Trade · 6 pages · 12 min
Why cutting out the middleman is sometimes cutting out a job
Removing an intermediary deletes a firm only if nobody still has to do its work.
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From the opening
An intermediary is paid for functions such as matching buyers and sellers, holding stock, checking quality, extending credit, or delivering. Cutting the firm out of the chain removes those functions only when they are truly unnecessary, and otherwise the producer or the buyer has to perform them. The opening covers functions can outlive the firm, direct sales add new tasks, and a thin match can disappear.
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Inside
- Functions can outlive the firm
- Direct sales add new tasks
- A thin match can disappear
- Platforms can be the new layer
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Disintermediation of distribution
- Wholesale functions of time and place