Marketing and Poverty Alleviation: Synergizing Research, Education, and Outreach Through the Subsistence Marketplaces Approach

Authors

Madhubalan Viswanathan, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignFollow
Arun Sreekumar, University of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignFollow

Abstract

In this article, we describe our journey through the creation and development of the stream of subsistence marketplaces, summarize our learning, and discuss implications at the intersection of the field of Marketing and poverty alleviation. Distinct from macro level economic research in impoverished contexts, or mid-level approaches, such as the base of the pyramid (BOP) approach in business strategy, this approach is rooted at the micro-level, enabling bottom up understanding of buyer and seller. The term, subsistence marketplaces, reflects understanding these contexts in their own right, not just as markets to sell to, but as individuals, communities, consumers, entrepreneurs, and marketplaces to learn from.

Author Bio

Madhu Viswanathan is the Diane and Steven N. Miller Centennial Chair in Business at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research programs are on measurement, and subsistence marketplaces, where he has authored books: Measurement Error and Research Design (Sage, 2005), Enabling Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy in Subsistence Marketplaces (Springer, 2008), Subsistence Marketplaces (ebookpartnerships, 2013), and Bottom-Up Enterprise (ebookpartnerships, 2016). He has pioneered the area of subsistence marketplaces, with a bottom-up approach to the intersection of poverty and marketplaces (www.business.illinois.edu/subsistence).

Arun Sreekumar is a doctoral student in Marketing at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Viswanathan, Madhubalan and Sreekumar, Arun (2017) "Marketing and Poverty Alleviation: Synergizing Research, Education, and Outreach Through the Subsistence Marketplaces Approach," Markets, Globalization & Development Review: Vol. 2: No. 4, Article 2.
DOI: 10.23860/MGDR-2017-02-04-02
Available at: