Female Entrepreneurship - Research Paper Example

Female Entrepreneurship Abstract: It is a true fact that females are the sources of the creation of the great leaders as they give the birth to the male or female who are the leaders in the present times. However, the soft hearted approaches and behaviors have made the female much more patient than the men. From the past they have been dominated by the male dominated society and they have been suppressed to be calm and quite. But, the cultivation of the leadership qualities and the managing abilities were started long back within the females. The advancement of the society and the openness towards the females has given a great support to the females to show their charisma in the corporate field. And, they have succeeded properly to show the world that they can be equality powerful and wise to run an organization as an entrepreneur. From the family run business and small business to the multinational companies the existence of the females in the powerful positions are clearly visible in the present time. From the grass root these females are nourishing themselves with great education. In the present time it has been seen that in most of the business schools the involvement of the male and female are almost same. This paper will focus on the general discussion about the female entrepreneurs. The leadership qualities and the present scenario in which these ladies are performing astonishingly are also mentioned accordingly. Introduction: In this modern society the men and women share the same respects. However, the females used to be taken as the weak gender for several years in the history of the human civilization. According to the mythical stories men and women are evolved from the same living organism. However, the behavioral approach and the communication pattern are totally different among these two living organism. John Gray’s book “men are from mars women are from Venus” became one of the most successful book in the last few decades for the behavioral study of these two living gender in the earth. It has been observed at a high intensity that the most important resource for an organization’s overall development remains to be its people and the customers whom it is serving to. It is by far the vital component in prospective decision making processes. (Heller, 2005). The policies and the practices within the organizational framework depend highly on its ability to adapt itself within an intensified competitive environment. (Dragun, n.d) Business environment: Men and women are different in their approaches and may be that is the reason the difference is seen in the decision making process of the females in the business environment. It has been approved that the board of the companies have understood the potentials of the women CEOs and they have understood the impact of the positive impact of the new generation women CEOs in the field of brand building and building the new business empires (Price, 2007). There are many factors are important for the female CEOs to be successful in the men dominated world. Due to diverse range of participation, implementation of policies and variety of individual perception over execution of equal employment policies for females, the field of international business has become so diverse. Scholars like Toyne are of different opinion, as they have provided special emphasis on individual business organizations as participating units in the operation of international business and they also have pointed out the main reason behind disparity is actual consensus that more emphasis is provided on the entire business situation; rather than the organization “as unit if analysis” (Vaghefi, Paulson and Tomlinson, 1991). Thus, the entire field of international business highly diversified and encompasses within its scope diverse range of strategic applications that are actually aimed at ensuring survival of an organization in an extremely competitive market. The strategic application regarding investment in international business for business organizations in US and UK are dependent on certain factors. Scholarly research and analysis of international business has also found that there are “Five exogenous factors which influenced the growth and structure of international business…” (Jones,1996) and whenever it comes to decision making of a corporate house whether or not to invest to participate in a business process across national boundary, dependence on this five factors become necessary. First, decision making of a business organization in the international business scenario primarily depends on reflecting over current trends in international business and the entire macroeconomic conditions. The second factor is to judge the magnitude of receptivity of the organization’s services to foreign enterprises and this factors needs to be judged both at national and international level. The magnitude of capital liberalization is the third factor that plays a considerable part for a business organization to join international business. “Trade protectionism” and development in transport and communications technology, are fourth and fifth factors simultaneously that needs to be provided with sufficient attention (Jones, 1996). History of the female entrepreneurship: In this male dominated society the women are suppose to be in the house to look after the households and to look after the children. However, the scenario has changed the career development towards the police and defense related jobs have become a subject for both men and women. Nowadays, the society has become open to both men and women. Women are approaching same way as the men in the career development field. In most of the countries the women are becoming more prominent for the future development of their careers as policing. Previously the women use to be considered as the means for the men. However, the thought processes have changed and the women have become competitive in the corporate field. It is to be remembered that the working class unity is the typical mantra for the success in the American society (Worcester, 1996). It is an interesting general research that how good are the female entrepreneurs comparing to the male entrepreneurs. For many years it has been a great debate. However, before the 1970 the corporate world was dominated by the male corporate leaders and male entrepreneurs. During the 1970s the development of the female entrepreneurship was taking place but even in the private sectors very few women leasers were found to be in the key positions (Leavitt, 1989) but, from the 1970 to the twentieth century it was a great time for the evolution of the female leadership. During this time many research have been taken place to measure the difference in the magnitude between the female and male entrepreneurs (Aaltio-Marjosola, Kyrö, Sundin. 