Gender factors and female entrepreneurship: International evidence and policy implications

Nowadays, the transformations taking place in female entrepreneurship at the national and international levels and the importance of such entrepreneurship for economic growth and poverty alleviation underscore the need for more global and diversified analysis of female entrepreneurial activities. The literature however regarding international comparisons of female entrepreneurship practices remains limited and becomes even more limited when exploring such practices beyond the developed countries context. To this end, this paper examined the impact of five gender-related variables on the extent of female entrepreneurial activities in 44 developed and developing countries. Among its five focused variables, the paper found female education, extent of female economic activities, female earnings ratio, and fertility rate to be significant in all estimations with two different dependent variables representing female entrepreneurial activities. The remaining focus variable related to gender empowerment was found to be significant with one of the two dependent variables. Among its contributions, the paper explored gender entrepreneurship from an international perspective and extended the analysis of the topic beyond the main stream Anglo-Saxon context. It also highlighted the variations in results with regards to developed and developing countries environment. Understanding factors that could influence the development of female entrepreneurial activities and exploring their potential variability across stages of economic development could also be useful for policy makers exploring effective incentive structure to promote gender entrepreneurship in their respective countries.     

Tax structure and entrepreneurship

Using macro-level panel data, we examine the effects of taxation and tax progressivity on entrepreneurship in a large group of European countries. We address two main questions. First, we try to explore whether tax increases discourage entrepreneurial activity, focusing on new self-employment (nascent entrepreneurship). Second, we investigate the impact of tax progressivity on entrepreneurship, again focusing on new self-employment. We find that tax progressivity at higher-than-average incomes has a robust negative effect on nascent entrepreneurship. We discuss the policy implications of our results.     

Language skills and migrant entrepreneurship: evidence from China

Business ownership constitutes a vital part of the economy. While many of the determinants of entrepreneurship have been intensively studied, the link between language proficiency and entrepreneurship has not. Using the Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey, this paper studies the importance of language skills for migrant entrepreneurship. We find that migrants who can understand and fluently speak the local dialect are more likely to become entrepreneurs. The effect of language on entrepreneurship is more pronounced in the urban fringe, towns, and rural areas, and especially where individuals migrate across different dialectal regions. Gaining local dialect skills influences positively the decision to become either a necessity- or an opportunity-driven entrepreneur.

     

Performance and size: empirical evidence from Portuguese SMEs

This article studies the relationship between company size and performance for small and medium-sized Portuguese companies. Using dynamic panel estimators, we conclude that performance is related positively to size. This relationship suggests the greater relevance of scale effects, diversification and the greater ability of larger companies to cope with market changes. Furthermore, our empirical results show that performance is persistent, not showing discontinuity, suggesting that small and medium-sized Portuguese companies are relatively successful in coping with possible scenarios of aggressive competition. Debt and level of fixed assets influence performance negatively, and separation of management and ownership influence performance positively. Liquidity, risk and ownership control are not relevant in explaining the performance of small and medium-sized Portuguese companies.

Tax progressivity and self-employment: evidence from Canadian provinces

We examine the effects of personal income tax progressivity—in the sense of rising marginal income tax rate—on self-employment. The impacts of income tax progressivity on self-employment depend on the relative effects of taxing success and the presence of tax evasion opportunities. Empirical estimates using Canadian provincial data for the period 1979–2006 indicate that there is a negative association between income tax progressivity and self-employment. This suggests that the adverse impact of income tax on entrepreneurial risk-taking outweighs the tax evasion opportunities for the self-employed. An important implication of our results is that a reduction in income tax progressivity encourages self-employment. The empirical estimates are robust to the various sensitivity checks.     

Tax systems,tax revenue and growth in LDCs: A review of empirical evidence

The relationship between taxation, savings and growth is a complex one, which economists to date have only partially been able to explain. The following paper reviews empirical evidence on differences in tax systems and their operation between developed and less developed countries and the role of various taxes in the development process, and examines some evidence on the effects of taxation on economic growth in LDCs.     

Gender differences in entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship: an empirical analysis

This study examines the gender gap in start-up activities to determine whether it is family status or employment status that is responsible for the observed gender gap. We consider independent entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship as two different start-up modes: While intrapreneurship is conducted within an established organization, independent entrepreneurship is solely an independent activity. This study focuses on this fundamental distinction to identify the parameters of our empirical model. Using nationally representative US data, we find that the effects of being a part-time worker on the likelihood of becoming an independent entrepreneur differ across genders. The obtained results suggest similar findings for intrapreneurship, but in opposite directions. Furthermore, our decomposition results suggest that for both entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, the gender differences in the employment-related variables are more significant than those in the family-related variables in affecting the observed gender gap negatively (for entrepreneurship) or positively (for intrapreneurship).     

A polymorphism associated with entrepreneurship: evidence from dopamine receptor candidate genes

The tendency to be an entrepreneur may be influenced by genetic variation. Sensation seeking is more common among entrepreneurs than among the general population. Twin studies show that the tendency to be an entrepreneur is heritable and that common genes influence both sensation seeking and entrepreneurial tendency (Nicolaou et al. Manag Sci 54:167–179, 2008a; Strateg Entrep J 2:7–21, 2008b). Since dopamine receptor genes have been associated with novelty seeking/sensation seeking (Benjamin et al. Nat Genet 12:81–84, 1996; Ebstein et al. Nat Genet 12:78–80, 1996; Noblett and Coccaro Curr Psychiatry Rep 7:73–80, 2005), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been reported to occur at greater rates among entrepreneurs, we examined the association between five dopamine receptor genes and four ADHD-associated genes, with the tendency to be an entrepreneur in a sample of 1,335 individuals from the UK. We found a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs1486011) of the DRD3 gene on chromosome 3 to be significantly associated with the tendency to be an entrepreneur. This result is the first evidence of the association of a specific gene with entrepreneurship. Further studies are needed to replicate this association.     

Properties of emerging organizations: empirical evidence from Norway

The process of new venture creation is of central importance to entrepreneurship. The effects of initial organizing have a direct effect on survival, yet empirical examination of the dimensions of emerging organizations is limited. Using longitudinal data on 203 nascent entrepreneurs from Norway over the course of four years (1996?C1999), this paper empirically tests four properties of emerging organizations??intentionality, resources, boundary, and exchange??and their effect on the likelihood of continuing the organizing effort (Katz and Gartner, Acad Manage Rev 13(3):429?C441, 1988). Consistent with previous research, our results suggest that organizations which engage in a greater number of organizing activities are more likely to continue the organizing effort. In addition, intentionality, boundary, and exchange are positively associated with organizational emergence, whereas resources are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for organizations to continue organizing. The concentration of organizing activities is also positively associated with the likelihood of continuing the organizing effort.     

Part-time entrepreneurship and financial constraints: evidence from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics

To date, entrepreneurship literature overlooks part-time entrepreneurs, i.e., those who devote time to entrepreneurial ventures and wage employment at the same time. In contrast, recent evidence from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a large cross-national study on the level of entrepreneurial activity, establishes that 80% of nascent entrepreneurs also hold regular wage jobs. This paper offers a model of entrepreneurial entry under financial constraints where individuals choose between wage employment, part-time, and full-time entrepreneurship. Those who become nascent entrepreneurs must further decide how much capital to invest and what proportion of time to spend in business. I test this model using data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, which covers start-ups and nascent entrepreneurs. My findings show that part-time entrepreneurs are not affected by financial constraints. The analysis suggests that industry barriers, risk aversion, and learning by doing might be other factors worth investigating.     

Employment,entrepreneurship and 1992: Microeconomic policy and European problems

Policy conclusions This essay has covered several areas which are not usually regarded as closely interrelated. Policy conclusions have been discussed briefly at various points, and will now be developed more fully in this final section. As evidence for the interrelatedness of such disparate fields as corporate finance and employment policy, we start from the observation that many large firms are relatively inefficient, particularly at product innovation and flexible organization and employment policies, in part because top managerial compensation depends mainly on size. This creates an incentive for excessive growth and empire building, rather than payment to shareholders of the free cash flow which cannot be profitably invested internally. More appropriate incentives for top management would increase dividend payments, and hence the flow of funds into the capital market available for financing new start-ups and small firms as venture capital. Even in the U.S. the cost of obtaining external capital often constrains small firms to invest only their internal cash flow (Fazzari et al., 1988).Increased entry of new firms would also be encouraged by labour market flexibility and deregulation, as well as reduction of excessive state subsidies and other support for large existing corporations. Enlargement of the small firm sector, in turn, would enhance competition, increase the overall rate of return on capital, and above all expand employment, following experience in the U.S. An exclusive focus of employment policy on aggregate demand or on wages and the labour market will thus miss important avenues through which welfare, competitivity and employment can all be influenced simultaneously without additional public expenditure (FitzRoy, 1989).The integrated view espoused here is also important in assessing the consequences of removing direct barriers to trade within the EC by 1992. Much official thought assumes that competitiveness and efficiency will automatically be increased by these developments, with consequent employment gains to follow. However, as usual in economics, there are countervailing tendencies which deserve emphasis (Kay, 1989). In particular, liberalization of capital markets without improvement of the incentives provided to top management of large corporations is likely to generate a substantial increase of takeover activity. The experience in the U.S. in recent years summarized above casts doubt on the efficiency-enhancing effects of unrestricted takeovers. Pursuit of speculative capital gains, insider trading, which is scarcely sanctioned in many contexts in Europe, and excessive growth by the manager of free cash flows are likely results. The LBO operations which are most likely to increase efficiency are inhibited in Europe by the risk-aversion of senior managers. Top-heavy conglomerates, ultimately increased market power, and negative effects on employment, and consumer welfare are by no means implausible unless policy makers abandon their cherished but unrealistic faith in economies of scale, and institute a throughoing reversal of current policy towards large firms, preferably coupled with support for venture capital for new start-ups and small firms.Tax policy is a traditional method for achieving specific allocative goals, but one which is currently providing perverse rather than positive incentives for employment growth. The rapid increase of non-wage labour costs in the form of payroll and other related taxes, largely to fund a pay-as-you-go system of social security benefits, represents a tax on employment which accelerates the substitution of labour by capital equipment. The major obstacle to replacing these perverse taxes by less distorting consumption or value-added taxes (VAT) is the distributive consequence of such change. Similar arguments are advanced against abolition of the double taxation of dividends, which encourages wasteful investment by large corporations, and against introduction of urgently needed environmental taxes on energy use and toxic emissions. A simplified negative income tax or support for low income recipients would in fact remove the hardship from the redistributive consequences of tax reform, but the political obstacles seem to be currently insurmountable. At the very least, however, these problems deserve much more intensive discussion and wider recognition than they have hitherto received.A major extension of adult retraining schemes following the example of Sweden seems to be the policy measure with the highest chances of realization, in part because the direct costs in the short run are relatively small, and also involve job creation. Removal of tax penalties for part-time work should also be feasible without substantial distributive effects, and would represent a first step towards general flexibility of working according to individual preferences. Clearly the state sector, still a major employer, could usefully lead the way instead of generally lagging behind the private sector. Overcoming ideological and sectarian opposition by organized labour leaders offers a challenge to public authorities and educational channels.A move to more flexible, decentralized wage bargaining and deregulation of the more archaic institutions of labour markets to facilitate entry by the self-employed and new firms should arguably be the ultimate goal for policy towards noninflationary full employment. While benefits from centralized or corporatist bargaining structures are sometimes claimed, the importance of new firm entry for employment and competition would appear to shift the weight of the evidence in favour of decentralization. However the political obstacles in most European countries are formidable, and promise only glacially slow progress.In view of evidence for failure of the capital market for small business in the U.S. noted above, a case could be made for state support and extension of the much less developed European venture capital market. Existing state grants and other systems, designed to encourage new investment and employment, are usually too cumbersome and bureaucratic. The paperwork involved often represents a major deterrent for small enterprises or new start-ups, and the time lags involved are particularly damaging to high-tech prospects where new ideas can quickly become obsolescent. It is quite conceivable that state funded venture capital suppliers, efficiently organized as independent local units, could develop into profitable going concerns able to repay their loan capital in the long run. To maximize the employment impact it is important to go beyond high tech, and offer funds in any promising service or manufacturing area, according to the available expertise of specialized personnel and institutions. A precondition for success is that staff should be profit sharing professionals rather than salaried civil servants. Similarly, employees should be encouraged to accept shares in future profits rather than initially high wages, to reduce the liquidity constraints on new businesses.It has been argued here that employment and industrial policy are closely interrelated, and should thus be coordinated in the light of recent research in these fields. This requires both academics and policy makers to cross conventional boundaries and take a broader view of the economy than is customary under the specialization that severely restricts much of the relevant debate. Current piecemeal policies, even with the help of the longest postwar boom, have hardly dented the problem of long run unemployment to date, and are unlikely to do so after 1992 without fundamental reorientation.     

Sniping in soft-close online auctions: empirical evidence from overstock

Marketing Letters - The existing studies suggest that sniping is an equilibrium strategy in hard-close online auctions, but not in soft-close ones. In this paper, we use a unique, large-scale data...     

Competitiveness, resources, and capabilities: empirical evidence from retail banking

This research aims to identify and measure bank employee perceptions of the determinants of competitiveness in terms of resources, skills, and capabilities within the retail banking sector. All the 40 branches of a leading Portuguese bank—the Caixa Geral de Depósitos—operating in two Portuguese districts were surveyed. Our results show that bank competitiveness differs according to performance evaluation, human resource (HR) planning, the system of incentives, and managerial motivation. They also demonstrate that human capital is a source of success in the business of banks, which relies heavily on stable and enduring relationships with customers. The study also provides recommendations for retail bank managers seeking to refine their HR strategies as a means of improving their competitiveness.     

Strategic pricing in export markets: empirical evidence from the UK

This study was initiated by the apparent conceptual and empirical neglect of the industrial export pricing area. Capitalising upon calls for a strategic pricing orientation in contemporary firms the study seeks to empirically explore the export pricing practices of industrial exporters in the UK and assess their influence upon their strategic export pricing. The aggregated experience of 178 firms suggests that proactive exporting stimuli, market orientation, formality of the pricing decision process and a balanced attention to customer needs and the profit potential of the exporting activity are practices identifiable in firms with a high strategic pricing orientation. This new empirical evidence is discussed in terms of its contribution for export managers, public policy makers and researchers wishing to advance further our knowledge of this critical area of marketing activity.     

Fiscal policy,monetary policy and external imbalances: Cross-country evidence from Africa's three largest economies

This paper determines which of the three policy approaches: fiscal, monetary and exchange rate can better address external imbalances in the three largest African economies, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt. To this end, use is made of the panel vector autoregressive model to assess the dynamic effects of shocks emanating from the three policy approaches. The findings of the paper indicate that unlike in many emerging and developed economies the current accounts of these three economies react to fiscal, monetary and exchange rate shocks. More particular, the results of the empirical analysis show that the appreciations of the currencies in the three economies lead to current account surpluses. This is mainly attributed to the fact that most African economies have a high propensity to import with limited productive capacity for exports.     

Critical success factors for e-commerce entrepreneurship: an empirical study of Thailand

The present study focuses on the relationships between entrepreneurial characteristics (achievement orientation, risk taking propensity, locus of control, and networking), e-service business factors (reliability, responsiveness, ease of use, and self-service), governmental support, and the success of e-commerce entrepreneurs. Results confirm that the achievement orientation and locus of control of founders and business emphasis on reliability and ease of use functions of e-service quality are positively related to the success of e-commerce entrepreneurial ventures in Thailand. Founder risk taking and networking, e-service responsiveness and self-service, and governmental support are found to be non-significant.      

Offshoring and occupational wages: Some empirical evidence

Offshoring has changed the pattern of international competition; labor in specific occupations rather than whole firms and sectors are now facing competition. Accordingly, wages in offshorable occupations are affected in new ways. In this article, we investigate the effects of offshoring on relative occupational wages in 13 countries for 1990–2003. Our findings show that offshoring competiveness is associated with higher relative wages in offshorable occupations, and that export growth of IT-related services leads to higher relative wages in offshorable occupations, whereas import growth of such services reduces them.     

Openness and growth: an interpretation of empirical evidence from East Asian countries

This study investigates the effect of openness on economic growth for rapidly growing economies in East Asia in which rapid growth has been accompanied by a persistent openness to world trade. The framework of analysis is a five-variable vector autoregressive model that consists of real output, money supply, real government spending, foreign price shocks, and openness measures. The results do not strongly support the 'new' growth theories in which increasing openness affects long-run growth. For most countries in the sample, fiscal policy shocks as well as foreign price shocks have greater impacts on economic growth than does the openness shock. The results are generally consistent with the view that the role of the government is critical for growth among the East Asian economies.     

Consumer credit card ownership and usage practices: empirical evidence from Sri Lanka

Knowledge that has been accumulated through research efforts concerning credit card ownership and usage behaviour has been confined to Western societies. Given the importance of cross‐national application of consumer marketing concepts and propositions for academic and practical reasons, investigations are needed to test whether consumer credit card usage patterns that are assumed to exist in the West also exist in non‐Western parts of the world, especially in Asia. Therefore, objectives of this research were to explore credit card ownership and usage practices in Sri Lanka, and to explore the relationship between credit card ownership and usage practices, and demographic and socio‐economic characteristics of credit card users. The findings offer implications for researchers and practitioners.