Entrepreneurship: It Is Said That

Entrepreneurship: It is said that women are worse at entrepreneurship than men. Introduction and Definition of Entrepreneurship The woman who heads her own company is no longer something exceptional. However, there is still a disparity in the number of entrepreneurs and businesses run and owned by men compared to women in the United Kingdom. A definition of entrepreneurship does not reveal any logical or innate reason for this disparity. The conceptualization of the concept of entrepreneurship is complex and one that evolves with economic development.

In the modern business context it means combining various factors in an innovative manner to generate a dual collaboration between entrepreneur and customer that will result in the creation of wealth. While scholars from diverse disciplines have over time grappled to define the function of entrepreneurship, contemporary economists place the emphasis on a blend of innovation, coordination of productive resources, and persistent formation of new demand for products, production methods, markets and forms of organization. However, the interpretation of entrepreneurship is relative to a particular economic environment.

The term 'entrepreneur' was first introduced in the early 18th century by the French economist Richard Cantillon. "In his writings he formally defines the entrepreneur as the 'agent who buys means of production at certain prices in order to combine them' into a new product." While entrepreneurial activities remain traditionally male-dominated, the number of women heading businesses has escalated over recent decades.

Technological progress has not only advanced the performance in commerce and industry, it has also streamlined domestic work which has opened the doors for women to explore independent self-employment outside the home. The most booming business sectors in the UK today include personal services and complementary therapies. According to a new study launched by Yellow Pages Alternative Census, there is "a general trend towards a boom in women dominated businesses.

The report is the first ever study of business growth and decline within key Yellow Pages business classifications over ten years (1992-2002), it reveals that seven out of ten classifications registering the highest increases come from professions catering for beauty and body image, or alternative therapy and stress release. Between 1992 and 2002 there was a 635% increase in classifications for Yoga classes and a 969% increase in the number of Nutritionists listed.

Implicit in this definition is the fact that entrepreneurship and business ownership is in fact a means of combating discrimination and gender or class restrictions and discrimination. The positive role of proprietorship for women relies on the idea that in the capitalist system, members of economically and socially deprived groups can "escape" deprivation through business ownership, which provides opportunities for self-determination through owning and controlling resources, and through an increased ability to flexibly interface work and domestic life (Goffee & Scase, 1983, p.

626) The social conditions in the world during the 1970s and 1980s made it easier in many respects for women to achieve proprietorship and independence in business. Margaret Thatcher also served as an inspiration to many prospective female entrepreneurs during this time. Her success in politics proved that women could achieve in any field.

There are numerous cases of successful female entrepreneurs who have not only improved their own lives but have "made a dramatic impact on the perception of women in society as a whole." As Goffee and Scase put it, "female entrepreneurs have a symbolic importance which implicitly questions popular conceptions of the position of women in society." 2.

Comparison between male and female entrepreneurs recent report on the differences between the participation rate of male and female in entrepreneurship in the UK indicates that there is a large disparity in female participation in business world. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that "the most significant issue for the UK is the low relative participation rate in entrepreneurship of women.

The UK comes near the bottom of a global ranking based on decreasing differences between levels of male and female entrepreneurship." Other studies also reveal similar results indicative not only of this disparity between male and female, but also the need to adjust the common view of the possibilities and potential for female involvement in business. The GEM report emphasizes the economic necessity for an "..

increasing proportion of women who wish to, and do, start a business" as one of 3 key challenges for the UK Government." Various other findings also indicate that there are many areas that point to outstanding differences and discrimination between male and female entrepreneurs. Some of these findings are summarized below. Men are 2.5 times more likely to be entrepreneurs than women. The peak age group for entrepreneurship is 35-44 for men and 45-54 for women.

Women are more likely to be involved in customer-orientated businesses and men in either business-related or transformative sectors. Women are relatively more likely to believe that they will create no jobs in the next five years. In spite of these facts there are also studies which show an increasing number of women succeeding as entrepreneurs in the UK.

For example, a survey by NatWest states that "the number of women going into business for themselves has risen by 38% in the past five years." The report for 2000 shows that "women accounted for 124,000 of the UK's new business start-ups in the first three-quarters of this year, compared to a figure of 90,000 new female entrepreneurs for the whole of 1995. The increase has also seen women lift their share of new business start-ups by almost 10% during this period and they now account for 35% of the total.

NatWest estimated that the final number of businesses setup in 2000 would be around 460,000. The NatWest report also indicates various attributes and differences in focus between men and women entrepreneurs. Women starting up in business are less driven by the desire to make a lot of money than their male counterparts and are more driven than men by a sense of personal satisfaction in providing a service. A sense of fulfillment also ranks highly for women when considering what they hope to get out of their business.

According to the findings of the report women are most likely to run businesses in the retail sector (28%) and there are an increasing number of women who are starting up in the Finance/Professionals/Property sector. The other dominant types of entrepreneurial concerns run by females include Hairdressing and domestic services businesses. Another significant finding that concurs with various other studies is that female entrepreneurs have markedly lower expectations when it comes to turnover, compared to male entrepreneurs.

"Women forecast an average turnover of just £58,000 with men forecasting a turnover of £140,000 in their first year. Just under half of female respondents expect a turnover of less than £20,000 in their first year." Many reports also indicate a regional differentiation between men and women entrepreneurs in the UK. ".. 28% of all women starting up new businesses are based in the South East, followed by 18% in the Midlands and 12% in the North West. Yorkshire 7% and the North 5% account the fewest start-ups amongst women.

" Other significant statistics are that most female entrepreneurs are aged between 25 and 34. Thirty-one percent have a first degree or HND compared to 27% of men; and 26% have a-levels compared to just 21% of men. Importantly, the NatWest report states that there has been a favorable increase in the number of women entrepreneurs. However, it also makes a point that is one of the main aspects of this paper that ".. The gap between the number of male and female entrepreneurs starting up is still wide.

There's no reason why we shouldn't have as many women as men starting up in business." The report also states categorically that gender has no significant impact on whether a business is successful or not. This report is bolstered by many other recent surveys that state there is a disparity between female and male entrepreneurs, which has no foundation in economic principles but it due essentially to discriminatory social perceptions. There is also the fact that the UK lags far behind other counties in female entrepreneurship levels.

Female entrepreneurship in the UK has improved in the last three-year s but still lags behind that of men, says a joint report from the British Chambers of Commerce and Learning & Skills Council - sponsored Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. For every 10 male entrepreneurs in the country there are only four female entrepreneurs - a gap that is wider than in Canada, the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.

On the other hand, there are numerous studies, reports and surveys which attest to the increasing number of women running successful businesses. "One third (32%) of women business-owners have owned their firms for five years or less, compared to just 21% of men. There is also research evidence indicating that more women own and run their own businesses in the UK. Women-owned firms are expanding in size as well as in their share of the marketplace. In 1998, 28% of women business owners had zero employees but by 2000 this had fallen to 20%.

Furthermore, during the same period there was an increase in the number of women-owned businesses in the 1-9 and 10-49 employment size categories.

The idea that women do not make good entrepreneurs is countered by various facts, such as: "Research by Barclays Bank has revealed there are today nearly a third more women entrepreneurs than there were in 2000,...there are now 150,000 women-run enterprises across the UK, with the south west leading the way nationally." Women as Entrepreneurs There have been many cases of extremely successful female entrepreneurs at almost every level of business. A prime example is the success of Liliane Bettencourt, who is one of wealthiest people in France.

She inherited a controlling stake in L'Oreal in 1957. Another successful entrepreneur is Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop. Her beginnings were small and not without struggle. However, she used her business and marketing skills to build an enormously successful business almost from scratch, packaging her cosmetic products in her garage. It is also noteworthy that when she considered opening a second shop in Chichester, she was turned down for an $8,000 loan at the bank.

An important aspect is that part of her marketing style was to avoid the exploitation of women in the cosmetic industry. A hate the beauty business. It is a monster industry selling unattainable dreams. It lies. It cheats. It exploits women" (Graham, 479). This mind set lead Anita and Gordon to the development of the unique philosophy of the Body Shop. Their purpose was to create profits with principles. Not only did they want to make profits, they wanted to create social and environmental change.

The Body Shop has grown from a small alternative store in England to a multi-national company with 1,366 stores in 46 countries. Roddick is a perfect example of just how successful women can be in business; she was also one of the five wealthiest women in the UK in 1993. She has received numerous awards, including being named London's Business Woman of the Year in 1985 and awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1988. 4.

Factors in the advancement or retardation of women entrepreneurs One of the central factors that have impeded the development of female entrepreneurship is the perception that women are not as good at running a business as men. This perception however is belied by the facts. For example in 2003 there was an increase of 27 per cent in the number of women who felt they had the skills to start a business compared with 2001. In spite of this however female businesses still have lower turnovers than their male counterparts.

Dr Eleanor Shaw of Strathclyde University underlines this fact by pointing out that one of the major obstacles to female entrepreneurship is the negative experiences and prejudice that they often are subjected to in the market. "Most women hold low-paid, unskilled or semi-skilled positions; women earn on average 72% of male earnings and only 10% of the UK's 200 largest companies have female board members.

