Executive Summary
This article describes an immersive program of field research on subsistence consumers in South India. The authors describe how the lessons learned from this research have led to the development and operation of educational programs designed to enhance marketplace literacy of consumers living in poverty in South India. The article concludes with some reflection on the implications of the authors’ experiences for consumer policy, marketing research, and business practice.
Whereas much of current research and practice have addressed the key factors of market access and financial resources, the authors examine a third critical and complementary factor, marketplace literacy They contend that to benefit from enhanced market access and resources, (1) people living in subsistence conditions need to develop tactical or procedural knowledge (i.e., the concrete “know-how”) regarding how to be an informed consumer or seller, and (2) this know-how must be grounded in strategic/conceptual knowledge (i.e., the “know-why” understanding) of marketplace exchanges. These more advanced levels of consumer knowledge are built on the basic consumer and occupational skills that are acquired through everyday experience or very basic training.
This educational program begins by familiarizing participants with the purpose and logic of marketplaces and then transitions to the tangible aspects of how these marketplaces function. The authors leverage the complex social environments observed in subsistence environments, which are driven by personal interaction and long-term social relationships, by emphasizing the development of social skills as a marketplace tool for both consumers and sellers. The program uses exercises that are based on situations and stimuli that reflect the day-to-day realities of subsistence life. Given the relatively low reading levels of the participants, this program emphasizes the use of visual, conversational, and social teaching methods (i.e., picture sorting, group discussion, and role playing).
Biography
Madhu Viswanathan is Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Department of Business Administration at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He has been on the faculty there since 1990. He focuses on two programs of research: (1) measurement and research methodology and (2) literacy, poverty, and subsistence marketplace behaviors. His work in measurement and research methodology includes a book titled Measurement Error and Research Design (Sage, 2005). His research on literacy, poverty, and marketplace behaviors includes a book published by Springer in an education series in alliance with UNESCO titled Enabling Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy in Subsistence Marketplaces (2008). He teaches courses on research methods and on sustainable product and market development for subsistence. His research is applied through the Marketplace Literacy Project (www.marketplaceliteracy.org), a nonprofit organization that he founded and directs.
Srinivas Sridharan is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He obtained his PhD in Marketing from Indiana University. His current research focuses on theorizing and empirically investigating consumer, entrepreneurial, and organizational phenomena in impoverished marketplace contexts. He has recently won research awards to conduct work in this area and has also published in this area. He has expertise in survey research methods and covariance-based data-analytic techniques. He has work experience in the engineering sector.
Roland Gau is a doctoral candidate in Marketing in the Department of Business Administration at the University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign. His theoretical interests are in consumer decision making (particularly thinking and learning styles) and consumer expertise. His work is often set in subsistence contexts, both in the United States and abroad.
Robin Ritchie is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University. His research examines consumer suspicion of marketers and its influence on interpretation of advertising claims. He is also investigating the role of trust in consumer behavior, brand building in virtual environments, marketing in subsistence markets, and the nature of competition in the nonprofit sector.
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Volume 28, Number 1, Spring 2009
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