The basket of fish and the mobile phone. When BOP innovations encounter informal market arrangements

This research stems from a program of research on non-profit and businesses partnerships involved in the development of innovative products/services to fight against poverty (Cholez & Trompette, 2013; Karnani, 2009; Prahalad, 2004). The presentation describes (micro)economic circuits in the informal economy of emerging countries, where market equipment and technologies are much less proliferate and sophisticated. In order to tackle the issue of "re-agencing" markets, the inquiry traces the socio-technical agencements of small production and trading micro-networks: what are the existing 'agencies' associated with the local economic rationalities (Lave, 1988) and the relational configurations of these informal commercial circuits (Zelizer, 2004) ? The fieldwork has been carried out on the East Coast of Madagascar, shadowing a set of economic circuits connecting rural and peri-urban areas to urban markets. Among these diverse circuits, the analysis draw on two well-established informal circuits: the second-hand car battery (sale, reparation, recharge) used by rural households for light, leisure like music and television and for the recharge of mobile phones; and the fish (game and sea fish) circuit that supplies urban consumption and the restaurant industry everyday.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source International Workshop The (Mis)Fortune of Frugal Innovation, Session " Fitting into local markets "
Author Cholez, Céline, Trompette, Pascale
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 11, 2026, 16:33 (UTC)
Created May 11, 2026, 16:33 (UTC)
Identifier halshs-00808134
Language en
contributor Pacte, Laboratoire de sciences sociales (PACTE) ; Université Pierre Mendès France - Grenoble 2 (UPMF)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble (IEPG)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
coverage Grenoble, France
creator Cholez, Céline
date 2013-03-28T00:00:00
harvest_object_id d736c893-b3d0-47ac-941a-62aa412637e5
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2025-09-27T00:00:00
set_spec type:COMM