49
¨Alexandru Ioan Cuza¨ University Faculty of Economics and Business Administration RESEARCH PROPOSAL Entrepreneurship in Romania: Females versus males 1
¨Alexandru Ioan Cuza¨ University
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Entrepreneurship in Romania:
Females versus males
Student: Prihor Adina
1
Executive summary
The purpose of this study is to provide insights regarding the profile of the Romanian female and male entrepreneurs, their motivation for opening a business and factors influencing the process of opening a business. In order to fulfil the objectives mentioned above, a quantitative method will be chosen, in order to gather the primary data. The instrument used was the questionnaire. The questionnaire will be online. Before designing the final form of the questionnaire, a preliminary research will be conducted. The advantages of this method is that this method requires minimum costs and requires less time in gathering the necessary data, than other instruments.
Population and target groupThe chosen population is the population from Iasi and the target group is represented by males and females,that own at least one business, with ages starting from 18 years old.
Data collectionThe method used in gathering data will be the online survey based on a questionnaire. The respondents will be selected according to the next criteria: being a resident of the Iasi city, owning a business at the actual moment. The questionnaire will be spread through e-mail and the data will be gathered in 2 weeks. The estimated time for completing the questionnaire was around 7 minutes.
Proposed analysis and expected results After the primary research will be conducted, using the survey, the collected
data will be analysed with either using SPSS or Excel. The expected results should provide insights regarding the motivational factors when opening a business, for romanian female and male entrepreneurs. the factors influencing the process of opening a business, for female and male entrepreneurs from Iasi, Romania.
Also insights regarding the profile of female and male entrepreneurs from Iasi, Romania will be provided and the profile of the Romanian female and male entrepreneurs will be defined.
2
Introduction
Nowadays people developing businesses became one of the fastest growing population in the world. The entrepreneurs are bringing significant contributions in terms of innovations, employment and economic development. Many authors debate on the power of running a business from a female or a male perspective. The opinions are spread on one side or the other, regarding the entrepreneurial field, regarding the potential of women entrepreneurs versus the potential of male entrepreneurs.
Decisional context
Research problem
The research problem of the conducted research consists in providing insights related to the profile of female and male entrepreneurs from Iasi, Romania.
Research objectives
According to the research proposal, the objectives of the research are:
Define the motivational factors in opening a business, for female and male entrepreneurs from Iasi, Romania.
Define the factors influencing the process of opening a business, for female and male entrepreneurs from Iasi, Romania.
Define the profile of female and male entrepreneurs from Iasi, Romania.
Literature review
History of entrepreneurship
Modern business theory argues that entrepreneurs are the ones that through innovation and the development of their business, transform the circular flow of economic statistics in a dynamic flow. But from where do the roots of the entrepreneurship begin? Mihai Ghenea (2011, p. 31), says that in all historical periods, be it ancient times, be it medieval age, entrepreneurship has been linked to more than pastoral or agricultural activities, or engineering and architecture .Many of the castles, fortresses, churches and bridges that were built in this period, even if they were ordered by the kings, were still made by architects and engineers who have managed large projects such as the business today. In this sense, people like Leonardo da Vinci or
3
Michelangelo were also still some entrepreneurs .Skipping the end of the Renaissance and Middle Ages, European Industrial Revolution in England was in reality the event that fundamentally changed the relationship between labour and capital, enabling a new type of entrepreneurship, the one that we refer to today.In the opinion of Mihai Ghenea (2011, p.32), Romanian entrepreneur, a clear moment of entrepreneurship was in 1775 , the year in which James Watt made a partnership with Matthew Boulton to exploit patented improved steam engine .This year may be considered the date of birth of modern entrepreneurship because it is important from many points of view: the business has become a tremendous success in the next 120 years, becoming one of the leading British manufacturer of steam engines .During this time, it was established the first American company joint- stock, also .
According to Berg Nina Gunnerud in the article entitled “Gender, place and entrepreneurship”, starting a business is referred as one of the phases of entrepreneurial activity, meaning that this isn’t seen as a starting point in entrepreneurship. By searching and finding entrepreneurial opportunities and later, using them into your own benefit, this is what, according to the article, is seen as the starting point of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is a complex concept, which many authors, specialists of different fields like economy, sociology, psychology and sciences, along the years, tried and still try to define it. Despite all efforts, no consensus has been reached regarding the margins of the definition of entrepreneurship, but one thing on which everyone agrees is that the entrepreneurship positively influences on a country’s economy. Another thing that the majority agrees regarding entrepreneurship, is that it is more a behaviour rather than a personality trait.In the majority of the definitions about entrepreneurship, there is a common agreement, related to entrepreneurship as being represented by a behaviour defined by taking initiative, organizing and reorganizing of social and economic mechanisms to turn resources and situations into practical account and accepting risk of failure.
Authors defined entrepreneurial activity in various ways. Kjeldsen and Nielsen (2000, p.6), are defining it as the growth of newly enterprises constitutes the sustenance in terms of maintaining a country’s global competing force, economic growth, economic development, employment, and living condition.
