© Copyright 2001 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University Volume 4, Number 4 ❙ FORUM Journal of Industrial Ecology 83 ❙ Summary Our article uses the theory of transaction cost economics as a conceptual basis for examining the contracting mechanisms by which firms in the computer industry structure programs to encourage their suppliers to improve their environmental management systems and/or the environmental quality of their products. We explore the economic transactions haz- ards associated with asking suppliers to invest in the special- ized technologies required to improve environmental performance of products and management practices and the relational contracting mechanisms computer industry firms are using to protect themselves against these hazards. We also describe the importance the managers we interviewed attributed to various transactions hazards and their percep- tions of how well their firms were coping with them. We conclude by discussing questions for future research. By us- ing TCE to frame our analysis of how computer manufactur- ers are structuring their relationships with their suppliers in the environmental area, we hope to show how social science theory can be used to enrich and increase the practicality of the work done by engineers and others in the mainstream areas of the industrial ecology field. ❙ Environmental Supply-Chain Management in the Computer Industry A Transaction Cost Economics Perspective Christine Meisner Rosen Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA, USA Janet Bercovitz Fuqua School of Business Duke University Chapel Hill, NC, USA Sara Beckman Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA, USA Address correspondence to: Professor Christine Rosen Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley 545 Student Services Building #1900 Berkeley, CA 94720-1900 USA crosen.haas.berkeley.edu Keywords contracting design for environment (DfE) environmental management systems (EMS) greening the supply chain original equipment manufacturers (OEM) semiconductors manufacturers