1 Chapter in: Anna Grandori (ed.), Handbook of Economic Organization, chapter 28, Edward Elgar Publishing. Subcontracting relationships Ruth Rama and Adelheid Holl Abstract Recent decades have witnessed substantial changes in the organisation of production, leading towards interconnected production and the contracting out of activities at an increasingly global scale. In this chapter we review the literature on subcontracting relationships with a focus on organisational structures, antecedents and the spatial dimension in such relations. Over the last decades, subcontracting relationships have become more widespread, have evolved in several characteristics, and have become progressively more complex. We argue that subcontracting can not be explained well as a general phenomenon but requires distinctions among different forms, dimensions, and relations. We point to major questions that research in this area should address in the future. *We are grateful for very helpful comments and suggestions from Anna Grandori.