According to Robert Hisrich (2009, p.52) the entrepreneurship is a the creation of something distinct with value through allocating the essential time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychological, and social risks that come along and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction.
Peter Drucker (1985, p.22) is describing the entrepreneur as a person looking permanently for changes, responds and explores them as an opportunity. The definition given by him related to entrepreneurship describes it as the process of starting a business after you identified opportunities. Most often, entrepreneurship is difficult to initiate and a large part of these initiatives ended up with bankruptcy. Entrepreneurial activities are substantially different depending on the type of organization initiated and entrepreneurship, itself, can take different forms, from individual projects to large scale initiatives that create jobs.
4
There is a theory according to which the term “entrepreneurship” or the studies made on it, can be split in two conceptualization categories (Robert Hisrich,2009, p.54) Firstly, according to Gartner Gartner (1988, p.62), is related to entrepreneurship as the development of new enterprises. To be more specific, when selling an invention, product, if the inventor uses his existing firm there isn't any entrepreneurial act.On the other hand, the other category sees the entrepreneurship as the creation of new economic activity. Any product, invention can be sold, as Robert Hisrich (2009, p.58), says “by existing or newly created firms or through trading them on the market”
Types of Entrepreneurship
According to Mihai Ghenea (2011), there are three types of entrepreneurship. Generally when we talk about entrepreneurs, we think only at those people who develop their own business project based on an idea, assuming the risks that it implies and finally benefiting from the results of the business, if it becomes successful. But in reality, there are many areas in which, based on an idea, people can develop valuable projects, not only business, but other types of projects: social, political, research.Social entrepreneurship. This type of entrepreneurship has been identified only after 1960.The most remarkable example of social entrepreneurship is Florence Nightingale, who developed the first independent school of nurses. Social entrepreneurship consists identifying a social problem and start solving this social problem throughout specific business methods like structuring an organization and adaptation action, financing and development of NGO's.Netrepreneurship. This types of entrepreneurs have dramatically changed the global image of the modern economy, starting with the 90s, they are based on an unprecedented growth that culminated with companies Google or Facebook.
Intrapreneurship. It is an action to support those managers within an organization to accomplish goals related to development or change, throughout business methods.
Role of Entrepreneurship in economic development
In highly-developed and developing countries, today, entrepreneurship became an essential fundamental in fast economic growth. Speaking about the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth, this action is not only about growing the capital production and income. It is also about initiating and constituting change in the business and society.
In their effort to carry out such activities , prospective entrepreneurs are supported in their development by a large number of organizations, government agencies, business incubators or even NGOs .Entrepreneurship has a significant contribution to society and the development process of it, some of its obvious benefits are:
creating new markets through creative capacity and resources that they benefit of, the entrepreneurs can meet new needs with new innovative products
5
discovery of new resources - entrepreneurs are most dissatisfied with traditional materials and resources and seek to find alternatives to ease the task and to improve their performance .
leverage resources - the status of the organizers and coordinators of the process for obtaining a product , entrepreneurs are directly responsible for the proper allocation of capital and human resources. Combining them effectively provides competitive advantage.
the introduction of new technologies , industries and products - innovative and risk lovers , entrepreneurs take advantage of every opportunity to turn it into a profit opportunity .
creating jobs -millions of jobs are created by the private sector , being among the top of employers. The entrepreneur represents often the force necessary to achieve economic progress throughout innovation , investing the resources and desire to progress the development of new opportunities. Entrepreneur's work creates new ways to define problems, he brings innovation, creativity, initiative, direct action and development of opportunities.
The Entrepreneur
Economical function versus individual characteristics
After defining entrepreneurship, it is appropriate to focus on the person that does all this activity, the entrepreneur.
As in the case of entrepreneurship, there isn't a clear definition of the entrepreneur, the analysts defining the role of the entrepreneur in the literature, in different ways and from different points of view.
The Entrepreneurship's study can be split into two approaches: some authors define the entrepreneurial activity as being an economical function, while the other approach focuses on the individual characteristics (Stevenson,2000, p.4).
Individual Characteristics Approach
According to the individual characteristics perspective, the essence of the noun “entrepreneur” comes from France and in translation has the meaning of one who takes in between (Deakins & Freel, 2003, p.3). According to Swedberg (2000, p.11), the entrepreneur is found firstly in the Middle Ages and had the meaning of the person who is active, who gets things done. Around 1723 in France the entrepreneur was described as being someone that manufactures a project In the 18th century, England had defined the entrepreneur as being also an undertaker or an adventurer.From Baumol’s (1990, p.897) perspective, the entrepreneurs are seen as creative persons in terms of finding ways that add to their own wealth, power and prestige.
