions to retail franchisers, reliance on intermediaries in trade or finance, and distribution of regulatory authority across different agencies represent examples of organizations that delegate and distribute decision-making authority instead of centralizing it. This paper reviews literature on costs and benefits of delegated decision making in hierarchical organizations or contracting networks with regard to problems of incentives and coordination. It starts by describing incentive and coordination costs of delegation in simple canonical examples of hierarchies where both information and incentives of different decisionmakers differ. One class of models pertain to contexts where the classical Revelation Principle applies, i.e., where costs of contractual complexity, information processing, or communication are absent, agents do not collude, and the mechanism designer can commit to the mechanism. Delegation may conceivably entail a loss of control and coordination arising from the divergence of information and incentives. Sufficient and necessary conditions for this loss to be mitigated entirely include risk neutrality, top-down contracting, and monitoring of transfers or production assignments between subordinates. The next class of models introduces communication costs that restrict the performance of centralized arrangements relative to delegation owing to a resulting loss of flexibility, which has to be traded off against possible control losses of delegation. Finally, consequences of collusion among agents is discussed, which typically enlarge the range of circumstances under which delegation can attain optimal second-best outcomes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the relevance of this theoretical literature to recently emerging empirical studies of industrial organizations where delegated decision making plays an important role: adoption of innovative human resource management practices, new information technologies and retail franchising.

This article provides evidence on the role of subcontracting in the auction-based procurement setting with private cost variability and capacity constraints. We demonstrate that subcontracting allows bidders to modify their costs realizations in a given auction as well as to control their future costs by reducing backlog accumulation. Restricting access to subcontracting raises procurement costs for an individual project by 12% and reduces the number of projects completed in equilibrium by 20%. The article explains methodological and market design implications of subcontracting availability.

PurposeThis study investigates the optimum size for manufacturing firms and the impact of subcontracting on firms' likelihood of achieving their optimal scale in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the enterprise census in 2017 and 2021, the paper first estimates the production function to identify the optimum firm size for manufacturing firms and then applies the logit model to investigate factors associated with the optimal firm size.FindingsThe study reveals that medium-sized firms exhibit the highest level of productivity. Nevertheless, a consistent trend emerges, indicating that nearly 90% of manufacturing firms in Vietnam operated below their optimal scale in both 2017 and 2021. An analysis of the impact of subcontracting on firms' likelihood to achieve their optimal scale emphasizes its crucial role, especially for foreign firms, exerting an influence nearly five times greater than that of the judiciary system.Practical implicationsThe paper's findings offer crucial policy implications, suggesting that initiatives aimed at enhancing the overall productivity of the manufacturing sector should prioritise facilitating contract arrangements to encourage firms to reach their optimal size. These insights are also valuable for other countries with comparable firm size distributions.Originality/valueThis paper provides the first empirical evidence on the relationship between firm size and productivity as well as the role of subcontracting in firms' ability to reach their optimal scale in a country with a right-skewed distribution of firm sizes.