The Business Behaviors of Malaysian Food Hawkers

Abstract

Purpose: Street retailing is an activity falls under the informal scope of economy. Although it contributes significantly to the livelihood of many people in developing countries, literatures on the business behaviours of the hawkers are still lacking. This paper aims to explore food hawkers’ business behaviours within
the Malaysian context.
Methodology: This study employs interview and observation to gather the necessary data. The first fieldwork involved both observation and interview.
The interview session was conducted with five (5) respondents. The second field work involved merely observation. The purpose of the second observation was to
validate consistency of behaviour throughout longer span of time.
Findings: The finding indicates street retailing ventures possess specific behaviours which differ from their formal counterparts. Based on our finding, informal street retailing businesses rarely followed the ordinary business life cycle, which normally consists of birth, growth, maturity and declining stages. Furthermore, the hawker businesses experience short cycle in the growth
stage and some skip the growth stage before succeeding either to the maturity or declining stages immediately after the birth stage. We also found the management of street retailing businesses was also personal in nature. Thus,
the management merely depends on the owners’ personal objective, managerial ability and capacity.
Originality: The originality of this study lies in the attempt to enhance business literature that specifically explains behaviours of the small informal business
ventures.