ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR. The Case of the Pedicab Drivers of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

In entrepreneurship literature informal sector ventures are usually described as necessity-driven and survivalist businesses and denied the qualification of "entrepreneurial". Recently, an emerging argument in western and transition economies has been that informal entrepreneurs are not al...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of small business and entrepreneurship 2013-05, Vol.26 (3), p.241-259
Main Authors: Dahles, Heidi, Prabawa, Titi Susilowati
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Developing countries
déséquilibre des prix
Economic development
Economic growth
entrepreneuriat dans le secteur informel
entrepreneuriat motivé par la nécessité vs entrepreneuriat motivé par les opportunités
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship
Field study
Indonesia
Indonésie
Informal economy
informal sector entrepreneurship
LDCs
Literature reviews
necessity-driven versus opportunity-driven entrepreneurship
price disequilibrium
secteur du tourisme
Self employment
Studies
Taxicabs
Tourism
tourism sector
Tourist attractions
Transition economies
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Summary:In entrepreneurship literature informal sector ventures are usually described as necessity-driven and survivalist businesses and denied the qualification of "entrepreneurial". Recently, an emerging argument in western and transition economies has been that informal entrepreneurs are not always necessity-driven. The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically its validity to developing countries. This article analyzes the case of the pedicab drivers in Yogyakarta, a famous tourist destination in Java (Indonesia). With tourism developing into a major industry in Indonesia, pedicab driving came to constitute a sector unregulated by the government but managed by neighborhood-based self-organizations for about three decades. However, a series of disasters led to the demise of the sector. Based on anthropological fieldwork in Yogyakarta, it is demonstrated that the self-employed, low-skilled pedicab drivers of Yogyakarta first succeeded and then failed to create and exploit opportunities in the local tourism industry both in times of economic growth and collapse.
ISSN:0827-6331
2169-2610
DOI:10.1080/08276331.2013.803672