Building the Social Structure of a Market

McKague, K; Zietsma, C; Oliver, C

Building the Social Structure of a Market

McKague, K Zietsma, C

Oliver, C

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Organization Studies, 2015, 36 (8), pp. 1063 - 1093
Issue Date:: 2015-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	McKague, K	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Zietsma, C https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6439-3320	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Oliver, C	en_US
dc.date.issued	2015-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Organization Studies, 2015, 36 (8), pp. 1063 - 1093	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0170-8406	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/119336
dc.description.abstract	© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015. Motivated by the question of how to develop viable new markets and value chains in the resource-constrained settings of least developed countries, we adopted multi-year qualitative methods to examine the intervention of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in developing the dairy value chain in Bangladesh. Consistent with the theoretical premise that markets and value chains are social orders, we found that the NGO’s success relied on building the social structure of a market wherein market participants could negotiate relationships and norms of production and exchange and embed them in practices and technologies. To establish social structure among participants as a means of market building, the NGO acquired relevant knowledge, then used contextual bridging (transferring new meanings, practices and structures into a given context in a way that is sensitive to the norms, practices, knowledge and relationships that exist in that context), brokering relationships along the value chain (facilitating introductions and exchanges between value chain members) and funding experimentation (providing resources to test ideas and assumptions about new market practices). Market participants themselves also contributed to the development of the market’s social structure by means of social embedding (building relationships and negotiating norms of exchange and coordination), and material embedding (implementing technologies and practices and integrating market norms into technology). Increased productivity and equity and reduced costs of transactions resulted from the creation of a social structure that, in this case, preceded and enabled the economic structuring of a market rather than the other way around.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Organization Studies	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/0170840615580011	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Business & Management	en_US
dc.title	Building the Social Structure of a Market	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	8	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	36	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	8	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	36	en_US

Abstract:

© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015. Motivated by the question of how to develop viable new markets and value chains in the resource-constrained settings of least developed countries, we adopted multi-year qualitative methods to examine the intervention of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in developing the dairy value chain in Bangladesh. Consistent with the theoretical premise that markets and value chains are social orders, we found that the NGO’s success relied on building the social structure of a market wherein market participants could negotiate relationships and norms of production and exchange and embed them in practices and technologies. To establish social structure among participants as a means of market building, the NGO acquired relevant knowledge, then used contextual bridging (transferring new meanings, practices and structures into a given context in a way that is sensitive to the norms, practices, knowledge and relationships that exist in that context), brokering relationships along the value chain (facilitating introductions and exchanges between value chain members) and funding experimentation (providing resources to test ideas and assumptions about new market practices). Market participants themselves also contributed to the development of the market’s social structure by means of social embedding (building relationships and negotiating norms of exchange and coordination), and material embedding (implementing technologies and practices and integrating market norms into technology). Increased productivity and equity and reduced costs of transactions resulted from the creation of a social structure that, in this case, preceded and enabled the economic structuring of a market rather than the other way around.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/119336