FEATURE ARTICLE 55

Street Vending
Phenomena:
A Literature Review
and Research Agenda
By
Nittaya Wongtada

Street vending is pervasive across the globe, especially in developing countries. It provides an
important source of earnings for the unemployed in urban areas, as well as a source of relatively inex-
pensive goods and services for city residents. However, typical street vendors face a common set of
problems, which range from tenuous property rights and harassment from civic authorities to subsis-
tence living and earning. Under this precarious setting, street enterprises have been expanding. The
objective of this article is to employ a systematic method to research the studies in this field, extract
their findings, and integrate them in order to propose a model that incorporates factors affecting the
success of street enterprises. Based on this model, major research issues are outlined to advance the
knowledge in the field. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

S
treet vendors are those entities selling goods and
services in the street without having a permanent
built-up structure (Bhowmik, 2005). Street enter-
prises are found in virtually all major cities, especially in
developing countries. Even though it is the most visible
segment of the urban informal economy, the accurate
number of vendors is virtually unknown and is still in
flux (http://wiego.org). However, unofficial estimates
indicate the large magnitude of this sector. For instance,
in India, there might be around 10 million street ven-
dors (Bhowmik, 2005). Brazil is home to about 2 million
informal traders (Budlender, 2011; Roever, 2010). In São
Paulo alone, estimates of the total number of street ven-
dors range from 73,000 to 100,000 (Roever, 2010).
Street enterprises are controversial (Bromley, 2000).
Street vending causes a public nuisance by illegally using
public space, making the pavement dirty, and blocking
traffic. However, it is a viable option for those facing

Correspondence to: Nittaya Wongtada, PhD, NIDA Business School, National Institute of Development Administration, 118 Seri Thai Road, Bangkapi, Bangkok
10240, Thailand, (662) 727-3953 (phone), nittaya@nida.ac.th.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com)

© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. • DOI: 10.1002/tie.21596
56 FEATURE ARTICLE
economic hardship, and so acts as a social safety net for
the unemployed. It helps consumers by providing goods
and services at convenient locations and at reasonable
prices (Bhowmik, 2005; Nirathron, 2006; Saha, 2009).
It can also generate an exciting atmosphere that can
enhance tourist experiences (Kusakabe, 2006). In fact,
Bangkok received “The World’s Best City Award” for
three consecutive years (2010–2012) from Travel & Lei-
sure magazine in the United States, partly because of its
street vendors who serve tasty food at low prices (www.
travelandleisure.com).
In terms of economic activities, street vending is
similar to other entrepreneurial operations (Teltscher,
1994) in the way that a street entrepreneur employs
production factors to sell a good or a service in order
to generate profit. The main difference between street
vendors and other entrepreneurs lies in their necessity
and opportunity orientations. Opportunity-based entre-
preneurs are those who choose to start their own busi-
nesses because they see a business opportunity to which
they can respond better than anyone else. A typical street
vendor is a necessity-based entrepreneur who starts a
business because other employment options are either
unavailable or unsatisfactory (Reynolds, Bygrave, Autio,
Cox, & Hay, 2002). This underlying difference between
the two groups leads to their different behaviors and
attitudes. For instance, when facing business administra-
tive complexity, opportunistic entrepreneurs are likely to
postpone a business venture, but necessity entrepreneurs
will still enter the industry. This is because the latter do
not have other employment options (Bhola, Verheul,
Thurik, & Grilo, 2006).
Necessity-based enterprises are composed of numer-
ous groups, such as house-cleaning service providers,
private tutors, carpenters, machine shop operators, and
hawkers. Similar to other microenterprises, sidewalk
The main difference between
street vendors and other
entrepreneurs lies in their
necessity and opportunity
orientations.
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
sellers face financial and market constraints. However,
the operating environment of the street sellers is differ-
ent. To have the best chance to sell their wares, street
sellers seek to locate where their potential buyers con-
gregate. Thus, they are likely to use public space illegally,
causing them to confront constant harassment from the
police and the municipal authorities, money extortion
from gangsters, and competition from other sellers for
valuable space (e.g., Luebker, 2008; Peña, 1999). Even
among street vendors, those who operate in a market
or in front of their houses face less harassment than
those who conduct their business on the street pavement
(Tinker, 1997). Since vendors operating along the pave-
ment tend to operate in harsher conditions than other
types of microenterprises, research findings on micro-
enterprise operations in general might not adequately
accommodate the different environments of these spe-
cific location enterprises.
Judging from the number of articles found in peer-
reviewed journals by using “Ebsco Single Search” online
with the key term street vendors, the topic of street vending
has received much attention: over 60,000 articles. The
extant literature is diverse and piecemeal. Several studies
focus on individual country situations, using surveys and
observation. Many publications are descriptive commen-
taries on dilemmas posed by street traders, with issues
presented from sociological and economic development
perspectives. However, an attempt to systematically map
extant research and integrate the findings and insights
into a conceptual model was not found. Thus, the major
goal of this literature review is to identify and integrate
factors that are associated with the success of street
vendors. A conceptual model and a research agenda to
advance research in this area are proposed. This is done
by employing a theoretical model to guide the review,
methodologically searching for scholarly articles, extract-
ing and categorizing the data from each article, present-
ing findings and proposing an integrated model as well
as research directions.
Theoretical Models
Alternative concepts in modeling small entrepreneurs’
success are several and diverse. They include the market
disadvantage perspective, the cultural perspective, the
neoclassical perspective, institutional perspectives, mod-
ernization theory, structuralist theory, and postmodern
theory (Chrysostome, 2010; Williams & Gurtoo, 2012;
Wong, 1996). Therefore, those criteria suggested by
Street and Cameron (2007) were employed in selecting
an appropriate conceptual model to guide this review of
DOI: 10.1002/tie

existing studies. To allow the inclusion of diverse papers
on the topic, the model selection criteria are indepen-
dence of a specific theoretical perspective, capability to
logically integrate disparate results, and comprehensive-
ness. The Giessen Amsterdam Model, a general psy-
chological model of entrepreneurial success fits these
criteria. It is an interdisciplinary model that incorporates
most areas of entrepreneurship research (Rauch & Frese,
2000). The model is flexible enough to integrate articles
at both the organizational level and the individual level.
Thus, aspects of this model were employed in classifying
and organizing articles found in the topic of interest. A
brief description of the factors and hypothesized rela-
tionships among them in this model is as follows (see
Figure 1).
Personality
Several personality traits relate to the success of entrepre-
neurs, including need for achievement, risk-taking, inno-
vativeness, autonomy, locus of control and self-efficacy
(e.g., Brandstätter, 2011; Rauch & Frese, 2000). Entre-
preneurs with a high need for achievement tend to prefer
moderately challenging tasks rather than routine or very
difficult tasks (risk taking), to take personal responsibility
for their performance (autonomous), and to search for
new and better ways to improve their performance (inno-
vativeness). Entrepreneurs believe that they control their
destiny and future (locus of control) and that they possess
ability to perform certain action effectively (self-efficacy).
Human Capital
Human capital relates to crucial resources for firms’ suc-
cess, which include education, knowledge, experience,
and skills (Bruederl, Preisendoerfer, & Ziegler, 1992).
FIGURE1 The Giessen-Amsterdam Model of Small
Business Owners’ Success
Goals
Personality
Success
Human
capital
Strategies
Environment
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Street Vending Phenomena: A Literature Review and Research Agenda 57
An entrepreneur’s experi-
ences can translate into
the knowledge and skills
needed to operate a business
successfully.
These success factors are interrelated and may not be
equally important. An entrepreneur’s experiences can
translate into the knowledge and skills needed to operate
a business successfully. Human capital is found to be posi-
tively related to success but at a lower level than that of
personality (Unger, Rauch, Frese, & Rosenbusch, 2011).
However, the length of managerial or industry experi-
ences or education are not strong predictors of success
(Bruederl et al., 1992; Rauch & Frese, 2000). This low
relationship between human capital and entrepreneur-
ial success is due to a number of variables moderating
the success relationship. For instance, the relationship
between human capital and success is higher for young
than for old businesses (Unger et al., 2011).
Environmental Conditions
Business success is partly determined by its operating
environment. The task environment can be viewed
as three bipolar dimensions: complexity, dynamism,
and munificence (Frese & Rauch, 2001). In a complex
environment, it is more difficult to obtain and to con-
sider all the necessary information. Dynamism refers to
the variability and unpredictability of the environment.
Munificence is the availability of resources and exter-
nal opportunities such as the ease of getting customers
and the ease of getting capital. Thus, a highly complex
and dynamic environment but with low munificence is
considered to be a hostile situation for business success.
Interestingly, compared to those with supportive situa-
tions, organizations operating in hostile environments
have a higher failure rate at the initial stage but a lower
mortality after a certain age (Swaminathan, 1996). Under
the Giessen-Amsterdam Model, the environment influ-
ences the strategic direction and goals of entrepreneurs.
Strategies can also alter the operating environment.
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
58 FEATURE ARTICLE
The environment does not influence success directly but
moderates between strategy and success.
Goals
Goals are anticipated future results. High goals lead to
detailed strategies and more business commitment to
ensure the accomplishment of the desired goals (Rauch
& Frese, 2006). Goals in becoming self-employed can be
because of push and pull reasons (Stoner & Fry, 1982).
Push factors imply that a person is dissatisfied with a cur-
rent situation and operating his own business is a solu-
tion. Pull factors are about the desire to be independent
and to be able to engage his preferred career. Previous
success and failure causes the revision of goals and strate-
gies (Frese & Rauch, 2001). Thus, push- and pull-directed
goals can change throughout the business development
stages. For instance, a new vendor may start a business
because he is unemployed (push factor). After the busi-
ness becomes more successful, he may want to expand his
business (pull factor). In Figure 1, goal setting is affected
by the entrepreneur’s personality, human capital, envi-
ronment, and success.
Strategies
According to Rauch and Frese (2000), business strategy is
composed of three dimensions: content, process, and ori-
entation. Strategic content is the entrepreneur’s business
decision on how to serve a market. A specific niche or mass
market can be selected as long as the entrepreneur believes
in his ability to compete. The strategic process is how to for-
mulate and implement strategic decisions. These strategic
processes can be conducted by complete planning, criti-
cal point planning, opportunistic planning, and reactive
planning. Complete planning requires every aspect to be
planned extensively. Critical point planning starts by work-
ing on the most complex but crucial aspect. Opportunistic
planning is rudimentary planning, and the entrepreneur
will deviate from the current plan immediately if a more
attractive opportunity arises. Finally, reactive planning
implies that the entrepreneur does not plan but reacts to
the immediate situation. Strategic orientation concerns an
entrepreneur’s attitude toward his strategy, which can be
aggressiveness, analysis, defensiveness, futurity, proactive-
ness, and riskiness (Venkatraman, 1989). In this model,
strategies are directly associated with goal setting since
strategies are means to reach goals, and by setting appro-
priate strategies, a seller can achieve his business success.
Success
Rewards from business success can be profits, growth,
return on investment, self-actualization, and validation
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
(Manion & Cherian, 2009). Thus, business success can be
measured by various criteria. Rauch, Wiklund, Lumpkin,
& Frese (2009) suggest that success can be perceived
nonfinancial, perceived financial, and archival financial
performance. Perceived nonfinancial performance uses
such factors as satisfaction or goal attainment. Perceived
financial performance is gauged by the information
provided by key informants, such as staff and top man-
agement. Archival financial performance is the financial
information obtained from objective sources, such as
company records.
Method
Literature Search
To search for articles relevant to street vending, online
databases were searched using Ebsco Single Search, which
incorporates 67 databases, for example, ABI/INFORM,
ERIC, EBSCO, Wilson, Science Direct, and Emerald
Management. The search was initially based on these
key terms: street vendor OR street seller OR hawker OR
peddler OR necessity OR off-the-books OR underground
economy OR microbusiness OR micro-entrepreneur OR
informal sector OR necessity OR stall seller OR pavement
OR itinerant OR street commerce OR family business.
The search resulted in over 5 million articles. So, the
search was limited to only articles published in refereed
journals from 1980 to September 2012, in English, and
using the search phrase “street vendor or street seller or
hawker or peddler or itinerant or necessity entrepreneur
or microenterprise.” This results in 45,417 citations. Two
additional studies in the databases of organizations were
located: International Labor Organization and StreetNet
International Organization. In addition, the second-set
key terms were searched through scholar.google.com.
This resulted in an additional 411 studies. (See Figure 2
for the process in searching and screening studies to be
included in the final review.)
Inclusion Criteria
Next, publications assessed for inclusion in this review
were required to meet the following criteria:
• The study concerns street vendors in the traditional sector.
Studies could investigate street vendors as well as other
small business operations, but their results must disag-
gregate findings of street vendors from this larger set
of samples. This is because only those aspects relating
to street vending are of interest. Moreover, the defini-
tion of street vending must include those who operate
from the street pavement. Thus, any studies defining
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FIGURE 2 Flow Diagram of Included and Excluded Studies
45,417 citations identified 411 citations identified
from Ebsco Single Search from other sources
45,691 studies were excluded
after titles, key terms and
abstracts were screened
137 citations were selected
for further evaluation
107 studies were excluded
after full text was screened
32 studies included in this
systematic review
street vendors as those who operate in enclosed
markets or organized flea markets or the like are
excluded. Articles relating to street vendors that cater
specifically to domestic and foreign tourists were also
excluded since they are unique situations of trading.
• Factors relate to the success of street vendors. Since the
objective of this article is to understand this phenom-
enon and to identify factors influencing the success
of street vendors, articles relating indirectly to street
entrepreneurs’ success were excluded. Excluded pub-
lications are such topics as contamination of street
food, illness of street vendors due to pollution, income
remittance, children of street vendors, perspectives
on national policies concerning street vending, and
reactions of street vendors in response to government
policies and implementation.
• Only empirical studies were included. The data could be
collected by any data collection techniques such as
observation, interview, survey, and case studies. The
method of data collection must be described to avoid
information solely based on the writer’s opinion.
Thus, excluded are those articles and publications
focusing on conceptual reviews and overviews of street
vending phenomena, and those without original data
such as editorials, comments, and letters to the editor.
Selection of Studies
Under the supervision of the author, two research assis-
tants independently screened the titles, abstracts, and
subjects of studies using the search strategy and the
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Street Vending Phenomena: A Literature Review and Research Agenda 59
inclusion criteria described above and discarded clearly
unqualified studies. After the initial screening stage, the
same two reviewers independently scanned the full text
articles and reports to assess them independently for rel-
evance on the basis of the defined inclusion criteria. They
resolved any disagreement by discussion with the author.
Data Extraction and Quality Assessment
The reviewers used a data extraction checklist to extract
the data from each article. The data extracted include
study characteristics (e.g., author’s name, year of pub-
lication, and country where the study was conducted),
characteristics of subjects of the study (e.g., vendors,
customers, competing businesses, government officials,
and nongovernment agencies), factors affecting street
vendors’ performance (e.g., government policy, psycho-
logical factors of vendors, operating environment, and
customer attitude), success measurement (e.g., income,
profit, revenue per hour), and methodology of included
studies (e.g., data collection methods and data analysis
techniques). The reviewers also made notes of additional
useful information that was not on the checklist. The
information extracted from the two independent review-
ers was compared, and any discrepancies were resolved by
the same process as described above.
Results
Stage of Knowledge
Based on the preceding criteria, 33 studies were found.
Table 1 presents the summary of these articles. The
majority of studies were conducted in capital cities of
developing countries where one can expect to confront
typical urban problems such as pollution, overpopula-
tion, crime, inadequate infrastructure, and migrations of
the poor in search of a better life. Street vending inter-
acts directly with these problems. Thus, street vending is
a complex phenomenon causing researchers to utilize
various data collection techniques. Seventeen articles
employ mixed methods of data collection in order to
reflect the complexity of this phenomenon. Observation,
focus group, and in-depth interview were often combined
with survey.
Although street vendors are the center of the study,
14 studies also seek information from other groups.
Information from government authorities, the police,
and consumers was often sought. Observation and focus
group studies were added to interviews in order to assess
credibility of the street vendors’ responses or to collect
the data that the vendors refused to give. For instance,
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
60 FEATURE ARTICLE
Information from govern-
ment authorities, the police,
and consumers was often
sought. Observation and
focus group studies were
added to interviews in order
to assess credibility of the
street vendors’ responses or
to collect the data that the
vendors refused to give.
in the study of L’Hote and Gasta (2007) on street entre-
preneurship in Alicante, Spain, less than half of subjects
approached were willing to participate. The authors
substantiated their findings by interviews with local immi-
gration specialists and police authorities. Similarly, while
Schindler (2010) studied the informal credit situation of
female street vendors in North Ghana, the author relied
on three data collection techniques, namely, observation
to gain insights into the functioning of street vendors,
interviews based on a snowball technique for more infor-
mation from respondents, and focus group discussions
with four associations of market traders to cover specific
issues such as access to formal and informal finance and
the role of credit in their trading enterprises.
Most studies are descriptive and exploratory in
nature. Because of the lack of official census on street
enterprises, initial city mapping has to be conducted
prior to applying any sampling techniques (e.g., Acho-
Chi, 2002; Saha, 2009; Tinker, 1997). When survey
methods are used, purposive sampling is likely employed.
Only five articles report the use of random sampling tech-
niques. Findings are presented descriptively with some
qualitative data in terms of percentages to support the
analysis. Only five articles employ statistical techniques
to investigate any causal relations (i.e., Agadjanian, 2002;
Hiemstra, Van de Kooy, & Frese, 2006; Jaffe, Carciente, &
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
Zanoni, 2007; Rajagopal, 2010; Reddy, 2007). Agadjanian
(2002) uses logistic regression analysis to test the effects
of vendors’ individual characteristics on their relations
with other vendors. Hiemstra et al. (2006) also apply the
regression technique to analyze the impact of planning
methods on Vietnamese street vendors’ success. Reddy
(2007) utilizes a Probit model to find the relationship
between poverty status and socioeconomic factors. Jaffe
et al. (2007) test the correlation between credit demands
and characteristics of vendors. Finally, Rajagopal (2010)
employs structural equation modeling to investigate
consumer preferences toward shopping malls and street
markets. Because of these limited quantitative results and
diverse topics investigated, a meta-analysis technique is
not practical. So this literature review acts only as a syn-
thesis of findings in this field.
Typology of Street Vendors
Street vendors are not a homogeneous group but are
composed of various sectors, such as fixed-stall vendors
who operate in front of their houses or from the street
pavement, and mobile sellers who wander to different
locations by carrying their wares by hand or on a push-
cart. Different types of street vendors are likely to face
different challenges. For instance, fixed-stall vendors
operate in front of their residential locations and there-
fore confront less harassment from municipality officers
than those selling from public pavement spaces. Based
on these differences, several authors suggest various clas-
sifications. Greenburg, Topol, Sherman, and Cooperman
(1980) classify them based on legality into three groups.
Legitimate and established vendors are tax-paying, full-
time operations with fixed locations, for example, door-
to-door and vending machines. Ephemeral vendors are
part-time, less legitimate, and less established than the
first group. This group includes those selling at, for
example, flea markets and garage sales. The last group
is underground vendors, including peddlers of general
merchandise. They are nontaxpayers and generally violate
the law by selling without a license or selling in restricted
areas. Based on the level of the transience of the busi-
ness, Wakefield, Castillo, and Beguin (2007) categorize
street vendors into four classes: sideline, nomadic, oppor-
tunistic, and traditional. Sideline vendors are those who
travel to a few specific events, such as state fairs, farmers’
markets, and motorcycle rallies, to earn some revenue to
supplement their main income. Nomadic business opera-
tors rely on this activity as their main income source, and
travel to various temporary markets throughout the year.
Opportunistic businesses appear temporary in response
to a demand in a specific circumstance, for example, local
DOI: 10.1002/tie
 TABLE 1 Summary of Studies Included in the Review

Data Collection

DOI: 10.1002/tie
Sample Method
Author Name Year Country Type of Vendors Other Groups Observation Interview Survey Major Aspects Investigated
Acho-Chi 2002 Kumba, Mobile Consumer n = 75 Characteristics of mobile food practice
Cameroon (n = 600) Locational factors influencing socio-spatial distribution
Impacts on the local environmental resources and quality of urban life
Agadjanian 2002 La Paz-El Both n = 36 Same as n = 440 Informal sector women workers’ social interactions
Alto, Bolivia observation Cooperation and competition among poor street vendors
Agnello and 2006 Phnom Penh, – n = 92 n = 196 Situation of women micro-vendors and their business activities
Moller Cambodia Barriers to business growth and needs of women micro-vendors.
Asiedu and 2008 Ghana Both Consumers n = 120 Socio-characteristics of street vendors
Agyei-Mensah Shop owners Perception of formal shops and consumers towards street vendors
City authority Vendors’ strategies to overcome the coercion from various sources
Bhowmik and 2012 10 cities India Both Consumers n = 2,000 Problems of street vendors
Saha City authority Means to overcome these problems
Others
Cohen 2010 Johannes- – n = 31 Effects of liberal macroeconomic policies and the economic crisis
burg, on informal street traders
S. Africa
Greenburg 1980 Manhattan, Mobile Police n = 99 Characteristics and motivation of itinerant street vendors
et al. USA Attorney Law enforcement problems
Other Merchandising techniques
vendors Competition impact on established retailers
Hiemstra 2006 Hue and – n = 62 n = 102 Relationship between process characteristics of action strategies and
et al. Hanoi, vendors’ success
Vietnam
Iyenda 2005 Kinshasa, Both n = 60 Socioeconomic of street vendors
Congo Living conditions of street enterprises during the state bankruptcy
Jaffe, 2007 Caracas, – Informal lend- n = 376 Role of social capital among street vendors and moneylenders
Carciente, Venezuela ers (n = 35) Demand and supply of credit by informal street vendors and moneylend-
and Zanoni ers
Jurdak and 1999 Beirut – – n = 10 Computation strategies of young street vendors
Shanin
Khan 2010 Bangkok, Both Customer n = 42 Competencies of food vendors
Thailand (n = 52) Consumer behavior in buying street food

n = number of sample.
Street Vending Phenomena: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

– = not specified.
61

Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014

 TABLE 1 Continued...

Data Collection
Sample Method
Author Name Year Country Type of Vendors Other Groups Observation Interview Survey Major Aspects Investigated
62 FEATURE ARTICLE

L’Hote and 2007 Alicante, Fixed Specialist – – n = 31 The operation of legal and illegal immigration as entrepreneurial entities
Gasta Spain Police Entrepreneurial start-ups and support mechanism to avoid arrest and/or
confiscation of their merchandise
Lekoko and 2006 Gaborone, – – Intuitive mathematic ability of women street vendors
Garegae Batswana Corporateness among woman street vendors
Luebker 2008 Harare, – n = 406 Problems facing informal workers including street vendors
Zimbabwe
Motala 2002 Durban and – Organization n = 15 Socioeconomic of street vendors
Johannes- Agency focus gr Street vendor organizations and their effectiveness
burg,
S. Africa
Nirathorn 2006 Bangkok, Both Customer n = 744 Impact of street food vending on the economic status of the urban labor

Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014

Thailand (n = 385) force
Former Success factors of mobile vendors and fixed vendors
governors Impact of government policies on street vending
Peña 1999 Mexico City, Both n = 49 Functions of street organizations as
Mexico a) negotiators to help vendors overcome complex bureaucracies
b) managers of social assets
Rajagopal 2010 Mexico City, – Customer Consumer preference towards shopping malls and street markets
Mexico (n=378)
Reddy 2007 Suva, Lautoka Both n = 150 Contribution of the urban informal sector to employment creation and
and Labasa, poverty alleviation
Fiji
Reid et al. 2010 Dalian, China Mobile n = 80 Socio-economic of street vendors
Business strategies of vendors concerning location, merchandise selec-
tion and display, pricing and interaction with consumers
Saha 2009 Mumbai, India Fixed n = 10 n = 200 Sociodemographic and economic profile of street vendors
Issues relating to the social security of street vendors
The role of trade unions and other membership-based associations

n = number of sample.
– = not specified.

DOI: 10.1002/tie
 TABLE 1 Continued...

DOI: 10.1002/tie
Data Collection
Sample Method
Author Name Year Country Type of Vendors Other Groups Observation Interview Survey Major Aspects Investigated
Sarkar and 2009 Mumbai, India Both Focus n = 108 Socio-economic profile
Srivastava group and Sources of harassment
case study
Schindler 2010 Tamale, Both n = 28 Informal credit as a strategy for managing risk
Ghana Costs of not having access to micro-finance
Smith and 1998 Puebla, Mobile n = > 1,000 Factors affecting the rate of return on capital of vendors
Metzger Mexico
Tepwong- 2005 Bangkok and – Consumers n = 18 n = 188 Use and the management (i.e., conflict) of public space
sirirat other loca- General
tions, Thailand public
City officials
Tinker 1997 Bangladesh, Both Consumers n=15 in 10% Profiles of street food vendors
Egypt, City officials each data sample in Cooperation among vendors to deal with their illegal status
Indonesia, Organizations collection each data Food safety
Nigeria, site collection
Philippines, site
Senegal,
Thailand
Turner and 2012 Hanoi, Both n = 40 Different politics and resistance of fixed and mobile vendors when deal-
Schoenberger Vietnam ing with police harassment
Trader hierarchies between mobile and fixed vendors
Wakefield 2007 South Both n = 124 Typology of transient business operators
et al. Dakota, USA
Walsh 2010a Vung Tau, – n = 40 Vietnamese vendors’ ability to upgrade their businesses compared to
2010b Vietnam Thai counterparts
Difficulties facing vendors
Xuxu et al. 2011 Online, China General pub- Public view on urban management and law enforcement of unlicensed
lic (n = 119) mobile vendors
Zinkhan et al. 1999 São Paulo, Customer Appeals of street markets versus supermarkets
Brazil (n = 50)

n = number of sample.
– = not specified.
Street Vending Phenomena: A Literature Review and Research Agenda
63

Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014

64 FEATURE ARTICLE
residents selling food or crafts during a trade fair. The
last group is traditional transient businesses that operate
throughout the year with relatively low mobility.
The traditional vendors can be classified further
(Hiemstra et al., 2006; Nirathron, 2006; Wakefield et al.,
2007). Judging from their mobility, they can be perma-
nent or mobile sellers. Permanent vendors operate from
fixed locations such as marketplaces, busy street corners,
or bus stations, while the mobile vendor does not have a
fixed site but moves from one location to another. Mobile
vendors carry their merchandise by truck, cart, on foot,
or even by boat. Fixed or static vending units tend to be
more stable and are likely to be in business longer than
mobile vendors (Nirathron, 2006). The articles included
in Table 1 investigate only traditional vendors. Three
studies use only the sample from mobile vendors (Ancho-
Chi, 2002; Greenburg et al., 1980; Reid, Fram, & Chi,
2010), and two articles investigate only fixed-stall vendors
(L’Hote & Gasta, 2007; Saha, 2009). The rest collect from
both types of vendors or do not specify types.
Personal Factors
Personality has not been examined—the studies tend to
focus on demographics instead. Profiling the character-
istics of street vendors is the center of interest of many
studies (e.g., Bhowmik & Saha, 2012; Iyenda, 2005; Tin-
ker, 1997). Street vendors are likely to be people from a
marginalized sector of the society, or people who were
previously employed and are engaging in street selling
during an economic downturn. Those from the marginal-
ized sector tend to have less education than the general
population (Lekoko & Garegae, 2006; Reddy, 2007).
Many are illiterate or do not successfully complete their
basic education. Not surprisingly, the marginalized popu-
lation includes recent immigrants such as Chinese and
Senegalese in Spain (L’Hote & Gasta, 2007) or migrants
from other locations in seeking better opportunities in
the city as in the case of mobile vendors in Hanoi, Viet-
nam (Turner & Schoenberger, 2012).
Specific age and gender groups are more prone
to engage in street vending. In many countries such as
Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Vietnam, women dominate this sector
because the male population may have more employment
opportunities elsewhere (e.g., Asiedu & Agyei-Mensah,
2008; Lekoko & Garegae, 2006; Nirathron, 2006; Reid et
al., 2010). In fact, in some countries such as China, street
vending is viewed as a women’s occupation (Reid et al.,
2010). Female vendors can combine their trading activi-
ties with other household-related tasks, particularly tak-
ing care of children and family. A female food vendor can
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
attend their stalls to sell food during a peak lunchtime
and take children to school in the morning and bring
them back in the afternoon. In other countries, such as
Mexico (Peña, 1999), Fiji (Reddy, 2007), and India (Saha,
2009), male vendors dominate the sector. On one hand,
it is possible that street vending is viewed as inappropriate
for females in Islamic countries (e.g., Al-Muraqab, 2003;
Tinker, 1997). On the other hand, it could be that where
national policy provides security to vendors, making it
possible to earn higher income, women are pushed out of
vending by male vendors (Bhowmik & Saha, 2012).
When both genders engage in selling, division of
labor based on gender is observed (e.g., Cohen, 2010;
L’Hote & Gasta, 2007; Tinker, 1997; Turner & Schoen-
berger, 2012). For instance, in Spain, Senegalese males
almost exclusively sold products on the street, whereas
females mainly offered services, such as hair braiding
or massages (L’Hote & Gasta, 2007). In Thailand, male
members of a family go to wholesale markets early in the
morning to buy stock while female members sell it (Walsh,
2010b). The demographic difference also affects the lon-
gevity of street vending. The younger are more educated
and are less likely to work as street vendors because they
have more opportunities getting work with formal entities
(Hiemstra et al., 2006). If the younger engage in this busi-
ness, they have a tendency to leave later on. Older people
are likely to engage in business longer and develop a
more stable business (Iyenda, 2005).
Personal traits of successful entrepreneurs have not
been investigated directly. However, a few authors imply
that vendors possess traits such as the need for achieve-
ment, risk taking, innovativeness, autonomy, locus of
control, and self-efficacy. For example, L’Hote and Gasta
(2007) view immigrant vendors in Spain selling pirated
goods and other wares to tourists, as possessing the risk-
taking trait. Their risk-taking trait is demonstrated by
their ability to sell cheap goods at the highest possible
profit while minimizing risk of arrest and confiscation.
The lack of interest in studying the entrepreneurship
traits of these vendors could be due to the conventional
view that street entrepreneurs are necessity driven (Cross,
2000). They are forced to engage in this activity because
there is no other option, and so personality traits of the
successful are irrelevant.
Interestingly, economic recession has brought in new
groups of street vendors. For instance, when factories
were closed in Ahmedabad, India, factory workers turned
to work as hawkers (Bhowmik & Saha, 2012). Unlike
the traditional street vendors, this new group brings
in their experience which might help them to have a
better chance to be more successful. During the major
DOI: 10.1002/tie

economic recession in Thailand in 1997, Walsh (2010b)
reports that the new street vendors were those who were
laid off due to a massive company bankruptcy. These
new vendors operate differently from existing street ones
as seen in the way that they conduct informal market
research, design their products, and create their own
brands. Thus, this new group of necessity entrepreneurs
could turn into opportunity entrepreneurs after their
initial business success (Cross, 2000).
Human Capital
Human capital comprises education, experience, knowl-
edge, and any skills crucial for business success. Typical
street vendors do not seem to have sufficient human capi-
tal prior to their engagement in these operations. Even
though these vendors lack the background and skills nec-
essary to conduct a business, they acquire them for daily
practice or from their social network. The importance of
vendors’ social networks is discussed in the subsequent
section. Among the necessary skills of street vendors,
their ability to use intuitive mathematics is a distinctive
trait. When selling food items, sellers must be able calcu-
late the price charged to their customers by using only
a simple scale. During the price haggling, they must be
able to estimate appropriate margins quickly. Lekoko
and Garegae (2006) explain that street vendors acquire
this ability to manipulate quantitative calculation in their
minds from their verbal exchanges with their customers
and other traders. Similarly, Jurdak and Shahin (1999)
find that young street vendors who also have formal edu-
cation can solve mathematic problems relating to busi-
ness better than typical classroom exercises.
Environmental Factors
The task environment of street vendors is complex,
dynamic, and full of business challenges. A typical street
vendor is more likely to operate in a harsh environment,
including unpleasant operating facilities, coercion from
the government officers and racketeers, and intense com-
petition from various groups of sellers and customers who
feel both affinity and animosity toward the vendor.
Facilities
The literature indicates that street vendors have to work
excessive hours in a day under unhealthy and unsafe
working conditions. Operating outdoors on congested
streets, Thai vendors suffer rain and heat with little
protection and traffic-related air pollution (Nirathron,
2006). In order to buy good-quality fresh produce at good
prices, microvendors in Cambodia have to go to whole-
sale markets early in the morning when it is dark (Agnello
DOI: 10.1002/tie
Street Vending Phenomena: A Literature Review and Research Agenda 65
& Moller, 2006). They are at risk of being mugged by
thieves and even by taxi drivers. When selling on street
pavements, their goods could be stolen. Few food ven-
dors have electricity or sophisticated cooking and refrig-
eration equipment (Bhowmik & Saha, 2012). Their food
and drink are exposed to the sun, to air pollution, and
to other contamination, potentially causing major public
health problems, including their own.
Coercion
In many countries, the government sets a policy to
discourage street vending and takes harsh measures to
remove them from the pavements (Kusakabe, 2006).
However, this traditional trade still persists, causing con-
flict between street vendors and the authorities. Since
street vendors are perceived to be illegally using public
space, they suffer from police harassment or from rack-
eteers, who charge for their protection (Hiemstra et al.,
2006). Vendors fear being chased away or having their
merchandise confiscated. In fact, in the study of Agnello
and Moller (2006), security officials and police are num-
ber one on the Cambodian hawkers’ fear list.
Competition
Street vendors face competition from other sidewalk
vendors as well as from established retailers. Competition
among street vendors is intense because entering into
street trading is relatively easy. The competition is even
more intense under specific conditions (Greenburg et
al., 1980). Suitable conditions for the new entrance of
pavement sellers are a large pool of unemployed people,
ease of access to wholesalers who may offer trade credit,
price-conscious consumers, ease of undercutting estab-
lished retailers’ prices, and police who are preoccupied
with other, more serious crimes. Economic downturns
not only bring more competition but also reduce the
demand for vendors’ merchandise (Cohen, 2010). When
customers are only browsing but not buying and more
new vendors enter into the market, the number of cus-
tomers and their purchasing power are insufficient to
support all vendors, subsequently leading to low profits
for individual vendors (Asiedu & Agyei-Mensah, 2008).
A complex competitive structure between mobile
and fixed-stall street vendors has been found in many
countries, including Bolivia (Agadjanian, 2002), Ghana
(Asiedu & Agyei-Mensah, 2008), India (Bhowmik & Saha,
2012), Thailand (Nirathron, 2006), and Vietnam (Turner
& Schoenberger, 2012). In addition to the intense com-
petition, a trader hierarchy between different groups of
vendors exists. Generally, mobile vendors are perceived
to have a lower status than their fixed-stall counterparts.
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
66 FEATURE ARTICLE
Street vendors are perceived
to conduct unfair competi-
tion with established stores
since they do not pay or pay
very little for the most valu-
able commercial spaces.
For example, Turner and Schoenberger (2012) find that
fixed vendors in Vietnam viewed itinerant vendors as
outsiders and from an inferior position in the social hier-
archy. Even when itinerant street vendors have moved
upward to operate fixed retail locations, they still feel
excluded. As compared to mobile vendors, fixed-stall
street vendors tend to be long-term residents and selling
just to earn supplemental income. However, itinerant
traders are poor migrants from villages and engage in
trading to alleviate their crippling financial burden.
Competition with established retailers in the formal
sector is another area of interest to researchers (Cohen,
2010; Greenburg et al., 1980). Street vendors are per-
ceived to conduct unfair competition with established
stores since they do not pay or pay very little for the most
valuable commercial spaces. They can also cause annoy-
ance to retailers by blocking the entrances of established
retail shops and using excessive noise to attract potential
customers for their goods. It is not surprising that some
shop owners want these street vendors evicted. Smaller
store owners particularly feel animosity toward peddlers
because street vendors are their direct competitors. How-
ever, larger retail store operations only see the peddlers
as annoying and causing unattractive surroundings.
Consumers
Consumers have an affinity-animosity relationship with
street vendors (Bhowmik & Saha, 2012; Khan, 2010; Raja-
gopal, 2010; Xuxu, Zinqiang, Kun, Xiaoling, & Young-
zheng, 2011). On one hand, consumers prefer those
benefits offered by street vendors. On the other hand,
they dislike how vendors occupy the pavement and some
of their practices. Bhowmik and Saha’s (2012) study of
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
ten cities in India demonstrates this relationship clearly.
Indian consumers of all income groups patronize street
vendors. The high-income group buys from specific food
hawkers because of the hawkers’ ability to serve unique
tastes. For the middle-income group, food sellers pro-
vide food at cheap prices and at convenient locations. In
addition to food, they buy other items from vendors such
as fruit, flowers, garments, and plastic goods. The low-
income group procures all basic necessities from pave-
ment vendors. Despite their patronage, all groups feel
animosity toward these vendors. The high-income groups
dislike the way vendors block the pavements in busy
places. The middle-income group is also frustrated by the
vendors’ use of sidewalks, which leaves insufficient space
for pedestrians and contributes to dirtying the pave-
ments. The low-income customers dislike the vendors’
rude behavior, especially when they try to bargain with
prices. Similarly, the public in China have both animosity
and affinity feelings toward vendors. They believe that
urban mobile street vendors cause some social problems,
but they don’t want the authorities to enforce city ordi-
nances harshly upon urban unlicensed mobile vendors
(Xuxu et al., 2011).
The existence of modern retailers does not seem
to affect consumer preference toward street vendors.
Modern retail outlets and street vending appeal to dif-
ferent aspects of consumer preference. For instance, in
São Paulo, Brazil, street markets coexist with modern
Western-style retailers because consumers believe street
vendors are competitive in offering fresher produce
(Zinkhan, Fontenelle, & Balazs, 1999). In Mexico City,
Mexico, shoppers prefer the ethnic and cultural aspects
of street markets but also prefer the attractive shopping
ambience of shopping malls (Rajagopal, 2010). There-
fore, these two sectors can coexist in the same location
because consumers rely on different product attributes in
their buying decisions.
Social Capital
Social capital refers to personal networking that benefits
sellers by providing preferential treatment and coop-
eration. Members in the social network of street vendors
include their extended family members, friends, ethnic
groups, and other vendors. Benefits gained from these
social networks take various forms, including obtain-
ing loans, business advice, cheap labor, and emotional
support. This social capital is important to new vendors
because it can supplement their lack of human capital and
helps them to deal with the harsh environment. In fact,
Babb (1998) points out that social capital is more impor-
tant than human capital for less privileged self-employed
DOI: 10.1002/tie

vendors since they face too many constraints to manage
by themselves. Being pushed into this livelihood, they
lack the necessary skills, knowledge, and capital to start
a new venture (Jaffe et al., 2007). They could acquire
these skills through actual practice, but their risk of
failure is high. The literature indicates that their social
capital supports them during the start-up and assists them
throughout the life of their business (Agadjanian, 2002;
Bhowmik & Saha, 2012; Peña, 1999; Reid et al., 2010).
For example, immigrant vendors in Spain receive aid
from others through shared housing and general living
expenses (L’Hote & Gasta, 2007); vendors in Mexico get
access to selling stalls in Mexico because of their family
contact (Peña, 1999); female vendors in Botswana seek
advice from other women or leave their businesses for a
short time in the care of nearby vendors (Lekoko & Gare-
gae, 2006); hawkers in Patna, India, rely on their family
members to assist them in activities relating to procure-
ment and product preparation for sale (Bhowmik & Saha,
2012); and street hawkers in Manhattan alert one another
to the approach of police (Greenburg et al., 1980). If the
new vendors have family members or friends who have
already established their street enterprises, start-up busi-
nesses can be operated easily (Agnello & Moller, 2006).
Financial Capital
In addition to human capital and social capital, financial
capital is another type of resource crucial to the success
of street enterprises. Difficulty to find capital to sup-
port a business start-up and to operate daily business
has received considerable attention from researchers
(e.g., Acho-Chi, 2002; Bhowmik & Saha 2012; Jaffe et
al., 2007). Borrowing from a commercial bank is rarely a
valid option because street vendors do not own suitable
collateral and business documentation. Thus, in addi-
tion to personal savings, vendors rely on family, friends,
other vendors, and moneylenders as sources of funds.
A common method to obtain financial support is to use
a rotating credit scheme. Under this scheme, a trusted
person acts as a manager to collect money from a group
of people and periodically loan to individual participants
on a rotation basis (Agadjanian, 2002; Tinker, 1997).
This system relies on personal trust, which could turn to
disaster if a vendor does not pay back his loan or the man-
ager disappears with vendors’ money. Borrowing from
moneylenders is more prevalent, even though their inter-
est rates are higher than any other sources (Jaffe et al.,
2007) to compensate for the high risk of default. Interest-
ingly, the moneylender uses “social collateral” instead of
physical assets to gauge a vendor’s credibility. The lender
assesses the borrower’s reputation through the vendor’s
DOI: 10.1002/tie
Street Vending Phenomena: A Literature Review and Research Agenda 67
informal social networks, enabling him to check a street
vendor’s reputation at very low cost (Jaffe et al., 2007).
The vendor also prefers this method over the formal bank
system since he does have to face the burden in preparing
necessary documentations.
Goals
Even though a profitable opportunity is a prime reason
for selling, people engage in street vending for various
reasons. At a minimum level, selling on the street could
be a means to survive and have financial freedom. For
example, being unable to find other employment, African
male traders must choose between starting a business or
becoming criminals (Cohen, 2010). Vietnamese vendors
see street vending as long-term careers since they prefer
the freedom of being one’s own boss (Walsh, 2010a).
Street vending can serve a transient job before moving
other jobs (Agadjanian, 2002). Street sellers could be
wives following their husbands who have jobs in a large
city. Selling on the street allows these women to have time
to raise their children and to take care of their family
(e.g., Asiedu & Agyei-Mensah, 2008; Iyenda, 2005). The
income earned from this business can be spent on neces-
sities not relating to the current business operation, such
as buying agricultural land and supporting children’s
education (Turner & Schoenberger, 2012). Some use
the revenue generated from this venture to supplement
their regular income (Greenburg et al., 1980; Turner &
Schoenberger, 2012).
Few studies investigate whether vendors might have
opportunistic goals and see business opportunities where
they can compete successfully. Agnello and Moller (2006)
find that street vendors in Cambodia want to expand
their business but are held back because of lack of capi-
tal. A vendor’s business expansion might be evidence of
the existence of opportunistic goals. Nirathron (2006)
discovered that a majority of fixed vendors in Bangkok,
Thailand, formerly worked as mobile vendors, suggest-
ing upward mobility among vendors. Similarly, sellers in
South Africa had begun by selling only a few items or only
low-cost items like cigarettes and candies before switch-
ing to sell higher-profit items, such as shoes and clothing
(Cohen, 2010). Likewise, street traders in Ghana also
show a progression over time by shifting to sell higher
value items as traders build up capital (Asiedu & Agyei-
Mensah, 2008).
Strategy
Strategy in street vending can be viewed as two distinctive
sets: business strategy and nonbusiness strategy. This is
because the vendors face two types of environments—a
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
68 FEATURE ARTICLE
business competitive environment and the illegal status
environment. These two distinctive environments require
different strategies.
Business Strategy
The literature suggests business strategies of street ven-
dors are rudimentary as seen in selecting appropriate
sites, planning, and conducting daily operations.
Site Selection
Location is the most important factor to the success of
sidewalk vendors. So a location where a large number of
customers flow through will attract street sellers (Reid et
al., 2010). Thus, in any commercially viable place where
the city ordinance is not strictly enforced, there will be
a steady stream of vendors in new sites. The process in
occupying a vending space is described in a Thai study
(Tepwongsirirat, 2005). After detecting a suitable site,
a vendor confirms its availability by, for example, asking
nearby vendors and store owners. Then he prepares the
site by cleaning up the area, setting up the stall, connect-
ing up the utilities, and so on. He leaves some sign such
as pushcarts or cooking stoves on site to signal to other
vendors that the space is taken. If many customers patron-
ize the new vendor, there will be more vendors at the
location. When there are too many sellers at the location,
vendors may agree among themselves to disallow new-
comers. Sometimes, a vendor acts as an informal leader
After detecting a suitable
site, a vendor confirms its
availability by, for example,
asking nearby vendors and
store owners. Then he pre-
pares the site by cleaning
up the area, setting up the
stall, connecting up the util-
ities, and so on.
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
in allocating selling space to individual vendors (L’Hote
& Gasta, 2007).
Planning
Successful street vendors conduct some planning. The
study of Hiemstra et al. (2006) found that most Vietnam-
ese vendors do not plan, are not goal oriented, and are
driven by immediate market demands. Those who do
plan are more successful. However, instead of conduct-
ing comprehensive planning to deal with all aspects of
their business, successful sellers employ an opportunistic
strategy. They scan extensively for new opportunities and
will discard their existing business if a new opportunity
is more attractive. For example, a seller switches to cater
to an older client group when he observes that there are
many older shoppers at the location.
Managing the Operation
Street vendors have to perform many activities, from
sourcing merchandise to recording their income and
expenses. Studies imply that street vendors employ rudi-
mentary strategies. For instance, from observing pedestri-
ans passing by their stands, they are able to judge when
a sale is possible and when time would be wasted (Walsh,
2010b). They adjust their merchandise to fit consumer
needs at specific locations and times (Greenburg et al.,
1980). They offer discounts to regular or important
customers and to get on well with customers (Reid et
al, 2010). Varieties of pricing strategies are found to be
used. Chinese apparel vendors set a price for an item
based on what the market can bear (Reid et al., 2010).
Sellers in Manhattan are able to set fixed prices because
their customers seldom bargain to lower the quoted
prices (Greenburg et al., 1980). However, female vendors
in Botswana set their prices at the same levels as other
vendors because they do not want to compete with their
peers (Lekoko & Garegae, 2006).
Strategy to Deal with Coercion
Since vendors use their selling site illegally, they constantly
face the threat of being evicted and having their wares con-
fiscated. Numerous studies investigate how vendors utilize
different strategies to deal with this threat. A vendor can
act alone by adopting “spatial strategies” or “temporal
strategies.” Spatial strategies are implemented by selling
in other places to avoid harassment from metropolitan
authorities (Asiedu & Agyei-Mensah, 2008). For temporal
strategies, vendors study the routines and rhythms of the
authorities and act accordingly. For instance, Vietnamese
mobile vendors avoid those streets always targeted by the
police. However, they enter into these guarded streets
DOI: 10.1002/tie

during the police officers’ lunch break. When being
chased, they move to the area outside the control of the
pursuing police (Turner & Schoenberger, 2012). This
strategy is different from the strategies used by fixed-stall
vendors who are long-term residents of the city. These
fixed traders employ more subtle strategies by forming
personal relationships with the authorities and by show-
ing their conformity such as moving their merchandise
out of the pavement area when the police are approach-
ing. Instead of acting alone, vendors can collaborate in
implementing spatial and temporal strategies. L’Hote and
Gasta (2007) report that vendors selling counterfeit items
in Spain employ elaborate strategies to deal with police
coercion. Each member plays various roles in supporting
the others. Some vendors act as lookouts, some as trans-
porters of merchandise, others as bankers to hold money
to avoid confiscation, and yet others as street captains to
coordinate the whole process.
A simpler way to deal with this harassment is to pay
bribes. In Thailand, to ensure that they have the right
to a selling space, vendors pay bribes to government
employees or anyone who they believe has a connection
with the authorities (Nirathron, 2006). In India, the only
way Indian vendors can escape harassment from the
police and the municipality is when their selling area is
controlled by local racketeers (Bhowmik & Saha, 2012).
When street vendors operate in a location for several
years, they may form an association to increase their
bargaining power (Agadjanian, 2002; Bhowmik & Saha,
2012; Motala, 2002; Peña, 1999; Tinker, 1997). Various
forms to increase their bargaining power are found. In
India, street vendors join together to collect money to
be given as bribes to the authorities (Bhowmik & Saha,
2012). In Bolivia, vendors’ associations protect the inter-
ests of members when confronting city authorities as
well as fending off other vendors trying to enter their
trading areas (Agadjanian, 2002). However, both stud-
ies including Tinker (1997) report that the associations
are not effective enough to deal with the authorities and
are infested with corruption problems among the asso-
ciation’s leaders. Vendors’ associations in other countries
enhance their bargaining power through legal means
and political connections. For example, an association of
street peddlers in New York City retains the services of a
dedicated attorney to defend the peddlers in court and
even to try to overturn administrative ordinances that
limit their activities (Greenburg et al., 1980). In Mexico,
vendor organizations manage informal markets, give gifts
to government officials and hold political rallies to sup-
port candidates. Vendors have to pay fees and participate
in the associations’ activities in return for protection
DOI: 10.1002/tie
Street Vending Phenomena: A Literature Review and Research Agenda 69
(Peña, 1999). The fees paid to the association for protec-
tion are lower than the amounts nonmember vendors
must pay in “illegal rent” to the authorities or thugs
(Sarkar & Srivastava, 2009).
Success
Business success can be gauged by financial and nonfi-
nancial performance. When using financial performance
to evaluate vendor success, street enterprises appear
unattractive. Vendors can earn more than minimum
wages (Tinker, 1997) but less than the income of formal
operations (Luebker, 2008). The rate of return on capi-
tal relates to the vendor’s level of education attainment
(Smith & Metzger, 1998). Since vendors are either illit-
erate or have limited education, they have a low return.
Furthermore, numerous studies report the failure or
dissatisfaction of the operation when compared to other
livelihood choices. Vendors earn insufficient income to
cover their basic needs in spite of working long hours
(e.g., Iyenda, 2005; Saha, 2009) and so want to move to
other careers (L’Hote & Gasta, 2007; Reid et al., 2010).
However, when nonfinancial performance criteria are
employed, vendors can be viewed as successful. Being
able to achieve higher than subsistence level gives them
self-confidence that they are able to contribute to their
household income (Sarkar & Srivastava, 2009), support
the whole family, bring up their children (Nirathron,
2006), and even increase their wealth by buying gold and
village land (Tinker, 1997).
Proposed Model
Based on the literature review, the Giessen-Amsterdam
Model was revised to capture additional factors found to
affect the success of street vendors (Figure 3). The factor
“personality” is relabeled as “personal factors so that it
also includes demographic factors (such as gender, age,
and ethnic group).” With respect to personality traits
such as inclinations toward entrepreneurship, street
vendors are composed of diverse groups. For example,
Chinese, Indians, and South Koreans participate in immi-
grant entrepreneurship in the United States at a higher
percentage of other ethnic groups (Chrysostome, 2010;
Waldinger, Aldrich, & Ward, 1990).
Regarding human capital factors, some basic skills
are necessary for successful street operations, but most
vendors are unlikely to have prior business experience
or to have received any business training. Their ability
to acquire these skills is crucial to their business survival.
The operating environment is classified into business
and illegal status–related environments. The business
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
70 FEATURE ARTICLE
Regarding human capital
factors, some basic skills
are necessary for successful
street operations, but most
vendors are unlikely to have
prior business experience or
to have received any busi-
ness training. Their abil-
ity to acquire these skills
is crucial to their business
survival.
environment is not supportive since vendors face compe-
tition from all directions. Their operating environment
is even more complex and unsupportive if the illegal sta-
tus–related environment is considered. Under this harsh
environment, vendors are likely to receive support from
their social network. Financial constraints form a major
challenge for impoverished entrepreneurs. Despite the
fact that moneylenders charge exuberant interest rates,
vendors prefer to deal with them because of their easy
access. Moneylenders also rely on the vendor’s social net-
work to gauge their trustworthiness.
The vendors face two types of environment: the com-
petitive environment and the legal environment. Vendors
therefore need two strategies—one to deal with business
competition and another to fend off threats from their
illegal use of public space. With respect to street vendors
from a marginal sector, the variety of business strategies
is limited; their appeal is based on convenience and low
price. Strategies to deal with harassment from using the
sidewalk without a permit are more varied because this
challenging environment imposes a serious threat to
their existence.
Goals in operating a street enterprise should be
viewed from two perspectives—push and pull orientations.
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
Push-oriented goals typically occur during the start-up
stage. Unemployed entrepreneurs commit to trading on
the street because there are no better options. However,
if they survive in this environment, some may see oppor-
tunities and develop the skills necessary to expand their
business. Likewise, because of operating in a harsh envi-
ronment, mere business survival should be considered
success especially for new street sellers. For those already
established business, the pride from being able to support
their families and being independent is more attainable
than having their financial performance higher than
those operating in the formal sector.
The causal relations in the Giessen-Amsterdam Model
are retained but replaced by dotted arrows to indicate
that there might be relationships between these factors.
There are no empirical studies to confirm the associa-
tions. If evidence is found, a solid line is used instead. For
instance, Hiemstra et al. (2006) find that the use of
opportunistic planning contributes to success, and so a
solid arrow between strategies and success is employed.
Additional factors and dotted arrows are added into the
original model to reflect the unique factors associated
with street vending. Resource capital including social
capital and financial capital affects human capital and the
environment. The effect of resource capital, especially
social capital is found to enhance human capital (Reddy,
2007). The dotted arrows inside each box represent
potential relationships between categories. For goals,
push-oriented goals could become pull-oriented goals
once street vendors succeed in the initial stage. Moreover,
some vendors can have pull goals even though they are
pushed into this sector. For resource capital, social capital
can improve the ability of vendors to gain more financial
capital as seen in the case of moneylenders employing the
seller’s social network to gauge his trustworthiness (Jaffe
et al., 2007).
Research Agenda
The existing literature on street vending contributes to
our understanding. Impoverished vendors operating in
very challenging environments have little chance to be
successful. However, some survive and others are even
thriving. Therefore, in order to advance our knowledge
in this field to improve their chance of success, three
major research tracks are proposed as follows.
First, street vendors are composed of diverse groups
and operate at different stages of business development.
They can be from underprivileged groups, unemployed
workers from the formal sector, students who see this
as part-time work, or the second generation of street
DOI: 10.1002/tie
 Street Vending Phenomena: A Literature Review and Research Agenda 71

FIGURE 3 A Proposed Model for Street Vendors’ Success and Knowledge Gaps

Goals:

Push-oriented Goals
Personality:
Marginal Group Pull-oriented Goals
Other Groups Success:

Business Success

Nonbusiness Success

Human Capital:

Existing Capital Strategies:

Acquired Capital Business Strategy

Coercion Strategy

Environment:

Business Environ.
Resource Capital:
Illegal Environ.
Social Capital

Financial Capital

Plausible causal relationship

Some empirical results to support causal relationship

vendors. Some vendors operate as fixed-stall or mobile
sellers. There could more ways to classify these vendors
than those found in the literature. This issue is not
straightforward as shown by Tinker (1997). In addition
to diverse types, the line between the formal and infor-
mal sectors becomes blurred since some of these vendors
operate in ways partially similar to those in the formal
sector. Each of these types of vendors has different goals
in engaging in this business (Williams & Gurtoo, 2012)
and operates in different stages of business operation.
The problems and challenges of those who have just
entered the industry should be different from those with
already established businesses. Further classification of
street vending is needed and investigating the difference
should contribute to our understanding. For example,
departure might be a sign of success instead of failure if
street vending serves as a training ground for new entre-
preneurs who move on to build their businesses in the
formal sector. However, if they leave the industry because
they are unable to compete and deal with this com-
plex and dynamic trading environment, the knowledge
obtained from this group can help others from falling
into the same traps.
Second, the literature in this field mainly focuses
on problems of street vending and pays little attention
to those factors relating to the success of entrepreneurs.
Few studies attempt to investigate those factors relating to
success as in conceptual models like the Giessen Amster-
dam Model. These models can serve as a road map to the
success of street enterprises. For instance, complete plan-
ning and critical point planning generally are the most
successful strategies (Frese & Fay, 2001). By using oppor-
tunistic planning, a rudimentary method, street vendors
are already more successful than those who only react to
their environment (Hiemstra et al, 2006). If the vendor
utilizes complete planning, will he be more successful?
Since the type of planning requires time diverting from
his routine operation, could this lead to business failure?
Third, as shown in Figure 3, there are many issues
relevant to the factors associated with the entrepreneurs’
success that need to be investigated as to the extent of
their applicability to street vending. Examples include:

DOI: 10.1002/tie Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
72 FEATURE ARTICLE
• Although the literature suggests that street vending
requires only rudimentary skills, there might be other
necessary skills waiting to be investigated. For exam-
ple, the rhythm of trading activities is found in a wet
market in West Africa (Clark, 1994) where the prices
of perishable items peak from eleven to two o’clock
but drop sharply afterward since traders cannot easily
hold their stock for the next day. Is this rhythm also
found in street vending? Trading rhythm is also appli-
cable to the popularity of food sold in specific seasons
(Tinker, 1997).
• For those new street vendors who lack necessary skills,
their ability to acquire them is crucial to their survival.
The literature suggests that they gain this knowledge
from their social network. What process does the new
entrepreneur employ to obtain knowledge? If there
are several methods to do this, are these methods
equally effective in enhancing the new entrepreneur’s
success?
• The relevance of competitiveness spirit should be
investigated. Even though sidewalk sellers compete
among themselves, they need each other to be suc-
cessful. Some studies investigate this competition
and cooperation as an issue relating to female street
vendors, for instance, Agadjanian (2002) and Lekoko
and Garegae (2006). Some issues relevant to these two
forces should be studied. For instance, what kind of
environment allows this bipolar behavior to occur? Is
it relevant to only specific gender or ethnic groups? Or
does it arise out of necessity? How vendors do balance
competition and cooperation?
• Moneylenders are an important financial source for
street vendors who rely on this source for both busi-
ness and personal needs. However, the lenders charge
excessive interest rates. If the borrower does not care-
fully manage the repayment, it could turn into a debt
trap, leading to business failure. How does the vendor
utilize these funds? If they fall into debt, how do they
successfully escape business failure?
• The harsh environment of street vending is partly
caused by the authorities and the modern banking
system. The authorities discourage street enterprises,
which are usually illegal. Rent seeking from those
who try to take advantage of this situation translates
to higher costs for sidewalk vendors. The system of
commercial banks is too complex and demanding
for vendors to use their services. Several government
policy options to create a more supportive environ-
ment for vendors have been proposed (Sarkar &
Srivastava, 2009). These policies include forming
Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56, No. 1 January/February 2014
Research methodology
should be more rigorous in
order to integrate findings
into a well-tested body of
knowledge. A descriptive
case analysis of a single
country to explain local
conditions of street vending
will not facilitate this devel-
opment since many stud-
ies have already laid this
foundation.
membership-based organizations of vendors, pro-
viding social security, legalizing street vending, and
providing micro-lending. The future research should
address these questions—which of these policies can
create a more supportive environment? Should these
policies be integrated to increate a stronger impact?
What are pros and cons in utilizing each of these
policy options?
• The emergence of large modern retailers and hyper-
markets seems to impose a serious threat to traditional
retailers since the modern retailers can provide, for
instance, attractive ambience, wider assortment, and,
in the case of hypermarkets, lower prices (e.g., Purohit
& Kavita, 2009; Reardon & Hopkins, 2006). However,
the existing literature on street vending finds that street
vendors can coexist with modern traders (Rajagopal,
2010; Zinkhan et al., 1999). Although the vendors are
attracted to the modern retailers’ locations because of
the congregation of a large number of shoppers, the
vendors must utilize some unique strategies to gain
shoppers’ patronage. Future research should address
DOI: 10.1002/tie
 Street Vending Phenomena: A Literature Review and Research Agenda 73

this issue by investigating factors relating to this suc-
cess. In fact, if street vending is legalized and provided
with a more supportive environment that reduces the
burden from coercion and high interest rates, vendors
could be more prosperous.
• Many vendors’ business strategies are simple and lack
differentiation. They face intense competition leading
to low earnings and profits. Additional knowledge and
education should help improve their business skills so
they can be more ready to face this struggling situation
(Asiedu & Agyei-Mensah, 2008; Lekoko & Garegae,
2006). However, vendors do not have time to attend
regular training classroom style because their daily
tasks already consume most of their time. Moreover,
their modest educational level causes them to lack
interest in searching for more information and self-
improvement. Research should investigate appropri-
ate contents and the means to effectively teach them
the essential tools for their survival and growth.
Conclusions
Research on street enterprises has progressed extensively
in helping the understanding of this phenomenon. How-
ever, it needs to advance further to test the relationships
of many aspects relevant to vendors’ success and failure.
This enables us to make predictions about their behav-
ior and figure out how to bring about change. Many
research directions can be pursued as described earlier.
Research methodology should be more rigorous in order
to integrate findings into a well-tested body of knowledge.
A descriptive case analysis of a single country to explain
local conditions of street vending will not facilitate this
development since many studies have already laid this
foundation. The phenomenon is complex since sidewalk
vendors are heterogeneous: they form different groups
and operate in diverse political, economic, and historic
contexts. Therefore, the generalization of findings must
take into account these macro-context differences.
This literature review has limitations. A vast number
of articles published were overlooked since the initial
screening was based on restrictive inclusion criteria to
reduce the number of publications to a manageable
amount. Only articles directly or potentially relevant to
street vendors’ success were included. Because of limited
budget, articles acquired by purchasing were impractical
and therefore excluded from the review. In addition,
those studies on the impact of changing government
policies toward street vending as well those relating to
vendors’ health and family lives were beyond the scope
of this review.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank to anonymous reviewers,
Professor Emerita Gillian Rice, and Professor Michael
Czinkota for their valuable suggestions.

Nittaya Wongtada (PhD, University of Tennessee, Knoxville) is an associate professor at NIDA Business School,
National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok, Thailand. Her research interests are in the area of
international business, competitiveness, branding, and street marketing. Her articles appear in books and journals,
such as Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Journal of Asia-Pacific Research, Journal of Consumer
Marketing, Journal of International Business Education, and Facets of Competitiveness: Narratives from ASEAN.

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