Recent research has shown that legal action by businesses against other businesses has increased substantially in recent years, accompanied by the inevitable losses in productivity and significant increases in legal costs and court caseloads. Yet, little is known about how business-to-business disputes emerge and why some become lawsuits while others do not; about how businesses vary in the way that they deal with problems in business relationships; and about how different approaches to disputing (for example, the involvement of lawyers, the use of alternative dispute resolution processes like mediation) affect the nature of business- to-business disputes and shape their outcomes. Past research and existing theories focus on how and why individuals drop or pursue grievances and on the ways that individual perceptions and actions regarding grievances change as disputes develop and are processed. This research will examine the disputing behavior of business organizations -- behavior that differs substantially from that of individuals -- and thus will elaborate and extend existing theory while adding to the limited empirical knowledge about business disputing. In addition, the research should have practical application for the choices that businesses make in organizing themselves to deal with conflicts with other businesses. This research will employ intensive case studies of the disputing behavior of six corporations that differ in their formal dispute resolution policies. Through repeated interviews with and observation of the work of corporate counsel staff and business managers and executives, we will develop an inventory of recent and on-going problems in business relationships for each firm. For each problem, we will gather data about the characteristics of the problem and the relationship as well as the perceptions of key actors, actions taken, and resources expended at each step as the problem moves toward resolution or litigation. Using techniques of qualitative and quantitative analysis, we will examine the characteristics that distinguish disputes that are litigated from those that are not, and describe the impact that differing approaches to resolving problems and disputes have on their definition, course, costs and outcome. In addition, this research will compare the disputing policies and practices of the six businesses and the ways that they influence corporate disputing behavior.
