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But Messrs Grossman and Hart identified a next-best solution: the party that brings the most to any venture in terms of “non-contractible” effort should own the key assets, which in this case is the client list.
但是，格羅斯曼和哈特認同了一種次佳的解決方案：在“不可合約化”努力方面，為創業貢獻最大的一方應當擁有關鍵資產。在上述案例中，這種關鍵資產是客戶名單。
So the agent ought to own the list wherever policy renewals are sensitive to sales effort, as in the case of car insurance, for which people tend to shop around more.
因此，就像在人們往往會對其進行貨比三家的汽車保險中那樣，不管保單續保是否對銷售努力敏感，代理人都應當擁有這份名單。
The agent would keep the residual rights and be rewarded for the effort to find the right sort of client.
代理人會堅持剩余權利，并且還會因為找到正確類型的客戶而收到獎勵。
If the insurance firm shirks, the agent can simply sell the policies of a rival firm to his clients.
如果保險公司逃避責任，代理人可以簡單地將對手公司的保單賣給他的客戶。
But in cases where the firm brings more to the party than the sales agent—for example, when clients are “stickier” and the first sale is crucial, as with life insurance—a merger would make more sense.
但是，在公司帶給團隊的多于代理人的案例中——例如，如同人壽保險那樣，當客戶更具“粘性”而且第一筆買賣非常關鍵時——并購會更有意義。
This framework helps to address one of the questions raised by Coase's original paper: when should a firm “make” and when should it “buy”?
這種框架有助于解決科斯的論文原稿提出來的諸多問題之一：公司應當何時“制造”，何時“購買”？
It can be applied to vertical business ties of all kinds.
它可以被應用于所有類型的垂直商業關系。
For instance, franchises have to abide by a few rules that can be set down in a contract, but get to keep the residual profits in exchange for a royalty fee paid to the parent firm.
例如，專營權雖然必須遵守有一系列可以被寫入合約的規則，但是，作為對支付給母公司的忠誠費的交換，它保留了剩余權利。
That is because the important efforts that the parent requires of a franchisee are not easy to put in a contract or to enforce.
這是因為母公司要求專營方的重要努力既不容易寫入合約，也不容易執行。
The management of ties between a firm and its “stakeholders” (its customers, suppliers, employees and investors) is another variation on this theme.
公司與其“利益相關方”（客戶、供應商、員工和投資者）之間的關系的管理是這一主題的另一個變量。
A firm often wants to put restraints on the parties it does business with.
公司經常想對與之打交道的團隊加以種種限制。
Luxury-goods firms or makers of fancy sound equipment may ban retailers from discounting their goods as a way to spur them to compete with rivals on the quality of their shops, service and advice.
奢侈品公司或是高級音響設備制造商可能禁止零售商對他們的商品打折，以此作為刺激它們與對手在店鋪、服務和建議的質量方面進行競爭的一種手段。
If one of the challenges set by Coase was to explain where the boundary between firms and markets lies, another was for economic analysis not to cease once it reached the factory gate or office lobby.
如果說由科斯所設定的諸多挑戰之一，是為了解釋公司和市場間的邊界所在，另一個挑戰則是為了不讓經濟學分析在抵達工廠大門或是辦公室大廳時止步不前。
A key issue is how agreements are structured.
一個關鍵問題是，協議是怎樣構成的。
Why, for instance, do employment contracts have so few formal obligations?
例如，為什么雇員合約有如此少的正式義務？
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
