A Sociological Review on Organizational Strategy andthe Social Structuring of Consumer Dynamics ofInequality in Developing Economies

Abstract

The role of organizational strategy in defining consumer access and exclusion patterns is vital and in most developing economies such decisions only worsen existing inequalities. This is important since the strategic decisions relating to pricing, sustainability, and market positioning can make or break the difference between consumers and non-consumers. Although there has been an increasing body of research on sustainability and corporate strategy, sociological studies have paid little attention to how decisions made by firms structurally produce consumer inequality and the majority of studies have only paid attention to economic consequences but ignored the social processes that define access to goods and services. The study is a qualitative secondary data review based on academic sources, institutional reports, and sociological theories, which synthesize data on organizational influences using thematic analysis. The review demonstrates that social hierarchies are frequently supported by strategic choices and recreate the obstacles to marginalized consumers. The research is valuable in that it incorporates the fields of strategic management and sociology to describe these inequalities.