How to Cope with Socio-economic Change: Tactics Developed by Small Shopkeepers
Mehmet Ali AkyurtAs a result of economic and social transformations, new professions arise, and some established professions diminish or reform themselves. In this context, small shopkeepers based on commercial or arts & crafts activities develop new methods to survive in new settings. In order to explore this phenomenon qualitatively, a neighborhood in the inner city of Istanbul with a rich variety of small businesses was chosen. In-depth interviews and participant observations we re conducted with a limited sample of shops that have survived at least 15 years. They compete against increasing taxes, changing laws and legislations, a growing impact of chain stores and authorized sellers, and changing cooperation and conflict relations with local economic actors. They also try to keep up with changing consumption patterns and expectations of their clients. Small shopkeepers’ efforts to survive we re analyzed referring to the concept of “tactic,” defined by de Certeau as practical solutions created by ordinary individual actors, as opposed to “strategies”, meaning institutional macro regulations. In particular, we re-analyzed three types of tactics developed by small shopkeepers against changing socio-economic conditions: widening the range of products and services within the borders of their professions, providing customer-specific services, and creating informal solidarity networks.
Sosyo-Ekonomik Değişmeyle Başa Çıkmak: Küçük Esnafın Taktikleri
Mehmet Ali AkyurtToplumsal ve iktisadi dönüşümlerin meydan okuması karşısında yeni iş kolları ortaya çıkmakta, eski mesleklerin bazıları yok olurken bazıları biçim değiştirmektedir. Çalışma zincir mağazaların/yetkili bayilerin yaygınlaşması, teknolojik gelişmeler, değişen mevzuat/vergiler, işbirliği/çatışma ilişkileri, müşterilerin değişen tüketim alışkanlık ve beklentileri gibi bileşenlerin oluşturduğu bağlamda küçük esnafın sergilediği ayakta kalma çabasına odaklanmaktadır. Düşük sermayeye sahip küçük işletmelerin failliği, de Certeau’nün kurumsal makro düzenlemeleri ifade eden “stratejiler”in karşısında, sıradan bireysel aktörlerin ortaya koyduğu pratik çözümler olarak tanımladığı “taktik” kavramı kullanılarak değerlendirilmektedir. Küçük esnafın merkezi, siyasi ve hukuki aktörlerden çok yerel, iktisadi ve toplumsal aktörlerle ilişkilerine eğilen bu nitel çalışma kapsamında İstanbul ili Fatih ilçesinde esnaf yoğunluğu ve çeşitliliği yüksek olan İskenderpaşa mahallesi seçilmiş; 15 yıldan uzun süredir faaliyet gösteren bakkal, yufkacı, terzi, ayakkabı tamircisi, araba tamircisi, lastikçi, pideci vb. aktörlerle derinlemesine mülakat gerçekleştirilmiş, iş yerlerinde katılımlı gözlem yapılmıştır. Çalışmada küçük esnafın değişen sosyo-ekonomik şartlar karşısında ayakta kalmak için geliştirdiği ürün/hizmet portföyünü genişletmek, müşteriye özel hizmetler sunmak ve kayıt dışı dayanışma ağları kurmak şeklindeki üç taktik teşhis ve analiz edilmektedir.
Economic and social transformations, especially after the 1980s, reshaped the whole economic realm. This development constituted a big challenge, especially for small business. Macro-scale developments such as increasing taxes, changing laws and legislations, a growing impact of chain stores and authorized sellers, and changing cooperation and conflict relations with local economic actors are some of the problems that small shopkeepers face. Another issue for small businesses is related to the dramatic change of their clients’ tastes, expectations and consumption patterns.
Although there is a widespread belief that the life chances of small business has decreased gradually in the neoliberal era, some cyclical fashion-like trends can be identified such as eco-friendly hand-made products, slow food, haute couture etc. which have increased the survival capacities of small shopkeepers. This period h as also been an age of opportunities for them because of diminishing state control. So, small businesses have been able to find a chance to create new ways to survive in this new setting.
Actually, this issue has been dealt with from different theoretical perspectives from various disciplines. For example, the discipline of organization management deals with the same topic under the title of “small business survival”. Human geography sees it as an example of “social resilience”. Another example comes from political science or analysis of social movements; i.e. Bayat’s “quiet encroachment of the ordinary”. Even if our emphasis on ordinary people’s agency would call to mind Bayat’s concept, this article restricts itself to the relations of ordinary people with social and economic actors, rather than to political and legal ones. This paper aims to handle the mentioned issue from a more sociological point of view.
This research article concentrates on the survival efforts of small shopkeepers in terms of a structure-agency dichotomy, and looks for instances of agency performed by small shopkeepers as “craftsmen” in Sennettian terms. Their efforts to survive and examples of creativity are seen from the perspective developed by de Certeau. In this theoretical framework drawn mainly by the strategy-tactic distinction, he defines “tactics” as practical solutions created by ordinary individual actors, as opposed to “strategies”, meaning institutional macro regulations
In order to explore this phenomenon, a neighborhood in the inner city of Istanbul with a rich variety of small businesses was chosen. In-depth interviews and participant observations were conducted with tailors, quilt makers, pastry makers, butchers, mechanics, shoe repairers, restaurant staff, grocery keepers, real estate agents, confectioners, and glassmen who have been working for more than 15 years in this neighborhood.
Through the analysis of interviews and observations, this paper identifies three dimensions of the craft of small shopkeepers. For example the pastry maker has a chance to survive with the help of the quality of the product, i.e. his hand made pastries made from special ecologically produced raw materials. The second dimension is the level of confidence and frankness in his relations and daily life conversations both with his customers and suppliers. And the third important dimension is related to his bureaucratic capacity to follow new legal arrangements and regulations, and to fulfill economic procedures such as tax payments on time.
In the field, three types of tactics developed by small shopkeepers against changing socio-economic conditions were observed. The first one is widening or changing the range of products and services within the borders of their professions, which eases to adapt not only minor temporal transformations but also macro-economic, legal and technological changes, which affect the fundamental structure of the profession. It necessitates a kind of far-seeing ability to foresee and confront sectoral changes and transitions. The second tactic is developing customer-specific services, in other words special, boutique, personal, tailor made services addressing their clients. The third and last one is creating close relations and informal solidarity networks not only with neighboring small shopkeepers, but also with customers and suppliers.