Trust is the expectation that the other party will behave in a predictable and mutually acceptable way. In inter-firm relationships, the presence or absence of trust can affect the level of cost in a relationship. The existence of trust is thought to lower the transaction costs in a relationship. For example, if a buyer inspects incoming goods to check that the goods supplied correspond to the goods ordered, this adds a layer of cost. This in turn reflects an absence of contractual trust. Some of the benefits of cooperative sourcing strategies are based on reducing system costs by substituting cooperation for opportunism.