Other analysts were defining the entrepreneur as a person which starts its own, new and small business. One analyst being against these definition is Drucker (1985,
6
p.45)which says that not every new small business is entrepreneurial or represents entrepreneurship. Also, not every entrepreneurial business is innovative.According to Peter Drucker (1985, p.47) the entrepreneurs are people who see “change” as the standard. Entrepreneurs regard change as essential and welcome it as beneficial to the lives of big corporations and small businesses alike. Some other authors, like, Joseph Schumpeter(Brouwer, 2002, p.90)define entrepreneur as an innovator and one who develops untried technology, while David McClelland (1961)opinioned that entrepreneur is an energetic, moderate risk taker.From the perspective of Albert Shapero (1976), the entrepreneur is that person which takes initiative, organizes, some social and economic mechanism and accepts risks of failure.
Economical Approach
A multitude of opinions and definitions have arisen in defining the entrepreneur, economically. Presenting above researchers opinions about defining entrepreneur in terms of individual characteristics, the next pages will present the opinions of experts about the entrepreneur, from the economical perspective
Richard Cantillon and Jean Baptiste Say, two significant economic French analysts, see the entrepreneur as being “an organizer of factors of production” (Deakins and Freel, 2003, p.3).In Cantillon's opinion the entrepreneur is the key player in economical development. According to his theory the entrepreneur's role is related to individual property rights. Cantillon's entrepreneur as a risk-taker, he defines him as being determinate to buy at a certain price and sell at an uncertain price (Swedberg, 2000, p.78). In other words, in his point of view, the entrepreneur is motivated to anticipate risk for the search of profit.
Jean Baptiste Say sustains the central role of the entrepreneur in economic change and growth. Say is seeing the entrepreneur as a trader of innovation, rather than an innovator (Deakins and Freel, 2003, p.4).
Israel Kirzner, American economist, representing of the Austrian School of Economics, studies the entrepreneurial activity from a cognitive point of view, focusing on understanding the intrinsic stimuli that have a certain influence on the entrepreneur’s behavior (Das and Teng, 1998, p.71). Kirzner elaborates a theory of creative alertness, pointing out the entrepreneur’s behavior and desire to discover and utilize opportunities, that others do not witness (Das and Teng, 1998, p.73). Summarizing, in Kirzner’s opinion the entrepreneur is opportunistic in planning and showing evidence of low risk-averting behavior (Das and Teng, 1998, p.74).
Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian economist, founder of the term "creative destruction through competition" is recognize as one of the most acknowledged figures in entrepreneurship theory. Schumpeter sees the entrepreneur as being an innovator, developing new technologies. In his opinion the entrepreneur’s is related to the ability of disturbing the economic status quo through innovations (Goss, 2005, p.206). From Schumpeter's point of view the primary internal element in the evolution of capitalism is related to innovation (Metcalfe, 2004, p.163). Innovation, or according to
7
Schumpeter's definition “the carrying out of new combinations” (Baumol, 1990, p.896) is related to a new good's introduction, quality, the introduction of a new method of production, new market segment's opening, the conquest of a new source of supply of raw materials and also it refers to the carrying out of a new organization of an industry (Ebner, 2003, p.130).
In Mark Casson's opinion, economics professor, the entrepreneur is defined as an organizer of resources (Deakins and Freel, 2003, p.3). He sees the entrepreneur as a specialized person in taking judgmental decisions about coordinating scarce resources (Blaug, 2000, p.85). Cassons's entrepreneur possess a unique set of skills and resources which enable him in gaining competitive advantage.
Types of Entrepreneurs
In defining the types of entrepreneurs, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor released a study in 2000, in which uses the following terms to present entrepreneurship adult population:
Entrepreneurs in training - are those who are actively planning to start a business. These entrepreneurs have taken concrete actions in the last 12 months to start a new business which alone or jointly with others will hold. Activities such as organizing a team, looking for equipment to start saving some money and prepare a business plan can be considered as activities undertaken for starting a business. These businesses haven't made payments of salary or any other payments to the owner in the last three months.
Owners of new firms - are those entrepreneurs who own and manage a business operation that paid wages or any other payments made to owners for a period between 4 and 42 months. These companies have been started by a period of less than 42 months.
Entrepreneurs in early stage - entrepreneurs include both emerging and new firm entrepreneurs .Consecrate business owners are those entrepreneurs who own and manage a company that paid wages or any other payments made by the owner for a period greater than 42 months
Entrepreneurs - Born or Formed?
One of the issues that gave birth to many debates is whether entrepreneurs are born with the qualities needed to develop entrepreneurial activities, or they can be educated in this regard. According to a survey conducted in 2012, Dr.Noam Wasserman, a professor at Harvard Business School, says that people can acquire skills needed to be successful entrepreneurs. They can learn the technical processes and the mistakes of others to avoid them.
8
On the other hand, Victor Hwang venture capitalist in Silicon Valley says that unlike accounting, engineering or medicine, entrepreneurship can not be taught in schools. According to him, the life of an entrepreneur is too messy. You must have a wide range of personal experiences to help you get through unexpected moments, unprecedented and difficult to quantify.
Scientific methods say... A study conducted by auditing and consulting firm Ernst & Young (E & Y) shows that 60 % of successful entrepreneurs have previously worked in a large company, and 30% of them say that this was the key to success .
