Nan S. Langowitz

The Entrepreneurial Propensity of Women

Entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly important source of employment for women across many countries. The level of female involvement in entrepreneurial activity, however, is still significantly lower than that of men. We take a behavioral economics approach and, using a large sample of individuals in 17 countries, we investigate what variables influence the entrepreneurial propensity of women and whether those variables have a significant correlation with differences across genders. In addition to demographic and economic variables, we include a number of perceptual variables. Our results show that subjective perceptual variables have a crucial influence on the entrepreneurial propensity of women and account for much of the difference in entrepreneurial activity between the sexes. Specifically, we find that women tend to perceive themselves and the entrepreneurial environment in a less favorable light than men across all countries in our sample and regardless of entrepreneurial motivation. Our results suggest that perceptual variables may be significant universal factors influencing entrepreneurial behavior.

R&D productivity: A global multi-industry comparison

Abstract This study considers the productivity of R&D expenditures on an international and multi-industry basis. Using 1992 data reported by Business Week on 117 companies in the United States, Europe, and Japan, we examined two measures of innovative output, patents and impact-adjusted patents, in relationship to R&D spending. Our results clearly show a decreasing returns to scale of R&D expenditure. Although this pattern holds true regardless of industry or global region, the level of return and rate of decreasing returns vary by both industry and international region.

Women's Business Centers in the United States: Effective Entrepreneurship Training and Policy Implementation

Abstract In the US, the passage of the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988 (HR5050) provided seed funding for women’s business centers through the Small Business Administration. Women’s business centers were targeted to provide technical assistance to women for business formation, particularly women who were socially and economically disadvantaged. This research examined women’s business centers in the US to ascertain the success of a policy initiative targeted to provide training, technical assistance and support for entrepreneurship by women. We found that women’s business centers in the United States are successfully accomplishing their mission. The success of women’s business centers can be attributed to shared practices targeted specifically to women’s situational and social capital needs. Tailored programming, a relationship-oriented approach, and activities that develop social capital are key practices consistently used by women’s business centers nationwide. US women’s business centers provide an effective model for entrepreneurship training and assistance for women.

Small Business Leadership: Does Being the Founder Matter?

Abstract The success of a growing business is inextricably intertwined with the leadership capability of its chief executive. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test whether there are managerial differences between founder and non-founder chief executive officers (CEOs) of small and medium-sized enterprises. We report preliminary findings of a study of 151 chief executives and their firms, examining measures of proactive behavior, strategic posture, and organization structure. The findings indicate that founder CEOs are significantly more likely than non-founder chief executives to have a proactive disposition and point to the possibility of an indirect effect of that disposition on managerial style.

Effective benchmarking: learning from the host’s viewpoint

Successful benchmarking exchanges require co‐operation from both the prospective benchmarker and the host benchmarkee. Adopting the viewpoint of a host company provides valuable insight into how to make benchmarking partnerships more effective, both for benchmarkers and benchmarkees. Provides specific ideas on how to structure benchmarking exchanges effectively based on in‐depth interviews with nine experienced host companies and survey data from 31 experienced host companies. Provides a generic process flow for handling benchmarking requests and discusses critical issues to be addressed in adding value towards a mutually productive benchmarking exchange.

Early‐career outcomes and gender: can educational interventions make a difference?

Purpose – Extant research studies document gender differences in career outcomes for middle and advanced career stages. The purpose of this study is to examine potential gender differences in early‐career success with a particular focus on whether educational intervention might mediate any potential differences.Design/methodology/approach – Survey data for recent business college alumni were analyzed using descriptive techniques, linear regression and logistic modeling; the response rate was 25 percent and all data were self‐reported. Both objective and subjective measures were used to assess outcomes. A priori, given similar educational training and expectations for managerial careers, we should expect to find similar early‐career progress regardless of gender.Findings – Differences are apparent out of the starting gate for women in early‐career stages compared with their male counterparts, by both objective and subjective measures. Results also suggest an opportunity to improve outcomes through educatio...