Proactive Approach to Contracts as a Source of a Company Competitive Value

Abstract

The aggravation of international trade relations makes it difficult for a contract to predict every single forthcoming event. However, an adequate response to this phenomenon would not be the contract complexity. The very process of contracting, as well as the role of the contract itself need some modifications. The traditional view on contracting is changing more towards relational approach to contracting. It is necessary to devise ways in which contracts may be used to focus on objectives through mutual understanding. In this regard, proactive contracting becomes the best solution which ensures contracts and contracting process itself to be successful, and also ethically and morally acceptable. Contracting process should start by building trust between future contractual partners, followed by a phase in which the parties negotiate the terms of the contract, and where eventually the contract defines the form of the agreed. Proactive legal approach strives to strengthen the adaptive capacity of a contract, creating a contractual system that is continuously being analyzed and adjusted to changing circumstances and the assessed effects, for example, by making appropriate annexes. This approach provides a basis for negotiating conflict management using the methods of alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation, conciliation, and/or arbitration. Proactive contracting makes an opportunity for managers to reformulate legal concerns into business opportunities. The aim of this paper is to analyze proactive rights, particularly in the field of contracting with preventive and promotional aspects and empirical research that should show the readiness of the Serbian companies to change their accents in contractual negotiations in order to ensure a successful outcome.