Lindblom - The Market System - Afghan Journalists' Committee

56 How It WorksThe market would be a pitifully poor social coordinatorif it were, as it is sometimes naively conceived to be, a set ofinteractions in which people exchange surpluses of thingsthey happen to find themselves able to offer. The marketsystem is not a gigantic continuing flea market; indeed, it isnot fairly characterized as an exchange system. Market relationsdo not begin with exchanges of performances andobjects somehow “there” to be exchanged. Market relationsdetermine what is to be made or done—and broughtto exchange.6. The search for sales opportunities gives rise to intermediaries.Would-be sellers find opportunities to sell objectsand performances not only to people who directlywant their goods, but to others who are also engaged in selling.They find it possible to sell trucks to persons sellingkitchen appliances. Or they sell parts to the manufacturersof the appliances. Or parts to the manufacturers of otherparts. Or electric power to any and all manufacturers. Or financialand accounting services to them. It is thanks tochains and webs of these intermediaries that the cafe operatorand the coffee grower can cooperate to provide a cup ofcoffee to a customer. The intermediates provide the shipping,warehousing, processing, and other performances thatforge the links between grower and cafe. Separated from andignorant of each other as grower and cafe are, they could nototherwise be linked together. Thus the house you buy drewfor its construction on innumerable performances and objectscoordinated through transactions to which you werenot party.7. Some participants become specialized in intermediaryroles, specifically in creating new intermediate linksand in organizing combinations of labor, land, and capital