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Social Structure and Intermediation: Market‐making Strategies in International Exchange*
Author(s) -
Ellis Paul D.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of management studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.398
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1467-6486
pISSN - 0022-2380
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6486.00396
Subject(s) - intermediary , intermediation , negotiation , core (optical fiber) , financial intermediary , business , social exchange theory , industrial organization , information exchange , international trade , international market , economics , commerce , international economics , marketing , political science , financial system , finance , telecommunications , computer science , sociology , social science , law
Information gaps between markets create opportunities for international trade intermediaries to negotiate cross‐border exchanges. Faced with the prospect of eventually being eliminated from these exchanges, intermediaries must continually search for new opportunities to mediate international exchange. In this paper an original explanation is derived from the core principles of structural hole theory to explain how these market‐making firms operate in the tension found between the inevitable decay of existing exchange relationships and the uncertainty of finding replacement sources of income.