Steve Tadelis is a professor of business, economics and public policy at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. His research aspires to advance our understanding of the roles played by two central institutions -- firms and contractual agreements -- and how these institutions facilitate the creation of surplus. Within the broader framework of the role of firms and contracts, he has focused on four main research topics: (1) What causes a firm's reputation to be a valuable, tradeable asset, and how does it affect the behavior of individuals in the firm? (2) How does organizational form affect firm behavior? In particular, what role do profit-sharing partnerships perform? (3) Which characteristics of a procurement transaction will influence the choice of contractual form that a buyer should devise? Finally, his work on private sector procurement has led him to investigate the determinants of public-sector procurement, and explore the public-policy implications of efficient procurement by local governments.