1. Contractual Management—A Holistic Approach to a Diverse Issue

This part of the book addresses two issues: The persistent complaints in business about the discrepancy between the immense amount of resources consumed by contracts and the rather limited effects they produce; and the neglect and lack of interest the contract faces outside of the legal profession, even though it is an essential working tool for managers. To overcome these shortcomings, Sects. 1.1 through 1.3 survey contract deployment in respect of its concepts, relevance for enterprises, and integration into management activities; furthermore, the causes for the deficits in contract handling are analyzed. The results obtained call for a paradigm shift from management of the contract to management through the contract, what is referred to as the Contractual Management Approach (CM Approach). The latter is explained in Sect. 1.4 together with the Contractual Management Model (CM Model) which instrumentalizes the CM Approach. Thereafter, the benefits and limitations of Contractual Management are evaluated against the objectives of both concepts in order to capture all aspects of contract handling in business. Moreover, its applicability outside of business is tentatively explored to obtain better insights into the immutable conditions under which contracts work. In Sect. 1.5 finally, the core features of Contractual Management are highlighted as well as the contributions it can bring to improve the current shortcomings in contract handling and in contract appreciation.