Column 13 · Channels and Governance · Era 5, Assets and Accountability (2000s)
Opportunism Management
Implementation, process · Landmark · Cluster V, Interfirm Networks
Description
Wathne and Heide distinguished forms of opportunism (blatant and lawful, in flexible and inflexible contexts) and the strategies for managing it through monitoring, incentive design, selection, and socialization.
Managerial Implications
Partners may act opportunistically, through active deception or passive underperformance, and in both old and new circumstances. Each form calls for a different response: monitoring, incentives, careful selection, or socialization into shared norms. Managers should identify which forms of opportunism their relationships are exposed to and match the governance mechanism, rather than applying a single tool, usually contracts, to every risk.