Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T14:55:25.627Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Study of Small Neighborhood Tienditas in Central America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Michael J. Pisani  and
David W. Yoskowitz
Michael J. Pisani
Affiliation:
Central Michigan University
David W. Yoskowitz
Affiliation:
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We describe and benchmark tienditas (in-home convenience-like retail stores) and the tiendita business sector using a large sample of 850 tienditas from Nicaragua and El Salvador. Three research questions concerning tiendita business dynamism, informality, and competitive scope shape our article. In general, we find that tienditas may range from subsistence operations to dynamic business enterprises primarily run by female microentrepreneurs; they typically skirt government oversight; and they compete fiercely in a monopolistically competitive business environment.

Resumen

Resumen

Este artículo describe y compara tienditas (tiendas de barrio que funcionan dentro de la casa) y el sector empresarial de tienditas, utilizando una gran muestra de 850 tienditas de Nicaragua y El Salvador. Este trabajo plantea tres preguntas investigativas sobre el dinamismo empresarial de tienditas, la informalidad y el alcance competitivo. Por lo general, encontramos que la existencia de las tienditas varía tanto para la subsistencia como para empresas de negocios dinámicos dirigidas principalmente por mujeres micro-empresarias, las tienditas esquivan la supervisión del gobierno y las tienditas compiten ferozmente en un entorno empresarial de competencia monopolística.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 47 , Issue S1: Special Issue , 2012 , pp. 116 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Latin American Studies Association

