An empirical investigation into difficulties associated with barter trading: A practionersʹ perspective

Difficult economic and business conditions experienced in many nations over the past few years have necessitated the need to look for different ways of ensuring business success. Many firms have found that one such way is through barter trading. This paper empirically investigates the difficulties firms face in barter trading. Data was collected from 61 barter practitioners in the media industry in South Africa. The findings show that there are many difficulties associated with barter trade but most of the difficulties relate to firms at organisational level. The findings also show that in general, the lower the level of firmsʹ pro-activeness in barter trading, the higher the level of difficulties perceived. From the results it can be concluded that most of the problems relating to barter trade are manageable at firm level. Organisations need to be certain that they have proper measures in place to ensure optimal use and management of barter trade. Knowledge of the potential difficulties associated with barter trade is essential as it can enable firms better anticipate and manage them so as not to have significant negative impact on the benefits anticipated.