The Romanian entrepreneur Alexander Lapusan founder Zitec says that it is not a good idea to go into entrepreneurship right after you finished school and it is advisable to first work in a company. He mentions the importance of work experience in an organized system. Firstly you see what a company is, how it works, what processes and problems are there, how to find clients, how conflicts are resolved between colleagues. If you enter directly into entrepreneurship, you will not have this experience. You learn these things, but on your own money. He says it's fun to venture into business without having the experience, but the chances of successful start- ups are much lower. That’s because you have to learn and have performance at the same time, which is difficult, he said in an interview for "The Manager" magazine.
Entrepreneur - Functions and attributes. The "4 A's"
Mihai Ghenea (2011, p. 46), Romanian entrepreneur, explains the classical theory of the entrepreneurial functions, building a list of the "4 A's". In the next rows I will present briefly the "4 A's" list built by him.Aggregation. The first and most important function of an entrepreneur is the aggregation of the various components that lead to the development of a business. Traditionally, the entrepreneurs were seen as intermediaries between these components of economic activity, but in reality, the entrepreneurial function is much more complicated than a mere intermediary, is an aggregation of resources. An entrepreneur must be able to put together more effectively, not just sources of capital with labor, but also ideas, innovations, people's working in the business motivations .Arbitration. According to Mihai Ghenea (2011, p.47 ), since the ancient times, the winners were not the strongest or the fastest, but those who were best adapting to the situation .To adapt as well to the existing situation and to intuit how accurately are the changes that might occur in the future, you must have and use the best information. This is actually arbitrage entrepreneurship: entrepreneurs use their own system of business intelligence that helps them find information faster than the market, than competitors. This information is critical for business success and the use of asymmetric information is vital. Successful entrepreneurs use information asymmetry, managed to turn it into an arbitration symmetry which gives them increased competitiveness.
9
Advance. The correct term would be innovation, but the term is more suitable for the advance, when we talk about innovation, people start with the wrong idea, thinking always that we only talk about these breakthrough innovations that change the paradigm itself, such as the light bulb when in fact the discussion is about a lot of small changes in the form of an advance towards a product, a service or a different approach to the existing market.Assumption (risks).An entrepreneurial function key is linked with risk-taking. There are two categories of opinion. On the one hand there are proponents of the theory that entrepreneurs are, by nature, people with high risk appetite. The second theory refers to entrepreneurs who have an appetite for risk, assuming only controllable risks.According to Mihai Ghenea (2011, p.46/47), this is the list of the four functions of entrepreneurship.
The Entrepreneur - personal characteristics
When speaking about the personal characteristics of an entrepreneur there is an impediment, related to the difficulty of examining this subject (DeVries, 1977, p.43), due to unclear definitions existing on the concept of entrepreneur (Deakins and Freel, 2003. p.4)David McClelland (1987, p.223), American psychologist, sustains in his study of entrepreneurship, that an successful entrepreneur should have the next key competencies:
high need in terms of adaptability achievement in perceiving and acting in advantageous situations
the entrepreneur should take own initiative or responsibility, in terms of undertaking an activity or creating changes
the entrepreneur is a moderate risk-taker, trying to avoid taking high risks; the entrepreneur is spontaneous. He doesn't like to follow an habitual or fixed
way of doing things.
Another opinion regarding the qualities of an entrepreneur, in an Romanian perspective this time, belongs to Mihai Ghenea (2011, p.41/43) which creates a profile of the entrepreneur having the next mandatory qualities:
Vision Intelligence and creativity Knowledge of the industry Perseverance and determination Charisma and persuasion Responsibility Decision maker Problem solver Gut feeling Positive Thinking Passion for own business Personal Ethics Trust in people Attitude
10
Entrepreneurship environment – in Romania
In political economics, entrepreneurship is the process of identifying and starting a new business venture, sourcing and organizing the required resources, while taking both the risks and rewards associated with the venture.In Romania, from 5 youngsters one is an entrepreneur, nowadays, while the other four have regular jobs!Entrepreneurship can be a solution to the problems of economic development and economical system cannot be stimulated without understanding. How does the Romanian entrepreneurial economical system looks like today?Surprising well, according to data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and the European Commission .Romania is the first country in the European Union in terms of entrepreneurial intentions, 27% of Romanian saying they would start off on their own. The percentage is more than double than the average in the EuropeanHowever, problems arise when we look at sustainability of the entrepreneurship .Romania ranks 6th in the European Union (as Austria, Estonia, Latvia, the Netherlands and Slovakia ) in terms of total entrepreneurial activity : 9% of the working population is in the process of starting a business or developing their own start- ups. However it occupies last place in Europe in terms of sustainable entrepreneurship: more than half of newly established companies fail to survive the critical period of 42 months (they close or suspend their activity ).
Factors influencing the entrepreneurships’ environment development
Entrepreneurs characteristicsEntrepreneurs share a common set of features that help them start their own business and increase their chances of success. These include leadership skills , ability to work , the degree of independence desired, risk tolerance or level of responsibility and willing to assume. According to some studies, Romanians are not prepared in this regard and feel the need to develop these characteristics through educational programs.
Several factors were identified according to statistics and researches, and they are related to:Access to finance sourcesA big problem is the lack of Romanian entrepreneurial ecosystem access to finance .Although 48% of Romanian want to start off on their own, more than half of them say they do not have the financial resources necessary to do so. Fears of insufficient funds are added and linked to the inability to return the debts. These problems diminish with increasing age when entrepreneurs realize that there are many financing options available in Romania and abroad. Taxes and administrative barriersFees and administrative barriers are a major impediment to the development of entrepreneurship in some regions .Regardless of age , respondents unanimously agreed
11
that the fees and taxes are high , and corruption and inefficiency in the existing public institutions have a negative impact on their business development opportunities . Connection linksIn Romania develop strong entrepreneurial communities in large cities, but they are not yet sufficiently present. Young also accuses the lack of business connections and mentors relevant to them. There were , however, significant differences by age : the network of contacts of a person increases significantly with age , which brings business and new connections and support they need from mentors .In addition , there are significant differences between entrepreneurs and those who haven't already started their own business , the first having developed network access connections and business mentoring . Culture and social capitalEntrepreneurial culture plays an important role for the development of entrepreneurship and Romania is excellent in this regard, having developed social capital and a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship. But when we look at the types of people who influence the general opinion on entrepreneurship , we note that successful entrepreneurs , media, events and friends have a high positive impact .At the opposite pole , however, teachers , career counselors , parents and family , which affects the probability of becoming a young entrepreneur.Entrepreneurial education23% of the Romanian states that participated in at least one entrepreneurial education program , the percentage is equal to that in the European Union. However, they are dissatisfied with the quality of entrepreneurship education received and believes that they are supported by people who have no connection with the business .The lack of connection between school and business entrepreneurship education is the main problem in Romania, and the solution consists in the improvement of the level of sustainability of newly established companies.Public policiesWhen it comes to the state , instead of fostering the development of entrepreneurial ecosystem , community measures are seen as a major impediment to development. Active members of the business community are aware of the policy to support entrepreneurship, but they consider them inappropriate. The lack of results is due to a poor understanding of the Romanian business environment and endemic corruption that affect measures taken at all levels.
Entrepreneurship – female versus male perspectives
Nowadays people developing businesses became one of the fastest growing population in the world. The entrepreneurs are bringing significant contributions in terms of innovations, employment and economic development. There is a strong debate regarding the potencial of women entrepreneurs versus the potencial of male entrepreneurs. Different authors released researches, sustaining the entrepreneurship from a feminin point of view or from a masculin point of view. According to statistics released by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and the European Commision in 2010, in Romania, the number of male entrepreneurs was higher than the number of the femele entrepreneurs. In the next table above are presented some characteristics that, both female and male entreprenerus share in terms of business owned.
12
2.1 Methodology
Research design
In order to fulfill the objectives mentioned above, a quantitative method was chosen, in order to gather the primary data. The instrument used was the questionnaire, applied on a sample of 41 respondents. The questionnaire was held online. Before designing the final form of the questionnaire, a preliminary research was conducted. The advantages of this method were that this method requires minimum costs and requires less time in gathering the necessary data, than other instruments. A major disadvantage is that it contains many opened questions, hard to quantify. In the beginning, the instrument chosen was the interview, but due to the fact that the respondents didn’t want to participate in the interviews, for several reasons, I had to stick to this method. Even so, it was hard to gather the necessary data, because people were not interested in the study: in order to obtain the sample of 41 respondents, I had to ask 70 persons.
Population and target group
The chosen population was the population from Iasi and the target group was represented only by women and males, that are owning at least one business, with ages starting from 18 years old.
Preliminary research
A small preliminary research was conducted before designing the final form of the questionnaire. The preliminary research was conducted on a sample of 7 students from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, and it had the purpose of helping in designing the final form of the questionnaire.
Questionnaire design
The questionnaire had 14 questions and it was structured in 3 parts. In the first part (questions 1-5, 13-14) was created to gather data related to details of the business owned by the respondents. The second part (questions 6-9) focused on finding out details about obstacles and beliefs of the respondents according to entrepreneurship The third part (questions 10-13) was designed in order to gather data related to attitudes and beliefs of the respondents towards entrepreneurship field.The questionnaire was held online, using the mail, during a week and it was designed in Romanian. It was applied on 70 persons, having a rate of return of 51 answers, 25 females, 26 males.
Data collection
13
The method used in gathering data was the online survey based on a questionnaire. The respondents were chosen according to the next criteria: being a resident of the Iasi city, owning a business at the actual moment. The questionnaire was spread through e-mail and the data was gathered in a week. From 70 questionnaires spread only 51 were gathered due to the lack of interest and time of the persons. The estimated time for completing the questionnaire was around 7 minutes.
Data analysis
Descriptive analysisIn the next pages, the results of the questionnaire will analyze to see if the established objectives are achieved. In order to do this data related to personal profile (age, studies), business profile (year, domain of activity, obstacles), personal perception on entrepreneurship, will be gathered. After this the results will be presented, in the next pages, using Excel graphs. In order to have valid data the respondents questioned had to own a business.
