法制环境、关系网络与交易成本——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

Legal Environments,Relationship Networks and Transaction Costs: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

以往的研究主要从信任视角解释商业关系网络对企业交易成本的影响,文章不同于以往的研究,通过构建商业关系网络和法律的互动分析框架,考察了在中国地区法制环境不均衡情况下,关系网络对交易成本和企业价值的影响。研究发现,关系网络有助于节约交易成本和提升企业价值,特别是在法制环境较差的地区作用更明显。文章研究表明,在转型经济环境中,企业关系网络已然成为法律制度缺失的一种替代保护机制。因此,从效率视角理解关系网络对于提升经济绩效、促进企业成长并最终促进中国经济增长的作用,无疑具有重要的理论价值。

Previous studies explain the effects of commercial relationship networks on transaction costs from the trust perspective, but this paper ex- plores the effects of relationship networks on transaction costs and corporate value under the imbalance of regional legal environments in China by the construction of an analytical framework of the interaction between relation- ship networks and law. It reaches the conclusion that relationship networks are contributive to the reduction in transaction costs and the increase in cor- porate value, especially in regions with imperfect legal environments. The results show that corporate relationship networks have been an alternative protection mechanism in regard to a lack of legal systems. Therefore, the understanding of the positive effects of relationship networks on economic performance, corporate growth and economic growth in China from the effi- ciency perspective is undoubtedly of great theoretical value.