Women Entrepreneurs: Challenges and Opportunities

Wo workforce enterprisers Ch all in allenges and Opport unitiesIntroductionIncreasingly forrader thinking organizations, such as ALEAP ar recognizing the value and impact that women put outership contribute to families, patronage line and communities. Most of the organizations ar formalizing programs and strategies to bring inress the unique challenges that women hardiness in the work place as midpoint comp whiznts of both storage dn acquisition strategies. some(prenominal) studies realize sh consume that women bring a special blot of leadership for organizations that transform into superior long margin sustainability an pecuniary murder (www.siliconindia.com).The authoritative make is ab extinct the entrepreneur competencies in Indian women and its endeavor to analyze the status of women entrepreneurs in logical argument line with reference to India. The postulate offset clip kotows identities, profiles and addresses operating(a) problems faced by wome n entrepreneurs in business, draws their inclination for future forges for intricacy and offset and for the to a greater extentoverance of interrogation on women entrepreneurs in India.Women owners of gnomish business ar k instantern to be better informed ab appear issues relating to baffleing their own business comp atomic number 18d to their male counterparts. Women spend more(prenominal) time get hold ofing commercialize place query and have historically spent more time accessing pay beca spend of sex bias within the lending industry. Due to their previous troth flier statement many women have better administrative skills over men which should translate to women having better underlying business wariness knowledge and a higher(prenominal) take of prefatory business competencies. So This interrogation would a like to conduct a survey on sample of 40 business owners from (ALEAP) acquaintance of Lady Entrepreneurs of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad and Vijayawada. The set out study A Research on competencies of Women Entrepreneurs of import Objective is to reveal the exploratory information of women Entrepreneurs their competencies which impacted to bring to pass a Entrepreneur, spot of issues, when first started their business, while facing competition, in decision-making and their business busy operations etc and comparing these competencies amongst women entrepreneurs of two aras (Hyderabad and Vijayawada).Entrepreneurs have induce the key figure of the economies around the globe as they be crucial for the festering and fixation of companies and dish up of job program as the result. Entrepreneur is the innovator who brings and implements changes within market places through carrying out brisk combinations of several forms. This sack be an presentation to a new product or quality, an asylum to new production technique, opening of a new market, and new extraction of supply of new parts or material or carrying out a new o rganization of an industry (Schummpter, 1935 cited in Anderson, 2008). The entrepreneur beat of Schummpter (1935) has been increasingly investigated as world the instigator of innovation. In fact, new(prenominal) types of entrepreneur can be menti superstard, which argon influenced by pagan peculiarities. Many inquiryers, such as Atamer and Torres wondered whether the menti whizzd vex of Schummpter should be applied to all the countries of the macrocosm. Although, entrepreneurship is a world phenomenon, it is not possible to describe as homogeneous (Atamer and Torres, 2007 cited in Anderson, 2008). agree to Casson, M. (1982), close to of the studies on entrepreneur are relying on a stereotype, which is the adventuresome adventure of business. The analysis of Casson (1982) tended to explain that the egotism made entrepreneurs were the figures from the past and now it is possible to limit an entrepreneur as a person, specialized in decisions round the scarce resource coord ination.Entrepreneur DevelopmentEntrepreneurship has been considered to be limited for the great individuals, both in faculty member view and conventional wisdom. Several articles and books have been written to highlight the virtues of entrepreneurship. However, the story of entrepreneur as a great person eludeed the fundamental mechanism of stinting product and entrepreneurship. In fact, entrepreneurship is not just an economic process rather it extends beyond the new business formation process. Entrepreneurship, therefore, is a cordial process which arises from a vast set of cultural and social conditions (Florida, 2002). In United States, the proclivity of entrepreneurship has scram part of the social ethos. Its creating forces have been building at least for five decades and longer perhaps. However, its rise at social aim or at way of life has novelly become apparent. Entrepreneurship is the part of a vast social movement, a change that residents of the country want ou t of social life. there is increase in interest for becoming entrepreneur. For instance, 60% of the novel adults and teenagers want to become entrepreneurs, according to a survey (Florida, 2002).The learning of entrepreneurship is not obvious in US only the requisite for booking outgrowth around the globe has wedded rise to entrepreneurship in former(a) countries as well. Reduction in youth unemployment is the big challenge that close to of the governments have to face in coming decades. According to a recent study by International Labour Office (ILO), youth is more likely to be unemployed than adults. This likelihood is triple and half time more than that of adults. Approximately 660 million young people, in 2015, will be looking for work or working. This challenge has diverse dimensions and therefore take aways a specific response. It is required to look the entrepreneurship with the situation of youth. Within the framework of basic efforts and strategies of boosting employment for young people, a valuable addition to job creation is the entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is an innovative progress for im kick upstairsment of livelihood and job creation among young people. Although, entrepreneurship has derived job creation and economic victimisation, there has been a precise teensy-weensy effort to look at it with the perspective of young people.Current system of entrepreneurship that explains venture creation is organized oecumenically around three core constructs (a) market, (b) money and (c) management. These constructs are refereed as 3Ms. An entrepreneur is required to have market access, money and management if he plans to launch a venture. These constructs are having been expound as fundamental building closures for business viability and they derive from the principal(prenominal)stream economy and management driven entrepreneurship view (Bates et al. cited in Brush, Bruinn, Welter, 2009). These building blocks are basic for the persona of any business.Women Entrepreneur DevelopmentBusinesses owned by women are one of the fastest suffering entrepreneurial populations of the world. They are making a world-shaking voice to employment, innovation and wealth creation in almost all economies (Brush et al., 2006). However, the growth in the importance of women entrepreneurship has not increased the number of studies on the subject. There is a gender gap in academic look, compared to a significant business ownership proportion (Brush, Bruinn, Welter, 2009).Women owners of small business are known to be better informed about issues relating to starting their own business compared to their male counterparts. Women spend more time conducting market look and have historically spent more time accessing finance beca go for of gender bias within the lending industry. Due to their previous employment history many women have better administrative skills over men which should translate to women having better basi c business management knowledge and a higher level of basic business competencies. So This Research would like to conduct a survey on sample of 40 business owners from (ALEAP) Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad and Vijayawada. The present study A Research on competencies of Women Entrepreneurs main Objective is to reveal the exploratory information of women Entrepreneurs their competencies which impacted to become a Entrepreneur, number of issues, when first started their business, while facing competition, in decision-making and their business active operations etc and comparing these competencies between women entrepreneurs of two areas (Hyderabad and Vijayawada). clarified and spiritualist Enterprises in IndiaIndia has a vibrant mall and micro enterprise sector which is acting a very important role to sustain the economic growth, with contribution of at least 39% to the manufacturing output and 39% to the trades in 2004-5. aft(prenominal)wards agr iculture, it is the largest employer of adult male jobs that give ups employment to more than 29.5 million people, in the rural and urban areas of India. Their importance in terms of developing new entrepreneurship is recognized well. It is because most of the entrepreneurs are starting their business form a small unit that provides them an opportunity of harnessing their talents and skills, in order to innovate, experiment and transform their ideas into goods and work and nurse it into a greater unit (www.business.gov.in).Over the years, Indian small measure of measurement sector has progressed from producing only simple consumer goods to the production of many precise and train products such as microwave components electronics control systems and electro medical equipments etc. The economic liberalization and process along with market reforms have exposed further the enterprise for increasing ball-shaped and domestic level of completion. The challenges generated for them h ave lead towards a novel glide slope of cluster development of the sector. Private and public sector institutions, as the result have increasingly undertaken initiatives for cluster development (www.business.gov.in).Clusters are defined as the geographical and sectoral concerns of enterprises, particularly small and forte which face common opportunities and threats that give rise o external economies elevate the specialized administrative, technical and financial services, create a conducive development ground of inter- strong cooperation for the promotion of local production, collective learning and innovation. Networking and clustering has helped the small and long suit entrepreneurs in boosting the competitiveness of their business. There are over four hundred SME clusters and about 2000 artisan clusters in India. According to some estimates, these clusters are bestow 60% of the manufactured exports from India. Almost all the gems and jewelry exports are from Surat and Mumb ai clusters. few of Indian small graduated table enterprises clusters are so big that they export 90% of Indias total production output of awarded products. For instance, the clusters of Agra, Chennai and Kolkata are very famous for leather and products of leather (www.business.gov.in).Background to the studyThis look for intended to provide analysis of the status of women entrepreneurs in Business with reference to India. It first draws the profiles, identifies and addresses operational problems faced by women entrepreneurs in business, draws their inclination for future plans for growth and expanding upon and also for the furtherance of look into on women entrepreneurs in India.Purpose of the studyThe Scope of this enquiry will focus on the competencies of these women. The listed competencies were questioned by the professors of the IGNOU University, India and were stated as the key competencies to be considered. These competencies are as listed below. And the questionnai re is a mensuration questionnaire collected from the IGNOU material for MBA students MS-93 Management of New and small Entrepreneurs Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship blockEntrepreneurs in the following areasInitiativeActs on opportunitiespersistenceinformation pursuanceconcern for High Quality of workcommitment to work cut downEfficiency OrientationSystematic planningProblem solving self-confidentAssertivenessPersuasionUse of influence strategiesOverview of the DissertationAims and Objectives of the chartera) To draw the Entrepreneurial Competencies profile of women entrepreneurs at ALEAP located in Hyderabad and Vijayawada.b) To know the level of competencies existing with women entrepreneurs in business.c) To analyze the key challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in business.d) To analyze the future plans for expanding upon and growth of women entrepreneurs in business.e) To compare the level of competencies of women entrepreneurs in ALEAP located at Hyderabad (Urban /Deve loped Area) and Vijayawada (Rural / Undeveloped Area).Significance of the StudyThis look into is intended to assess multi-dimensional issues and challenges related to women entrepreneurs. Analysis of various variables like age, marital status, preparation of self, parents and spouse, number of children, self-esteem of women entrepreneurs have been assessed to understand the self concept of women entrepreneurs, the degree of commitment of women entrepreneurs towards their business (entrepreneurial intensity), entrepreneurial challenges in speed the business and future plans of women entrepreneurs.Affinity to Research AreaThe study is elect majorly because I would like to start up my own small scale enterprise in India under ALEAP, utilizing my proven abilities developed through my education and see to it. And to start a better enterprise with a professional atmosphere, where I can contribute to my maximum ability to uphold the goals as a Lady Entrepreneur and improve my entrepren eurial skills so as to become a self-made slim Scale Women Entrepreneur.Literature ReviewEntrepreneurshipAlthough the entrepreneurship term has been used over 2 hundred years in a business context, there has been a considerable disagreement on its meanings. There have been hundreds of perspectives the themes which are most prevalent are discussed by Morris, Lewis, Sexton, (1994).The introductory definitions of entrepreneurship that were principally formulated by economists, have been observed for tending to underline assumptions of arbitrage, assumption of risk, coordination of factors of production and supply of financial capital. As the entrepreneur was compound clearly in business initiation, the earlier perspectives saw entrepreneurship as companies on-going function and profit to be a return as the result of facing uncertainty and coordinating resources. Researchers have failed to differentiate the entrepreneurship and management, historically. Rhey failed to distinguish between large and small firms. Such difference had not been established until the 1930s. even off than the there had been tendency to associate it with management and small business start up. As such, an entrepreneur is considered to be a person who assumes psychological, social and financial risks which are crucial for starting and running a small scale business (Hisrich and Peters, 19992 cited in Morris, Lewis, Sexton, 1994).Entrepreneurial competencies are related to managerial competencies, provide in the works of Boyatzis (1982). The skill climb has become an increasingly customary marrow of studying entrepreneurial characteristics (For example, Baum, 1994 Bird, 1995 Baron and Markman, 2003 Chandler and Jansen, 1992 Lau, Chan and Man, 1999 Martin and Staines, 1994 McGregor et al, 2000 Schmitt-Rodermund, 2004). According to Bird (1995), competencies are seen as behavioral and observable, and therefore are more closely cogitate to performance than any other entrepreneuri al characteristics such as record traits, intensions or motivations (Herron and Robinson, 1993 Gartner and Starr, 1993). Moreover, as with attitudes (Robinson at al., 1991), competencies are changeable and so the development of entrepreneurial becomes more feasible. Man, Lau and Chan (2002), identified half dozen major areas of entrepreneurial competencies, are categorized as relating to an SME context, including opportunity, relationship, conceptual, organizing, strategic, and commitment competencies.By making appropriate use of his or her competencies, an entrepreneur can behold a widened competitive range of a function such as more opportunities for innovation, business growth, and the provision of new services or products. From available resources, he or she can also develop better organizational capabilities such as the firms innovative capability, cost-saving ability, quality and flexibility. Finally, he or she can plan and work towards a firms long-term performance, along with the available competitive scope and organizational capabilities.Chandler and Jansen (1992) included three characteristic categories of entrepreneurial, managerial, and technical competencies. Baums (1994) measurement of competencies covered a range of instruments measuring traits, skills, experience and knowledge.Man, Lau and Chan (2002) is founded upon a multi-dimensional conceptualization of the competitiveness of SMEs, including the performance dimension, potential dimension and process dimension, developed from earlier studies of competitiveness (Oral, 1986 Feurer and Chaharbaghi, 1994 Buckley, Pass and Prescott, 1998 World Competitiveness Report, 1993). In particular, the influence of the entrepreneur is considered as critical and this is addressed through the competency approach. A detailed coding of 192 competencies in 44 clusters in the hexad areas of opportunity, relationship, conceptual, organizing, strategic, and commitment competencies as in the original framewor k, as well as in two new competencies that do not fit into these six prescribed competency areas but seem to find supporting roles to other competencies. They are named as learning competencies and personal strength competencies. Altogether the entrepreneurial competencies are identified by Man, Lau and Chan as 15 they are as follows Competitive Scope, Organizational Capability, Opportunity Competencies, Relationship Competencies, Analytical Competencies, Innovative Competencies, operable Competencies, Human Competencies, Strategic Competencies, Commitment Competencies, Learning Competencies, Personal Strength Competencies, enthronisation Efficiency, Business Growth and Relative performance.Holmquist (1997) points out that empirical studies of women entrepreneurs and the development of theories about women entrepreneurs is a neglected subject in descriptive perspective inquiry work. Baker et al. (1997) stated that surveys with focus on women entrepreneur still account for only 6-8 percent of international research into entrepreneurship.Brush (1992) concluded from the criticism of existing research that womens business leadership cannot be still utilize traditional (male oriented) framework of business analysis. She writes significant difference have been found in skills, business goals, management styles, business characteristics and growth rates. These variations suggest that women perceive and approach business differently than men. A major expansion of academic interest in women entrepreneurs has occurred since the late 70s, prompted by the perception that businesses owned by women are having an increasing impact on society and the economy. A number of authors in the area of entrepreneurship theory have argued that there is a lack to feminize the research on entrepreneurship. (Moore, 1990 Hurley, 1991 Stevenson, 1990 Fischer et al., 1993), since much is still not understood about the ways women contribute to entrepreneurship and the problems they face. The issue is of more than academic interest. As a result of lack of knowledge of womens contribution to entrepreneurship, public policies and programs to facilitate women to own and run their own businesses are likely to be misdirected (Barret M.A. Mary, 2005). The present research is an attempt to address the dearth in gender studies on entrepreneurship and identify whether there is a difference between men and women entrepreneurs multi-dimensional variables. On one hand it compares the perceptual variable (self-esteem) and intensity of efforts to run business (entrepreneurial intensity) of women and men entrepreneurs and on the other hand it compares the operational problems and future plans of expansion and growth of women and men entrepreneurs in family business. To date there is paucity of research on comparative analysis of women and men entrepreneurs in family business in India.Sources of Small Medium EntrepreneurshipSmall, micro or medium sized entrepreneurships pla y a basic role in countries, particularly, European countries. They are the main source of innovation, entrepreneur skill and employment. For example, in enlarged European northward of 25 countries, about 23 million SMEs are providing around 75 million jobs and are representing 99% of all enterprises. However, they have to confront with market imperfection, most of times. SMEs have frequent tall(prenominal)ies to obtain capital and credit, particularly in the earlier phase of their development. Their restricted resources may also access to new innovation and technologies. Therefore, European Commission has priority for job creation, economic growth and social and economic cohesion.Small and medium entrepreneurs (SME0 sector has been recognized as the engine of growth all over the world.SME sector has characteristics of low coronation funds requirements, location wise mobility, operational flexibility and import substitution. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises development (MS MED) Act, 2006 is the first single comprehensive legislation that covers the all three segments. In accordance with the Act, these enterprises can be classified into two categories- (manufacturing enterprises which are engaged in the production and manufacture of the goods pertaining to an industry which is specified in the first schedule to the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act 1951, they are defined as the investment in machinery and plant (ii) service enterprise engaged to provide or render the services and are defined in terms of equipment investment (www.business.org.in).Need for Small and Medium Enterprises to access new technologySmall and medium enterprises in India with their flexibility, dynamism and innovative drive are centering increasingly on improved methods of production, strategies of penetrative marketing and capabilities of advanced scientific management for sustaining and strengthening their operations. They have been poised for global partnership and have absorbing potential for the latest technologies in the region of diverse industry. Small and medium enterprises in India are more beautiful and efficient and add value to social and economic sphere. As the countries are integrating into the global village, the small and medium sectors will have to respond accordingly. The small and medium enterprise needs special attention as they are compete a crucial role in the socio economic development of the country.The problems being faced by the small and medium enterprises, particularly access to red-brick technology and maintenance of competitiveness, have been formidable. In order to meet the challenges of modern times, there is need to enable SMEs to access to new technologies to increase their competiveness in international market. There is need to provide them a conducive purlieu that includes formulation of appropriate programs and policies, build up technological capacity, RD and inter firm linkages and technology infobas e and knowledge flow (Kharbanda, 2001).Proposed Research MethodologyThe Research design chosen for this research is exploratory and descriptive research designs. After soundly considering the problem and the research objectives in this research I would like to select a two stage research design, in stage one exploratory research design, followed by stage two is descriptive research design.There are two types of research, basic and applied. The purpose of basic research is the knowledge for the sake of knowledge. On the other hand, the scholar of knowledge is more concerned about the acquisition of knowledge that satisfy in its various(prenominal) of the fact that weather is of any practical use or not. The basic purpose of research, in applied research is to put knowledge into practice. A researcher would be interested more, in applied knowledge, in nerve-wracking to explore some utility from it and to bring improvement is practical human life. Different methods of research are u sed in research of social sciences as research and problems that are conducted in social sciences are having various geniuss (isbs.webs.com).The involved approach of research methodology is used in the current study. Most of researchers use this approach in the field of social sciences. The involved approach is the combination of qualitative and quantitative research. Here is detailed introduction of both of the research methodologiesqualitative Research DesignQualitative research is the type of scientific research which seeks answer for a question and uses systematically the predefined set of procedures to answer that question. The evidence is collected in this method and findings are produced that had not been determined in advance. Finally, qualitative research produces findings which are applicable not only for the research in hand, but also beyond its immediate boundaries. In addition to these characteristics, qualitative research seeks to understand the given topic or rese arch problem from the local population perspective that it involves. Qualitative research is particularly good to obtain specific cultural information about the opinions, values, social context and behaviors of a particular population. The main strength of the qualitative research is the ability of providing complex contextual explanation about experience of people about that particular research issue. Qualitative research provides information of human side in particular research issues, which are the contradictory beliefs, behaviors, emotions, opinions and relationships among people. Qualitative method of research is also effective to identify the intangible factors, such as socioeconomic status, social norms, and ethnicity, godliness and gender roles. The role of these intangible factors may not readily define in the research. Although the findings of qualitative research data can be extensive often to people with have similar characteristics as that of study population, to s et ahead a complex and rich complex understanding of a particular phenomenon or context takes precedence on eliciting data which can be generalized to other population or geographical areas. Qualitative research, in this sense is slightly different from general scientific research. There are three common methods of qualitative approach to collect data in depth interviews, participant observation and focus groups.In-depth interviews are the optimal approach of collecting data on personal histories of individuals, their experiences and perspectives, particularly if sensitive topics needed to be explored.Participant observation approach is appropriate for data parade on behaviors that occur naturally, in their usual context.Focus groups are very effective to elicit data on the groups cultural norms and in generating spacious interviews of issues of concern of the cultural groups or represented subgroups.The mentioned above approaches of qualitative data collection collect the data in the form of audio recordings, field notes and transcripts. decimal Research DesignThese experiments sometimes are referred to be a true science as they use traditional statistical and mathematical means for measuring results collectively. Quantitative research design is most commonly used in physical sciences however education, social science and political economy also have been known to use qualitative research design. This approach is opposite to qualitative research design. all quantitative experiments use a step format, however with some minor interdisciplinary differences of hypothesis times to be approved or to be disapproved. The hypothesis must be approvable by statistical and mathematical means and must ne establish around the whole design of experiment. It is essential in quantitative research design to have a randomized study group and a control group, whenever possible. In addition, a quantitative research design should operate one variable at a point of time dif ferently statistical analysis may become open for questioning and cumbersome.TEH quantities research should be conducted in a manner that may allow others to use and repeat the experiment to obtain similar findings.Quantitative research is the dainty way you finalize results and prove or disprove a hypothesis. Quantitative research structure has not faced changes for centuries therefore it is a standard across various scientific disciplines and fields.A comprehensive answer to the questions is reached after statistical analysis of results. The results can be published and discussed legitimately. It is possible to separate out the external factors in the quantitative research, if properly designed. The results, therefore, can be seen as unbiased and real.There are disadvantages too of using quantitative research design. Quantitative experiments are expensive and difficult sometimes and require a lot of effort and time to perform. There is need to plan quantitative research designs carefully, in order to ensure that there is a correct designing and compete randomization of control group. There is need for an extensive statistical analysis in quantitative studies that is a difficult task as most of the scientists are not statisticians. The statistical study field is a complete scientific discipline that can be very difficult for researchers who are non-mathematicians. In addition t this, the requirements of the successful statistical confirmation of results has been very stringent and very few experiments prove hypothesis comprehensively. There is always some ambiguity that requires refinement and retesting of the design. It means another investment of resources and time should be committed for fine tune up of the results. There is a very little place for uncertainty and greyness areas in quantitative research design as it tends to generate results which are proved or unproved. In social sciences, psychology, education and anthropology, human nature is more c omplex than the simple responses of yes and no (Shuttleworth, 2008).Mixed method Research DesignA mixed design for research is a general type research that is including qualitative and quantitative research techniques, data and methods. All of these characteristics are mixed whenever needed in a particular research study. The mixed method design uses the mixed data and additional means, such as text analysis and statistics. Inductive and deductive scientific research methods are used in a mixed approach. It has various forms for data collection and produce pragmatic and eclectic reports.The basic types of mixed approach are mixed method and the mixed model research. In mixed research method, quantitative data is used for one stage of the research study and for the second stage the qualitative data is used. Both, quantitative and qualitative data I used in a mixed model design. This mixing of the two approaches happens at all the stages of research.It is important, in a research, to use the mixed research method to conduct the detailed research. Mixed research has various advantages, such as the research method is very strong, using multiple methods in the research helps in researching a problem or process from its all sides and using the different approaches helps to focus on a single process and helps to confirm the accuracy of data. The mixed research complements the results of one type of research with another type. The mixed approach does not miss any available data.