Subject The article addresses inter-firm cooperation and economic relations between agents of economic activity in the context of informal economic institutions. Objectives The purpose of the study is to systematize the role and place of informal institutions in intercompany cooperation to identify their influence on economy. Methods We employ the logical analysis of data published in the international academic literature on the tenets of the agency theory, transaction cost theory, evolutionary and institutional theories, and the networked economy theory. Results We specify the concept of informal institutions as a spontaneously developing system of communications and norms of intercompany cooperation, which has no fixed standards. The paper includes a classification of informal institutions depending on specifics of intercompany cooperation; a matrix of networks generated by the said cooperation. We prove that the use of informal institutions in intercompany interactions may strengthen competitive positions of companies, decrease their transaction costs, provide new incentives for development and public benefits for socially responsible companies. Conclusions The paper confirms the hypothesis about decisive influence of effects of informal intercompany cooperation on modernization of economic space and system-level integrity of the country. The novelty of findings is in developed model of network interactions. Its use in the formation of intercompany networks will enable economic agents to promptly and efficiently adapt to changing market conditions.
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