Author(s): Rania Sama and Noureddine Abdelbaki
Entrepreneurship in the informal sector is a global phenomenon of interest to management researchers. Its nature, contribution to employment and socio-economic development differ in different contexts. There is no consensus on the nature of the impact of informal entrepreneurship or on the answer to the question: "Should we ignore or fight against informality? We are interested in analyzing the determinants of this "underground economy" and its impact on entrepreneurship.
After reviewing the literature dedicated to this activity, we adopt a Benchmarking methodology for the analysis of the informal entrepreneurial phenomenon in the cases of Morocco and Italy. We base this adopted method on the exploitation of secondary data from official reports.
Our research shows that the determinants of this type of entrepreneurship are similar in both countries: the need and the attractiveness of the informal sector, especially in terms of cost reduction. We conclude that informal entrepreneurship contributes to employment and socio-economic development in both countries.