Figure 1 - working condition of respondents/ females Figure 2- working condition of respondents/ males
According to the questionnaire’s respondents, 88% of them are owning a business, while 12 % of them are Freelancers. Freelancing is a form of entrepreneurship. According to other entrepreneurs, the ones that are in this position are entering in a similar activity like one of a company, from the beginning he is a business owner of his own work. A difference between a freelancer and an entrepreneur is related to time. The freelancer sells his time on money, while the entrepreneur invests his time to produce passive income. On the right chart, according to the respondents, 100% of the are owning a business.
Firstly, data regarding the business profile, of the female and male entrepreneurs from Romania, were gathered.
14
Figure 3 Business domain of activity / females Figure 4- Business domain of activity/male
According to Figure 3.3 and Figure 3.4 Business domain of activity, the female and male entrepreneurs have a common domain of business, Trade/Selling, in which the difference relates to the number of businesses run. Businesses run by males are found in a higher percentage (80%) in comparizon with business run by females (24%).
Figure 5 Size of the business owned/females Figure 6 Size of the business owned/males
As the figures are showing, in terms of the size of the business owned, the majority of the female respondents run a micro business with 1-9 employees, while most of the male respondents own a medium business with 10-49 employees. A common point that both sides have is the fact that none of the respondents runs a large business with more than 250 employees.
Figure 7 Year of opening the business/females Figure 8- Year of opening the business/males
In terms of the first business opened, according to the figures above, 24% of the female respondents opened their first business in 2011 or 2013, as well as 35% of the male respondents. As presented in the literature review, at the beginning of the thesis, researches
15
estimate that, in terms of profitable years, 2014 will be breakout year for female entrepreneurs opening their businesses.
Figure 9- Type of business owned/females Figure 10 Type of business owned/males
The figures above present results related to the type of businesses Romanian entrepreneurs run nowadays. On the female entrepreneurs’ side the majority, 69%, run a business opened by themselves. On the males side the number of entrepreneurs that opened their own business is greater than the female entrepreneurs, with a percentage of 89.
Another objective of the research was to provide insights regarding the motivational factors n opening a business, of the romanian entrepreneurs, which will be a step in defining the profile of the Romanian entrepreneur. The next results were gathered:
Figure 11 Reasons for opening a business/females Figure 12- Reasons for opening a business/males
According to Figure 11 and Figure 12, there is a higher desire of having control and freedom when running a business, among male respondents (65%) in comparison with the female respondents. Another stated reason for opening a business on the males side is related to the desire of taking own decision, while on the females side the second met reason is related to the fact of not wanting to work. Regarding the financial reward. Seeing this results, a conclusion could be that a common characteristic that female and male entrepreneurs are sharing is that they want to be independent, having freedom and control on their own decisions and work.
16
Figure 13 Obstacles in opening a business/females Figure 14 Obstacles in opening a business/males
In terms of obstacles met when opening a business, according to figure 3.13 and 3.14, a common obstacle of the romanian entrepreneurs is related to low financing sources, being more often met on the male entrepreneurs’ side (65%), in comparison with female entrepreneurs (34%). A second obstacle stated by the female respondents is related to combing the personal life with the professional life (17%), which might lower their business performance, in comparison, a small number of the male respondents (4%) found this as an obstacle.
In the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to describe, shortly, how they overcome the obstacles met and checked previously, in Figure 5.6, these results contribute in defining the features of the romanian entrepreneurs. The next results were gathered:
Figure 15 Ways of overcoming obstacles/females Figure 16 Ways of overcoming obstacles/males
According to figures 15 and 16 a common way of the managing obstacles when opening a business, for the male and female respondents, is related to selfconfidence. The male respondents think that a way of overcoming an obstacle is by being perceverent. Mostly, they are focusing on their own abilties in order to overcome the obstacles.
17
Figure 17 An entrepreneur shouldn’t…/females Figure 18 An entrepreneur shouldn’t…/males
In the questionnaire the respondents were asked to provide an advice for the future entrepreneurs. The results are presented in the tables above as it can be seen the male respondents advice the future entrepreneurs to have knowledge in business before starting a one (65%), while the female respondents are relating to the communication with others and the advice the future entrepreneurs to to never listen to others (24%),
Figure 19 Necessary things in entrepreneurship/females Figure 20 Necessary things in entrepreneurship/males
In terms of advices that the respondents would give to the future entrepreneurs, concerning the necesar things for success in entrepreneurship, are presented in the figures above.In the opponion of the respondents, the necesity for success consists in self-confidence (31%) on the females’ side, while for most of the male respondents the most important thing to succeed when running a business is related to perceverence (46%).
In the questionnaire the respondents were asked to rank the following statements in terms of how the entrepreneurship managed to meet expectation regarding them. How did entrepreneurship influenced the stated statements. The statements were ranked on a scale from 1 to 5, 1 –extremely weak, 2- weak, 3 – well, 4 – good, 5 – extremely good. The following results were obtained:
18
Figure 21 relationship between entrepreneurship Figure 22 relationship between entrepreneurship balance between personal and professional life balance between personal and professional life
Regarding how did the entrepreneurial activity influenced the balance between the personal life and the professional life, the most frequent answer, on the female respondents’ side, describing this relationship was “well” (35%). The next frequent answer, with a lower percentage, was “good” (29%). No female respondent considers that the entrepreneurial activity satisfied extremely good their expectation in terms of balance between personal and professional life. On the male respondents’ side the majority stated that the entrepreneurial activity satisfied “good” (77%) their expectations regarging the balance between personal and professional life.
In terms of ranking the statements related to how did the entrepreneurship met the expectations of the respondents in terms of financial reward, the next results were obtained:
Figure 23 Relationship between entrepreneurship Relationship between entrepreneurship
and financial reward and financial reward
According to table above most of the female respondents are quite satisfied with how entrepreneurship succeeded to meet their expectations regarding the financial reward, the majority (41%) describing these relationship as being “good”, while on the male respondents’ side the majority (81%) has the same oppinion. No female respondent is completly satisfied regarding the financial reward as they expected when it comes to entrepreneurship, while in the males’ side an significant percentage (19%) agrees that entrepreneurial activity met extremely good their expectation regarding the financial reward.
In terms of ranking the statements related to how did the entrepreneurship met the expectations of the respondents in terms of career development, the next results were obtained:
19
Figure 25 Relationship between entrepreneurship and career/females Figure 26 Relationship between entrepreneurship and career/males
According to results, 56% of the female respondents appreciated that the entrepreneurship met “extremely good” their expectation related to career development, while 88 % of the male respondents appreciate that the entrepreneurial activity met “good” their expectation related to career development. From the gathered results, the female respondents are more statisfied in terms of career development due to the entrepreneurship, than the male respondents.
In terms of ranking the statements related to how did the entrepreneurship met the expectations of the respondents regarding equal opportunities between men and women, the next results were obtained:
Figure 27 Relationship between entrepreneurship and equal opportunities Figure 28 Relationship between entrepreneurship and equal opportunities
According to the results above, 41% of the female respondents appreciated that the entrepreneurship met “good” their expectation related to equal opportunities. A bigger percentage of the male respondents (73%) agrees the same thing.
Another step of the conducted research was to create a profile of the romanian entrepreneur, in terms of qualities, in the opinion of the respondents. The respondents were asked to write
20
three mandatory qualities that an entrepreneur should have, according to their opinion. The following results were obtained:
Figure 29 Mandatory qualities for a women entrepreneur/females Figure 30 Mandatory qualities for a women entrepreneur/males
According to the figures above, the female respondents consider as mandatory qualities for an entrepreneur are: responsability (23%), perceverance (20%) and hard working (11%). On the male respondents’ side, perceverence(46%) is one of the most important qualities that the majority stated. The other two are related to creativity (23%) and will (15%).
In terms of preferences for business partners of the respondents, the results were the following:
Figure 31 Business partners preferred/females Figure 32 Business partners preferred/males
According to the results above all the male respondents agreed that they preffer working with both female and male business partners, while on the female respondents’ side a significant percentage (24%) preffers working mostly with women, when it comes to business.
Figure 33 Respondents’ age/females Figure 34 Respondents’ age/males
21
According to the figures above, most of the female respondents had ages between 26 and 35 years, while the majority of male respondents had ages from 36 to 45 years. According to the results gathered romanian female entrepreneurs run businesses from a younger age then male entrepreneurs.
Figure 35 Respondents’ level of studies/females Figure 36 Respondents’ level of studies/males
In terms of studies, according to the results above, the majority of the female respondents finished a faculty (76%), while the majority (84%) of the male respondents have a master degree.
Analysis
Analysis – testing CorrelationIn order to see if the variables chosen are correlated between them and to see what types of relationships exists, the variables are tested using the SPSS program.
Table 1 – Correlation between reward and balance in career with life
From the following table you can see that the Pearson’s r value is .40 which is close to 1. This means that there is a strong correlation between Balance between career and
22
family life variable and the reward variable. Any increase of value in the first variable will lead to an increase in the second variable also, related to Reward.
The Sig (2 – tailed) value is .00, less than .05, which shows that there is a statistically significant correlations between the two variables. Increases or decreases in one variable do significantly relate to increases or decreases in your second variable.
Table 2 – Correlation between financial reward and equal opportunities
In the table above, there is a negative correlation, due to the fact that Person’s r value has a negative value of -.063. This means that as the value of Equal opportunity variable increases in value, the value of Reward variable decreases in value.
According to the Sig. (2-tailed) value, which is .069<.05, shows the fact that there is no statistically correlation between the two variables. That means, increases or decreases in one variable do not significantly relate to increases or decreases in the second one..
