From the informal economy to the meaning of informality

Ram, Monder; Edwards, Paul; Jones, Trevor; Villares-Varela, María

doi:10.1108/ijssp-06-2016-0075

Cited by 53 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…As a consequence, subsistence markets find it hard to develop economies of scale and foster "improvisation" dynamics oriented at keeping production and exchange costs low (Sheth, 2011). On a similar vein, scholarship on informal businesses has noted that firms operating in such contexts are forced to adopt drastic cost-cutting strategies in order to remain competitive by selling their product below the standard price (Ram, Edwards, Jones, & Villares-Varela, 2017).…”

Section: Socioeconomic Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educating on a budget: The subsistence model of low-fee private schooling in Peru

Balarín

Fontdevila

Marius³

et al. 2019

EPAA

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Over the last decades, Peru has experienced an extraordinary rise of low-fee private schools (LFPSs). While global debates on the quality of this modality of schooling have been gaining currency, research on the organizational practices of LFPSs remains comparatively underdeveloped. This paper aims at identifying and describing the managerial, business and organizational practices exhibited by Peruvian LFPSs– and at understanding them in relation to the social norms and institutional arrangements specific to the context in which they operate. The study draws on a combination of archival analysis, interviews with decision-makers, and interviews with school owners and principals. The results of our research show that the specificities of the socioeconomic, cultural and regulative environments in which Peruvian LFPSs operate have led to the consolidation of a particular subsistence model of LFPS where profit-making appears to play a limited role. This model is also characterized by the low formalization of management routines, the impossibility to generate economies of scale, and the reliance on interpersonal trust as a means to reduce risk – in a context of low bureaucratization and limited regulatory oversight. We argue that, in view of the distinctly low achievement levels of Peruvian LFPSs, gaining a fine-grained understanding of their organizational practices (and the incentives they respond to) remains a relevant task, and a necessary step to devise effective policy strategies.

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Section: Socioeconomic Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educating on a budget: The subsistence model of low-fee private schooling in Peru

Balarín

Fontdevila

Marius³

et al. 2019

EPAA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Drawing on the idea of workplace‐negotiated order, research has found that some deeply embedded social exchanges form the core driving force for the propagation of ethnic minority workers’ informal work practices in the UK (Jones et al , ; Ram et al , ; ). This emerging understanding clearly transcends the traditional narratives of ethnic minority informal work, that tend to describe the motivations of such work as being driven by economic necessity under the influence of either relentless market forces or restrictive state regulations (i.e.…”

Section: Informal Ethnic Minority Work Practices In the Uk: A ‘Mixed‐mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…structural embeddedness). In its latest form, the informal work of ethnic minority workers in the UK is described as driven by a range of social incentives conspicuously embedded in their routine work relations (Jones et al , ; Ram et al , ; ), rather than just pure market‐like profit motivations (Edwards et al , ).…”

Section: Informal Ethnic Minority Work Practices In the Uk: A ‘Mixed‐mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconceptualizing Informal Work Practices: Some Observations from an Ethnic Minority Community in Urban UK

Rodgers¹,

Shahid²,

Williams³

2019

Int J Urban Regional Res

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Whilst paid informal work has been conceptualized as a form of paid employment imbued with solely economic motivations, this article critically argues that such a market‐oriented reading fails to take into account alternative explanations for the existence of informal work practices. Using evidence from 50 interviews conducted within a Pakistani urban community in a northern UK city, this article, uses a mixed‐embeddedness perspective to highlight the importance of predominantly socially and culturally driven motives in the decision to engage in informal work. The findings highlight that participation in informal work, whilst a product of marginalization due to certain institutional and structural factors, is also driven by a range of non‐monetary motives—a result of certain socially embedded work relations between ethnic minority workers and their employers. It is this social embeddedness of the employer–employee relationship in the Pakistani ethnic minority community that explains the continuation of informal work practices in the face of prevailing laws and regulations. The findings add weight to the understanding of informal work as being about more than just economics and constraints, offering these ethnic minority workers opportunities, even status, and giving them agency in an otherwise disempowered situation.

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“…Do enterprises whose competitors participate in the informal sector suffer from lower levels of firm performance? In recent years, a new sub-discipline of entrepreneurship scholarship has emerged which studies enterprises and entrepreneurs operating in the informal sector, by which is meant enterprises and entrepreneurs who do not register with, and/or declare some or all production and/or sales to, the authorities for tax, benefit and/or labor law purposes when they should do so (Chepurenko, 2018;Karki and Xheneti, 2018;Ketchen et al, 2014;Khan, 2017;Linares, 2018;Ram et al, 2017;Siqueira et al, 2016;Williams et al, 2013Williams et al, 2017). A cursory glance at this literature reveals two major rationales for studying informal sector enterprise and entrepreneurship.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Impact of Informal Sector Competition on Firm Performance: Some Lessons From South-East Europe

Williams

Bezeredi

2018

J. Dev. Entrepreneurship

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A widespread assumption is that competition from the informal sector has a negative impact on the firm performance of legitimate enterprises. This is because of the unfair competition they face from such enterprises in the informal sector. The aim of this paper is to provide an evidence-based evaluation of whether this is the case based on an analysis of the relationship between the firm performance of enterprises and their perception of the prevalence of informal sector competition. To do so, data is reported from a representative sample of 1,430 enterprises in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia. The finding is that enterprises asserting that their competitors participate in the informal economy have significantly lower real annual sales growth rates compared with those who assert that their competitors do not participate in the informal economy. The theoretical and policy implications are then discussed.

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From the informal economy to the meaning of informality

Cited by 53 publications

References 34 publications

Educating on a budget: The subsistence model of low-fee private schooling in Peru

Educating on a budget: The subsistence model of low-fee private schooling in Peru

Reconceptualizing Informal Work Practices: Some Observations from an Ethnic Minority Community in Urban UK

Evaluating the Impact of Informal Sector Competition on Firm Performance: Some Lessons From South-East Europe

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