Transaction costs are basically sacrifices or 'prices' you must pay in order to participate in the market. To put it simply, when you make a decision to participate in the market you make your decision to make a choice based on the benefit that you would receive the deal being made. However, in order to gain from the market you must have to give something up, and what you give up is considered the transaction cost. For instance, if you are in an organization that is going through a merger with another organization, it is because both parties will benefit. However, each organization is going to have to pay a certain price in order to make that merger happen. This can create disputes over club dues, the name of the organization, who takes over the executive board, etc... In my years here on campus I have been a member of the Sports Business Association. SBA has grown exponentially since I first stepped foot on campus. Last semester, we merged with another sports networking RSO and were lucky enough to see very little transaction costs. We were able to keep our name, our mission statement, and the majority of the executive board since our club had grown far more successful and well known on campus compared to other sports business clubs. Overall, I would say that the merger was a success for the organization as a whole as we had far less transaction costs than the other organization that we have since merged with. Our organization is now much larger and well run than it was before, and we did not have high transaction costs. Because of this, I conclude that our merger was a success. A company or organization takes a risk every time they make a mark move similar to ours, and they have to hope that their return is going to be higher than that transaction cost. If my organization were to lose our name or high number of executive members I would consider the market deal a loss. Although the other organization was able to survive that lose a large amount of their identity and work put into the organization's creation. Another organization that I am a part of is my fraternity. Currently, we are undergoing a high amount of pressure from our house corporation to change our pledge ship completely. We are doing our best to make agreements that reflect the interests of both sides to avoid conflict and remain the same fraternity we have been for over 100 years.

In this instance however, I do not feel that I am getting the better end. Our transaction costs are very high as many new rules are being implemented and the level of freedom that we once used to have has changed, along with important things like the ritual. This is an example of when a higher power knows that they have the final say so they know that can have less transactions costs since we can not put up much of a fight. It is stressful to know that our organization is slowly changing for the worse and we are starting to lose the identity that we once carried. At some point you have to decide whether it’s worth taking the risk to not listen to the higher power or if you should give in to those transaction costs and create a very large change in the organization you were once a part of. Moving forward, I hope that we can agree to a deal that allows us more power and less change- therefore giving us less transaction costs.