A **Dedicated EMC Contract** is signed to align all the members of one EMC, which outlines the goals and responsibilities for every member, the deadlines for work, and profit-sharing agreements. When the EMC makes a profit, all its members share in the results. Conversely, when the EMC struggles, no one benefits.
Haier **launched a handful of EMCs in early 2019**. Within two years, the number had organically grown to more than 400. However, this also meant a rapid rise in transaction costs to run all the EMCs successfully. In fact, when EMCs were first established, the **collaboration** within and between EMCs occurred mainly during offline meetings. EMC **contracts** were primarily signed on paper.
# The Workbench This all changed with the introduction of the Workbench at the end of 2019. The tool digitalised and automated many of these offline processes that were still being performed manually, thereby radically **reducing the transaction costs** inside the firm. As such, the Workbench allowed Haier’s EMCs to self-organise in a wholly digital manner. However, the tool not only radically decreased transaction costs but also brought three other advantages: market **efficiency**, ecosystem **transparency**, and **common prosperity**.