Women's entrepreneurship research and the understanding of factors influencing the growth of women-owned business advanced significantly over the last decade. Yet, challenges remain. Women Entrepreneurs and the Global Environment for Growth provides wide-ranging insights on the challenges women entrepreneurs face growing their businesses and how these may be addressed. This volume is rooted in research and considers growth challenges both contextually and firm specific, provoking current thought and enriching the current literature on gender and entrepreneurship. Part one highlights how contextual factors, and especially social and familial settings of entrepreneurs, have a differential impact on men and women. Part two examines strategies, constraints and enablers of growth and performance. The authors aptly demonstrate that a well-focused gender lens is necessary to better explain the phenomenon of women's entrepreneurship. Extending previous studies about women's entrepreneurship, this volume is unique in its application of research from the Diana Project, a path breaking initiative dating from 1999 to study female entrepreneurial success. Contributions from an international cast of authors make this a comprehensive and broadly appealing reference work.

The female entrepreneurship researchers community has to thank these women for their brilliant work in reviewing, revising and selecting the best papers from the second Diana International Conference that were finally edited for this volume. . . the book is a good compendium of female entrepreneurship circumstances in different countries that focuses specifically on the explanation as to why gender plays a role in the number of ventures started by women and why they are in general smaller and less growth-oriented. Manuela Pardo-del-Val, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal . . . this edited text draws upon a range of international contributors to present a comparative overview of challenges facing female entrepreneurs seeking to grow their firms. . . this is an interesting book that makes a welcome contribution to contemporary debate. Susan Marlow, International Small Business Journal The data and information presented in this work will be of particular interest to students and scholars of entrepreneurship or labor and women s studies. Recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. E.P. Hoffman, Choice Enterprising new firms drive economic growth, and women around the world are important contributors to that growth. As entrepreneurs, they seize opportunities, develop and deliver new goods and services and, in the process, create wealth for themselves, their families, communities, and countries. This volume explores the role women entrepreneurs play in this economic progress, highlighting the challenges they encounter in launching and growing their businesses, and providing detailed studies of how their experiences vary from country to country. Statistics show that businesses owned by women tend to remain smaller than those owned by men, whether measured by the number of employees or by the size of revenues. Because women-led firms fail to grow as robustly, the opportunities to innovate and expand are limited, as are the rewards. Based on recent studies that examine the links between entrepreneurial supply and demand issues, this volume provides insights into how women around the world are addressing the challenges of entrepreneurial growth. The first set of chapters consists of country overviews and provides discussions of the state of women growing businesses. The second set of chapters describes research projects under way in different countries and explores more focused topics under the umbrella of women business owners and business growth. The volume concludes with an agenda and projects for future research. Academics and policymakers will gain a greater understanding of women s entrepreneurial behaviors and outcomes through this path-breaking volume. Those who support women through education and training, policymaking, or providing entrepreneurial resources will also find the volume of great practical interest.

Women’s entrepreneurship is vital for economic and social development, yet female entrepreneurs worldwide are consistently found to have weaker sales and employment growth, fewer jobs, and lower profitability. This book was written to address this reality, and focuses on the high-growth potential of women entrepreneurs.

The renowned group of international contributors to this book provide analysis of where and how gender plays a role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. 11 essays examine how ecosystems influence women entrepreneurs and how women entrepreneurs influence their local ecosystems, both cross-nationally and through in-depth country studies.

The commonly held perception is that businesses owned by women in the Middle East and North Africa are small and informal, that they're less sophisticated, and that they're huddled in low-value-added sectors. In fact, as The Environment for Women's Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa shows, there is very little difference between mail- and female-owned firms. Female-owned firms in the region are as well-established, productive, technologically savvy, and connected to global markets as male-owned firms. Although there are many similar characteristics and performance levels between male- and female-owned firms in the region, the book notes that women's entrepreneurship isn't reaching its potential, despite an investment climate that is much less gendered than suspected. With a significant increase in women's education level-in 11 out of 18 countries in the region women outnumber men in universities-and the strong economic rights women have in Islam, women's entrepreneurship can become a far greater engine for growth and diversification than expected in the past. This potential needs to be exploited vigorously. Reforming the investment climate to benefit all players is one important action. The second would be to remove or mitigate hurdles to their economic and social empowerment.

Over the past century, an extensive literature has developed, exploring the impact of entrepreneurship on economic performance. The active participation of entrepreneurs in virtually all aspects of business and economic activity has obliged policy makers within the global economy to consider entrepreneurship as a determining variable in any political force, not only for bodies and groups created specifically to this end, but also for any decision-making body. To this end, specific actions promoting entrepreneurship have already been established around the world. However, the particular dynamics of entrepreneurship by women present unique opportunities and challenges. The women’s perspective has often been overlooked in research, practice, and policymaking, and yet yields rich insights and implications. This volume features research from an international array of authors, global data, and in-depth analysis of women’s entrepreneurial activity in Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Canada, to shed light on the positive impact of women’s entrepreneurship on economic growth and development. The first part covers a broad range of concepts relating to the history and context of the female economic perspective. The second part focuses on performance and success factors, with respect to such issues as innovation, social needs, and entrepreneurial orientation. The third part addresses issues of financing, including discussion of access to capital, microcredit, and entrepreneurial behavior. The fourth part considers additional topics, such as work-family balance and access to education. Together, the chapters offer new perspectives on the unique characteristics of women entrepreneurs and their contributions to economic development in theory, practice, and policymaking.

There has been an increase in women entrepreneurs participating in the growth of local, regional, national, and global economies. While these women showcase crucial skills for strategic leadership and strategy that can advance companies, they face cultural, educational, social, and political barriers that impede their development and participation within the global economy. Women Entrepreneurs and Strategic Decision Making in the Global Economy is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on understanding the value of women entrepreneurs and the strategies they can use on the economy and examines gender impact on strategic management and entrepreneurship. While highlighting topics such as emotional intelligence, global economy, and strategic leadership, this book is ideally designed for managers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, academicians, and students.