Research & Publications Office to host seminar ‘Brokering Order: Vendor Associations and Channel Governance in Periodic Street Markets’ on 24 June
Talk will be delivered by Prof. Raji Srinivasan, University of Texas at Austin
10 June, 2026, Bengaluru: The Office of Research and Publications (R&P) will host a seminar on ‘Brokering Order: Vendor Associations and Channel Governance in Periodic Street Markets’, to be led by Prof. Raji Srinivasan, University of Texas at Austin, Marketing area, at 4.00 PM on 24 June 2026, in Classroom P-22.
Abstract:
Across the Global South, millions of low-income households rely on periodic street markets as their primary source of goods and services. Yet these markets are governed by intermediaries that operate without formal authority, contracts, or institutional standing. Existing channel governance theory assumes that authority precedes governance, an assumption that does not hold in such contexts.
This study addresses that gap by examining vendor associations in periodic street markets and developing a theory of interface-differentiated governance. The framework explains how a membership-based intermediary creates and sustains market order across three distinct interfaces: vendors, state authorities, and civic communities. Rather than deriving authority from formal appointment or contractual rights, vendor associations generate authority through repeated governance performance and structural indispensability across these interfaces.
The paper introduces two novel constructs, interface-differentiated governance and positional authority, and develops nine propositions that identify governance modes, activation conditions, and performance consequences across interfaces. In doing so, it establishes brokering informal order as a new governance problem class and highlights deliberate restraint as a key governance mechanism, extending existing marketing channels theory.
Speaker Profile:
Raji Srinivasan is a professor in the Department of Marketing and holds the Jack R. Crosby Regents Chair in Business Administration at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Her expertise centers on organizational innovation and marketing metrics, including such topics as new product development, market entry and exit strategies, and the financial performance of companies.
Srinivasan has also served the school as the inaugural associate dean for diversity and inclusion.
A renowned researcher, she has published her academic work in outlets such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and The Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. She is an associate editor of the Journal of Product Innovation Management and Journal of Public Policy and Marketing and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing. She is currently serving as co-editor of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.
Srinivasan holds a Ph.D. in business administration (marketing) from Pennsylvania State University; an MBA (marketing) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India; and an M.S. in physics from Madras Christian College, Madras, India.
Webpage Link: https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-directory/profile/?username=rajashri
Research & Publications Office to host seminar ‘Brokering Order: Vendor Associations and Channel Governance in Periodic Street Markets’ on 24 June
Talk will be delivered by Prof. Raji Srinivasan, University of Texas at Austin
10 June, 2026, Bengaluru: The Office of Research and Publications (R&P) will host a seminar on ‘Brokering Order: Vendor Associations and Channel Governance in Periodic Street Markets’, to be led by Prof. Raji Srinivasan, University of Texas at Austin, Marketing area, at 4.00 PM on 24 June 2026, in Classroom P-22.
Abstract:
Across the Global South, millions of low-income households rely on periodic street markets as their primary source of goods and services. Yet these markets are governed by intermediaries that operate without formal authority, contracts, or institutional standing. Existing channel governance theory assumes that authority precedes governance, an assumption that does not hold in such contexts.
This study addresses that gap by examining vendor associations in periodic street markets and developing a theory of interface-differentiated governance. The framework explains how a membership-based intermediary creates and sustains market order across three distinct interfaces: vendors, state authorities, and civic communities. Rather than deriving authority from formal appointment or contractual rights, vendor associations generate authority through repeated governance performance and structural indispensability across these interfaces.
The paper introduces two novel constructs, interface-differentiated governance and positional authority, and develops nine propositions that identify governance modes, activation conditions, and performance consequences across interfaces. In doing so, it establishes brokering informal order as a new governance problem class and highlights deliberate restraint as a key governance mechanism, extending existing marketing channels theory.
Speaker Profile:
Raji Srinivasan is a professor in the Department of Marketing and holds the Jack R. Crosby Regents Chair in Business Administration at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Her expertise centers on organizational innovation and marketing metrics, including such topics as new product development, market entry and exit strategies, and the financial performance of companies.
Srinivasan has also served the school as the inaugural associate dean for diversity and inclusion.
A renowned researcher, she has published her academic work in outlets such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and The Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. She is an associate editor of the Journal of Product Innovation Management and Journal of Public Policy and Marketing and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing. She is currently serving as co-editor of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.
Srinivasan holds a Ph.D. in business administration (marketing) from Pennsylvania State University; an MBA (marketing) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India; and an M.S. in physics from Madras Christian College, Madras, India.
Webpage Link: https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-directory/profile/?username=rajashri