Building on the capability approach to poverty alleviation, this study argues for a shift in attention from the reduction of poverty to an increase in well-being. This shift opens up a new perspective in the research and the evaluation of business involvement in subsistence markets, and provides a theoretical foundation for a holistic approach in order to engage with subsistence markets. The empirical research follows the urban poor in Tanzania in creating an innovative low-cost housing project. The study argues that communities can, and should, play an active part in the design of markets in subsistence contexts, and presents a process model on how such capabilities for well-being and market agency on individual to system levels can gradually be increased.
AlkireSabina (2010), “Development ‘a Misconceived Theory Can Kill,’” in Amartya Sen Second ed, MorrisChristopher W., ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 190–219.
2.
AndersonJamie L.MarkidesCostasKuppMartin (2010), “The Last Frontier: Market Creation in Conflict Zones, Deep Rural Areas and Urban Slums,”California Management Review, 52 (4), 6–28.
3.
AnderssonPerAspenbergKatarinaKjellbergHans (2008), “The configuration of actors in market practice,”Marketing Theory, 8 (1), 67–90.
4.
AnsariShahzadMunirKamalGreggTricia (2012), “Impact at the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’: The Role of Social Capital in Capability Development and Community Empowerment,”Journal of Management Studies, 49 (4), 813–842.
5.
AraujoLuis (2007), “Markets, market-making and marketing,”Marketing Theory, 7 (3), 211–226.
6.
AraujoLuisFinchJohnKjellbergHans (Eds). (2010), Reconnecting Marketing to Markets. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
7.
ArndtJohan (1981), “The Political Economy of Marketing Systems: Reviving the Institutional Approach,”Journal of Macromarketing, 1 (2), 36–47.
8.
ArnouldEric J. (1994), “Market-Oriented Ethnography: Interpretation Building and Marketing Strategy Formulation,”Journal of Marketing Research, 31 (4), 484–504.
9.
ArnouldEric J. (2006), “Market-Oriented Ethnography Revisited,”Journal of Advertising Research, 46 (3), 251–262.
10.
ArputhamJockin (2008), “Developing New Approaches for People-Centred Development,”Environment and Urbanization, 20 (2), 319-337.
11.
BakerJudy L. (2008), “Urban Poverty: A Global View,”Urban Papers, UP-5, WorldBank, Washington, DC.
12.
BonsuSamuel K.PolsaPia (2011), “Governmentality at the Base-of-the-Pyramid,”Journal of Macromarketing, 31 (3), 236–244.
Chitekwe-bitiBet (2009), “Struggles For Urban Land by the Zimbabwe Homeless Peoples Federation,”Environment and Urbanization, 21 (2), 347–355.
15.
CundiffEdward W. (1982), “A Macromarketing Approach to Economic Development,”Journal of Macromarketing, 2 (1), 14–19.
16.
DuboisAnnaGaddeLars-Erik (2002), “Systematic Combining: An Abductive Approach to Case Research,”Journal of Business Research, 55 (7), 553–560.
17.
HagbergJohanKjellbergHans (2010), “Who Performs Marketing? Dimensions of Agential Variation in Market Practices,”Industrial Marketing Management, 39 (6), 1028–1037.
18.
HammondAllenKramerWilliam J.KatzRobert S.TranJulia T.WalkerCourtland (2007), The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at The Base of the Pyramid. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute and International Finance Corporation.
19.
HutchinsEdwin (1995), Cognition in the Wild. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
20.
HämäläinenTimo (2014), “In Search of Coherence: Sketching a Theory of Sustainable Well-being,” in Well-Being and Beyond: Broadening the Public and Policy Discourse, HämäläinenTimo J.MichaelsonJuliet, eds. Edward Elgar.
21.
JacksonTim (2009), Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finit Planet. London, UK: Earthscan.
22.
KistruckGeoffrey M.BeamishPaul W.QureshiIsrarSutterChristopher J. (2013), “Social Intermediation in Base-of-the-Pyramid Markets,”Journal of Management Studies, 50 (1), 31–66.
23.
KjellbergHansHelgessonClaes-Fredrik (2006), “Multiple Versions of Markets: Multiplicity and Performativity in Market Practice,”Industrial Marketing Management, 35 (7), 839–855.
24.
KjellbergHansHelgessonClaes-Fredrik (2007), “On The Nature of Markets and Their Practices”, Marketing Theory, 7 (2), 137–162.
25.
KleinKatherineKozlowskiSteven (2000), “From Micro to Meso: Critical Steps in Conceptualizing and Conducting Multilevel Research,”Organizational Research Methods, 3 (3), 211.
26.
KolkAnsRivera-SantosMiguelRufinCarlos (2013), “Reviewing a Decade of Research on the “Base/Bottom of the Pyramid” (BOP) Concept,”Business and Society, (accessed January 2013) [availablehttp://bas.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/01/21/0007650312474928]. DOI: 10.1177/0007650312474928.
27.
KorkmanOskar, (2006), “Customer Value Formation in Practice: A Practice-Theoretical Approach,”doctoral dissertation, Hanken School of Economics, Finland.
28.
KothariUma (2005), “Authority and Expertise: The Professionalisation of International Development and the Ordering of Dissent,”Antipode, 37 (3), 425–446.
29.
KovácsGyöngyiSpensKaren M. (2005), “Abductive Reasoning in Logistics Research,”International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 35 (2), 132–144.
30.
KusenbachMargarethe (2003), “Street Ethnography: The Go-Along as Ethnographic Research Tool,”Ethnography, 4 (3), 455–485.
31.
LaytonRoger (2007), “Marketing Systems: A Core Macromarketing Concept,”Journal of Macromarketing, 27 (3), 227–242.
32.
