The word commerce is infrequently used in contemporary business speak and, when it is, it is typically as a somewhat archaic synonym for business or trade, or otherwise in the context of e-commerce . This book defines commerce by its traditional meaning, as the activity of transaction and exchange, and explores the corresponding interaction of human behaviour and economic interests.
This book develops not only an understanding of the ambiguous interface between deals and relationships, but also the skills to manage it according to the situations and contexts in which it arises. The aim is to use advances on the fundamental phenomena of economic exchange (trust, reciprocity, altruism, reputation, etc.) and to apply them to a detailed explanation of the ins and outs of commerce. Of great interest to scholars and students of marketing, organisational behaviour and economics, this book attempts to bring together these advances to focus on the commercial phenomenon and propose a synthetic approach to the exchange relationship.
Part 1: Relationships and Merchant Exchange.- Chapter 1- Introduction: Commerce defined.- Chapter 2- Trade, commercial relations, and the relationship.- Chapter 3 - Interaction, Exchange and Transaction.- Chapter 4 - Opportunism and normativity in the commercial relationship.- Part 2: Trade, merchandise and markets.- Chapter 5 - The centrality of the commodity in the commercial relationship and the commoditization process Chapter 6 - The process of generalised commoditization.- Chapter 7 Exchange, trade and markets.- Chapter 8 - The market as an abstraction.- Chapter 9 Commerce Formalized: Mathematical formulations and geometrical metaphors.- Part 3: commerce dynamics.- Chapter 10 - Fundamental relational mechanisms underlying trade and exchange.- Chapter 11 - Reciprocity and trust.- Chapter 12 - Collective commercial dynamics.- Chapter 13 - Virtual commerce relationships.- Part 4: Applications.- Chapter 14 - Commerce and police.- Chapter 15 - Mandates and commercial intermediation.- Chapter 16 - Labour market, instrumentalization and commerce in oneself and others.- Chapter 17 - The undue divorce between deals and relationships.
Jean-Claude Usunier is Emeritus Professor of Marketing at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He was involved in international marketing practice before switching to academia. His research focuses on the cultural dimension of international marketing, comparative and cross-cultural management, and cross-cultural research methods and his work has been published widely in books and journals.
