The king's laws yield to village customs
An exploratory study of relational contracting in sustainable forestry
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12629520 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Santiago Velasquez (0000-0001-5354-6726), Santiago Ivan Sagredo Velasquez (RMIT Vietnam, corresponding author), Nhu-Mai Thi Nong (0000-0001-7063-6010, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City), Thi Nhu-Mai Nong, Quynh Phuong Nguyen (RMIT Vietnam), Sundar Venkatesh (0000-0002-1906-8668, Asian Institute of Technology) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 182 |
| Pages | 103694-103694 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Forest Policy and Economics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1389-9341 • E-ISSN: 1872-7050 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103694 |
| OpenAlex | W7117533625 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 51 |
Vietnam's forestry sector faces unique governance challenges due to a landscape characterized by highly dispersed smallholder ownership, contrasting with concession-based models. As international markets increasingly demand sustainability certifications (e.g. FSC or PEFC), cost and complexity deter most smallholders, prompting wood processing firms to finance certification themselves. Such investments of processing firms can be at risk of opportunistic behaviour by smallholders who may side-sell at harvest. The risk can be compounded by weak legal enforcement. Drawing on transaction-cost economics and network theory, we employ a relational contracting lens to examine how such agreements persist. We analyse 15 key stakeholder interviews and six documents. We find evidence that contract stability rests less on legal stipulations and more on relational mechanisms: flexible contingent terms, co-investment in technical capacity, and embedded governance via local authorities and social networks. These informal institutions and networked enforcement substitute for formal mechanisms, enabling sustainable long-term contracting in emerging markets. • Vietnam's certified timber supply hinges on relational, not formal, negotiations. • Flexible terms and co-investment counter “reverse hold-up” in timber deals. • Social networks and local authorities provide informal contract enforcement. • Informal governance enables certification in fragmented smallholder forestry
Certification · Corporate governance · Enforcement · Exploratory research · New institutional economics · Stakeholder · Sustainability · Yield (engineering · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Mining and Resource Management
Relational Contracts and the Theory of the Firm
Snowball Sampling
Analyzing collective action
Twenty‐five years of Living Under Contract
Economic Action and Social Structure
What is Social Capital? A Comprehensive Review of the Concept
Accelerating subnational deforestation and forest degradation reduction efforts (Redd+)
Household opportunity costs of protecting and developing forest lands in Son La and Hoa Binh Provinces, Vietnam
Formal and Informal Contracting
Forest owners' preferences for contract-based management to enhance environmental values versus timber production
Payments for forest-based environmental services
Comparing the financial returns from acacia plantations with different plantation densities and rotation ages in Vietnam
The allocation of forestry land in Vietnam
A comparative analysis of the effects of institutional property rights on forest livelihoods and forest conditions
Redd+ policy design and policy learning
Changing forestry discourses in Vietnam in the past 20years
Returns to Vietnamese smallholder farmers from managing acacia plantations for sawn wood over 4-10 year rotations
Analysis of Acacia hybrid timber value chains
Managing a Rebel Landscape
Effects of marketing contracts and resource-providing contracts in the African small farm sector
Can PES and Redd+ match Willingness To Accept payments in contracts for reforestation and avoided forest degradation? The case of farmers in upland Bac Kan, Vietnam
Rethinking ‘Success’
Afforestation and forestry land allocation in northern Vietnam
The changing distribution of land in rural Vietnam, 2004–2014
The social and ecological costs of reforestation. Territorialization and industrialization of land use accompany forest transitions in Southeast Asia
Reforesting “Bare Hills” in Vietnam
The Costs and Benefits of Ownership
The Social Capital of Opinion Leaders
Private Commercial Law in the Cotton Industry
An array of qualitative data analysis tools
The Boundaries of the Firm Revisited
Group Forest Certification for Smallholders in Vietnam
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |