Personal profile
Research interests
Madhu Viswanathan (B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering, IIT, Madras, 1985; Ph.D. (Marketing), University of Minnesota, 1990) is Professor of Marketing, College of Business Administration at Loyola Marymount University, and Professor Emeritus, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research programs are on measurement and subsistence marketplaces, where he has authored several books including Measurement Error and Research Design (Sage, 2005), Enabling Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy in Subsistence Marketplaces (Springer, 2008), Subsistence Marketplaces (2013), and Bottom-Up Enterprise (2016). He pioneered the area of subsistence marketplaces, a bottom-up approach to poverty and marketplaces (www.business.illinois.edu/subsistence). He teaches courses on research methods, subsistence, and sustainability reaching thousands of students in-person and online. He founded and directs the Marketplace Literacy Project (www.marketplaceliteracy.org), pioneering marketplace literacy education that has reached more than 100,000 women across four continents. He has received numerous awards and served on the Livelihoods Advisory Board of UNHCR.
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Effects of household characteristics on low-income family businesses: evidence from India
Jaikumar, S., Viswanathan, M., Dutta, S. & Sreekumar, A., Oct 2025, In: Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. 27, 3, p. 383-408 26 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Global Marketplace (Marketing) Literacy for Sustainable Development
Viswanathan, M., Sinha, G. R., Klobodu, E. & Sinha, S. K., 2025, In: Journal of Global Marketing. 38, 4, p. 300-319 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Impact through being bottom-up in multi-fold realms: lessons from journeying to subsistence marketplaces and marketplace literacy
Viswanathan, M., Goreczny, A., Sreekumar, A. & Cai, X. S., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: European Journal of Marketing. 59, 9, p. 2155–2169Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Sustainability in Subsistence Marketplaces and Beyond: Addressing Challenges Through the Bottom-Up Approach
Viswanathan, M., Jan 1 2025, Marketing to the Base of the Pyramid: Towards a Sustainable Business Future. Singh, R. & Wani, T. A. (eds.). Singapore: Springer Nature, p. 101-128 28 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Addressing difficulties with abstract thinking for low-literate, low-income consumers through marketplace literacy: A bottom-up approach to consumer and marketing education
Viswanathan, M., Jaikumar, S., Sreekumar, A., Dutta, S. & Duhachek, A., Sep 1 2024, In: Journal of Consumer Affairs. 58, 3, p. 794-813 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access