Amy E. Davis

Understanding Gendered Variations in Business Growth Intentions Across the Life Course

This article investigates differences in growth intentions of men and women entrepreneurs. Using data from the U.S. Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics I and II, we test hypotheses informed by life course theory regarding the influence of career stage and family status on high growth intentions of men and women entrepreneurs. Results show that young men are especially likely to express high growth intentions, while mothers expressed high growth intentions more frequently than did other women.

A Comparison of Retail Franchises, Independent Businesses, and Purchased Existing Independent Business Startups: Lessons From the Kauffman Firm Survey

Franchising is a major economic powerhouse. Though research has been conducted on franchising from multi-disciplinary viewpoints, no study has compared retail franchises, independent businesses, and purchased existing independent businesses in the startup phase. This study utilized data from the U.S.-based Kauffman Foundation Firm Survey and examined major variables that would more likely influence survival-business type, ownership, owner-operator combinations, total revenue, labor intensity, profit and loss, and prior ownership experience. Our findings indicate that franchises differ considerably from new, independent businesses in most respects but are similar to purchased existing independent businesses. The overall results confirm prior findings that franchises have impediments that may affect their survival in the first year of operation and that some of the advantages of choosing a franchise over another form of business that have been sighted by the industry may not be completely valid.

Social Motives in the PSED II

The extent to which those creating new firms have unique individual features or personal profiles has been a major focus of those studying the entrepreneurial process. Scholarly writing on personal factors includes everything from journal special issues focusing on entrepreneurial cognition (Mitchell et al., 2002) to entire books on the Psychology of Entrepreneurship (Baum, Frese, & Baron, 2006).Measures of individual differences have been an important component of the interview schedules used in the PSED research program. For example, the Handbook of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, describing the background of the modules included in the PSED I interview, contains 38 chapters and 3 appendices (Gartner, Shaver, Carter, & Reynolds, 2004). Of these chapters, 11 deal specifically with personal characteristics and arguably another 7 deal with the background experienced by, or beliefs held by, individual entrepreneurs. This chapter provides a review of four of the individual difference measures in the PSED II: entrepreneurial intensity, social skills, expectancy, and career reasons. We begin by noting the differences in the data between PSED I and PSED II that apply to all four sections that follow. Then, for each social motive, we present descriptive statistics for the measures. We conclude by discussing potential research applications of the social motive measures.

The gender gap in venture capital- progress, problems, and perspectives

Abstract Financial capital is a critical resource for growing firms, yet women entrepreneurs received very small percent of the funding. This research updates earlier research by the Diana Project using a data base of all venture capital funded firms in the US. We compare funding in those firms led by men and women across stage, sector, state, region and outcomes. Results show women have made progress in attracting venture capital, although there is still a significant gender gap. A research framework and future research directions are proposed.