Trust has become a much-discussed, sought-after resource in the current business environment. The contributors to this volume shed new light on the role trust can play in and between organizations.

In the current turbulent business environment, there is a premium on trust. It has become a much desired resource in business organizations, but at the same time it has remained a very elusive idea. How to build and preserve trust, how to cope with opportunism and distrust, and how they affect organizational performance are crucial problems. This original book is the first to offer a wide-ranging study of trust within and between organizations from the perspective of several social and management sciences. The specially commissioned contributionsmany from well-known expertscombine theoretical analysis of problems around trust with empirical study in a range of different organizations in contexts such as China, Japan, India, the US, as well as several European countries. The many issues covered by the book include the relationship between trust and power, trust and law, how to build trust where there was previously none, the impact of trust on performance, and the fragility of trust in different societal contexts. The wide theoretical scope, together with the range of organizational settings and the rich empirical detail of behaviour around trust and opportunism, make this an important and instructive volume.

• Introduction
• Theories and Issues in the Study of Trust
• Understanding the Constitution of Interorganizational Trust
• Distinguishing Trust and Power in Interorganizational Relations
• Forms and Facades of Trust
• Does Trust Improve Business Performance?
• From Handshake to Contract
• Intellectual Property, Trust, and the Social Structure of Academic Research
• Contract Law and the Institutional Reproduction of Trust
• Understanding the Role of Inter
• Firm Institutions in Sustaining Trust within the Employment Relationship
• Lack of Trust, Surfeit of Trust
• Some Causes of the Innovation Crisis in German Industry
• Trust and the Transformation of Supplier Relations in Indian Industry
• Trust and International Strategic Alliances
• the Case of Sino
• Foreign Joint Ventures
• Trust, Morality, and International Business
• Conclusion

This book gives us an excellent feel for the current state of play in the field of trust in organizational studies in general, particularly as regards the study of inter-organizational relations. Organization Studies An excellent and comprehensive approach to the study of trust. The book offers a wide and well argued series of articles on trust and the degree to which it affects business effectiveness. An excellent treatment of the subject with some interesting lessons for those academics, consultants and practicioners who think that there is only one viable model of interfirm relationship. Supply Management