IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0186063.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social networks, market transactions, and reputation as a central resource. The Mercado del Mar, a fish market in central Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Carmen Pedroza-Gutiérrez
  • Juan M Hernández

Abstract

Fish consumption in Mexico is considered low (around 12 kg per person per year) and non-homogeneously distributed across the country. One of the reasons for this situation is the scarcity of wholesale selling sites. In this context, the Mercado del Mar (MM), located in Guadalajara city, Jalisco, is the second biggest wholesale fish market in Mexico, with a distribution of about 500 tons per day and a variety of about 350 different species of fish. In this paper, we argue that MM has accumulated social capital, which is formed from two main resources: buyer and seller relationships, and reputation. Specifically, the MM manages a broad and intensive interaction among business actors and the already achieved reputation allows the MM to adapt to market changes. To validate our hypotheses, an empirical study was conducted in 2015 by means of interviews to fish wholesalers in the MM and a sample of their suppliers and buyers. For simplicity we have only considered fresh water fish. We have followed snow-ball sampling as the survey strategy. Results show that the MM has responded to fish market dynamics organizing a complex network of buyers and suppliers whose relationships can be explained in the form of strong and weak ties. At the same time, reputation has been the central resource to build this social capital and also gives place to market transactions. Additionally, the strategic position of Guadalajara city and the well-connected routes have facilitated fish bulking and distribution in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Carmen Pedroza-Gutiérrez & Juan M Hernández, 2017. "Social networks, market transactions, and reputation as a central resource. The Mercado del Mar, a fish market in central Mexico," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-21, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0186063
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186063
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186063&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0186063?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee, Peggy M. & Wahal, Sunil, 2004. "Grandstanding, certification and the underpricing of venture capital backed IPOs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 375-407, August.
    2. Jean Tirole, 1996. "A Theory of Collective Reputations (with applications to the persistence of corruption and to firm quality)," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 63(1), pages 1-22.
    3. Wang, Chengjiang & Wang, Li & Wang, Juan & Sun, Shiwen & Xia, Chengyi, 2017. "Inferring the reputation enhances the cooperation in the public goods game on interdependent lattices," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 293(C), pages 18-29.
    4. Gautam Ahuja, 2000. "The duality of collaboration: inducements and opportunities in the formation of interfirm linkages," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 317-343, March.
    5. Kathryn Graddy, 2006. "Markets: The Fulton Fish Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 207-220, Spring.
    6. Musiolik, Jörg & Markard, Jochen & Hekkert, Marko, 2012. "Networks and network resources in technological innovation systems: Towards a conceptual framework for system building," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(6), pages 1032-1048.
    7. Kathryn Graddy, 1995. "Testing for Imperfect Competition at the Fulton Fish Market," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(1), pages 75-92, Spring.
    8. Bharat N. Anand & Tarun Khanna, 2000. "Do firms learn to create value? The case of alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 295-315, March.
    9. Carl Shapiro, 1983. "Premiums for High Quality Products as Returns to Reputations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(4), pages 659-679.
    10. Hong Ding & Lin Cao & Yizhi Ren & Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo & Benyun Shi, 2016. "Reputation-Based Investment Helps to Optimize Group Behaviors in Spatial Lattice Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, September.
    11. Giulioni, Gianfranco & Bucciarelli, Edgardo, 2011. "Agents’ ability to manage information in centralized markets: Comparing two wholesale fish markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 34-49.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:plo:pone00:0218958 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Xavier Basurto & Abigail Bennett & Emilie Lindkvist & Maja Schlüter, 2020. "Governing the commons beyond harvesting: An empirical illustration from fishing," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Mangku Purnomo & Fenna Otten & Heiko Faust, 2018. "Indonesian Traditional Market Flexibility Amidst State Promoted Market Competition," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-17, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. François-Charles Wolff & Frédéric Salladarré & Laurent Baranger, 2024. "A classification of buyers in first-sale fish markets: Evidence from France," Post-Print hal-04586532, HAL.
    2. Andersson, Fredrik & Skogh, Goran, 2003. "Quality, self-regulation, and competition: the case of insurance," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 267-280, April.
    3. Olivier Gergaud & Florine Livat, 2004. "Team versus individual reputations: a model of interaction and some empirical evidence," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques bla04015, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    4. Cline, Brandon N. & Walkling, Ralph A. & Yore, Adam S., 2018. "The consequences of managerial indiscretions: Sex, lies, and firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(2), pages 389-415.
    5. Anokhin, Sergey & Morgan, Todd & Schulze, William & Wuebker, Robert, 2022. "Is a reputation for misconduct harmful? Evidence from corporate venture capital," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 65-76.
    6. Günter Schamel & Kym Anderson, 2019. "Wine Quality and Varietal, Regional and Winery Reputations: Hedonic Prices for Australia and New Zealand," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kym Anderson (ed.), The International Economics of Wine, chapter 10, pages 225-253, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Kiviet, Jan, 2019. "Instrument-free inference under confined regressor endogeneity; derivations and applications," MPRA Paper 96839, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Dan Amiram & Zahn Bozanic & James D. Cox & Quentin Dupont & Jonathan M. Karpoff & Richard Sloan, 2018. "Financial reporting fraud and other forms of misconduct: a multidisciplinary review of the literature," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 732-783, June.
    9. Schamel, Günter, 2005. "German Wine: Measurement and Evaluation of Product Quality," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 40, March.
    10. Berríos, Rodrigo & Saens, Rodrigo, 2012. "The country brand trap," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    11. Wolff, François-Charles & Asche, Frank, 2022. "Pricing heterogeneity and transaction mode: Evidence from the French fish market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 67-79.
    12. McQuade, Timothy & Salant, Stephen W. & Winfree, Jason, 2009. "Markets with untraceable goods of unknown quality: a market failure exacerbated by globalization," MPRA Paper 21874, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Anastasia Petrou & Irene Daskalopoulou, 2015. "Social Capital and Small Business Competitiveness: Evidence from Cross-Section Tourism Data," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 6(4), pages 946-967, December.
    14. Fares, M’hand & Raza, Saqlain & Thomas, Alban, 2018. "Is there complementarity between labels and brands? Evidence from small French co-operatives," TSE Working Papers 18-895, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    15. Golonka, Monika, 2015. "Proactive cooperation with strangers: Enhancing complexity of the ICT firms' alliance portfolio and their innovativeness," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 168-178.
    16. Marimon, Ramon & Nicolini, Juan Pablo & Teles, Pedro, 2012. "Money is an experience good: Competition and trust in the private provision of money," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(8), pages 815-825.
    17. Aaron Adalja & Erik Lichtenberg & Elina T. Page, 2023. "Collective investment in a common pool resource: Grower associations and food safety guidelines," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(1), pages 144-173, January.
    18. Rothaermel, Frank T. & Deeds, David L., 2006. "Alliance type, alliance experience and alliance management capability in high-technology ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 429-460, July.
    19. Patrizia Fanasch, 2019. "Survival of the fittest: The impact of eco‐certification and reputation on firm performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 611-628, May.
    20. Li, Zhengyu, 2016. "Essays on knowledge sourcing and technological capability : A knowledge structure perspective," Other publications TiSEM b8ff31fc-c57b-4bc3-b5a4-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0186063. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.