The subsistence marketplaces approach to poverty: Implications for marketing theory

Marketplace exchange occupies a central place in the lives of poor consumers and entrepreneurs across the world. The subsistence marketplaces literature has systematically examined marketplace exchanges in contexts of poverty and built a critical mass of knowledge. This knowledge stems from an approach with roots in the discipline of marketing and represents the unique contribution of scholars in marketing and related disciplines to the global discourse on poverty. This article reviews a decade and a half of research on subsistence marketplaces and clarifies certain conceptual, methodological and axiological positions that underlie marketing theory generation within this stream of research.