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Buyer and seller interactions are analyzed with intermediaries called traders using a network structure. Goods are traded in the market through those networks. Each seller and buyer is linked to a trader through a network. We introduce asymmetric information on the valuation of goods by sellers and buyers. We deal with a two-stage game with incomplete information. The trader tries to maximize his profit. In Chapter 1, we analyze even network structures with one seller-one trader-one buyer and two buyers-one trader-two sellers and the asymmetric network cases with one seller-one trader-two buyers and two sellers-one trader-one buyer. We find that he sometimes offers different prices to sellers or to buyers when the penalty is almost zero in the second even network. We obtain that the trader sometimes offers the same price to all three parties to receive the maximum profit in the second asymmetric case. In Chapter 2, we allow there to be multiple traders and analyze how buyer and seller prices are influenced by competition among traders in a model of uncertainty. Sometimes, the seller and buyer both benefit from the competition between the two traders. The traders compete in the sense of a Bertrand duopoly to choose the price where each trader aims to maximize his profit. In other network structures, we note that the sellers who are not subject to the competition between two traders suffer from the consequences of the monopoly competition. We obtain that there will not be one fixed price that the traders offer the second seller and the second buyer in the last two network structures depending on the conditions on the valuations for the traded good. Middlemen, either as individuals or realtors, seem to have influential effects on the pricing strategy in the housing market. In Chapter 3, we analyze the contribution of the middlemen in the housing market as an application to trade networks. We work on a specific dataset related to the housing prices for two main neighborhoods in Atlanta, Georgia. The characteristics of those neighborhoods differ in terms of its distance to downtown or high-valued residential houses. We compare and contrast the returns for those two neighborhoods with distinct properties in order to investigate if any of these neighborhoods yield higher returns for the middlemen.

Agriculture is considered a critical sector in attaining economic growth for most economies in Africa. However, for the sector to play its role, it needs to be commercialised to enable smallholder farmers to participate in markets and, hence, improve their incomes and livelihoods. In most developing economies, smallholder farmers find it difficult to participate in markets because of the numerous constraints and barriers mostly reflected in the transaction costs that make access to input and output markets difficult. When analysing the effects of transaction costs on market participation, much attention has been accorded to farmers while ignoring middlemen/traders who are also part of the marketing system. Furthermore, studies on the effect of transaction costs on market participation tend to focus on grains and cereals while ignoring agrocommodities that are more perishable. The purpose of this study was to holistically examine the effects of transaction costs on participation of smallholder farmers and middlemen in banana markets of the Great Lakes region in central Africa. The study adopted a non-separable household model which incorporated fixed and proportional transaction costs in the function of maximising utility subject to resource constraints. The Heckman procedure was used to determine the factors affecting the discrete choice of smallholder farmers on whether to sell and quantities to sell while catering for selection biases. Probit analysis was used to determine the farmers’ choice of selling point while the ordinary least squares method was used to analyse the extent of participation of traders. Variables capturing transaction costs in regards to information gathering, negotiating, contracting, monitoring and enforcing of contracts were used in the analyses. The empirical analyses were based on secondary data availed for 2666 farming households and 494 traders located in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The results of the study indicate that fixed and proportional transaction costs distinctly affect the participation of smallholder farmers in markets. Belonging to farmer groups facilitates information exchange which reduces fixed transaction costs and, hence, increases the likelihood of farmers to participate in markets. The size of a household, distance to markets and ownership of transport means, which is linked to proportional transaction costs, influence the extent of farmer participation in markets. The choice of selling point was significantly influenced by household size, the gender of the household head, off farm revenue, access to price information and the extent of remoteness of household. The effects of transaction costs on market participation of smallholder farmers were more evident in the analyses for bananas than in the one for beans. The participation of traders was significantly influenced by gender, trading experience and supply distance which relate to the bargaining prowess, business networks and per unit transport cost, respectively. Interventions geared towards supporting associations for farmers may facilitate information exchange and enhance bargaining and contracting skills which subsequently reduce transaction costs. Policies aimed at supporting investment in rural infrastructure, in terms of feeder road networks and market places, can lead to reduction in transaction costs and thereby enhance participation of farmers and traders in markets. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

Due to the high competitive nature of the fashion industry, it is essential for businesses to have precise and update information regarding its orders from every part of the supply chain. However, in nowadays conditions, when manufacturing process is outsourced worldwide, but lead times tend always to become shorter complexity of the supply chain has increased significantly that makes very complicated to ensure good visibility, communication, and coordination through the chain. The aim of this thesis is to find the way of managing complexity within Gefa International AB, located in Sweden, by improving its documentation and reorganizing the supply chain. By analyzing the company’s organization three main problems have been identified as: lack of the technical department, presence of intermediaries between the focal firm Gefa and manufacturers, and finally the current modification of the computer system Pisa that does not allow using developed set of documentation in the appropriate way. Two suggested solution should solve these problems and improve performance of the company. First, it is proposed to exclude intermediaries from the supply chain and to add one more work place in the company for the technical assistance. Second, it is necessary to adapt current computer system to the developed set of documentation. These solutions require additional expenses. However, preliminary calculations show that it could be covered by the economies on the middlemen’s interest. / Program: Applied Textile Management

