The Evolution of the U.S. International Trade Intermediary in the 1980s: A Dynamic Model

Determinants of export intermediaries' service‐mix configurations

“…To add to the confusion academics have also developed their own terms to describe and categorise these firms so as to fit their research objectives or sampling needs. For example, Perry (1990;1992) used the term international trade intermediaries to cover both EMCs and ETCs and De Noble et al (1989) for similar purposes used the term EI. As there is no research on the exact origins and bases of these onomastics, it is difficult to judge their relevance and functionality in the modern business environment.…”

Social Structure and Intermediation: Market‐making Strategies in International Exchange*

“…All things being equal, TCA suggests that instead of performing export‐related tasks in‐house, a potential exporter will be better off using a specialist trade intermediary in order to tap into the benefits that the middleman is able to obtain in the form of scale economies in distribution (Anderson and Coughlan, 1987). By carrying product lines for several manufacturers, even small ITIs are able to export more cheaply than a single manufacturer going it alone (Perry, 1990), and competitive pressures will compel intermediaries to pass along these lower costs to manufacturers (Williamson, 1979). Thus, from a TCA perspective, ITIs exist because they are able to lower transaction costs for their clients (Jones, 1998a; Peng and Ilinitch, 1998; Roehl, 1983).…”

“…International trade intermediaries have been studied in their many guises and natural habitats and an extensive mosaic of literature on the topic has emerged. To date considerable research has been done on North American ITIs (Bello and Williamson, 1985; Howard and Maskulka, 1988; Kelly and Lecraw, 1985; Perry, 1990), Asian ITIs (Cho, 1984; Ellis, 1998; MacBean, 1996; Sarathy, 1985), and the many European variations on the theme (Carlos and Nicholas, 1988; Mattsson, 1990; Sugiyama, 1987). While research into ITIs is largely nationalistic in scope (Ellis, 2001), with few truly cross‐national studies in existence (cf.…”

“…While research into ITIs is largely nationalistic in scope (Ellis, 2001), with few truly cross‐national studies in existence (cf. Armine, 1987), within this chauvinistic body of literature common research themes have emerged relating to, for example, patterns of diversification (Balabanis and Baker, 1993a, 1993b; Cho, 1987) and organizational evolution (Ellis, 2001; Kim, 1986; Perry, 1990). Two especially fertile topics for study have been (i) the unique and highly diversified Japanese version of ITI known as the sogo shosha (Kojima and Ozawa, 1984; Shao and Herbig, 1993; Shin, 1989; Yoshihara, 1982) and (ii) the ‘US Export Trading Companies Act’ of 1982 (Armine et al, 1986; Howard and Maskulka, 1988; Kaikati, 1984; Williams and Baliga, 1983).…”

“…Building on this definition, an international trade intermediary may be defined as any market‐making intermediary involved in the indirect export of a product between a supplier and a buyer located in separate countries. The high number of permutations on this fundamental intermediary role reflects either differences in the scale and scope of operations (Cho, 1987), the stage of organizational development (Balabanis and Baker, 1993a; Ellis, 2001; Kim, 1986), or idiosyncrasies in the local institutional or cultural context (Kojima and Ozawa, 1984; Perry, 1990; Yoshihara, 1982).…”