LaytonRoger (2009), “On Economic Growth, Marketing Systems, and the Quality of Life,”Journal of Macromarketing, 29 (4), 349–362.
33.
LindemanSara (2012), “Market Formation in Subsistence Contexts: A Study of Informal Waste Trade Practices in Tanzania and Brazil,”Consumption Markets and Culture, 15 (2), 235–257.
34.
LondonTed (2009), “Making Better Investments at the Base of the Pyramid,”Harvard Business Review, 87 (5), 106–113.
35.
LondonTedAnupindiRaviShethSateen (2010), “Creating Mutual Value: Lessons Learned from Ventures Serving Base of The Pyramid Producers,”Journal of Business Research, 63 (6), 582–594.
36.
MacKenzieDonaldMuniesaFabianSuiLucia (Eds). (2007), Do Economists Make Markets? On The Performativity of Economics. Princeton, NJ, Oxfordshire, UK: Princeton University Press.
37.
McKagueKevin (2012), “Making Markets Work for the Poor: Market-Based Approaches to Poverty Alleviation as Institutional Leveraging and Redistribution of Social Control”, doctoral dissertation, York University, Canada.
38.
MilesMatthew BMichael HubermanA. (1984), Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
39.
NdeziTim (2009), “The Limit of Community Initiative in Addressing Resettlement in Kurasini Ward, Tanzania,”Environment and Urbanization, 21 (77), 77–88.
40.
NenonenSuviCheungLilliemayKjellbergHansLindemanSaraMeleCristinaPelsJaquelineSajtosLaszloStorbackaKaj (2013), “A New Perspective on Market Change: Market Plasticity and the Stability-Fluidity Dialectics,”paper presented at the 2013 Naples Forum of Service, Ischia, Italy (June 18–21).
41.
NussbaumMartha (1988), “Nature, Functioning and Capability: Aristotle on Political Distribution,”Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Supplementary Volume, 145–184.
42.
NussbaumMartha (1995), “Human Capabilities, Female Human Beings”, in Women, Culture and Development, NussbaumMarthaGloverJonathan, eds. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
43.
NussbaumMartha (2000), Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
44.
NussbaumMarthaSenAmartya (Eds). (1993), The Quality of Life. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
45.
PrahaladC. K. (2005), The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing.
46.
ReckwitzAndreas (2002), “Toward a Theory of Social Practices: A Development in Culturalist Theorizing,”European Journal of Social Theory, 5 (2), 243–263.
47.
Rivera-SantosMiguelRufínCarlosKolkAns (2012), “Bridging the Institutional Divide: Partnerships in Subsistence Markets,”Journal of Business Research, 65 (12), 1721–1727.
48.
RobeynsIngrid (2005), “The Capability Approach: a Theoretical Survey,”Journal of Human Development, 6 (1), 93–117.
49.
RobeynsIngridCrockerDavid (2010), “Capability and Agency,” in Amartya Sen, Second ed, MorrisChristopher W., ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
50.
SchatzkiTheodor R. (1996), Social Practices: A Wittgensteinian Approach to Human Activity and the Social. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
51.
SenAmartya (1983), Poverty and Famines. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
52.
SenAmartya (1985), “Well-Being, Agency and Freedom,”The Journal of Philosophy, 82 (4), 169–221.
53.
SenAmartya (1987), “The Standard of Living”, in The Standard of Living, HawthornG., ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
SenAmartya (1999), Development as Freedom. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
56.
SimanisEric (2011), “Needs Needs Everywhere, but Not a Bop Market to Tap,” in Next Generation Business Strategies For The Base Of The Pyramid: New Approaches For Building Mutual Value, LondonTedHartStuart L., eds. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
StorbackaKajNenonenSuvi (2011), “Scripting Markets: From Value Propositions to Market Propositions,”Industrial Marketing Management, 40 (2), 255–266.
59.
SunderlandPatricia LDennyRita M. (2007), Doing Anthropology in Consumer Research. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Cost Press, Inc.
60.
UNDP (2008), “Creating Value for All: Strategies for Doing Business with the Poor,”United Nations Publications.
61.
VanSandtCraigSudMukesh (2012), “Poverty Alleviation through Partnerships: A Road Less Travelled for Business, Governments, and Entrepreneurs,”Journal of Business Ethics, 110 (3), 321–332.
62.
ViswanathanMadhuAntonio RosaJoséRuthJulie A. (2010), “Exchanges in Marketing Systems: The Case of Subsistence Consumer–Merchants in Chennai, India,”Journal of Marketing, 74 (3), 1–17.
63.
ViswanathanMadhuSridharanSrinivasGauRolandRitchieRobin (2009a), “Designing Marketplace Literacy Education in Resource-Constrained Contexts: Implications for Public Policy and Marketing,”Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 28 (1), 85–94.
64.
ViswanathanMadhuSethAnjuGauRolandChaturvediAvinish (2009b), “Ingraining Product-Relevant Social Good into Business Processes in Subsistence Marketplaces: The Sustainable Market Orientation,”Journal of Macromarketing, 29 (4), 406–425.
65.
ViswanathanMadhuSridharanSrinivasRitchieRobinVenugopalSrinivasJungKijus (2012), “Marketing Interactions in Subsistence Marketplaces: A Bottom-Up Approach to Designing Public Policy,”Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 31 (2), 159–177.
66.
ViswanathanMadhuAntonio RosaJosé (2007), Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces: Consumption and Entrepreneurship Beyond Literacy and Resources Barriers. Advances in International Management. 20, Oxford, UK: Elsevier Ltd.
67.
ViswanathanMadhuGajendiranS.VenkatesanR. (2008), Enabling Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy in Subsistence Marketplaces. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
68.
YunusMuhammad (2007), Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. New York, NY: Public Affairs Books.
