Retail Brokerage
A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confused with that of an agent—one who acts on behalf of a principal party in a deal. Definition A broker is an independent party whose services are used extensively in some industries. A broker's prime responsibility is to bring sellers and buyers together and thus a broker is the third-person facilitator between a buyer and a seller. An example would be a real estate or stock broker who facilitates the sale of a property. Brokers can furnish market research and market data. Brokers may represent either the seller or the buyer but generally not both at the same time. Brokers are expected to have the tools and resources to reach the largest possible base of buyers and sellers. They then screen these potential buyers or sellers for the perfe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Purchasing
Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between organizations. Purchasing is part of the wider procurement process, which typically also includes expediting, supplier quality, transportation, and logistics. Details Purchasing managers/directors, and procurement managers/directors guide the organization’s acquisition procedures and standards. Most organizations use a three-way check as the foundation of their purchasing programs. This involves three departments in the organization completing separate parts of the acquisition process. The three departments do not all report to the same senior manager, to prevent unethical practices and lend credibility to the process. These departments can be purchasing, receiving and accounts payable; or engineering, purchasing and accounts paya ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Commodity Broker
A commodity broker is a firm or an individual who executes orders to buy or sell commodity contracts on behalf of the clients and charges them a commission. A firm or individual who trades for his own account is called a trader. Commodity contracts include futures, options, and similar financial derivatives. Clients who trade commodity contracts are either hedgers using the derivatives markets to manage risk, or speculators who are willing to assume that risk from hedgers in hopes of a profit. History Historically, commodity brokers traded grain and livestock futures contracts. Today, commodity brokers trade a wide variety of financial derivatives based on not only grain and livestock, but also derivatives based on foods/softs, metals, energy, stock indexes, equities, bonds, currencies, and an ever growing list of other underlying assets. Ever since the 1980s, the majority of commodity contracts traded are financial derivatives with financial underlying assets such as stock ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Power Broker (term)
In political science, a power broker is a person who influences people to vote towards a particular client (i.e. elected official or referendum) in exchange for political and financial benefits. Power brokers can also negotiate deals with other power brokers to meet their aims. The term is sometimes used for a non-elected person with political influence. Area of greatest influence Power brokers can demand more benefits in closely contested areas and policies. They can play both sides and influence voters for the highest bidder. These brokers wield great influence over voters who may be dedicated to one issue that draws them into the electoral process but undecided on others. Hence, the brokers maintain their influence by denying loyalty to a political party or other political label. Modern examples of prominent figures include Henry Kissinger, Jim Clyburn and George Norcross. In Australian politics in the state of New South Wales, Eddie Obeid was considered one of the most power ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pawnbroker
A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves called ''pledges'' or ''pawns'', or simply the collateral. While many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, musical instruments, home audio equipment, computers, video game systems, coins, gold, silver, televisions, cameras, power tools, firearms, and other relatively valuable items as collateral. If an item is pawned for a loan (colloquially "hocked" or "popped"), within a certain contractual period of time the pawner may redeem it for the amount of the loan plus some agreed-upon amount for interest. In the United States the amount of time, and rate of interest, is governed by law and by the state commerce department policies. They have the same license as a bank, which is highly regulated. If the loan is not paid (or extended, if applica ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mortgage Broker
A mortgage broker acts as an intermediary who brokers mortgage loans on behalf of individuals or businesses. Traditionally, banks and other lending institutions have sold their own products. As markets for mortgages have become more competitive, however, the role of the mortgage broker has become more popular. In many developed mortgage markets today, (especially in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain), mortgage brokers are the largest sellers of mortgage products for lenders. Mortgage brokers exist to find a bank or a direct lender that will be willing to make a specific loan an individual is seeking. Mortgage brokers in Canada are paid by the lender and do not charge fees for good credit applications. In the US, many mortgage brokers are regulated by their state and by the CFPB to assure compliance with banking and finance laws in the jurisdiction of the consumer. The extent of the regulation depends on the jurisdiction. Duties of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Message Broker