References

Adams, A. Frank III 1997 “Search Costs and Price Dispersion in a Localized, Homogeneous Product Market: Some Empirical Evidence.” Review of Industrial Organization 12:801–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alsete, Jeffrey W. 2008 “Aspects of Entrepreneurial Success.” Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 15 (3): 584–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baptista, José, Ramalho, Joaquim J. S., and Vidigal da Silva, J. 2006 “Understanding the Microenterprise Sector to Design a Tailor-Made Microfinance Policy for Cape Verde.” Portuguese Economic Journal 5 (3): 225–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bienefeld, Manfred 1975 “The Informal Sector and Peripheral Capitalism: The Case of Tanzania.” Bulletin of the Institute of Development Studies 6 (February): 53–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanchflower, David G., and Oswald, Andrew J. 1998 “What Makes an Entrepreneur?” Journal of Labor Economics 16 (1): 26–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brislin, Richard W. 1980 “Translation and Content Analysis of Oral and Written Materials.” In Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology, edited by Triandis, H. C. and Lambert, W. W., 398–444. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Chamberlin, Edward H. 1933 The Theory of Monopolistic Competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Daniels, Lisa 2003 “Factors That Influence the Expansion of the Microenterprise Sector: Results from Three National Surveys in Zimbabwe.” Journal of International Development 15 (6): 675–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Mel, Suresh, McKenzie, David J., and Woodruff, Christopher 2009 “Measuring Microenterprise Profits: Must We Ask How the Sausage Is Made?” Journal of Development Economics 88 (1): 19–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Soto, Hernando 1989 The Other Path: The Informal Revolution. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
D'Haese, Marijke, Van den Berg, Marrit, and Speelman, Stijn 2008 “A Country-Wide Study of Consumer Choice for an Emerging Supermarket Sector: A Case Study of Nicaragua.” Development Policy Review 26 (5): 603–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fajnzylber, Pablo, Maloney, William, and Rojas, Gabriel Montes 2006 “Microenterprise Dynamics in Developing Countries: How Similar Are They to Those in the Industrialized World? Evidence from Mexico.” World Bank Economic Review 20 (3): 389–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Funkhouser, Edward 1996 “The Urban Informal Sector in Central America: Household Survey Evidence.” World Development 24 (11): 1731–1751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haase, Dwight 2006 “Gender, Microcredit and the Informal Sector in Nicaragua.” PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Haase, Dwight 2007 “Closing the Gender Gap.” ESR Review 9 (2): 4–9.Google Scholar
Hart, Keith 1970 “Small Scale Entrepreneurs in Ghana and Development Planning.” Journal of Development Planning 6:104–120.Google Scholar
Hart, Keith 1973 “Informal Income Opportunities and Urban Employment in Ghana.” Journal of Modern African Studies 11 (1): 61–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernández-Trillo, Faust, Pagán, José A., and Paxton, Julia 2005 “Start-Up Capital, Microenterprises and Technical Efficiency in Mexico.” Review of Development Economics 9 (3): 434–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Instituto Nacional de Información de Desarollo, Gobierno de Nicaragua 2006 “VIII censo de población y IV de vivienda: Población características económicas.” Vol. 3. http://www.inide.gob.ni/censos2005/VolPoblacion/Volumen%20Poblacion%201-4/Vol.III%20Poblacion-Caracteristicas%20Economicas.pdf.Google Scholar
Itzigsohn, José 2000 Developing Poverty: The States, Labor Market Deregulation, and the Informal Economy in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Jaffe, Klaus, Levy Carciente, Sary, and Zanoni, Wladimir 2007 “The Economic Limits of Trust: The Case of a Latin American Urban Informal Commerce Sector.” Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 12 (3): 339–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jain, Adishwar, and Pisani, Michael J. 2008 “Small and Microenterprise Business Development in Costa Rica: An Examination of Domestic and Foreign Born Entrepreneurs.” Latin American Business Review 9 (2): 149–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Margaret A. 1998 “Developing a Typology of Nonprofit Microenterprise Programs in the United States.” Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 3 (2): 165–184.Google Scholar
Kirkup, Malcolm, Kervenoael, Roman De, Hallsworth, Alan, Clarke, Ian, Jackson, Peter, and del Aguila, Rossana Perez 2004 “Inequities in Retail Choice: Exploring Consumer Experiences in Suburban Neighborhoods.” International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management 32 (11): 511–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lancaster, Roger N. 2002 Life Is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
McKenzie, David, and Sakho, Yaye Seynabou 2010 “Does It Pay Firms to Register for Taxes? The Impact of Formality on Firm Profitability.” Journal of Development Economics 91 (1): 15–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenzie, David J., and Woodruff, Christopher 2006 “Do Entry Costs Provide an Empirical Basis for Poverty Traps? Evidence from Mexican Microenterprises.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 55 (1): 3–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mead, Donald C., and Liedholm, Carl 1998 “The Dynamics of Micro and Small Enterprises in Developing Countries.” World Development 26 (1): 61–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministerio de Economía, Dirección General de Estadística y Censos, El Salvador 2005 “VII Censos Económicos Nacionales 2005, Resumen Ejecutivo.” http://www.censos.gob.sv/tomos/Resumen_Ejecutivo.pdf.Google Scholar
Minten, Bart, and Reardon, Thomas 2008 “Food Prices, Quality, and Quality's Pricing in Supermarkets versus Traditional Markets in Developing Countries.” Review of Agricultural Economics 30 (3): 480–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montoya, Rosario 2003 “House, Street, Collective: Revolutionary Geographies and Gender Transformation in Nicaragua, 1979–1990.” Latin American Research Review 38 (2): 61–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nichter, Simeon, and Goldmark, Lara 2009 “Small Firm Growth in Developing Countries.” World Development 37 (9): 1453–1464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez Sáinz, Juan P. 1999 From the Finca to the Maquila: Labor and Capitalist Development in Central America. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Pisani, Michael J., and Pagán, José A. 2004 “Sectoral Selection and Informality: A Nicaraguan Case Study.” Review of Development Economics 8 (4): 541–556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pisani, Michael J., and Patrick, J. Michael 2002 “A Conceptual Model and Propositions for Bolstering Entrepreneurship in the Informal Sector: The Case of Central America,” Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 7 (1): 95–111.Google Scholar
Pisani, Michael J., and Yoskowitz, David W. 2005 “Tn God We Trust': A Qualitative Study of Church-Sponsored Microfinance at the Margins in Nicaragua.” Journal of Microfinance 7 (2): 1–41.Google Scholar
Pisani, Michael J., and Yoskowitz, David W. 2006 “Opportunity Knocks: Entrepreneurship, Informality and Gardening in South Texas.” Journal of Borderlands Studies 21 (2): 59–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pisani, Michael J., and Yoskowitz, David W. 2010 “The Efficacy of Microfinance at the Sectoral Level: Urban Pulperías in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.” Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 9 (3–4): 418–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portes, Alejandro, and Hoffman, Kelly 2003 “Latin American Class Structures: Their Composition and Change during the Neoliberal Era.” Latin American Research Review 38 (1): 41–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portes, Alejandro, Itzigsohn, José, and Dore-Cabral, Carlos 1994 “Urbanization in the Caribbean Basin: Social Change during the Years of the Crisis.” Latin American Research Review 29 (2): 3–37.Google Scholar
Portes, Alejandro, and Schauffler, Richard 1993 “Competing Perspectives on the Latin American Informal Sector.” Population and Development Review 19 (March): 33–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rakowski, Cathy A. 1994 Contrapunto: The Informal Sector Debate in Latin America. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar