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dc.titlePreliminary Evidence of Surviving Competition: Neighborhood Shops vs. Convenience Chains
dc.contributor.authorTalamas Marcos, Miguel Ángel
dc.contributor.orgunitDepartment of Research and Chief Economist
dc.coverageMexico
dc.date.available2022-09-14T00:09:00
dc.date.issue2022-09-14T00:09:00
dc.description.abstractHundreds of millions of microenterprises in emerging economies face increased competition from the entry and expansion of large firms that offer similar products. This paper studies how one of the worlds most prevalent microenterprises, neighborhood shops, confront competition from convenience chains (e.g., 7-Eleven) in Mexico. To address the endogeneity in time and location of chains store openings, I pair two-way fixed effects with a novel instrument that, at the neighborhood level, shifts the profitability of chains but not of shops. An expansion from zero to the average number of chain stores in a neighborhood reduces the number of shops by 16%. Consistent with the theoretical framework, this reduction is not driven by an increase in shop exit but by a decrease in shop entry. Shops retain their sales of fresh products and 96% of their customers, but customers visit shops less often and spend less on non-fresh and packed goods. I present evidence consistent with shops surviving by exploiting comparative advantages stemming from being small and owner-operated, such as lower agency costs, building relationships with the community, and offering informal credit.
dc.format.extent67
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004453
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Preliminary-Evidence-of-Surviving-Competition-Neighborhood-Shops-vs.-Convenience-Chains.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectSmall Business
dc.subjectCompetitiveness
dc.subjectMicrobusiness
dc.subjectEconomy
dc.subjectEconomy of Scale
dc.subjectLabor Force
dc.subjectRating
dc.subjectIndustry
dc.subject.jelcodeD40 - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design: General
dc.subject.jelcodeD43 - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
dc.subject.keywordsmicroenterprise dynamics;entry
dc.typeDiscussion Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-DP-00966
idb.operationRG-K1415
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