A message broker (also known as an integration broker or interface engine) is an intermediary computer program module that translates a message from the formal messaging protocol of the sender to the formal messaging protocol of the receiver. Message brokers are elements in telecommunication or computer networks where software applications communicate by exchanging formally-defined messages. Message brokers are a building block of message-oriented middleware (MOM) but are typically not a replacement for traditional middleware like MOM and remote procedure call (RPC). Overview A message broker is an architectural pattern for message validation, transformation, and routing. It mediates communication among applications, minimizing the mutual awareness that applications should have of each other in order to be able to exchange messages, effectively implementing decoupling. Purpose The primary purpose of a broker is to take incoming messages from applications and perform some actio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Matchmaking
Matchmaking is the process of matching two or more people together, usually for the purpose of marriage, in which case the matchmaker is also known as a marriage broker. The word is also used in the context of sporting events such as boxing, in business, in Matchmaking (video games), online video games and in pairing organ donors. Practice These services often rely on personality tests (but genetics has even been proposed by Michael Arrington, TechCrunh, on July 22, 2008 ), aiming to maximize the identification of the best match. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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List Broker
A list broker acts as an agent for those who wish to conduct direct marketing campaigns via direct mail, email, or telemarketing. List brokers provide lists that, minimally, contain a prospect's name and physical address. Consumer Lists may include additional demographic information such as age, gender, income, etc.; Business Lists may include firmographic information like job title, industry, employee size, etc. List Brokers work on behalf of their clients to find the best lists that reach their clients' desired target audience in which to promote/advertise their product or service, and coordinates the procurement process. Many promotional mailings such as catalogs, coupons, promotional offers and credit offers utilize lists purchased through list brokers. Common associations to which list brokers belong are the American Marketing Association and the Direct Marketing Association. See also * Direct marketing * Distribution list * Electronic mailing list * Information broker ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joint Venture Broker
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to access a new market, particularly Emerging market; to gain scale efficiencies by combining assets and operations; to share risk for major investments or projects; or to access skills and capabilities. According to Gerard Baynham of Water Street Partners, there has been much negative press about joint ventures, but objective data indicate that they may actually outperform wholly owned and controlled affiliates. He writes, "A different narrative emerged from our recent analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) data, collected from more than 20,000 entities. According to the DOC data, foreign joint ventures of U.S. companies realized a 5.5 percent average return on assets (ROA), while those companies’ wholly owned and controlled affiliates ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Intellectual Property Broker
An intellectual property broker mediates between the buyer and seller of intellectual property (IP) and may manage the many steps in the process of creating a deal with regard to the purchase, sale, license, or marketing of intellectual property assets. This may include: patents, trademarks, or inventions (prototypes). Inventors are faced with several alternatives to making their invention a commercial success. They can build their own start up company from scratch using their own resources. In the United States, they can seek government grants; SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) and (TTR) Technology Transfer Research to fund the early stage development of their technology. They can contract with third parties such as: venture capital or angel investors to finance a startup or they can sell or license their products to an existing and established company. Often inventors are interested in expanding their own intellectual property assets through licensing and acquisitions ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Insurance Broker
An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negotiating with multiple insurers, while an agent represents one or more specific insurers under a contract. As of 2019, the largest insurance brokers in the world by revenue are Marsh & McLennan, Aon plc, Willis Towers Watson, Arthur J. Gallagher and Hub International. In Australia In Australia, all insurance brokers are required under the Financial Services Reform Act 2001 to be licensed by the federal government's Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Reputable and experienced insurance brokers in Australia will generally also hold additional qualifications such as a certificate or diploma in financial services which requires the completion of in depth studies in a specific area, the most common being general insurance ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Information Broker
A data broker is an individual or company that specializes in collecting personal data (such as income, ethnicity, political beliefs, or geolocation data) or data about companies, mostly from public records but sometimes sourced privately, and selling or licensing such information to third parties for a variety of uses. Sources, usually Internet-based since the 1990s, may include census and electoral roll records, social networking sites, court reports and purchase histories. The information from data brokers may be used in background checks used by employers and housing. There are varying regulations around the world limiting the collection of information on individuals; privacy laws vary. In the United States there is no federal regulation protection for the consumer from data brokers, although some states have begun enacting laws individually. In the European Union, GDPR serves to regulate data brokers operations. Some data brokers report to have large numbers of population d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |