IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sajbmc/v1y2012i2p77-89.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From Rags to Riches: Tapping the Social Capital within the Solid Waste Informal Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Sameer Prasad
  • Ashish Jain
  • Jasmine Tata
  • Shantha Parthan

Abstract

Many large cities in the developing world cannot keep up with the vast quantities of solid waste being produced on a daily basis. Often, only 15 per cent of the waste is handled by municipal waste management systems; the rest is handled by the informal sector consisting of networks of rag-pickers who collect, sort, process and dispose of solid waste. These networks and waste streams hold not only economic but also environmental and social value. The current literature, however, has largely ignored this promising area of study, and provides limited direction in terms of the informal networks and their influence on economic, environmental and social outcomes. In this research, we use qualitative methodology and archival data to develop a typology connecting social capital to three value streams within this informal solid waste network. We find that the social capital of the rag-pickers provides superior economic, social and environmental yields. In addition, we discuss the role of NGOs in fostering social capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Sameer Prasad & Ashish Jain & Jasmine Tata & Shantha Parthan, 2012. "From Rags to Riches: Tapping the Social Capital within the Solid Waste Informal Sector," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 1(2), pages 77-89, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sajbmc:v:1:y:2012:i:2:p:77-89
    DOI: 10.1177/2277977912460117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2277977912460117
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2277977912460117?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yang, Jie & Wang, Jinjun & Wong, Christina W.Y. & Lai, Kee-Hung, 2008. "Relational stability and alliance performance in supply chain," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 600-608, August.
    2. Da Zhu & P. U. Asnani & Chris Zurbrügg & Sebastian Anapolsky & Shyamala Mani, 2008. "Improving Municipal Solid Waste Management in India : A Sourcebook for Policy Makers and Practitioners," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6916.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lai, Kee-hung & Wong, Christina W.Y., 2012. "Green logistics management and performance: Some empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing exporters," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 267-282.
    2. Lai, Kee-hung & Wong, Christina W.Y. & Venus Lun, Y.H., 2014. "The role of customer integration in extended producer responsibility: A study of Chinese export manufacturers," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PB), pages 284-293.
    3. Osman Yilmaz & Pinar Comez, 2016. "The Effect of Structural Capital on Enterprise (Qualitative and Quantitative) Performance," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(6), pages 143-156, June.
    4. Xiangmeng Huang & Shuai Yang & Xiaolan Shi, 2021. "How Corporate Social Responsibility and External Stakeholder Concerns Affect Green Supply Chain Cooperation among Manufacturers: An Interpretive Structural Modeling Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, February.
    5. Teo, Thompson S.H. & Lin, Sijie & Lai, Kee-hung, 2009. "Adopters and non-adopters of e-procurement in Singapore: An empirical study," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 972-987, October.
    6. Tsu-Ming Yeh & Fan-Yun Pai & Liang-Chuan Wu, 2020. "Relationship Stability and Supply Chain Performance for SMEs: From Internal, Supplier, and Customer Integration Perspectives," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-18, October.
    7. Xhoxhi, Orjon & Pedersen, Søren Marcus & Lind, Kim Martin, 2018. "How does the intermediaries’ power affect farmers-intermediaries’ trading relationship performance?," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 10, pages 44-50.
    8. Huo, Baofeng & Liu, Ruolei & Tian, Min, 2022. "The bright side of dependence asymmetry: Mitigating power use and facilitating relational ties," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    9. Li, Gang & Yang, Hongjiao & Sun, Linyan & Ji, Ping & Feng, Lei, 2010. "The evolutionary complexity of complex adaptive supply networks: A simulation and case study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 310-330, April.
    10. Korai, Muhammad Safar & Mahar, Rasool Bux & Uqaili, Muhammad Aslam, 2017. "The feasibility of municipal solid waste for energy generation and its existing management practices in Pakistan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 338-353.
    11. Hemmert, Martin & Kim, DaeSoo & Kim, Jisun & Cho, BooYun, 2016. "Building the supplier's trust: Role of institutional forces and buyer firm practices," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 25-37.
    12. Vijayasarathy, Leo R., 2010. "Supply integration: An investigation of its multi-dimensionality and relational antecedents," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 489-505, April.
    13. Lo, Shirleen Lee Yuen & How, Bing Shen & Leong, Wei Dong & Teng, Sin Yong & Rhamdhani, Muhammad Akbar & Sunarso, Jaka, 2021. "Techno-economic analysis for biomass supply chain: A state-of-the-art review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    14. Wong, Christina W.Y. & Lai, Kee-hung & Shang, Kuo-Chung & Lu, Chin-Shan & Leung, T.K.P., 2012. "Green operations and the moderating role of environmental management capability of suppliers on manufacturing firm performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 283-294.
    15. Nina Shin & Sun Hyun Park & Sangwook Park, 2019. "Partnership-Based Supply Chain Collaboration: Impact on Commitment, Innovation, and Firm Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-19, January.
    16. Akamavi, Raphaël K. & Mohamed, Elsayed & Pellmann, Katharina & Xu, Yue, 2015. "Key determinants of passenger loyalty in the low-cost airline business," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 528-545.
    17. Jiguang Wang & Bing Ran, 2018. "Sustainable Collaborative Governance in Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, January.
    18. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Wang, Derek, 2014. "Sustainability development for supply chain management in U.S. petroleum industry by DEA environmental assessment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 360-374.
    19. Josh Gullett & Loc Do & Maria Canuto-Carranco & Mark Brister & Shundricka Turner & Cam Caldwell, 2009. "The Buyer–Supplier Relationship: An Integrative Model of Ethics and Trust," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 329-341, December.
    20. Tsai, Ming-Chih & Lai, Kee-hung & Lloyd, Alison E. & Lin, Hung-Ju, 2012. "The dark side of logistics outsourcing – Unraveling the potential risks leading to failed relationships," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 178-189.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sajbmc:v:1:y:2012:i:2:p:77-89. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.