To read this content please select one of the options below:

The Importance of Being Independent: The Role of Intermediaries in Creating Market Categories

From Categories to Categorization: Studies in Sociology, Organizations and Strategy at the Crossroads

ISBN: 978-1-78714-239-8, eISBN: 978-1-78714-238-1

Publication date: 17 March 2017

Abstract

This article explores how the commentary of intermediaries – third-party entities that do not have direct economic stakes in the sales of goods – can contribute to the creation of new market categories comprising preexisting but neglected and undervalued goods. Specifically, I study how the Sundance Institute facilitated the creation of a market for independent cinema in the United States, suggesting that intermediaries create market categories by defining boundaries, generating criteria of evaluation, and setting standards for measuring and establishing hierarchies of quality, which help audiences understand and value the category. The study, thus, adds nuance to our understanding of markets and categories.

Keywords

Citation

Khaire, M. (2017), "The Importance of Being Independent: The Role of Intermediaries in Creating Market Categories", From Categories to Categorization: Studies in Sociology, Organizations and Strategy at the Crossroads (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 51), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 259-293. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20170000051007

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited