Peter Rosa

Gender as a Determinant of Small Business Performance: Insights from a British Study

The performance of small businesses, that is the ability of small firms to contribute to job and wealth creation through business start-up, survival and growth, has been an important area of policy and academic debate in the 1980s. Surprisingly little has been written about gender and small business performance. Our literature search revealed only a small number of studies of any substance on this subject, though over forty made some mention of it, Most studies shied away from direct examination of quantitative performance measures (such as jobs created, sales turnover, annual growth), tending to concentrate on qualitative measures of success or failure. The paper examines small business performance and gender using data obtained from a survey of 600 (300 women, 300 men) Scottish and English small business ownermanagers, part of a three year study on the impact of gender on small business management. Analyses suggest that the relationship between gender and small business performance is complex, but that gender still appears to be a significant determinant even after other key factors are controlled for.

Entrepreneurial processes of business cluster formation and growth by 'habitual' entrepreneurs

Previous studies on habitual entrepreneurs have not researched in any depth the processes and strategies associated with the growth of business clusters by habitual entrepreneurs. To gain insights into these issues, case studies were conducted with habitual entrepreneurs who owned high-growth businesses in Scotland. The research involved the analysis of life histories and business genealogies. A diversity was found in the backgrounds of the entrepreneurs studied, in the types of ventures founded, and in strategies adopted to build up their cluster of companies. Entrepreneurial motives, strategies, and practices by habitual entrepreneurs in building their business ownership clusters not only can differ markedly from one entrepreneur or type of entrepreneur to another, but also by individual entrepreneurs over time. Despite this diversity, little evidence emerged that the growth of business ownership clusters was motivated by orthodox corporate management principles, though corporate management practices were employed in some cases to subsequently assimilate the new venture into a cluster. On balance, entrepreneurial opportunism was more prevalent than planned “survivalist” diversification. Further, the concept of “entrepreneurial” performance is introduced to distinguish performance through creating a cluster of ventures rather than through growing a single one.

The Impact of Gender on Small Business Management: Preliminary Findings of a British Study

Dr Peter Rosa, Lecture with the scottish enterprise fondations, stirling unviersity and sara carter, sernior research fellow with the deprtment of Marketing, stratchclyde univerisity. Glasgow, Scotland, directed a three year study on the impact of Gender on small business managment, funded by the UK economic and social science research council. Daphne Hamilton and Helen burns were research fellows working on the project. in spite of growing research into women in business, the quesion of how far gender difference exists in small business ownership and managment has not been rigorously addressed, mainly because most studies have been exploratory and insfficiently sophisticated in terms of of methodology. the research aimed to explore the issue of gender idiffrence in small buisness ownership and managment in a much more systematic and rigorous way, through a quantitative survey of 300 female and 300 male business properietors from three sectors: textiles and clothing, business services, and hotels and catering. the survey ws supllmented with thiry qualitative interviews of sposuse of properietors of both sexes. This paper introdcue prelliminary finding from the research which show that the impact of gender is considratable but often complex. of special note are complication of co-ownership with men and the impact of copetitive sectoral forces taht could shape managment practice.

The prevalence of multiple owners and directors in the SME sector: implications for our understanding of start-up and growth

The contribution of portfolio entrepreneurs to the business birth rate has not been systematically researched. To explore this a triangulation approach is adopted involving three data sets: an analysis of a one years new company incorporations in Scotland; a re-analysis of a survey of 600 male- and female-owned businesses in three industry sectors; and an analysis of a practitioner selected data set of successful Scottish entrepreneurs (‘local heroes’). The paper reports that multiple ownership and cross-linkages between firms are extensive (up to 40% of limited companies may be involved) and occur in reduced frequencies in sole traders and partnerships. There is also a strong gender effect with men much more likely to diversify their business portfolios than women. Failure rates were also low in associated companies, implying that growing clusters of companies rather than single ones may be more efficient. The highest rates of inter-company links were found in the sample of high growth companies. The st...

Gender and Ownership in UK Small Firms

The emphasis on the individual “female entrepreneur” in much of the small business literature in the last decade disguises the fact that many women in business ownership are in partnership with others, usually with men. How “gender” impinges on the process of small business ownership has been little studied. The paper examines gender and ownership using evidence from a three-year study on the impact of gender on small business management, involving interviews with 602 male and female UK business owners, drawn from three industrial sectors. Difficulties were encountered in interpreting sex differences as “gender” trends, owing to significant sectoral variation. Nevertheless, some marked gender differences were identified. These referred to differential patterns of kinship with the respondent; the allocation and perception of specialist roles within the business; and the fact that female owners are less likely to be associated with more than two businesses. Overall sole traders were in the minority in both sexes, implying that most owners shared responsibility and management in some way with other owners. The paper concludes with methodological implications of co-ownership for the sampling and analysis of small business owner/managers from a gender perspective.

Gender and the commercialization of university science: academic founders of spinout companies

There is a great deal of interest in Europe and the USA on the commercialization of university science, particularly the creation of spinout companies from the science base. Despite considerable research on academic entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurship in general, and the causes of under-representation of female scientists in academic institutions, there has been little research on the influence of gender on academic entrepreneurship. The study researches female founders of UK university spinout companies using information from the Internet on company founders of spinout companies from 20 leading universities. The proportion of female founders at 12% is very low. The paper explores reasons for this low representation through follow-up postal interviews of the 21 female founders identified, and a male control sample. Under-representation of female academic staff in science research is the dominant but not the only factor to explain low entrepreneurial rates amongst female scientists. Owing to the low number of women in senior research positions in many leading science departments, few women had the chances to lead a spinout. This is a critical factor as much impetus for commercialization was initially inspired by external interest rather than internal evaluation of a commercial opportunity. External interest tended to target senior academics, which proportionally are mostly male. A majority of the women surveyed tended to be part of entrepreneurial teams involving senior male colleagues. As a whole both male and female science entrepreneurs displayed similar motivations to entrepreneurship, but collectively as scientists differed appreciably from non academic entrepreneurs. Women science entrepreneurs also faced some additional problems in areas such as the conflict between work and home life and networks.

Entrepreneurship and Illegality: Insights from the Nigerian cross-border Trade

Abstract Illegal business activity is common throughout the world, occurs in a diversity of forms, and is often viewed as the darker side of entrepreneurship. Of particular interest is illegal cross-border trade, which occurs at low levels between developed countries, but is often widespread between developing countries. It is on the increase, despite many attempts by governments to eradicate it. Yet illegal trading is poorly studied both theoretically and empirically from an entrepreneurial perspective. The paper outlines a working model exploring the relationships between key entrepreneurial factors and illegal trading, and explores the model using fieldwork data collected by the first author in Nigeria during an 8-month ethnographic study of cross-border trading. The Nigerian cross-border trade is particularly interesting, as it takes place in an environment of long-standing illegality and corruption. The findings reveal that illegal practices are so widespread that they are a norm, an almost parallel economy with its own traditions and values. In this context, entrepreneurial advantage in trading illegally is quite different from that which would be expected in more familiar Western contexts. The entrepreneurial advantages of trading in illegal goods and evading duties appear overwhelming at first, as bribery of officials is widely accepted, which reduces risk of law enforcement to negligible levels, and most traders do not view illegal trading as immoral. Closer analysis reveals, however, that traders need to bribe to trade any goods, legal as well as illegal. Bribery is part of a system of harassment by officials that pervades all aspects of the trade. In this climate, there are no special advantages in targeting illegal goods to trade in. The distinction between what is legal and illegal becomes blurred and irrelevant. Traders target any goods irrespective of their legal status if potential profit margins are high. Entrepreneurial advantage thus lies in the trade itself and making it work, not in its illegality. Most entrepreneurial energy is devoted to creatively circumvent the harassment of corrupt officials, not to exploit illegal business opportunities. The paper concludes by demonstrating that certain factors are crucial to our understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurship and illegal trading, in both Western and Nigerian contexts, but that the relationships between the factors differ widely in the two contexts. The model constructed provides a basis for further comparative research in other regional contexts. In terms of policy implications, the illegality of the trade is of some benefit in that it has created hundreds of associated jobs and businesses, which enable traders to operate more securely and efficiently in the climate of corruption, harassment, and uncertainty. Most traders, however, have learnt to profitably live with illegality, but nonetheless, would still prefer to trade in a less stressful and impartial legal system. Illegality on balance is more harmful than beneficial for economic development. Removing illegality once institutionalised, however, is not a simple matter and no solution can be found without fuller understanding of the sociology and the entrepreneurial processes of illegal trading.

Has Firm Level Analysis Reached its Limits? Time for a Rethink

Entrepreneurship research has concentrated almost exclusively on small organizations and the firm as the unit of analysis. As a result, researchers have overlooked the real wealth-creating activities of established business owners. Current work does not pay enough attention to ownership patterns and the accumulation, control, and transmission of capital, which should be central questions in a free enterprise, capitalist economy. Argues that small and medium-sized enterprises are part of the process of wealth creation and capital accumulation, which is entrepreneur based and operates at all scales. Underlying most research to date are four assumptions: the firm (rather than the entrepreneur) is the unit of definition and analysis, the differences between large and small firms are paramount; starting and growing firms is the best way to conceptualize wealth and job creation; and starting firms is separate from firm growth. The thesis herein is that the process of wealth creation and capital accumulation is entrepreneur- rather than organization-based, and that the process and all stakeholders should be the focus of study. Research into multiple business owners (portfolio entrepreneurs) in Scotland in 1994-95 was designed to establish the contribution of existing business to new firm creation. Of 7,316 new companies, 45 percent had directors of other companies; people starting new companies are significantly associated with activities of existing businesses; and a substantial number of new firms interlock with existing companies, forming clusters. While individual firms in a cluster may not grow, the cluster does. Diversification may be a growth and survival strategy. Starting and growing new firms may be a form of capital accumulation. Focus at the level of small firms overlooks the political and social aspect of business: the issues of who owns and controls, gains and loses power and jobs, and how capital is structured. The new awareness will provide better answers and make clearer the real contributions of entrepreneurs to the economy, as well as the implications of taxation and regulation. (TNM)

Entrepreneurial Teams within Franchise Firms

In the research on franchising firms, several assumptions are generally made. One such assumption is that the role of the entrepreneur is predominantly associated with franchisors, and that franchisees operate under a uniformly regimented system of contractual obligations. Given the restrictions and rules, franchisees have few opportunities for entrepreneurial creativity, serving as owner-managers of a single outlet in a prescribed role of managerial convenience. This study reveals a much more complex and dynamic pattern of relationships between the franchisors and franchisees. Evidence of entrepreneurial teamwork is found, where creativity and adaptation is not always confined to franchisors, and several forms of nested teams within franchising firms are examined. Using both quantitative analysis of secondary data from 1201 North American franchises and in-depth interviews, evidence of entrepreneurial teamwork within the context of franchising firms is presented. The study reveals that restrictive franchise agreements were not always rigorously enforced unless problems occurred, allowing room for entrepreneurial activity by franchisees.

Indigenous Rural Firms: Farm Enterprises in the UK

DR. SARA CARTER IS SENIOR RESEARCHiI fellow in the Department of Marketing at the University of Str athclyde, Scotland, and Dr. Peter Rosa is senior lectturer in the Department of Entrepr-eneurship at the University of Stirling, Scotland. This paper argues that despite anincreasingly sophisticated smnall btusiness literature analysing rulral en-ite -prises, farms have been largelb excluded from this investigation. As a r-esult there has been a substantial accuninnulation of knowledge about newerc for-inis of ruiral enterprise while the indigenous rural firms remain unclhai-ted. Th-is papeiseeks to redress this by presenitinig an exploratory analysis of the B-itish far-mii sector using the conventional srmall business paradigm. Ylhe results demonstrate the broad similarities between farm and non-farm r-ural enterprises and also the residuial strentgth of small-scale agricultural 1)r oduction. It is argued that farm enterprises remain an important but hitherto overlooked element of the small brusinless sector. Becatise mnost f;arms are fIamilv-owxned conceirus xNvIkic hax e lae Igetl survived transition throu-igh generatiios. further analysis of the secztor can proxitit substanitial insight inito aspec ts of entreprenietrrial behaviotir at tIre cen r e of the small btusiness clebate.