Due to the high competitive nature of the fashion industry, it is essential for businesses to have precise and update information regarding its orders from every part of the supply chain. However, in nowadays conditions, when manufacturing process is outsourced worldwide, but lead times tend always to become shorter complexity of the supply chain has increased significantly that makes very complicated to ensure good visibility, communication, and coordination through the chain. The aim of this thesis is to find the way of managing complexity within Gefa International AB, located in Sweden, by improving its documentation and reorganizing the supply chain. By analyzing the company’s organization three main problems have been identified as: lack of the technical department, presence of intermediaries between the focal firm Gefa and manufacturers, and finally the current modification of the computer system Pisa that does not allow using developed set of documentation in the appropriate way. Two suggested solution should solve these problems and improve performance of the company. First, it is proposed to exclude intermediaries from the supply chain and to add one more work place in the company for the technical assistance. Second, it is necessary to adapt current computer system to the developed set of documentation. These solutions require additional expenses. However, preliminary calculations show that it could be covered by the economies on the middlemen’s interest. / Program: Applied Textile Management

<p>Syftet med vår uppsats är att undersöka vilka hinder och möjligheter som existerar för att ett genomslag för mellanhandsreducering i bostadsmäklarbranschen ska kunna ske. Dessutom är syftet att undersöka närmare på hur förmedling av olika bostadsobjekt sker på bostadsmarknaden i Sverige och i det sammanhanget att studera hur nya aktörer har förändrat och förenklat den traditionella affärsmodellen för bostadsförmedling.</p> / <p>The purpose of this essay is to investigate the obstacles and possibilities that exist in the real estate business in order for a breakthrough of middlemen reduction to take place. The purpose is also to closely examine how the broking of real estate is laid out in Sweden and in this context show how new players have changed and simplified the traditional business model for real estate broking.</p>

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to an increased understanding of the underlying conditions for the development of a domestic market for consumer goods by studying how the distribution of goods between the town and the countryside in the county of Hälsingland, Sweden, was organized during the first half of the 19th century. The thesis has analyzed the different kinds of persons involved in the distribution of goods, their functions and mutual relations. In order to examine how the trade was organized on the individual level, a case study of one Hudiksvall merchant’s trading business has been done. This has made possible an analysis of how the two-way trade carried on by the majority of the merchants in the region was organized. In broad outline, this trade involved the merchants purchasing linen goods in the countryside for further selling in Stockholm and other markets on the one hand, and on the other purchasing different kinds of consumer goods in these markets to sell in the countryside of Hälsingland.</p><p>The conclusion drawn from this study is that the conditions for distributing goods really were in a phase of change, where the possibilities of carrying out trade gradually increased, which meant that different kinds of trade and different kinds of traders operated side by side.</p><p>Furthermore, the trade was in many aspects less hierarchic and more horizontally organized than has been suggested by previous research. The individual merchant’s business depended on other traders, where the individuals involved in different ways played a very concrete role in the success of each merchant’s business. This means that the relationship between different traders was characterized by both competition and co-operation. Sometimes merchants engaged other merchants as middlemen on remote markets; on other occasions they took the middleman’s role in relation to other merchants. </p>

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to an increased understanding of the underlying conditions for the development of a domestic market for consumer goods by studying how the distribution of goods between the town and the countryside in the county of Hälsingland, Sweden, was organized during the first half of the 19th century. The thesis has analyzed the different kinds of persons involved in the distribution of goods, their functions and mutual relations. In order to examine how the trade was organized on the individual level, a case study of one Hudiksvall merchant’s trading business has been done. This has made possible an analysis of how the two-way trade carried on by the majority of the merchants in the region was organized. In broad outline, this trade involved the merchants purchasing linen goods in the countryside for further selling in Stockholm and other markets on the one hand, and on the other purchasing different kinds of consumer goods in these markets to sell in the countryside of Hälsingland. The conclusion drawn from this study is that the conditions for distributing goods really were in a phase of change, where the possibilities of carrying out trade gradually increased, which meant that different kinds of trade and different kinds of traders operated side by side. Furthermore, the trade was in many aspects less hierarchic and more horizontally organized than has been suggested by previous research. The individual merchant’s business depended on other traders, where the individuals involved in different ways played a very concrete role in the success of each merchant’s business. This means that the relationship between different traders was characterized by both competition and co-operation. Sometimes merchants engaged other merchants as middlemen on remote markets; on other occasions they took the middleman’s role in relation to other merchants.

Syftet med vår uppsats är att undersöka vilka hinder och möjligheter som existerar för att ett genomslag för mellanhandsreducering i bostadsmäklarbranschen ska kunna ske. Dessutom är syftet att undersöka närmare på hur förmedling av olika bostadsobjekt sker på bostadsmarknaden i Sverige och i det sammanhanget att studera hur nya aktörer har förändrat och förenklat den traditionella affärsmodellen för bostadsförmedling. / The purpose of this essay is to investigate the obstacles and possibilities that exist in the real estate business in order for a breakthrough of middlemen reduction to take place. The purpose is also to closely examine how the broking of real estate is laid out in Sweden and in this context show how new players have changed and simplified the traditional business model for real estate broking.

<p>The social change, with Internet as one of its innovations, is changing the way business is conducted. The main objective is to study and get a better understanding of the use of Internet as a new sales channel when there already exist a sales channel including middlemen. A description is made covering the decision situation and three areas that are affecting the decision - relationships to the middlemen, added value in the channels, and financials. European airlines as represented i Sweden and US airlines were interviewed. For explorative purposes interviews have been made with travel agents. No primary data is collected from the travel customers. Security issues and other barriers for Internet adoption are not studied. The conclusion of the study is that managers should focus on action more than"rational decison making". If the middlemen will be bypassed it is important to communicate with them. It is also necessary to have upper management's support. One of the driving forces for implementing Internet as a sales channel in the airline industry is to create customer ownership. Three generic formats for doing so is identified - learing relationship, verical facilitator, and meta intermediary.</p>