PEDL Research Note. Differentiation, Property Rights, and Performance Among Micro-entrepreneurs

Abstract

This study examines differentiation among micro-entrepreneurs operating retail stores in a slum neighbourhood in Egypt. We highlight a hitherto unexplored factor that might explain differential rates of differentiation among micro-businesses: the mode of access to major productive assets. This study focuses on lease and possession as modes of access to productive assets, since they are the most common forms of access in urban slums. Research shows that leasing has a strong positive impact on micro-entrepreneur performance and differentiation from competitors