National Research Agenda
 

for 

Women's Entrepreneurship
 

The National Women's Business Council,
 

The Interagency Committee on
 

Women's Business Enterprise
 

and
 

The J.L. Kellogg
 

Graduate School of Management
 

1996
 
\\-ASHlNOTON. DC OPFICE 

409 THIRD STREET. S. W. NWBC SUITE ~6e.O

WASHINOTOr-;, nc 20024 

aQ:;:/~oo-:).u:=loO PAx.. 2oalwoo·oe::.'5 National Womell j BWllleSS Council 

It is with pleasure that I transmit to you a "National Research Agenda for 

Women's Entrepreneurship." On behalf of the National Women's Business 

Council, let me thank the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, the 

Interagency Committee on Women's Business Enterprise, and the U.S. Small 

BusinessAdministration's Office ofWomen's Business Ownership for 

cosponsoring the November 1995 conference that led to this agenda. 

In my thirty-five years in business, I have watched women-owned businesses 

grow from an anomaly to an economic reality. Today, women-owned 

businesses number 8 million and contribute $2.3 trillion to theAmerican 

economy every year. It is imperative that both the public and private sectors 

support appropriate research on this important sector of the economy. The 

National Research Agenda offers a starting point for educators and academics, 

policy-makers, and private firms large and small. Greater research on women's 

entrepreneurism will benefit not only the millions of women now starting or 

growing businesses, but also the American economy as it faces the challenges 

and opportunities of the 21 st Century. 

Sincerely, 

Lillian Vernon 

Chair 

National Women's Business Council 
BOARD OF GOVERNORS 

Of THE 

fEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM WASHINGTON. D. C. 20551 

Small businesses are a vital part of the U.S. economy, in the generation of 

jobs, new ideas, and the preservation of the entrepreneurial spirit. There is 

little question of the importance that a thriving small business has for the 

well-being of our nation. Today, women-owned businesses represent a larger 

share of and provide more of the key innovations from small business than at 

any other time. It is, therefore, appropriate that the Federal Reserve Board 

encourage research into women's entrepreneurship. 

The Federal Reserve Board has devoted considerable effort to building our 

knowledge of the characteristics of small businesses and their financing needs. 

In doing so, the Board has also sought to expand the available information on 

the women's business sector. For instance, in the Board's 1993 National 

Survey of Small Business Finance, sufficient information on women-owned 

and minority-owned businesses was collected to permit statistical comparisons 

with small business in general. This periodic survey provides invaluable 

information to decision makers both inside and outside government on the 

availability, use, and sources of credit as well as the changes in our economy 

in the sources of credit and types of credit instruments. Since women 

entrepreneurs have ranked access to capital and credit among their most 

critical issues, the Board seeks to foster further research into the credit 

process to help evaluate initiatives that will be most useful for expanding 

small business. 

With this National ResearchAgenda for Women's Entrepreneurship, the 

National Women's Business Council, the Interagency Committee onWomen's 

Business Enterprise, and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management have 

taken an important step in identifying the research necessary to expand our 

knowledge of the women's business sector and, by extension, all small 

businesses. I encourage all those interested in understanding what research 

will be necessary to promote growth in this economic sector to review the 

Agenda and to promote its implementation. 

~.~
 Janet L. Yellen 
Kellogg J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management Northwestern University 

We are very pleased to present the first-ever National ResearchAgenda for 

Women's Entrepreneurship in conjunction with the National Women's 

Business Council, the Interagency Committee, and the Small Business 

Administration's Office ofWomen's Business Ownership. 

The research conference, held at the J. L. Allen Center with the collaborative 

effort of academicians, government officials, business owners, foundation 

leaders, and the corporate community, represents the intersection of two issues 

of central importance to the Kellogg community; entrepreneurship and women 

in business. 

In the area of entrepreneurship, Kellogg has been particularly aggressive. 

From fall '95 to fall '96, there has been an 86% increase in students taking 

courses in our entrepreneurial program. This represents 33% of the entire 

student body that is participating in the programs and more than 32% of these 

incoming students expressed an interest in majoring in entrepreneurship. For 

all these reasons, Kellogg has tripled its entrepreneurial program faculty and 

course offerings since the program's origination in 1991. 

Similarly, Kellogg has a long-standing interest in the advancement of women 

in business. This is evidenced not only by the array of on-campus 

organizations and activities centered around this topic, but also in the 

commitment of our admissions office to attract top-quality female applicants. 

The Kellogg Women BusinessAssociation (WBA) hosts a number of events 

throughout the year focusing on women in business. Promoting women in 

business is high on the priority list for Kellogg. 

In contributing to this report, our intentions far exceed merely raising 

awareness of women in business. We hope this report will provide needed 

information on women's entrepreneurship. Through facts, figures, and 

analysis, we will gain a better understanding of who women business owners 

are, how they operate their businesses, and what they can teach us about how 

successful businesses will be run in the 21 st century. 

Sincerely, 

JmcJ)j)~

Donald P. Jacobs 

Dean 

Leverone Hall 2001 Sheridan Road Evanston, Illinois 60208,2001 
National Research Agenda
 

for 

Women's Entrepreneurship
 

The National Agenda meeting and report were
 

made possible through generous support from
 

AT&T
 

Bank ofAmerica
 

Deloitte & Touche LLP
 

General Motors
 

ffiM 

Special thanks to
 

U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Women's Business Ownership
 

National Education Center for Women in Business Seton Hill College
 

for their invaluable support and guidance.
 
Interagency Committee on Women's 

Business Enterprise 

Chair 

Dr. Laura D' AndreaTyson 

Assistant to the President 

Executive Office of the President 

Alexis Herman,Assistant to the President 

Office of Public Liaison 

Betsy Myers, Deputy Assistant to the President 

Director for Women's Initiatives & Outreach 

Department of Commerce 

Joan Parrot-Fonseca, Director 

Minority Business DevelopmentAgency 

Department of Defense 

Secretary SheilaWidnall 

U.S. Department of theAir Force 

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 

Governor JanetYellen 

General Services Administration 

Dietra Ford, Associate Administrator 

Office ofEnterprise Development 

DepartmentofHealth and Human Services 

Secretary Donna Shalala 

Labor 

Ida Castro,Acting Director 

Women's Bureau 

Small Business Administration 

Sherrye Henry, AssistantAdministrator 

Office ofWomen's Business Ownership 

Transportation 

Jolene Molitoris,Administrator 

Federal RailroadAdministration 

Treasury 

Darcy Bradbury, Assistant Secretary 

Office of Federal Finance 

National Women's Business Council 

Chair 

LillianVernon, 

Chairman ofthe Board/CEO 

Lillian Vernon Corporation 

Individual Members 

RaydeanAcevedo, President/CEO 

RMCI 

Muriel Siebert, President 

Muriel Siebert & Company 

Ella Williams, President/CEO 

Aegir Systems 

CheryIWomack, Founder/CEO 

VCW, INC. 

Women 's Business Organizations 

Association for Enterprise Opportunity 

Christine Benuzzi, Executive Director 

NationalAssociation for Female Executives 

RebeccaWesson Darwin,President/CEO 

National Association ofWomen 

Business Owners 

SuzanneTaylor, President 

National Council of Negro Women, Inc. 

Brenda Girton-Mitchell, 

Assoc. Executive Director 

Women's Business Development Center 

Hedy Ratner, Co-Director 
Foreword
 

N

ever has there been 

a more compelling 

need for data-sharing 

and collaborative 

private-public sector 

research as there now is in the field 

of women's business ownership. No 

longer can such research be treated 

as the exclusive domain of 

specialized government agencies, 

academics, foundations or 

corporations. The dramatic growth 

over the past two decades in both the 

number of women-owned businesses 

and their importance to the United 

States economy has spawned a 

concomitant demand for new 

information. 

No single group has the monetary 

resources, data, or expertise to 

significantly advance the field in all 

of its dimensions. And no individual 

models of traditional business 

formation and behavior can answer 

the questions that are created by this 

diverse group of business owners. 

As the federal government panel 

charged with the advancement of 

opportunities for women business 

owners, the National Women's 

Business Council is uniquely 

positioned to shepherd the resources 

required to successfully meet this 

challenge. On November 8 and 9, 

1995 the Council co-hosted a 

conference with the Interagency 

Committee on Women's Business 

Enterprise and the J.L. Kellogg 

School of Management on its 

campus in Evanston, Illinois to 

review the body of research in the 

field of women's business ownership 

and to identify and target certain 

areas for future inquiry. The product 

of this two-day strategy session is 

The National Research Agenda for 

Women's Entrepreneurship. 

Na/io!1al Rt'search Agenda ix 
Table of Contents
 

Foreword ix
 

I. Why We Need To Know More 1
 

II. What We Know About Women-Owned Businesses 3
 

III. National ResearchAgenda For Women's Entrepreneurship: The Proposals 5
 

I. Capital 6
 

2. The Role ofTechnology 7
 

3. Increasing Competitive Opportunities 8
 

4. Global Best Practices 9
 

5. Young Women Entrepreneurs 10
 

6. How are Women Redefining Work? 11
 

7. Best Practices Inside the Corporation 12
 

8. Women's Business Formation and Operating Patterns 13
 

9. EducationfTraining Investments 14
 

10. Success 15
 

v. What We Need To Know. 17
 

Who are the Women Entrepreneurs? 19
 

Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School 

Academic Research into Women's Entrepreneurial Issues 21
 

Dr. Candida Brush, Boston University School ofManagement 

The State of Government Data Collection Efforts 23
 

Bruce Phillips, Director ofEconomic Research,
 

United States Small Business Administration
 

The State of Privately-Funded Research 25
 

Julie Weeks, Director ofResearch,
 

National Foundationfor Women Business Owners
 

Sources 27
 

Conference Participants.................................................................................................................... 29
 

Acknowledgements 31
 

Natio/lal Research Agenda xi
 
I. 

Why We Need To Know More 

ince women business 

owners first began to 

draw the attention of the 

press and policy makers 

in the late 1970's and 

early 1980's, the questions "who" 

and "what" have come to be well 

answered. We know who started 

businesses and we know what kinds 

of businesses they started. 

Yet little is known about what has 

motivated and sustained the 

remarkable growth in the formation 

of women-owned businesses. As 

corporate restructuring and 

downsizing have dramatically 

reduced the ranks of workers 

employed by the 1000 largest 

companies inAmerica, employment 

clearly has trended towards small 

businesses and new business 

creation.And because women have 

been starting new businesses at twice 

the rate of others during this period, 

we are compelled to look even more 

closely at the "why" and "how" 

questions. 

Why do women start businesses and 

how do they start them, grow them, 

and exit them? 

The technological advancements, 

globalization of markets, and societal 

D,: Candida Brush, Boston University 

Graduate School of Management. 

shifts of the past two decades have 

conspired to create changes in 

employment patterns that are no less 

dramatic than those of the previous 

centuries' Agrarian or Industrial 

Revolutions. Women have responded 

to these developments, but our 

knowledge and research bases have 

not responded to their advancements. 

It is because women-owned 

businesses have become such an 

important and growing source of new 

employment in the United States that 

our lack of research and data must be 

addressed with greater urgency. 

Is it possible that women have created 

new models of business ownership 

that uniquely respond to the changes 

in the global economy? We will never 

know if we do not commit the 

resources required to ask and answer 

the right questions. 

The right questions are those that seek 

to enlighten decision makers in 

business, labor, government, 

academia, the media and the general 

public. They are framed in ways that 

wield not just explanatory, but 

predictive powers. And they center on 

the creation of contemporary models 

that go beyond the traditional notion 

of business ownership, job creation 

and management theory. In short, this 

National ResearchAgenda asks the 

questions that answer the "how" and 

"why" of women's entrepreneurship. 

The questions that follow were 

discussed and debated by the 

research conference participants. 

They are designed to provide general 

direction for researchers, funding 

organizations, corporations and those 

who wish to significantly advance 

the field of women's 

entrepreneurship. 

vational Research Agenda 
II. 

What We Know About Women-Owned Businesses 

e know that there 

are nearly 8 

million womenowned businesses 

in the United 

States, generating sales of nearly 

$2.3 billion annually. They employ 

more than 18 million workers, one 

out of every four 

workers employed 

in the United States. l 

Beyond these 

aggregate estimates, 

we have some 

evidence of the kinds 

of growth and 

operating patterns 

exhibited by womenowned businesses in 

the recent past. 

Women are staying 

in business, growing 

their companies, 

employing more people

Rona Feit; Dr. Candida Brush. Boston University; Bruce Phillips. Small 

Business Administration; Julie Weeks. National Foundation for Women Business 

Owners. and Lindsey Johnson, Women Incorporated. , 

and operating in every 

sector of the economy: 

Staying in business: Nearly threequarters ofthe commercially active 

women-owned firms in existence in 

1991 are still in business today, 

compared to only two-thirds of all 

commercially-active firms. 2 

Growing: Between 1991 and 1994, 

the number of commercially active 

women-owned businesses in the 

United States grew 9.1 percent.And 

the number of larger, women-owned 

companies - those that employ 100 

or more employees - grew even 

faster, by 18.3 percent. 3 

Employing more people: During the 

same period, employment in all 

women-owned firms grew 11.6 

percent, compared to just 5.3 percent 

growth in national employment. 

Employment in woman-owned firms 

with 100 or more workers 

expanded by 32.5 percent.4 

Operating in all sectors ofthe 

economy: Women increasingly are 

diversifying into "nontraditional" 

industries. From 1987 to 1992, 

the number of women-owned firms 

in manufacturing was up 62 percent, 

in construction up 95 percent, in 

transportation up 78 percent and the 

wholesale trades up 87 percent. This 

is especially notable as the increase 

in the growth in the total number of 

companies in those industries was 

considerably less.5 

Women are aggressively employing 

new technologies, entering global 

markets, and creating new, more 

adaptable workplaces: 

Employing new technologies to 

advance their businesses. Nearly all 

(92%) women-owned businesses use 

computers today. The use among the 

smallest woman-owned businesses is 

greater than among all United States 

firms. Fifty percent of woman 

business owners say new technology 

helps them in responding to 

customers; 44 percent say it 

helps them improve quality; 

and 36 percent report that it 

lends more flexibility to 

their businesses.6 

Entering the global 

marketplace at a rate equal 

to that ofall United State's 

businesses. The 13 percent 

of all woman-owned firms 

that are involved in 

international markets are 

growing faster than those 

that are confined to the 

domestic market. Global 

woman-owned firms also 

are more likely to expand in the 

United States (52%) than are their 

domestic-bound counterparts (23%).7 

Starting and growing home-based 

businesses, hiring employees. There 

are 3.5 million home-based, womenowned businesses in the United 

States, employing more than 14 

million part- or full-time workers. 

Home-based women-business owners 

are no more likely to have children at 

home, contrary to the notion that 

women only base careers from home 

to balance the needs of work and 

young families. And basing a business 

at home is not just a temporary 

decision for start-up ventures; 

the average age of a home-based 

National Research A[?enda 3 
III. 

National Research Agenda
 

for Women's Entrepreneurship: The Proposals
 

1

Capital: Whatare the 

preferred sources of 

capital for women 

business owners? How 

can the pool of equity 

capital and range of debt products be 

expanded to meet their needs? 

2

Technology: How has 

technology affected the 

formation, growth, and 

management ofwomenowned businesses? How 

are women using technology in their 

businesses to introduce new products 

and services, enhance productivity, 

improve quality of service and 

increase sales? 

3

Competitiveness 

Opportunities: What are 

the most successful 

outreach and procurement 

programs initiated by the 

Fortune 1000 companies and federal, 

state and local government agencies 

designed to attract women-owned 

businesses to new contracting 

opportunities? 

4

Global Initiatives: What 

special needs and 

challenges do women 

face in global markets? 

What do they find is most 

helpful in securing partners, 

financing, foreign government 

approvals, and other market goals? 

5

Young Women 

Entrepreneurs: What 

techniques are most 

effective in engaging 

young women in their 

own economic development? How 

can private and public sector 

programs encourage young women 

to develop their own entrepreneurial 

capacity? 

Redefining Work: How 

are women redefining the 

notion of "work" in the 

United States? What 

trends have developed in 

women's employment outside of 

the traditional context of full-time, 

office-based, and/or employerdirected labor? 

7

Best Practices Inside 

the Corporation: Do 

wom.en bu.siness owners 

employ unique 

management styles and 

business practices and if so, what are 

these styles and how are they 

affecting today's business 

environment. 

8

Women's Business 

Formation and Operating 

Patterns: How do women 

business owners define 

growth? Do women 

intentionally keep their businesses 

small?Are women-owned businesses 

more likely to survive? 

Educational Investments: 

What are the returns on 

investment in specialized 

entrepreneurial education 

programs that target the 

businesses and information needs of 

women business owners? 

;0Success: H~w do 

women busmess 

owners define 

success? What 

motivates and 

shapes their business goals? 

National Research Agenda 5 
Question #1: 

"What are the preferred sources of capital 

for women business owners ?" 

Purpose 

The purpose of this proposal is to 

investigate the capital preferences 

of women seeking to start or expand 

their businesses. We know that 

women business owners are as 

creditworthy as the general population 

of businesses in the United States and 

that they use their credit cards to 

finance both start-up and expanding 

businesses. What we do not know is 

why they do so and what are the 

preferred sources of capital to start 

and expand their businesses. 

Background 

Not unlike the general population of 

new business owners, women 

business owners begin their firms 

with very little or no capitaL But 

unlike the general population of new 

business owners, women who start 

firms tend to meet their financing 

needs through credit cards and home 

equity loans. This is also true of 

women seeking credit for expansion; 

they tend to turn to private sourcesand a wider variety of sources - to 

meet their credit needs. 

Two factors contribute to this reality. 

First, women-owned businesses are 

growing fastest in areas such as 

retail trade and personal services 

which historically have little or no 

collateral available with which to 

obtain traditional credit. Second, 

Bernee D.L. Strom. CEO & President. USA 

Digital Radio Partners. LP; Linda Darragh, 

Women's Business Development Center; 

Report on Finance Work Group 

Recommendations. 

most women-owned businesses are 

small in size, also limiting access 

to bank financing or equity 

investments. The most recent (1993) 

National Survey of Small Business 

Finances conducted by the Federal 

Reserve, found that 42 percent of 

women-owned business surveyed 

had assets of less than $25,000 and 

approximately 20 percent had annual 

sales of less than $25,000. The 

Federal Reserve study also showed 

that from 1987-1992 reliance by 

women on financial support from 

family, friends and personal 

resources remained strong. 18 

Method ofInquiry 

Working with financial institutions 

and financial services companies, 

researchers will identify the gaps 

in financing available to womenowned and service businesses and 

help define prospective new financial 

products (debt, equity, or a 

combination thereof) preferred by 

women business owners. Once such 

products are identified, researchers 

also will want to identify barriers to 

their creation. 

6 National Research Agenda 
Question #2 

The Role of Technology: 

"How is new technology affecting the formation, growth and 

management ofwomen-owned businesses ?" 

Purpose 

The purpose of this study is to 

determine how technology, broadly 

defined, affects the formation, 

growth, and management of womenowned businesses. It will investigate 

how women are using technology in 

their businesses to bring new products 

and services on-line, enhance 

productivity, improve quality of 

service and increase sales and return 

on investment. 

Rapid acceleration in technological 

advancements has transformed 

workplaces throughout the world. As 

women in the United States are 

starting businesses at twice the rate 

of others, there is a need to know 

what role technological advancements 

have played in both the start-up and 

growth of their businesses. This 

research seeks to assess the factors 

that influence how technology is being 

put to work by and for women-owned 

businesses. Among the questions to 

be investigated are: 

•	 Has technology led to a greater 

incidence of women-owned 

business start-ups than other 

business start-ups? 

•	 How great a role does technology 

play in the decisions of women, 

versus the general population, to 

start their own business? 

•	 What value do women business 

owners place on the use of 

technology in starting and growing 

their businesses? 

National Research Agenda 

•	 Does the level of technology 

used in the business correlate 

with the rate of growth in the 

business? 

•	 How important is technology in 

determining growth in womenowned versus other businesses? 

•	 How heavily do women business 

owners rely on technology in 

managing their businesses? 

Background 

As recently as 1995, the National 

Foundation for Women Business 

Owners (NFWBO) and IBM 

investigated the use of information 

technology among women business 

owners. According to their analysis 

of survey results from more than 

1,000 women business owners, 

women consider information 

technology integral to their business 

operations. 

Over half of women business owners 

nationwide said that the technology 

systems currently in place in their 

businesses were used primarily to 

expand and grow their businesses. 

Half said that technology assists 

them in responding to customers; 

44% said it helps them to improve 

quality; and 36% reported that it 

helps their business become more 

flexible. Over half the women 

business owners surveyed said they 

plan to increase their information 

technology investment in the next 

year. 19 

Women business owners believe 

they are more aggressive in adopting 

new technology, with nearly half 

(43%) responding that their 

companies were more advanced in 

adopting new technology than other 

firms of similar size. Another 39% 

believed they were at least on a par 

with others in using new 

technologies.20 

According to a 1995 report prepared 

by NFWBO, AT&T and the Met 

Life Small Business Center, nearly 

all (92%) women-owned businesses 

use computers today, and the use of 

computers among the smallest 

women-owned businesses is greater 

than among all U.S. firms. Women 

business owners with 50 or fewer 

employees were found to be almost 

two-thirds more likely than other 

businesses of the same size to 

use computer technology in their 

businesses.21 

The general findings of these studies 

suggest that this is a promising area 

for further inquiry. Given the 

emphasis that women business 

owners themselves clearly place on 

the role of technology in growing 

their businesses, an inquiry into the 

extent to which technology actually 

improves performance is warranted. 

Method oflnquiry 

Researchers may build upon this 

work by investigating factors such 

as: performance indicators, financial 

investments in technology, nature of 

the business and technology-related 

training. They also will want to 

broaden their consideration beyond 

information technologies to include 

all technologies. 

7 
Question # 3 

Increasing Competitive Opportunities: 

"What are the most successful procurement programs?" 

Purpose 

This project seeks to first create an 

inventory of corporate and local, 

state and federal procurement 

programs designed to help women 

business owners and to then 

determine if and how those programs 

support women's entrepreneurial 

successes. Researchers will 

investigate the existing procurement 

programs designed to attract 

qualified women owned business. 

This information would be used to 

evaluate, benchmark and promote 

effective women's vendor/supplier 

programs. 

Among the questions to be addressed 

are: 

•	 What corporations and 

government agencies have set 

procurement goals for women's 

business enterprises? What is 

the record of bids offered by and 

contracts awarded to women 

business owners in comparison to 

other business owners? 

•	 Has the setting of mandatory or 

voluntary goals for procurement 

of products and services from 

women-owned businesses led to 

an increase in contracts let to 

them? Is there evidence that 

such goals limit the number and 

value of contracts awarded to 

women-owned businesses? 

•	 How have the women-owned 

businesses that received 

corporate and government 

contracts fared? Did they expand 

capacity, increase employment 

levels, borrow more capital? 

What about women business 

owners who won and then failed 

to win follow-on contracts from 

the corporation or agency - did 

they stay in business? 

•	 To what extent do the womenowned businesses that receive 

government contracts rely on 

government entities as their main 

customers/clients? What is 

the mix of government versus 

nongovernment business? 

•	 How have large corporations 

benefited from expanding the 

vendor base to include women 

owned businesses? Which 

programs have been the most 

effective in attracting qualified 

businesses? 

Background 

While government-sponsored 

procurement programs have attracted 

much atten'tion and research in recent 

years, considerably less research has 

focused on the role ofprivate-sector 

procurement programs and practices 

for women-owned businesses. 

To bridge the research gap, the 

National Women's Business Council 

in 1994 conducted a survey of 

Fortune 500 corporations to identify 

programs designed to attract women 

as vendors and suppliers of goods 

and services. Seventy percent of 

respondents reported that within the 

last ten years, they had established 

vendor/supplier programs for 

women-owned businesses. Half 

of those with programs said they 

characterize women as "disadvantaged 

businesses" (DBE).23 

Several ofthose responding 

acknowledged that the federal 

government's programs for minorities 

and women served as a model for their 

programs and that their own success in 

receiving government contract awards 

was due in part to the strength of their 

subcontracting relationships with 

women and minority-owned 

businesses. 

The NWBC survey took the important 

first step in establishing the interest in 

and need for further research. Key to 

advancing this effort are: the 

establishment ofuniform, nationwide 

certification criteria for women 

contractors; and the development of an 

on-line database for the identification 

and sourcing of qualified womenowned firms. 

Method of Inquiry 

The first task of this project would be 

to conduct a survey which would 

follow upon the 1994 NWBC 

Corporate Procurement Survey to 

determine what procurement outreach 

programs for women-owned 

businesses exist. Having built a data 

base describing each of the programs, 

researchers can then (1) develop a set 

of relevant measures for assessing the 

relative effectiveness of such public 

and private sector efforts and (2) 

develop criteria for establishing a 

model program. 

8 National Research Agenda 
Question#4 

Global Best Practices: 

"What special needs and challenges do women face 

in global markets?" 

Purpose 

The purpose of this study is to 

identify the needs of women 

business owners who are entering or 

have entered the global marketplace. 

Through interviews with successful 

women exporters, researchers will 

seek to determine what motivates 

their entry into foreign markets, 

what special challenges they face 

and what women find most helpful 

in achieving their foreign market 

goals. It is hoped that a survey of 

this nature will serve to encourage 

more women business owners to 

successfully enter the global 

marketplace.Among the relevant 

questions are: 

•	 What motivated the business 

owner's interest in exploring 

foreign markets? 

•	 What public or private sector 

educational, training, financing or 

other programs did she find most 

helpful? What assistance was 

lacking? 

•	 What special gender-based 

obstacles or opportunities, if any, 

did she face in foreign markets? 

If she encountered special 

cultural or other biases, how 

was she able to overcome them? 

•	 Did she experience difficulty in 

securing export financing? 

•	 How was she able to secure 

partners and distributors in 

foreign markets? 

•	 How was she able to gain entre 

and government approvals for 

her investment or products and 

services? 

Method ofInquiry 

While controlling for size, industry, 

years in business, proximity to and 

familiarity with foreign markets and 

other variables, researchers will 

survey samplings of women who 

have entered export markets to 

determine their motivation, degree 

of satisfaction, sources of assistance 

and recommendations. Their 

inquiries will probe beyond the 

broader issue of such trade barriers 

as subsidies, tariffs and quotas and 

focus on the unique challenges 

women face abroad and what kinds 

of special assistance might be 

needed. 

National Women's Council Members Margaret 

Smith, President. National Association of 

Women Business Owners and Ella Williams, 

Presidenl and CEO. Aegir Systems 

9 
Question #5 

Young Women Entrepreneurs: 

"What are the most effective techniques in
 

engaging young women in their own economic development?"
 

Joline Godfrey, author and founder. An 

Income" of Her Own. " 

Purpose 

This study seeks to identify how 

public and private sector programs 

can most effectively encourage 

young women to develop the skills 

that will lead to economic self 

sufficiency, potentially through 

entrepreneurship. Just as federal 

initiatives to emphasize math and 

science education for girls have been 

successfully incorporated in school 

curriculums, similar programs that 

focus on economic literacy could be 

developed and implemented. 

Researchers must identify what 

programs have been created, which 

have been successful, and how their 

successes can be replicated and 

expanded. 

Among the key questions to be 

investigated are: 

•	 What techniques/programs have 

been most effective in engaging 

young wqmen in their own 

economic development? 

•	 Identify and evaluate programs/ 

initiatives that seek to build sound 

economic foundations and to 

develop entrepreneurial capacity 

in young women. 

•	 Is there value in single gender 

entrepreneurial-based programs 

for young people? 

Method ofInquiry 

Researchers will survey government 

agencies, educational institutions, 

trade associations, foundations, 

private corporations and others to 

determine what programs have been 

established to promote young 

women's entrepreneurial education. 

They will attempt to identify which 

have been most successful, and how 

those successes as well as new 

innovative partnerships can be 

broadened and adapted to reach a 

larger universe of youngwomen and 

girls. 

10 
Question #6 

"How are women redefining work?" 

Purpose 

The purpose of this study is to 

determine how women are redefining 

the concept of "work" in their choice 

of employment. 

Background 

Between 1975 and 1990, the number 

of self-employed women in the U.S. 

nonagricultural sector increased by 

145 percent (U.S. Current Population 

Surveys). Economists have attempted 

to explain this significant shift from 

employee to self-employed by 

pointing to declining real wage-andsalary earnings opportunities and the 

"glass ceiling" phenomenon. 

Qualitative surveys of women 

entrepreneurs give some 

clues as to why self 

ensure adequate time for nonmarket 

work; others create family-friendly 

work environments or work out of 

the home. There is also some 

evidence to suggest that reliance on 

traditional measurements of 

economic activity which emphasize 

profits and job creation, understates 

the overall contribution of womenowned businesses to society. 

Method ofInquiry 

This study will derive a truer 

measure of the overall economic 

contributions of self-employed 

women and their choice of a range of 

employment options by assessing 

both the market value and imputed 

nonmarket value of their work. 

Researchers will conduct a 

nationwide survey to identify trends 

in women's employment outside the 

traditional context of full-time, 

office-based, employer-directed labor. 

Surveys will be used to examine the 

factors which motivate women to 

start their own enterprises, and to 

investigate, using time-use 

information, how these self-employed 

women allocate their time among 

their market and nonmarket work. 

Alternative career choices and . 

definitions of "work" and 

"workplace" wiJI be identified, 

including the incidence of 

telecommuting, home-based and 

part-time self employment, 

subcontracting, job sharing, 

temporary and other forms of self~

directed employrrient. 

Models may be developed employment may be an which distinguish women increasingly popular owned enterprises from form of work for traditional business 

women, enabling them models and will ultimately to combine market and teach us a great deal about nonmarket work most trends in employment and efficiently. Some self­ how business will be employed women conducted in the next restrict the level of 

century. expansion oftheir 

businesses so that they 

II 
Question#7 

Best Practices Inside the Corporation: 

"How are women's unique management styles 

affecting today s businesses?" 

Purpose 

This project seeks to determine what 

differences exist in the management 

styles and business practices of 

women and men who own businesses 

and whether those differences matter. 

In a statistically significant sampling 

of business owners, researchers will 

consider such subject variables as 

age, race, education, gender, industry, 

years in business, number of 

employees, sales, and other factors 

against the following: 

•	 Do the management styles of 

women and men business owners 

differ and, if so, do those 

differences matter to the 

performance of the business? 

•	 What differences exist in the 

orientation towards risk of women 

and men business owners? Do 

these differences impact business 

performance? 

•	 Do the business practices of 

women and men business owners 

differ and, if so, do they matter? 

•	 Are there basic differences 19 

women and men business 

owners' strategies with respect to 

starting, growing and exiting their 

businesses? Are these strategies 

reflected in the actual record of 

performance? 

Background 

In a 1994 study conducted by the 

National Foundation forWomen 

Business Owners (NFWBO) and 

underwritten by American Express 

Small Business Services, the 

differences in management styles 

and thinking among men and women 

business owners were investigated. 

NFWBO found that the two groups 

think differently, manage differently 

and define success differently.24 

More than half of the women 

business owners (53%) emphasized 

intuitive or "right-brain" thinking, 

which stresses creativity, sensitivity 

and values-based decision making. 

Seven out of ten (71 %) men 

business owners emphasized logical 

or "left-brain" thinking, stressing 

analysis, processing information 

methOdically and developing 

procedures. Women business 

owners' decision-making style was. 

found to be more "whole-brained" 

- evenly distributed between right 

and left brain thinking - than their 

male counterparts. 

Two-thirds of women business 

owriers, compared to 56% of men 

business owners, were found to 

reflect on decisions: weighing 

options and outcomes before moving 

to action. The study found that 

women are more likely to gather 

information from business advisors 

and associates. 

More men business owners, (44% 

compared to 34% of women 

business owners) emphasize action 

and give greater attention to external 

events and activities than reflection. 

As for business practices, the study 

found that women entrepreneurs 

describe their businesses in family 

terms and see their business 

relationships as a network. Men 

entrepreneurs think in hierarchical 

terms and focus more on 

establishing clear rules and 

procedures. Women view men as 

better able to delegate; men admire 

that women are more perceptive and 

caring in their business relationships 

and able to balance different tasks 

and priorities. 25 

Method ofInquiry 

While the NFWBO study helped to 

shed light on the differences in 

thinking and management styles of 

men and women business owners, 

there remains a need for information 

on how those differences affect the 

performance of their respective 

businesses. 

Researchers will determine whether 

these differences do matter and if 

they provide a new insight into how 

businesses are being managed today. 

Researchers must also look at 

performance measures and how 

business practices and management 

styles correlate with business 

success. 

12 
Question # 8 

Women's Business Formation and Operating Patterns 

"Determinants of Growth in Women-owned Business" 

Purpose 

The purpose of this study is to 

determine the differences between 

women-owned businesses that grow 

and those that do not grow. It seeks to 

investigate what factors cause 

differences in growth, with a special 

emphasis on the business owner's 

motivation to grow her business. 

Among the answers sought are: 

•	 How do women business owners 

define growth - in revenue, 

number of employees, profitability, 

quality of product or service, 

benefits provided? 

•	 Do women business owners 

intentionally keep their businesses 

small and if so, why? What 

factors guide these decisions? 

Economic? Family? Control? 

•	 Do different business goals affect 

the growth rates among womenowned businesses? Do some 

women place a higher value on 

social goals over profit and growth 

goals? 

•	 What about survival? Are womenowned businesses more likely to 

survive if their owners had 

previous business experience? 

•	 Do difficulties in accessing 

capital limit the growth of 

women-owned businesses? 

Background 

Women-owned businesses are one of 

the most rapidly expanding sectors of 

the United States economy. A 1995 

Dun & Bradstreet-National 

Foundation for Women Business 

Owners (NFWBO) study found that 

women-owned businesses employ 35 

percent more people in the United 

States than the 1994 Fortune 500 

companies employ worldwide. 

They found that the highest growth 

rate among women-owned firms is 

among larger businesses, those with 

100 or more employees. The number 

of such firms grew by 18.3 percent 

between 1991 and 1994, compared to 

9.1 percent for all commercially 

active women-owned businesses. In 

addition, employment in these larger 

women-owned firms expanded by 

32.5 percent, compared to 11.6 

percent in all women-owned firms, 

and just 5.3 percent growth in 

national employment. 20 

The Dun & Bradstreet-NFWBO 

study also found that women-owned 

firms are more likely to have 

remained in business longer than 

the average United States firm. 

Yet, most businesses, including 42% 

of women-owned businesses, 

reported less than $25,000 in 

earnings per year. 

In order to build on these studies and 

analyze the determinants of growth 

of women-owned businesses, 

researchers will seek to combine 

attitudinal and motivational factors 

with the respective business owners' 

records of performance. 

Methodology 

In a statistically significant sampling 

of women business owners, 

researchers should control for such 

variables as: age, education level, 

years in the industry, type of 

business, and size of business, while 

asking the key questions outlined 

here. The dynamic nature of the 

central question of determinants of 

growth would suggest the need for 

a longitudinal data base that tracks 

attitudes as well as performance. 

The ultimate goal of a study of this 

nature is the creation ofjobs and 

wealth in the economy. The more 

that is known about the determinants 

of business growth, the more likely 

are policy-makers and businesses to 

make efficient decisions in the 

marketplace.As women-owned 

businesses become increasingly 

important as employers and creators 

of wealth in the United States 

economy, it is especially important 

to understand how they grow and 

why they grow. 

National Research Agenda 13 
Question#9 

Education/Training Investments: 

"What are the returns on investment in specialized 

education and training programs?" 

Purpose 

The purpose of this study is to 

determine the return on investment 

from specialized education and 

training programs that target the 

technical assistance and information 

needs of women business owners. 

This project seeks to accomplish 

three goals: I) create inventory of 

public and private sector-sponsored 

training programs that are designed 

to help all business owners; 

2) determine if and how those 

programs support women's 

entrepreneurial successes; and 

3) make recommendations on best 

practices and ways to improve 

current service levels for women. 

Researchers will investigate existing 

programs, design a relevant group of 

measures to assess their successes, 

and recommend improvements. 

Method ofInquiry 

Inventory ofPrograms: Surveying, 

government, foundation, and 

educational institution-sponsored 

programs, researchers will build a 

data base of training and education 

programs offered to prospective and 

present business owners. Included in 

the surveys will be descriptions of 

the programs' goals, methods of 

operation, eligibility requirements, 

number of applicants and 

participants, cost of the programs, 

and measures used by sponsoring 

entity to assess the effectiveness of 

their own programs. 

Measure Return on Investment: 

Having determined what kinds of 

programs exist to help women and 

men business owners, researchers 

should to develop a set of 

measurements for assessing the 

return on dollars spent for men and 

women business owners. Ifthere are 

programs specifically designed to aid 

women business owners, do their 

returns exceed or fall short of those 

aimed at helping the general 

population of business owners? 

Make Recommendations: Once the 

programs have been inventoried and 

their relative returns evaluated, 

researchers can begin to make 

recommendations aimed at filling 

gaps in services and developing best 

practices for serving business 

owners. 

Participants meet in expert work groups to identify topics for further research. 

14 Nationa! Research Agenda 
Question # 10 

"How do women business owners define success?" 

Purpose 

The goal of this study is to determine 

how women business owners define 

success. 

Background 

A 1994 NFWBO study on thinking 

and management style differences 

found that while men and women 

business owners agree there is more 

to success than monetary gain, 

women derive satisfaction 

and success from building 

relationships with 

customers and employees, 

having control of their 

own destiny and doing 

something they consider 

worthwhile. In contrast, 

male entrepreneurs more 

frequently described 

success in terms of 

gaining self-satisfaction 

for a job well done and 

achieving desired goals. 26 

In her 1992 book, Our 

Wildest Dreams, Joline 

Godfrey reported that 

women entrepreneurs 

identified "being taken 

seriously" as a motivating factor for 

starting their own business. 27 

Traditionally, analyses of successful 

businesses have concentrated on 

strict quantitative or bottom line 

determinants and have ignored or 

devalued other factors which women 

deem important to their success, (i.e. 

relationships, partnerships, family 

and community imperatives). 

Reliable data and case studies on 

women, their businesses, and the 

ways they do business is not readily 

available. What is urgently needed is 

new research on women's 

businesses, perhaps based on 

analytic framework, that is credible 

valid and based on their experiences. 

Expert Work Group participants share current data and research. 

Among the questions to be 

investigated are: 

•	 Do women define success 

differently than their male 

counterparts? How is this 

reflected in their business 

practices? 

•	 Do women do business 

differently? Does their experience 

contribute an additional set of 

variables for the analysis of 

business trends and outlook? 

•	 Do women hold a secret for 

doing business in the 21 st 

century? What effective 

strategies and structures do they 

employ in their business that hold 

lessons for all businesses? 

Method ofInquiry 

Through a series of 

interviews and case 

studies, researchers 

will determine how a 

cross- section of women 

business owners defines 

success and how they 

perceive their own 

contributions to society, 

their choices, career paths 

and other considerations. 

Also explored will be the 

correlation between their 

views on success and the 

performance of their 

businesses and whether traditional 

measurements of a business' success 

adequately reflect the visions, 

priorities and experiences of women 

business owners. 

National Research Agenda 15 
Who are the Women Entrepreneurs? 

Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School 

Different Needs for Distinct Groups of Women Entrepreneurs 

in the Changing Global Economy 

I 

n the course of researching 

her book, World Class, 

Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter 

looked at how globalization is 

changing all businesses, 

workplaces and communities. She 

found that women's enterprises are 

participating in the new global 

economy in many different areas but 

in two fundamental ways - as heads 

of companies that are positioned for 

strong growth in the new economy, 

and as heads of more marginal 

enterprises that are, in fact, a 

reaction to the new economy. 

Within each of these two broad areas, 

Kanter cited at least four examples 

of women's enterprises with 

important variations in motivation, 

characteristics and needs. These eight 

different kinds of businesses have 

eight distinct kinds of needs. She 

suggests that in order to make 

effective public policy, we must 

consider not just aggregate statistics, 

but we must also differentiate data 

by kinds of enterprises and their 

unique needs. It is only then that we 

can address what businesses need 

public support mechanisms and 

which business should be left to the 

marketplace. 

A. Positioned For Growth 

Born Global 

There are many women-owned 

businesses emerging in the global, 

high-tech world. Concentrated in 

such emerging industries of the 

future as software and biotechnology, 

they are headed by women with 

strong professional skills, advanced 

degrees, and backgrounds in research 

National Research Agenda 

Keynoter Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard 

Business School 

and development. These womenowned enterprises are, by their 

nature, designed to grow quickly 

from small businesses into large 

businesses. They literally are born 

global. 

Their needs are global in nature; they 

need to know how to enhance their 

connections to markets throughout 

the world. In order to build their 

businesses, these women need 

inclusion in trade missions, 

introductions to international 

partners, and contacts within foreign 

government ministries. They need 

market leads and credibility. 

Reinventing the Industry 

These women have reshaped or 

reinvented their industries with their 

own innovations and ideas. What 

this kind of business owner needs, 

initially, is not capital; it is partners 

and credibility. They need entree to 

big partners that will give credibility 

to their new concept while they are 

still in the fledgling stage. 

The Spin-Off Business 

These are headed by women who 

managed a department or unit of a 

corporation which then sold the unit 

to them. Changes in the global 

economy have created opportunities 

for these women to run their own 

companies in the defense, 

telecommunications, health care 

fields, or in any industry that has 

downsized as a result of changes in 

the regulatory or competitive global 

environment. 

What these women need are the 

resources, wherewithal, and 

encouragement to take those 

businesses out of the corporate 

mainstream and spin them off as 

independent units. And they must 

have credibility as they establish 

these businesses on their own. 

The 'Female Asset' Business 

A fourth kind of growth business is 

run by women who utilize the kinds 

of resources that are viewed as 

"female assets" to create their 

businesses. Taking a skill that is 

largely associated with women and 

that women have been performing 

on a marginal basis, they transform 

it into something with big business 

potential, like catering and events 

planning. Former social workers, 

volunteers for nonprofit 

organizations, and other women 

with traditional skills have turned 

them in to growing businesses. 

These women need help making the 

19 
transition from plying their 

professional skill to becoming a 

manager of an enterprise that 

employs other people. What they 

need is the training to make the 

transition from knowing how to be a 

good cook to knowing how to be the 

head of a large catering business. 

B. Reacting to Changes in the 

Economy 

The second broad grouping of 

women's enterprises includes those 

that emerge as a direct response to 

the changes that the economy has 

created forAmerica. They are 

somewhat more marginal enterprises 

and are having much greater 

difficulty establishing themselves. 

The Sideline Businesses 

The first of these more marginal 

businesses is what the National 

Association ofFemale Executives 

called "the sideline jobs."These 

arebusinesses run by women who 

mayor may not have full-time jobs 

but have begun businesses in their 

spare time to supplement the family 

income. The needs of this business 

owner are very different. Perhaps 

she could run her side line business 

full-time, but then that would 

require child care for her children. 

There are a number of social issues 

that would have to be addressed to 

help this kind of business owner. 

The Free-lance Business 

This group of women business 

owners includes independent 

contractors doing work that has been 

out-sourced by large companies on a 

free-lance basis. Many are found 

in the software industry, doing 

graphics, public relations, or other 

work. Whether they do so by choice 

or by necessity, these free-lancers 

have still another set of needs. They 

may need health insurance and 

brokers who will help them find new 

opportunities and to fill the dry 

periods between assignments. They 

also need training opportunities. 

There is a whole support system that 

is missing once they are no longer 

employees of somebody else. 

The Life-Style Sole Proprietors 

A third category is the life-style sole 

proprietors who are in a home-based 

business because they want to be with 

their children or prefer to work at 

home and are able to do so because of 

such technological advancements as 

the fax machine, e-mail and others. 

The challenge for the life-style sole 

proprietor is to find a support 

system. She needs the assistance of 

someone who can answer a legal 

question, type a memo, or learn a 

new computer system first. She also 

is missing training and learning 

opportunities, unless she pays for it 

herself, in which case she could fall 

further and further behind 

economically and technologically. 

Rising from Poverty 

And finally in the category of 

marginal women's businesses are 

those women who want to rise from 

poverty, not by finding ajob that may 

or may not exist,but by starting their 

own businesses in the community. 

Many find that they cannot get 

capital, not because no one wants to 

lend to small businesses, but because 

their businesses are too small. Their 

plans are not ambitious enough; 

banks are not inclined to deal with 

such small sums. So what these 

women need are lenders that offer 

very, very small loans so they can 

get started. 

And finally, Kanter said, what will 

most benefit women-owned 

businesses is if we understand the 

changes that the global economy has 

created for businesses, workplaces 

and communities of all kinds. In 

traveling to more than 23 cities on 

her book tour, she found that women 

do not want to be treated as a 

separate category with a separate set 

of issues that too often focuses 

strictly on family. 

According to Kanter, "What 

women want to know is whether 

there are sound economic policies 

that will help solve the problems of 

America, which increasingly are 

women's issues. Women want to see 

economic issues on the forefront and 

an economic security agenda that is 

credible. That is how they believe 

their own businesses will flourish ­

not simply by paying special 

attention to a special category called 

Women's Businesses but by 

effective support for all ofthose who 

care about their economic future and 

are willing to take responsibility to 

secure it." 

20 National Research Agenda 
Academic Research into Women's Entrepreneurial Issues 

Dr. CandidaBrush, Boston University School ofManagement 

The Methodology, Assumptions, and Focus Of Past Research 

Has Limited Our Understanding Of Women Business Owners. 

esearch on women's 

R entrepreneurship has 

been undervalued. 

There is a gap in the 

information we have 

about this important population. 

Instead of focusing on past causes 

and problems, our research agenda 

must ask good questions that will 

lead us to understand the added value 

women entrepreneurs bring into the 

economy. 

Why research women's 

entrepreneurship? 

Although women's share of 

businesses approaches 40 percent, a 

review of 200 government-sponsored 

studies between 1970-1992 revealed 

that fewer than 7 percent included or 

focused on women. This raises the 

risk that blanket government policies 

may not adequately address the needs 

of women who may face different 

obstacles in terms of regulation, 

procurement or trade. In academia, 

studies focusing on or including 

women in the entrepreneurship area 

comprise fewer than 10 percent of the 

total. This implies that theory 

development and empirical research 

is not including an important 

entrepreneurial population. Further, 

differences and similarities that may 

exist due to gender are not well 

substantiated by the evidence. 

Therefore, the gap in the presence 

and growth of women's 

entrepreneurship is not equivalent to 

the amount of research, which results 

in women's contributions being 

undervalued. 

National Research Agenda 

What do we know about 

women's entrepreneurship? 

Based on a fairly comprehensive 

review of more than 80 empirical 

studies, we know a great deal about 

who they are, the characteristics 

of women entrepreneurs and their 

business. Most research to date is 

descriptive, focusing on individual 

factors, and organization 

characteristics and problems. Little is 

known about business strategies, how 

women's businesses compare to 

male-owned enterprises, or effects 

of external environmental factors. 

Methodologies typically are survey 

design, cross-sectional, and frequently 

focus on a single sample. Measures 

frequently are derived from research 

on men, particularly those in the field 

of psychology. Therefore, we have 

descriptive studies of women and their 

businesses, but know little ofvalue. 

What do we need to know about 

women's entrepreneurship? 

We need to ask different questions; 

"how" and "why", rather than "what" 

and "who". Studies of individuals 

need to examine best practices, 

differences among groups of women, 

and between men and women, while 

studies of their organizations would 

investigate effective strategies, hightech and growth. Furthermore, the 

process of emergence, growth and 

expansion needs to be studied, as 

do the environmental influences of 

industry structures, regulations and 

policies. Our research needs to 

examine relationships, utilize 

comparative samples, develop theory 

and employ multiple measures. We 

need to know why and how women 

create, grow and manage their 

businesses. Through explanatory and 

predictive studies we will have value 

creation. 

Why does women's 

entrepreneurship matter? 

The lack of inclusion of women 

entrepreneurs in current studies 

creates inaccurate perceptions and 

false expectations in the business 

community about the behaviors of 

women entrepreneurs. These need to 

be removed and we can only do this 

with good evidence. For 

entrepreneurship education, the 

practices and stories of successful 

women need to be told along with 

those of men. For public policy, the 

similarities and differences among 

groups of women, and between 

women and men are not well 

understood. Furthermore, the 

importance of these differences is 

relatively unknown due to the lack 

of comparative research. Finally, for 

research, we cannot assume that sets 

of theories and findings derived 

from a single population will explain 

entrepreneurship. In order for us to 

know more about entrepreneurship, 

we need to include women 

entrepreneurs in our studies. 

21 
The State of Government Data Collection Efforts 

Bruce Phillips, Director ofEconomic Research, US Small Business Administration 

More Data, Better Data, and Data Sharing are Needed if Governments
 

Are to Help Advance Research into Women's Entrepreneurial Issues
 

T 

he central focus of 

government inquiries 

into women's 

entrepreneurial issues 

is the question ofjob 

creation, according to Bruce Phillips, 

Director ofEconomic Research for 

the Small BusinessAdministration. 

And because nearly eighty-five 

percent of women business owners 

do not have any employees, the 

challenge for policy-makers is to 

determine what it takes to get those 

women business owners to hire that 

first employee, borrow money, and 

acquire that first infusion of capital. 

Government must ask how this 

process can be encouraged. 

With the data resources at hand, 

Phillips said, we still do not know 

what we need to know: how many 

women business owners are creating 

jobs? We need to know how they are 

growing - within industries and 

among different demographic 

backgrounds and geographic areas ­

and we need to know it faster. 

Government alone cannot answer 

these questions; the answers must 

be sought in collaboration with the 

private sector, academia, and 

not-for-profit organizations. 

Since 1980, the research budget for 

the Small BusinessAdministration 

(SBA) alone has been reduced by 80 

percent, from $5 million to less than 

$1 million today. Yet as federal 

budgets decline, prohibitions against 

the sharing of data collected by 

government agencies become even 

more problematic. If data cannot be 

shared, how are private partnerships 

National Research Axenda 

with government agencies to be 

effective? 

Philips outlined the current state of 

government data collection on women 

business owners and identified a 

number of areas that need further 

attention: 

Access to Capital and Credit 

•	 We need to understand the 

finances of women-owned 

businesses and where their 

money comes from. Philips said 

most women start their 

businesses with less than $10,000. 

•	 While a fair amount of research 

has been devoted to the question 

of credit market discrimination, it 

relates only to those who were 

identified as having borrowed 

capital. What we do not know is 

who has not borrowed money 

because they believed they would 

be turned down or did not have 

the necessary collateral. 

•	 SBA is attempting to help with 

programs such as the LowDocumentation loan program, 

the Women's Pre-Qualification 

Program, and others. Over time 

SBA will be able to collect the 

only information on lending to 

women-owned businesses. Banks 

are currently prohibited from 

identifying lending patterns based 

on race or gender. 

Longitudinal Data Bases 

•	 We do not know how to track 

women-owned businesses over 

time. We need a longitudinal data 

base that can be shared on the 

Internet. 

•	 We need performance measures; 

over time, who is making a profit 

and who is not? 

•	 We need to prove that womenowned businesses are successful 

and for that, we need data. 

Unfortunately, this kind of data 

will not come from the Internal 

Revenue Service (IRS), it must 

come from the private sector. 

And if any data is shared within 

the government, it will have to be 

safeguarded properly to protect 

confidentiality. We need to figure 

out how to make the trade-off 

between confidentiality issues and 

the information that will show the 

power and the profitability of 

women-owned businesses. 

Philips concluded that government 

data collection and research efforts 

must be better prioritized. What 

is needed is more gender-specific 

information, from the U.S. Bureau 

of the Census, SBA, the IRS, The 

Bureau ofLabor Statistics, and 

other agencies who collect data. 

Finally, Phillips said, we have to 

ask what a business owner making 

$18,000 (the earnings for an average 

woman-owned, sole-proprietorship) 

needs to be able to grow much larger 

and hire employees. 

23 
The State of Privately-funded Research into Women's
 

Entrepreneurship
 

Julie Weeks, Director ofResearch, National Foundation for Women Business Owners 

Private Foundations and Public-Private Partnerships are Actively
 

Seeking the Answers To Questions of Women's Entrepreneurship
 

ummarizing the current 

state of research 

conducted by the National 

Foundation for Women 

Business Owners 

(NFWBO), Research Director Julie 

Weeks emphasized that one point is 

very clear: women-owned businesses 

are not just a temporary, flash-in-thepan phenomena. 

In late 1995, a joint project with 

Dun and Bradstreet revealed that the 

average age of women-owned 

businesses is now about the same as 

for all firms in the United States. 

Women-owned businesses are 

growing up and becoming and more 

mature businesses. Between 1991 

and 1994, women-owned firms were 

more likely to remain in business 

than other firms. 

Weeks said the Foundation found that 

women-owned firms are just as 

strong financially and just as 

creditworthy as all firms in the 

United States and that women-owned 

firms increasingly are diversifying 

into nontraditional areas. 

Private foundations like NFWBO are 

exploring the unique management and 

leadership styles of women-owned 

businesses. Weeks said they have 

found that women-owned businesses. 

are a little less hierarchical and are 

more participatory in their style of 

management. They have a greater 

balance between intuitive, right-brain 

thinking and logical, left-brain 

thinking; they are a little more 

National Research ARenda 

reflective when they make decisions. 

And they define success in their 

businesses differently. 

NFWBO has found that women 

business owners face some unique 

challenges. While access to capital is 

a problem for all business owners, 

studies have shown that women 

business owners rely more heavily 

on the use of credit cards. 

Weeks said that women business 

owners agree that their number one 

challenge is to be taken seriously by 

policy makers, corporate and 

financial decision-makers, and by 

women business owners themselves. 

Besides forming partnerships with 

corporations, NFWBO is actively 

partnering with academic researchers 

and sharing with them their data 

bases. 

Studies that will be released by the 

Foundation in 1996-1997 include: 

more specific comparisons of the 

financial strength and creditworthiness of women-owned 

businesses; inquiries into homebased women-owned businesses and 

how their characteristics differ from 

other business owners; volunteerism 

among women business owners 

versus that of the general population; 

and other issues. 

In conclusion, Weeks defined a 

number of "gaps" in the women's 

business ownership research base 

that are worthy offuture study: 

•	 The roots of, or paths to 

entrepreneurship for women: how 

are they are similar and how they 

differ; 

•	 The relation of family and 

life-style on business ownership; 

•	 Linking currently available 

information on management and 

leadership styles to business 

performance; we have seen that 

there are differences but we do 

not know if or how those 

differences matter; 

•	 Impact of diversity on the 

workplace: do men and women 

business owners approach 

diversity and work force issues 

the same and how does that 

impact the way their businesses 

operate? 

•	 Corporate downsizing or those 

who are spinning-off and starting 

firms: how is that changing the 

complexion of the business 

community today? 

•	 Longitudinal research: it is very 

important to look at womenowned businesses over time to 

see how changes and external 

factors are differentially affecting 

businesses by gender ownership; 

•	 And we need greater 

collaboration between the 

public and private sectors and 

academic organizations. 

25 
Sources
 

I. NFWBO News, p. I, analysis of new 

information available from the 1992 

Census of Women-Owned Businesses, 

The National Foundation for Women 

Business Owners, Ist Quarter 1996. 

2. Women-Owned Businesses: Breaking the 

Boundaries - The Progress and 

Achievement ofWomen-Owned 

Enterprises, Dun & Bradstreet 

Information Services and the National 

Foundation for Women Business Owners, 

1995. 

3. ibid. 

4. ibid 

5.	 U.S. Department ofCommerce, Bureau of 

the Census. 1992, Women-Owned 

Business 

6. The Use ofComputer Technology in 

Women-Owned Businesses, AT&T and 

the National Foundation for Women 

Business Owners, 1995 

7. Going Global: Women-Owned Businesses 

in the International Marketplace, AT&T, 

Met Life Small Business Center and the 

National Foundation for Women Business 

Owners, 1995. 

8. The Characteristics and Contributions of 

Home-Based Women-Owned Businesses 

in the US, AT&T, Met Life Small 

Business Center and the National 

Foundation for Women Business Owners, 

1995. 

9. Credibility. Creativity. and Independence: 

The Greatest Challenges and Biggest 

Rewards ofBusiness Ownership Among 

Women, AT&T, Met Life Small Business 

Center and the National Foundation for 

Women Business Owners, 1994. 

10. 

Compassion, 

Owned 

Employee 

Businesses: 

Benefits 

AT&T, 

Offered 

A 

Met 

Frameworkfor 

Life 

by WomenSmall 

Business Center and the National 

Foundation for Women Business 

Owners, 1994. 

II. Styles ofSuccess: The Thinking and 

Management Styles ofWomen and Men 

Business Owners, American Express 

Small Business Services and the National 

Foundation for Women Business 

Owners, 1994. 

12. 

Compassion, 

Owned 

Employee 

Businesses: 

Benefits 

AT&T, 

Offered 

A 

Met 

Frameworkfor 

Life 

by WomenSmall 

Business Center and the National 

Foundation for Women Business 

Owners, 1994. 

13.	 Women-Owned Businesses: Breaking 

the Boundaries - The Progress and 

Achievement ofWomen-Owned 

Enterprises, Dun & Bradstreet 

Information Services and the National 

Foundation for Women Business 

Owners, 1995. 

14. A Compendium ofNational Statistics on 

Women-Owned Businesses in the United 

States, p. 4-2, National Women's 

Business Council, 1994. 

15. Research Highlights, p. 4, 

National Foundation for Women 

Business Owners, 1995. 

16. Federal Reserve Board study of data 

from the 1993 National Survey of Small 

Business Finances, July 1995. 

17. A Compendium ofNational Statistics on 

Women-Owned Businesses in the United 

States, p. 4-2, National Women's 

Business Council, 1994. 

18. Federal Reserve Board study of data 

from the 1993 National Survey of Small 

Business Finances, July 1995. 

19. Survey conducted by IBM and the 

National Foundation for Women 

Business Owners, 1995. 

20. ibid 

21. The Use ofComputer Technology in 

Women-Owned Businesses, AT&T and 

the National Foundation for Women 

Business Owners, 1995 

22. 

Compassion, 

Owned 

Employee 

Businesses: 

Benefits 

AT&T, 

Offered 

A 

Met 

Frameworkfor 

Life 

by WomenSmall 

Business Center and the National 

Foundation for Women Business 

Owners, 1994. 

23. National Women:S Business Council 

Survey of Fortune 500 companies 

regarding women's procurement issues, 

1994. 

24. Styles ofSuccess: The Thinking and 

Management Styles ofWomen and Men 

Business Owners, American Express 

Small Business Services and the National 

Foundation for Women Business 

Owners, 1994. 

25. ibid. 

26. Credibility. Creativity, and 

Independence: The Greatest Challenges 

and Biggest Rewards ofBusiness 

Ownership Among Women, AT&T, Met 

Life Small Business Center and the 

National Foundation for Women 

Business Owners, 1994. 

27. Our Wildest Dreams, Joline Godfrey, 

1992, Harper Business, Champaign, II. 

Natiollal Research Agenda 27 
National Research Agenda Strategy Conference
 

Participants
 

RaydeanAcevedo 

NWBCMember 

RMCI 

OraAhimeir 

The Jerusalem Institute for Israel 

Studies 

HowardAldrich 

University of North Carolina 

Jeanie Barnett 

Women's Business Exclusive 

Diane Behm 

IBM 

Bonita L. Betters-Reed 

Simmons College 

Jeanne Brett 

The J.L. Kellogg Graduate School 

ofManagement 

Dr. Candida Brush 

Boston University 

Lenore H. Cameron, Esq. 

Pennsylvania Department 

of Commerce 

Kay Clifford 

Intermedia Inc. 

Mollie Cole 

Illinois Department of Commerce 

and CommunityAffairs 

MaryAnn Cropper 

Winegard Energy, Inc. 

Linda Darragh 

Women's Business Development 

Center 

National Research Agenda 

Leslie Davis 

South Shore Bank 

Anthoy DeLuca 

U.S. Department oftheAir Force 

Hattie Dorman 

Dorman andAssociates 

Ann McIlrath Drake 

DSC Logistics 

Gregory Elliehausen 

Federal Reserve System 

RonaF.Feit 

National Congress ofNeighborhood 

Women 

EdieFraser
 

Public Affairs Group, Inc.
 

John Galles
 

National Small Business United
 

Joline Godfrey
 

An Income of Her Own
 

Celia Gonzalez 

NationalAssociation forWomen 

BusinessAdvocates 

Barbara Grogan 

Western Industrial Contractors 

Dr. Sharon G. Hadary 

National Foundation for Women 

Business Owners 

JoAnn R. Hines
 

Women in Packaging, Inc.
 

Robert D. Hisrich
 

Case Western Reserve University
 

Carin Holmquist
 

University ofUmea
 

AnneP.Hyde
 

The Hyde Group, Inc.
 

Lindsey L. Johnson
 

Women Incorporated
 

Morton Kamien 

The J.L. Kellogg Graduate School 

ofManagement 

Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter 

Harvard Business School 

Lydia Kleiner 

U.S. Small BusinessAdministration 

Sarah Kovner 

U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services 

Margarette M. Lawless
 

Harris Trust and Savings Bank
 

Charles Lippitz
 

Lippitz Productions, Inc.
 

Barbara Lowrey
 

Federal Reserve System
 

The Honorable 

Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky 

Women's Campaign Fund 

Fe Morales Marks 

Department of theTreasury 

Susan Myrtetus McCann 

U.S. Small BusinessAdministration 

Nina McLemore 

Regent Capital Management 

Corporation 

29 
Martha Mertz 

ATHENA Foundation 

Bernard J. Milano 

KPMG 

Barbara Mistick 

The National Education Center 

for Women in Business/Seton Hill 

College 

Dr. Stuart Monroe 

Entrepreneurial Education 

Foundation 

Lynda Moore 

Simmons College 

John Muhlen 

University of Pennsylvania 

Betsy Myers 

The White House 

Teresa Nelson 

University of Illinois at 

Urbana-Champaign 

Susan E. Nicol 

Illinois Department of Commerce 

and CommunityAffairs 

Sally Patterson 

WinnerlWagner & Francis 

Bruce Phillips 

U.S.Small Business Administration 

Judith Phillips 

Harris Trust and Savings Bank 

Cathryn Ploger 

Deloitte & Touche, L.L.P. 

Cassandra Pulley 

U.S. Small BusinessAdministration 

HedyRatner 

Women's Business Development 

Center 

Lucille Reid 

Wells Fargo Bank 

Ruth Runyan 

U.S. Bureau of the Census 

Linda Schneider 

The Center for Women's Business 

Enterprise 

Diana Sciocchetti 

General ServicesAdministration 

Marjorie Sims 

Women's Policy, Inc. 

Leslie Smith 

NWBCMember 

NationalAssociation for Female 

Executives 

Margaret Smith 

NWBCMember 

NationalAssociation ofWomen 

Business Owners 

Nancy Smith 

U.S. Small BusinessAdministration 

Jennifer Starr 

Wellesley College 

Roseanne Stead 

ATHENA Foundation 

Robert L. Stevens 

Bryn MawrTrust Company 

Bernee D.L. Strom 

USA Digital Radio 

Dara Szliowicz 

University of Illinois 

Ellen Thrasher 

U.S. Small Business Administration 

Mabel Tinjaca 

Center for Entrepreneurial 

Leadership, Inc. 

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation 

Andrea F. Vernetti 

Business Women's Network 

SonaWang 

Inroads Capital Partners 

Julie R. Weeks 

National Foundation for Women 

Business Owners 

Kerstin Wennberg 

The Swedish National Board 

of Industrial and Technical 

Development 

Caren Wilcox 

NationalAssociation ofWomen 

Business Owners 

Ella Williams 

NWBCMember 

Aegir Systems 

Sherry E. Wilson 

ATHENA Foundation 

JohnWolken 

Federal Reserve System 

30 National Research Agenda 
Acknowledgements
 

The National Women's Business 

Council wishes to extend its thanks 

to the many individuals who 

generously lent their time, resources, 

and ideas to plan and implement the 

National ResearchAgenda 

Conference. In addition to the 

individuals identified below, without 

whom the conference would have not 

been a success, special thanks go to 

Barbara Mistick and the National 

Education Center for Women in 

Business at Seton Hill College for 

financial and academic support, 

Kathy Lydon for preparing the 

document, Tifenn Caudron for 

editorial direction, and Jennifer 

Drake for technical expertise. A 

special thanks goes to the Kellogg 

students who participated in the 

Kellogg Women's Business 

Association. We would like to 

extend a special thanks to the 

Kellogg faculty who facilitated 

conference break out sessions: 

Jeanne Brett 

Karen Cates 

Marika Lindholm 

Victoria Medvec 

Barry Merkin 

Judith Messick 

Steven Rogers 

Leigh Thompson 

Summit '96 Staff 

Alan Manwaring 

Executive Director 

Betsy Steiner 

Director 

Christine Pamuk 

Senior Project Manager 

Ryan Stevens 

Project Manager 

National ResearchAgenda 

Strategy Conference 

Martina Falkner 

Program Manager 

National ResearchAgenda 

Strategy Conference 

National Women's Business 

Council 

Amy Millman 

Executive Director 

Gilda Presley 

Administrative Officer 

The J.L. Kellogg Graduate 

Schoolof~anagement

Donald P. Jacobs 

Dean 

Marc Landsberg 

Director, External Affairs 

Katherine D. White 

Assistant Director, 

ExtemalAffairs 

Kelley McDonald 

Media Relaltions Coordinator 

Lisa McClung 

Officer, 

Women's Business Association 

Jeanne Perkins 

Officer, 

Women's BusinessAssociation 

Amy Smallenberger 

Officer, 

Women's Business Association 

NlItio/la! Research Age/lda 31