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We argue for a broadened approach to brokerage by distinguishing between brokerage emphasizing a particular structural pattern in which two otherwise disconnected alters are connected through a third party (“brokerage structure”) and the social behavior of third parties (“brokerage process”). We explore a processual view of brokerage by examining three fundamental strategic orientations toward brokerage: conduit, tertius gaudens, and tertius iungens that occur in many different forms and combinations. This processual view is especially relevant in increasingly complex and dynamic environments where brokerage behavior is highly varied, intense, and purposeful, and has theoretical implications for studying multiplexity, heterogeneity, and brokerage intensity.

Despite the importance of brokers in creative projects, limited attention has been devoted to the micro-interactions by which brokers induce others’ collaboration while simultaneously retaining some control over creative production. Building on an interactionist perspective, we develop the concept of brokerage style – i.e., a recognizable pattern in the ways in which a broker interacts with others. By using different brokerage styles in different phases of a creative project, brokers can orient the social interactions among project participants, “charging” those interactions with different types of emotional energy and mutual attention, eventually inducing collective collaboration and limiting participants’ expectations of control. We illustrate our interactionist model of brokerage styles with examples from the music and TV industries.

To stimulate further research aimed at understanding how value can be cocreated by participants in digital ecosystems, this paper draws attention to new ventures as focal actors in innovation ecosystems orchestrated by hub firms.

This is a conceptual article that imports the notion of network oscillation (a pattern of brokerage-closure-brokerage) from social network studies to the conversation on digital ecosystems.

One potential pattern that a new venture may pursue to increase its prospects of cocreating value in an innovation ecosystem includes: (1) brokerage to gain managerial attention from a business unit of the hub firm, (2) switching to closure to attract attention from the wider hub firm (e.g. headquarters) and (3) reverting to brokerage to pursue synergistic network expansion opportunities from the wider interfirm ecosystem.

The exploratory ideas in this paper can help advance both entrepreneurship and information systems research.

This paper offers preliminary ideas on egocentric network dynamics associated with a new venture partnering with a large ecosystem hub firm. Such a perspective is appropriate since achieving value creation through active partnering requires building and strengthening ties over time across the hub firm's ecosystem.

This paper examines whether technological changes that promote communications between investors and managers help bridge the gap in the cost of equity capital among firms in different regions.

We use the online interaction platforms of listed firms in China and utilize brokerage presence (BP) to capture the geographic distribution of financial factors. We explore whether online interactions would reduce the cost of equity to a greater extent for firms located in low brokerage presence regions (hereafter “low-BP firms”) than those in high brokerage presence regions (hereafter “high-BP firms”).

We find low-BP firms benefit more from an improved information environment created by online interactions. We also find that posts about low-BP firms are more value-relevant and useful in processing corporate disclosures. Further, a higher number of interactions significantly enhances more informational efficiency for low-BP firms, and the effect of reducing the gap in financing costs is more pronounced when corporate information is complex.

We conclude that online interactions alleviate geography-induced information frictions and create a relatively level playing field for firms located in all regions.

Commercial real estate is a highly specific asset: heterogeneous, indivisible and with less information transparency than most other commonly held investment assets. These attributes encourage the use of intermediaries during asset acquisition and disposal. However, there are few attempts to explain the use of different brokerage models (with differing costs) in different markets. This study aims to address this gap.

The study analyses 9,338 real estate transactions in London and New York City from 2001 to 2011. Data are provided by Real Capital Analytics and cover over $450 billion of investments in this period. Brokerage trends in the two cities are compared and probit regressions are used to test whether the decision to transact with broker representation varies with investor or asset characteristics.

Results indicate greater use of brokerage in London, especially by purchasers. This persists when data are disaggregated by sector, time or investor type, pointing to the role of local market culture and institutions in shaping brokerage models and transaction costs. Within each city, the nature of the investors involved seems to be a more significant influence on broker use than the characteristics of the assets being traded.

Brokerage costs are the single largest non-tax charge to an investor when trading commercial real estate, yet there is little research in this area. This study examines the role of brokers and provides empirical evidence on factors that influence the use and mode of brokerage in two major investment destinations.

The purpose of this chapter is to communicate an innovative approach for public transit agencies to best balance ever growing Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit ridership and decreasing budgets.

A variety of best practices from Medical Transportation Management, Inc. (MTM)’s current paratransit brokerage operations and historical nonemergency medical transportation (NEMT) operations are discussed, along with recommendations from nationally recognized organizations.

The paratransit brokerage model can help public transit agencies contain paratransit service costs and remove community barriers for passengers through the use of nondedicated vehicle fleets.

This chapter offers practical solutions to public transit agencies interested in exploring new paratransit management methods.

Sustainable development involves companies on an individual, organizational and social level requiring the adoption of business models or innovations capable of privileging the co-creation of mutual value with a view to sustainability. From an organizational perspective, this paper aims to show that knowledge brokers, by making explicit their roles as mediators of interactions and acting on dynamic capabilities (DCs), can generate a proactive approach to the three dimensions of sustainability and specifically allows capabilities to positively impact the propensity toward sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices.

This study offers an empirical analysis of 200 companies in the agro-food sector participating in a knowledge brokerage system activated by protection consortia. It uses a multiple regression technique that allows for observing relationships between DCs and SSCM.

Absorptive, adaptive and innovative capabilities, when understood and brokered, have a positive and direct impact on the SSCM.

As there have rarely been frameworks developed that correlate knowledge brokerage, DCs and sustainability, this paper suggests that DCs, when adequately valued by the knowledge broker, allow for identifying the requirements of the various stakeholders regarding sustainability and changes in market scenarios to generate sustainability practices along the supply chain.

A key element in the personalisation of health and social care is the upfront allocation of a budget to disabled and older people which they can use to obtain the supports they require. The benefit of this arrangement in increasing user choice and control will not materialise unless recipients can either acquire or access the skills of brokerage needed to plan and arrange their supports. The independent support broker is one important response to this need. However, the role needs to match the intentions of personalisation and avoid the undesirable characteristics that many social care users associate with the term ‘professional’. This raises specific questions about the definition of the role and training requirements of brokers, and broader themes which are explored with reference to the findings from two recent projects undertaken by the National Development Team for Inclusion. The second of these projects was commissioned by Skills for Care London, and led to a set of proposals for the training and accreditation of support brokers.

Corporations are turning to those commercial real estate professionals who are customer oriented and quality driven to represent them throughout the process of aligning the real estate needs to the driving force(s) within the company and/or business unit. This relates to value‐added services from consulting in the strategic planning phase to advising in the process of the lease renewal/relocation, purchase/built‐to‐suit . . . along with the requisite negotiating and move management services. Quality is becoming a competitive weapon. A service provider’s success depends on being perceptive to their customer’s needs and being able to link the client’s expectations with the firm’s service capabilities. This paper reviews the total quality management (TQM) philosophy with its customer‐centric thinking and in relation to the tenant‐representation process.