Dysfunctionality of two-part transfer pricing in investment centers' performance assessment

Abstract

The paper discusses the question of the ability of the two-part transfer pricing system to stimulate investment centers to reject projects with positive NPV and to accept projects with negative NPV when there is no external market for intermediate products. The study revealed under which circumstances investment centers can take such dysfunctional decisions and it investigated if these systems can be modified to eliminate negative effects of such circumstances. In order to solve these problems, methods of financial analysis, real options theory and theory of constraints were used and several hypothetical business situations were modelled to exemplify possible dysfunctional behavior of investment centers when strategic decisions are taken in a decentralized manner. The paper considers the reasons for taking such decisions, such as using average rates of resource costs in calculating the transfer payment, presence of the real options in related projects complex and breaking the five focusing steps of the theory of constraints.