Women's experiences of the labour market are a major constraint on their ability to set up their own businesses." Industry Minister Jacqui Smith has stated that despite the figures indicating an increasing number of women entrepreneurs "there is still a vast wealth of untapped talent and economic opportunity among women in the UK. " There are numerous reports of gender discrimination, particularly when it comes to financing new or growing business concerns. This also includes sexual stereotyping from financial institutions like banks.

The question also arises as to whether women are receiving enough support from official levels. A study published this month by the British Chambers of Commerce states that the UK has a poor record in encouraging women in entrepreneurship. Fewer than 4 women in 100 in the UK are starting businesses, while twice as many take the plunge in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Entrepreneurial British women are held back by the lack of role models, managerial experience, affordable childcare, business skills and access to finance.

One of the main factors that militate against women launching their own business concerns is lack of access to the necessary capital. According to IBM-sponsored research, published by Strathclyde University in collaboration with the National Foundation for Women Business Owners, there are specific problem areas in terms of the financing process.

This is especially the case with "raising start-up finance and using guarantees to support external finance as well as obtaining adequate on-going finance." Another area that was pointed out was the development of effective relationships with bankers; "recent research has sought to determine if banks operate unwitting or deliberate differential lending policies with respect to female borrowers." In general, the research showed that there are real differences between the genders with respect to start-up and ongoing finance and that this has a negative effect on the development of women-owned businesses.

On the other hand, there are also positive aspects and the study indicates that there are many areas of similarity with respect to financing and there does not appear to be any direct discrimination against women when refusing a request for finance." major factor that is seen as holding women back in entrepreneurship is the inequitable working conditions and bias towards the male in the business environment.

New research indicates that "starting a business is still more challenging for women than men thanks to long-ignored barriers such as poor child care and inappropriate business support services." Another important reason for the difficulty that women experience in starting their own business is the problem of balancing domestic time constraints and the demands of running a business. Pros and cons While it is often a perception that women cannot be good entrepreneurs due to the pressures of family and home life, studies in fact indicate the opposite.

They state that female entrepreneurs are in fact very flexible and adequately manage to balance the various components of their lives. ".. women consider increased flexibility (54% against 35%) and a greater ability to balance professional accomplishments and family responsibilities (40% compared with 22%) to be an additional attraction of entrepreneurship." Research proves that women in fact make better entrepreneurs than men. They are less liable to incur debt and are more independent of banks and funding institutions. They are also more inclined towards achievement.

Studies indicate that women are more open to further training and development in the latest technologies. The percentage of personal savings used to finance business start-up's is significantly higher amongst women (80-99%) than men (30-59%), and women business-owners are currently less likely than men to have used either bank overdrafts or a business loan over the past year. The research also finds women entrepreneurs eager for business education and technology training.

They are quick to recognize the importance of business knowledge in the execution of any successful business plan, and the need for up-to-the-minute it skills to compete in an ever-increasing technology-based business environment. There is a growing realization that more must be done to not only alter perceptions about the ability of women to become entrepreneurs in the UK, but also to physically and directly help women in this process. To this end the government has developed a number of strategies and policy initiatives to remedy the situation.

These include, Encouraging more role models to come forward. A lack of role models is often cited as one of the reasons too few young women start businesses. Initiating the Small Business Service Action Plan to help women entrepreneurs gain access to finance. Experience shows that this is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to start up's. Setting up a new women's enterprise panel of successful female entrepreneurs to look at the options for a Women's Business Council to champion female entrepreneurship.

PROWESS has been one of the key drivers behind this initiative. These initiatives indicate the very opposite of the perception that women are not capable of being good entrepreneurs. However, the bottom line in any discussion of the pros and cons involved in female entrepreneurship is focused on gender issues and discrimination. ".. It was shown that gender can be extremely important in the experience of ownership and management in small business.

Further research should not focus on a simple dichotomy of male and female, but should look instead at gender within and across categories of ownership and co-ownership." Conclusion There are numerous examples that prove women are as capable as men in starting and running a successful business; as well as some reports that claim many women in fact do a better job than their male counterparts.

One of the strongest indications of success and recognition amongst female entrepreneurs is the increasing availability of opportunities to assist the development of female entrepreneurs in the UK. One of the reasons for this increased attention is the realization that women entrepreneurs are being recognized as an integral part of the national economy. A recent report indicated the following facts. There are now over one-million women-owned businesses in the UK yielding a turnover of up to £1-million - one third of all small businesses.

In the year to September 2003 the number of self-employed people increased by 8.9 per cent (8.6 per cent for men and 9.7 per cent for women). The level of self-employment increased by 200,000 for men and 82,000 for women in 2003. These statistics indicate the growing development of the female entrepreneurial sector and is convincing proof that the perception that women are considered incapable of achieving entrepreneurial success is untrue. Bibliography 130,000 WOMEN GO SOLO.

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