The entrepreneurial ladder, gender, and regional development

Gender differences at five levels of entrepreneurial engagement are explained using country effects while controlling for individual-level variables. We distinguish between individuals who have never considered starting up a business, those who are thinking about it, and nascent, young, and established entrepreneurs. We use a large international dataset that includes respondents from 32 European countries, three Asian countries, and the United States. Findings show that cross-country gender differences are largest in the first and final transitions of the entrepreneurial process. In particular, some European transition economies are characterized by relatively low propensities of women to convert start-up considerations into start-up activities and low survival rates of businesses started by women.     

Gender,Risk, and Venture Creation Intentions

This paper is concerned with whether women are less likely to express business start‐up intentions because of a less favorable attitude to risk. Previous research suggests that attitude to risk differs significantly between genders, but has not addressed the question of whether this contributes to lower levels of female interest in venture creation. This paper describes a conceptual basis for this question, and investigates it using a survey of business start‐up intention from across a sample of European universities. A large proportion of the difference in average levels of intention between genders appears to be associated with attitude to risk.     

Attitudes of Contemporary European Women Toward Sex Role Portrayal,Company Image and Purchase Intention: The French versus U.S. Experience

The portrayal of women in advertising has received much attention over the past three decades. However, most of the research is focused on U.S. women and lacks a global perspective. Little is known about the attitudes of non-U.S. women toward female role portrayal in advertising. This study, building on previous research conducted by Ford, LaTour and Lundstrom, reports the findings regarding the attitudes of European women, specifically French, towards their sex role portrayal in advertising and its affect on purchase intention. Furthermore, it compares these results to a recent baseline study conducted in the U.S. for the express purpose of illustrating what differences, if any, exist between the cultures of women who live in two different, post-industrial societies.     

Gender Diversity on European Banks’ Boards of Directors

This article investigates the gender diversity of the corporate board of European Union banks. Employing a large sample of 612 European banks from 20 European countries, it identifies organizational characteristics that could be predictive of women??s presence on bank boards. We identify three factors that play a particularly important role in defining bank board gender diversity. First, the proportion of women on the board is higher for lower-risk banks. We argue that there may be some statistical discrimination behind this relation, although it could also be explained by a real risk-aversion hypothesis. Second, banks with larger boards have a higher proportion of women on their boards, which could be considered a signal of some kind of preference for homogeneity on small boards. Finally, banks that have a growth orientation are more prone to include women on their board, since they may be seen as providers of diverse external resources that are more valued by firms operating under critical circumstances.     

Women Entrepreneurs: A Comparison of International Small Business Owners in Poland and the Czech Republic

Women entrepreneurs from two Central European countries with relatively new market economies were interviewed for this research. The authors describe the experiences and motivation of these women international business owners and compare them to the literature on women entrepreneurs in North America. Cross-culturally, women entrepreneurs share many of the same motivations for starting a business, and experience similar challenges to making their enterprises successful. North American models of entrepreneurship are also examined. The findings suggest a universal model for entrepreneurship. Suggestions for government policies are put forward. Managerial and theoretical implications are also presented and new directions for research on women entrepreneurs are suggested.     

About Gender Differences and the Social Environment in the Development of Entrepreneurial Intentions

This study analyzes the interplay between gender differences and the social environment in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. Data were obtained from two different European regions. The results show that the formation of entrepreneurial intentions is similar for men and women. At the same time, men consistently exhibit more favorable intentions than women do. Nevertheless, the perception of the social legitimation of entrepreneurship only serves to reinforce male entrepreneurial intentions, and not those of women. This holds for both regions and probably is a consequence of women feeling entrepreneurship to not be an acceptable career option for them. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Extent and distribution of unregistered employment in the service industries in Europe

ABSTRACT

Although a voluminous literature exists on the prevalence of the informal economy, few studies evaluate unregistered employment and none its prevalence and distribution across the service industries. This paper fills that gap. Reporting a 2015 European Working Conditions Survey based on 43,850 face-to-face interviews, the finding is that 7% (1 in 14) of service industry employees have no written contract of employment across the 35 European countries surveyed, although this varies from 34% in Cyprus to 1% in Sweden. A logistic regression analysis at the European level reveals significant associations between the propensity to work with no contract and various individual-, household- and firm-related characteristics, with unregistered employment more prevalent among women, younger people, those with fewer years in education, migrants, those living in households unable to make ends meet, those working in smaller businesses, and the hospitality and household service sectors. The theoretical and policy implications are then discussed.     

The Gender Pay Gap in EU Countries — New Evidence Based on EU-SES 2014 Data

Intereconomics - Gender differences in wages are a persistent pattern in most European countries. This study analyses the earnings divide between men and women and the driving forces behind it in...     

FOCUS: Women in Management: An Empirical Exploration of Ethical Issues

Dr Goffee reviews empirical evidence on the labour market position and work experience of women managers, assesses the kind of work situations which are likely to be perceived by women managers - and, in some cases, their partners and colleagues - as involving an "ethical" dimension, and suggests possible sources of differentiation in the experiences of European women managers which are worthy of further comparative research. The author is Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School.     

The future of European integration: Visions, challenges, perspectives

In the last five years the European Union has developed at a speed unknown since its beginnings in the Fifties. As a result, the EU is participating in the last three reserves of the European nation state's sovereignty: the currency, the judiciary and the military. The achievements already made, not only enlargement, make the reform of the structures of the Union a necessity. Its institutions must be tailored to these achievements, not just arithmetically adjusted to the increasing number of Member States. MEP, former President of the European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium, and Strasbourg, France. The article is based on a speech given at the Symposium “Challenges for the European Future”, Hamburg, 28 October 2000.     

Half-time in the European Parliament—Expectations,reality, outlook

The European Parliament was set up by direct elections in June 1979. Great expectations had been placed in these direct elections with regard to the further development of the European Community. Now, half-way through the Parliament’s five-year term, a certain Euro-weariness is gaining ground. Had expectations been pitched too high? How is the work of the European Parliament so far to be assessed? What are the prospects for the future?     

Nascent Entrepreneurs' Motivations in European Economies: A Gender Approach Using GEM Data

ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurship is becoming an important source of employment for women in many countries. There are different circumstances and motives that contribute to the decision to start a business. In this study, we developed a model that can estimate the probability of individuals becoming nascent entrepreneurs by opportunity or necessity. The model considers individuals' sociodemographic characteristics and European economies' perceived characteristics as oriented towards efficiency or innovation. Statistical logistic regression was used to test the model. The results show statistically significant differences between genders, European economies oriented either to efficiency or innovation, and entrepreneurs who are born out of opportunity or necessity.     

Labour mobility in the EU: Dynamics,patterns and policies

The continued economic crisis has become a major test for the labour markets of individual member states. Labour mobility within the European Union has the potential to help to reduce labour market pressures and ease economic imbalances. However, a long-term loss of working age population can be detrimental to sending countries. This Forum explores mobility patterns within the European Union and analyses the labour market and welfare effects of labour mobility via case studies of the UK, Poland, Germany and Spain. It also examines a number of its aspects that have important political and institutional relevance for the European Union and its future.     

Economic Patriotism, the Clash of Capitalisms, and State Aid in the European Union

This article analyses the political economy of state aid in the European Union (EU) using the concepts of economic patriotism and models of capitalism. State aid is analysed as a form of economic patriotism, which is conceived here as economic interventions which seek, by a number of means, to advance the perceived economic self-interest of particular groups and actors (firms, workforces, or sectors) defined according to their territorial status. The article argues that the paradox of neo-liberal democracy generated by liberal international markets, overlapping economic governance regimes (such as the EU and the World Trade Organisation), and nationally delimited political mandates presents new problems for policy-makers attempting economic interventions like state aid. Forms of economic patriotism are partly shaped by national institutional and social configurations and state traditions. Within EU economic governance, this generates a ‘clash of capitalisms’ whereby liberal EU anti-trust and competition policy norms proscribe certain state aid and industrial policy measures favoured by some European states. As traditional industrial policy becomes decreasingly viable, new modes of economic patriotic interventionism are enacted within contemporary processes of market-making, and the re-regulatory activity framing European markets. The paper focuses on French state aid responses to the global economic crisis, noting how the retreat of neo-liberal ebullience within the EU provides a conducive environment for resurgent French dirigiste approaches to state aid, indicating that the politics of economic patriotism and state aid will continue to be important features of the European political economic landscape in the years ahead.     

The use of R&D consortia as market barriers: Case studies of consortia in the United States,Japan, and Western Europe

There are strong temptations to use research and development (R&D) consortia as barriers to trade and investment. The cases discussed here, the VLSI Project in Japan, Sematech in the United States, the Joint European Submicron Silicon Initiative (JESSI), the European Eureka EU95 program, the European Vision 1250 program, and NHK Engineering Services in Japan are all in the field of high technology electronics. Electronics has been made a priority for public research and development efforts because the governments of advanced industrial countries believe that competitiveness in high technology electronics is important for both national security and overall economic competitiveness. R&D consortia are used by governments and the European Community to pool the risks of the development of new technologies. Access to full membership in these R&D consortia in all three regions is limited, as a rule, to firms owned and headquartered in the region. Access to the technology created is limited in a variety of ways, the most important of which is the inability to work with the technologies themselves at an early stage, which is a major disadvantage in high technology industries. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Impacts of advertisements that are unfriendly to women and men

Taking Belgium as a case in point, this study analyses, first, tolerance for advertisements unfriendly to women and men as expressed by advertising and marketing professionals, consumers and gender equal opportunity workers. Second, it compares which types of unequal gender portrayal raise concerns with which sector of respondents. Finally, it analyses the differences in adherence of the three sectors to the two main policy solution paradigms proposed in the 2008 European Parliament Resolution on ‘How marketing and advertising affect equality between women and men’. Results suggest a degree of tolerance that varies significantly according to sector, language, gender and age. Overall, respondents express more concerns regarding traditional sex roles in advertising than regarding nudity, unattainable beauty standards or gender stereotypes, and prefer gender-and-advertising literacy programmes and awards for advertisements that break through gender stereotypes over stricter ethical and/or legal regulations. These findings should prove useful to advertising and marketing professionals, national advertising regulatory bodies and policy makers.     

Enlargement and the Textiles,Clothing and Footwear Industry

The textiles, clothing and footwear (TCF) industry is a labour intensive industry, strongly determined by globalization and easy relocation to low‐cost countries. Hence also in the European Union this industry is relatively more important in the low‐wage regions of the EU‐Southern periphery. With the envisaged enlargement, however, these countries fear a further shift of the sector to Central and Eastern Europe as these countries still have a comparative advantage in terms of low labour costs. The present article investigates whether this fear is justified, looking at three main aspects: first at the position and history of the TCF sector in the European Union and its role in the EU periphery, second at the sector in the Central and Eastern accession countries, and third at gobalization issues. The second aspect is dealt with in great detail, as development trends in the Central and East European countries are important and telling. Much has happened during the 15‐year (and more) period between the collapse of communism and the EU membership in this region, most important the integration to the EU by the means of trade, in particular outward processing trade. These developments mainly seem to determine future trends in an enlarged Europe. Overall however, future prospects have to be seen in a global context, strongly influencing the sector via changes in global trade policies.     

Appointing Women to Boards: Is There a Cultural Bias?

Companies that are serious about corporate governance and business ethics are turning their attention to gender diversity at the most senior levels of business (Institute of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Briefing 21:1, 2011). Board gender diversity has been the subject of several studies carried out by international organizations such as Catalyst (Increasing gender diversity on boards: Current index of formal approaches, 2012), the World Economic Forum (Hausmann et al., The global gender gap report, 2010), and the European Board Diversity Analysis (Is it getting easier to find women on European boards? 2010). They all lead to reports confirming the overall relatively low proportion of women on boards and the slow pace at which more women are being appointed. Furthermore, the proportion of women on corporate boards varies much across countries. Based on institutional theory, this study hypothesizes and tests whether this variation can be attributed to differences in cultural settings across countries. Our analysis of the representation of women on boards for 32 countries during 2010 reveals that two cultural characteristics are indeed associated with the observed differences. We use the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede (Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values, 1980) to measure this construct. Results show that countries which have the greatest tolerance for inequalities in the distribution of power and those that tend to value the role of men generally exhibit lower representations of women on boards.     

Career management issues for flexpatriate international staff

This article reports findings from an in‐depth study of a small number of European men and women that identifies organizational activities and their own initiatives to successfully manage their international careers within the context of their personal and family lives. In contrast to prior studies that have focused on issues for expatriate international work assignments, this study focused on flexpatriates—the frequent flyers of international work. The results indicated that, with minimal human resource management (HRM) assistance, flexpatriates were proactive and self‐managing in dealing with career issues and the family and personal demands linked to their flexpatriate lifestyles. Similar career issues were evident for men and women, but the impact of home life seemed more significant for women, and the implications of this for HRM are explored. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Foreign Direct Investment Inflows,Economic Growth,and Trade Balances: The Experience of the New Members of the European Union

The study examines the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth and trade balances of 10 emerging economies in Europe before they joined the European Union. This article uses the Granger causality test to investigate the link between FDI inflows and economic growth for the countries under study. The findings show that gross domestic product growth has a unilateral Granger-cause on FDI inflows for 9 of 10 emerging European economies. However, the results did not show FDI inflows Granger-causing the changes in economic growth of any of the 10 countries. Furthermore, FDI inflows had no or negative effects on trade balances of the majority of the emerging European nations. The policy implications of this study are that host governments in emerging economies must carefully evaluate spillover effects of FDI inflows on their economies before offering significant incentive packages to lure multinational enterprises into their countries.