Work

Systemic small-player market exclusion in an east African context

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: Producer–consumers in Kenya and Uganda face challenges in meeting their subsistence goals. They face a paradoxical inclusion and exclusion from the contemporary market system that the solutions proposed in the agriculture development, subsistence markets and BOP perspectives cannot address because of faults in the pervasive marketing ecosystem perspective. In this article, we go beyond the traditional discussion of producer–consumers’ market access, to include upstream as well as downstream challenges. We introduce the concept of integration gaps to markets as a counterpoint to typical measures of market access. We show the integration gap is a systematic neocolonialist exclusion of producer–consumers that international aid agencies exhorting greater market engagement may worsen. We offer suggestions for improvement from a marketing ecosystem perspective.

Source: Consumption Markets & Culture

DOI: 10.1080/10253866.2018.1561634

Authors: Eric Arnould, Melea Press

Institutions: University of Southern Denmark, SKEMA Business School

Language: English

Topic: Innovation and Socioeconomic Development

Subfield: Business and International Management

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, No poverty, Zero hunger

Open Access status: green

Funder: United States Agency for International Development