2008). From the beginning of the human civilization females have taken the responsibilities of taking care of their children, educating them to be suitable for the demanding work culture and in other hand they have also taken the responsibly of managing the funds of the family. However, this is very true that males have generated the money or the funds for the family, but it has been majorly managed by the spouses of the husbands. Form this point of view it is very clear that from the ancient time females are expert in managing funds and managing the human developments. There vast experiences have given them the opportunity to explore the corporate world accordingly. As mentioned above that there were many research works related to the female entrepreneurs had been taken place during the 1970 to 2000. In the earlier time the importance of the female entrepreneurs were studied by Goffee and Scase. The research was conducted with the help of 54 female business proprietors in the UK (Carter, 2007). The particular research was focused on two major factors and they were; one, their close attachment towards the conventional entrepreneurial ideas which reflect the self confidence, two, their traditional behavior of accepting the conventional roles of the male. These two combinations are eventually perfect of being a leader. It is very important to respect the right steps in the business environment. Many times it had happened that females have taken great decisions but, it those had been suppressed by the male dominated society and with this domination they have lost the good ideas. Same way if the female business owners suppress the ideas of the males then it would be a gender bias again. However, their patience and calmness have given these female the power of accepting the right things in a proper manner and that is the reason they can manage the people in the organizations wisely. The shifting of the male dominated corporate world towards the involvement of the females in the decision making process has been observed in most of the developed countries. In US banks 10 percent of their vice precedents are female, half of the branch managers were female (BERTRAND, and Thierry, 1988) and in the recent development two third of the branch managers are female. In the other countries like Sweden where equal employment opportunity law is enforced has seen a great development of the female entrepreneurship. The women in the business: In the present time women are everywhere, the emerge as the new generation of leader and entrepreneurs .Starting from educational to practical training, considerable importance was provided on developing leadership qualities among women, who wish to advance in the professional field of business and organizational affairs. Leadership, in the modern business world, is considered as one of the most important virtues, which is directly and integrally associated with growth of a company. Business thinkers, economists and business theorists in recent times have provided so much importance to the leadership factor that various theories, definitions and angles of judgment have originated. Leadership is such a virtue that encompasses within its macrocosmic scope different types of human virtues. Analysis of the modern business scenario shows that career interest in the field of business management has increased to a great extent among most of the new generation women in the world. In the United Kingdom, among students at the undergraduate level, the tendency of studying MBA has enhanced to such extent that, while in the earlier half of 1970s most of the UK college and universities were offering only four types of courses, the number has today reached to more than seventy types, “Official figures for the UK showed that in the late 2003 18 percent of all men and 10 percent of all women were managers, senior officials, professionals, or associated professionals or technical stuffs” (Johnson, Gratton and, Delbridge, 2006). Not only in UK, but among most of the economically matured nations, as well as nations that are showing the power to emerge as economic power in future, the same tendency has become explicit. At the same time, it is also widely considered that managerial positions are actually the most fitting roles for the women, where an individual can express his complete capacity of leadership. Young aspirants for managerial roles are keen to be selected either as project manager or executive manager in a business firm as they will have the scope and proper opportunity to exercise their leadership qualities, explore their talents and lead the firm to prosperity. Top women CEOs of the fortune 500 companies: Among the top 500 companies there many companies who have women managers in the top position and many of these companies have given the higher leadership positions to the females. However, the most top positions are Chairman, Director and CEO, CFO Etc. it is very interesting to know that the management structures of these companies have changed a lot during the last few decades. The leadership virtue of the females has come to the limelight within these fortune 500 companies. Some of the top female top executives are Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo, Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft Foods, Angela Braly, WellPoint, Pat Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland, Ellen Kullman, DuPont, Lynn Elsenhans, Sunoco, Mary Sammons, Rite Aid, Brenda Barnes, Sara Lee, Andrea Jung, Avon Products, Carol Bartz, Yahoo! Christina Gold, Western Union, Susan Ivey, Reynolds American, etc (deversityInc). Example of female entrepreneur: Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo: Indra K. Nooyi is the chairman and the CEO of the Pepsi Co and she has been rated one of the most successful corporate women in the business world. According to many reports Indra Nooyi is one of the most powerful business women in the recent time (Lussier and Achua, 2009). According to Fortune Nooyi is one of the most powerful business women. Many thought that for the Nooyi the Pepsi Co got a great success in both the beverages and the food segment. However, her dynamic management skills and the aggressive leadership quality have given a great power to the brand Pepsi. Nooyi was the chief strategist for the brand and her interactive thoughts helped the brand to reshape the whole image of the beverage market as well as the brand company Pepsi Co. Nooyi started her career as a normal executive; however, with the will power and inborn leadership talent she climbed the corporate ladder in a very rapid manner. One of the most important tools which Nooyi applied in her career is to fight against all odd. And she always believed in going forward. After she became the Chairman and the CEO of Pepsi Co, she started to realize the immense competition in the market. And with the great leadership quality she also understood that only branding and advertising won’t help the company stand up high in the market. She realized the importance of the complete food and beverage combination for the brand. And that is the reason Nooyi believed in acquisition. She acquired the brand Tropicana which is a basic fruit drinks company and she also acquired the brand Quaker Oats. Now the question is why she acquired these brands? The best answer would be, she wanted the PepsiCo to be a complete company for food and beverages. With these two acquisitions she gave a complete healthy breakfast combo option to the company as well to the customers. And that was a great hit (Lussier and Achua, 2009). However, she is been one of the most successful women CEOs in the recent time, and may be the lessons of her early struggles and in-born management qualities have given her a great power to rule the business world. It is not the gender; it is the inner power and perceptions which shows the way to the success. Indra K. Nooyi is an example to the society and she will remain the golden women in the field of business for many years. Future development of the female entrepreneurship: Female entrepreneurs are said to be more responsible than the male owners. It has been said that females have some drawbacks and they are; one, they cannot neglect their family, two, they cannot neglect the primary responsibility of being a mother. Most of the female entrepreneurs are married and have children. However, these are not the categorical facts but these have to be taken under consideration to keep the balance of the family and office (Marković, 2007). The recent results show that these successful women have kept the balance between the family and the office. And, they are practically much more efficient that the male business owners in the field of planning. In report it has been seen that female business owners in Canada got higher approval of loan for the business than that of the male business owners. It has been seen 82 percent of the female got their loans sanctioned in Canada by the Banks where only 80 percent men got their loans sanctioned from the same financial institutions. It depicts that females submitted much better plans than the males (Tiwari, 2007). Females are always ready to take opinions from others and that is the reason whenever a woman plans to start up a business many persons like relatives, friends, financial institutions try to give her advice. However, multi-dimensional advices can be dangerous as they dilute the core concepts (Coughlin, and Thomas, 2002). However, females also have the great virtue of selecting the perfect blend of the ideas for the better outcome. These are the factors which depicts that women are capable of handling a business and they are good in planning and managing and in the other hand they also get the support of the friends, banks and governments. These are the advantages which can create a great for the future development of the female entrepreneurship. In the recent time almost 40 percent of the businesses in U.S are owned by females and it has been predicted that this portion would reach to 55 percent in the 2025 (Coughlin, and Thomas, 2002). So, the development can be seen clearly. Conclusion: From the different studies and different reports it has been observed with this study that women are approaching towards a great success in the corporate field. And with the advancement of the society they will get more opportunity to prove themselves as the best entrepreneur who can keep the balance of being a woman and also being an entrepreneur. References: Aaltio-Marjosola, Kyrö, Sundin. 2008. Women entrepreneurship and social capital: a dialogue and construction. Koge: Copenhagen Business School Press DK. BERTRAND O, and Thierry N, 1988. 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The perspective of women's entrepreneurship in the age of globalization. North Carolina: IAP. Price A. 2007. “Human Resource Management in a Business Context”. Stamford: Cengage Learning EMEA. Tiwari A, 2007. Women Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. Vaghefi, M.R. Paulson, S.K. and Tomlinson. W.H. 1991. International business: theory and practice. London: Taylor & Francis Worcester Kent. 1996. “C.L.R. James: a political biography”. New York: SUNY Press. Dragun, D. (n.d). “Financial management at Sainsbury’s.” Chapter 25. Retrieved from: http://www.download- it.org/free_files/filePages%20from%20Chapter%2025.%20Financial%20manage ment%20at%20Sainsburys.pdf (Accessed on February 26, 2010) Heller, R. (2005). “Customer Management: The importance of good customer service”. Retrieved from: http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/management/customer-management.php (Accessed on February 26, 2010) N.d. deversityInc. Who Are the Other 14 Women CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies?. Retrieved from: http://www.diversityinc.com/article/5879/First-BlackWoman- Fortune-500-CEO/ (Accesed on 12th May 2011) Read More