Table 3 – Correlation between reward and balance in career with life
23
According to the table above, the Pearson’s r value is .35, being close to 0, determines a weak relationship between the two variables. Changes in the one variable are not correlated with changes in the second variable
According to the Sig. (2-tailed) value, which is .13 <.05, shows the fact that there is no statistically correlation between the two variables. That means, increases or decreases in one variable do not significantly relate to increases or decreases in the second one.
Table 4 – Correlation between reward and equal opportunities
From the following table you can see that the Pearson’s r value is .55 which is close to 1. This means that there is a strong positive correlation between Duties delegation capacity variable and the team communication capacity variable. Any increase of value in the first variable will lead to an increase in the second variable also.
The Sig (2 – tailed) value is .00, less than .05, which shows that there is a statistically significant correlations between the two variables. Increases or decreases in one variable do significantly relate to increases or decreases in your second variable.
Conclusions
According to the resuls obtained of the conducted research, the objectives established in the beggining of the research have been achieved.For the first objective related to motivational factors in opening a business, according to the gathered data the respondents there is a higher desire of having control and freedom when running a business, among male respondents (65%) in comparison with the female respondents (40%). Another stated reason for opening a business on the males side is related to the desire of taking own decision, while on the females side the second met reason is related to the fact of not wanting to work. Regarding the financial reward. Seeing this results, a conclusion could be that a common
24
characteristic that female and male entrepreneurs are sharing is that they want to be independent, having freedom and control on their own decisions and work..
A second objective of the research was to define the factors (obstacles) influencing the process of opening a business, for female and male entrepreneurs from Iasi, Romania.
In terms of obstacles met when opening a business, according to figures…., a common obstacle of the romanian entrepreneurs is related to low financing sources, being more often met on the male entrepreneurs’ side (65%), in comparison with female entrepreneurs (34%). A second obstacle stated by the female respondents is related to combing the personal life with the professional life (17%), which might lower their business performance, in comparison, a small number of the male respondents (4%) found this as an obstacle.
The third objective was to provide insights regarding the Romanian entrepreneurs profile. In terms of business domain of activity, the female and male entrepreneurs have a common domain of business, Trade/Selling, in which the difference relates to the number of businesses run. Businesses run by males are found in a higher percentage (80%) in comparizon with business run by females (24%).In terms of the year of opening the business, 24% of the female respondents opened their first business in 2011 or 2013, as well as 35% of the male respondents. As presented in the literature review, at the beginning of the thesis, researches estimate that, in terms of profitable years, 2014 will be breakout year for female entrepreneurs opening their businesses
In terms of reasons for starting a business, there is a higher desire of having control and freedom when running a business, among male respondents (65%) in comparison with the female respondents. Another stated reason for opening a business on the males side is related to the desire of taking own decision, while on the females side the second met reason is related to the fact of not wanting to work.
Regarding the financial reward, seeing this results, a conclusion could be that a common characteristic that female and male entrepreneurs are sharing is that they want to be independent, having freedom and control on their own decisions and work.
When it comes obstacles when opening a business, a common way of the managing obstacles when opening a business, for the male and female respondents, is related to selfconfidence. The male respondents think that a way of overcoming an obstacle is by being perceverent. Mostly, they are focusing on their own abilties in order to overcome the obstacles.
In terms of advices that the respondents would give to future entrepreneurs, the male respondents advice the future entrepreneurs to have knowledge in business before starting a one (65%), while the female respondents are relating to the communication with others and the advice the future entrepreneurs to to never listen to others (24%),
According to the results above all the male respondents agreed that they preffer working with both female and male business partners, while on the female respondents’ side a significant percentage (24%) preffers working mostly with women, when it comes to business.
According to the figures above, the female respondents consider as mandatory qualities for an entrepreneur are: responsability (23%), perceverance (20%) and hard working (11%). On the
25
male respondents’ side, perceverence(46%) is one of the most important qualities that the majority stated. The other two are related to creativity (23%) and will (15%).
Having this results the next conclusion related to the profile of romanian entrepreneurs are obtained:
Romanian female entrepreneur: owns a business in domains like Trading and production she opened the business in 2011 or 2013 she opened her business by herself, being motivated by the feeling of control and
freedom in business, independence being the characteristic that defines her the main obstacle met in opening the business is related to low finance sources she overcome the obstacle due to the fact that she is very confident and perseverant in her opinion, other entrepreneurs shouldn’t listen to others and in order to succeed
self-confidence is a must. She doesn’t care about what gender do her business partners have In her opinion the 3 must qualities of an successful entrepreneur are: responsibility,
perseverance, hard working
Romanian male entrepreneur:
Owns a business in domains like Traiding and production
Opened his business in 2013
Opened the business by himself, being motivated by the desire of having freedom and control and by the desire of taking its own decision
A common obstacle of the romanian entrepreneurs is related to low financing sources, being more often met on the male entrepreneurs’ side (65%),
The male respondents think that a way of overcoming an obstacle is by being perceverent. Mostly, they are focusing on their own abilties in order to overcome the obstacles.
In their oppinion, the future entrepreneurs to have knowledge in business before starting a one (65%)
they preffer working with both female and male business partnersthey consider that the three most important qualities are: perceverence(46%) ,creativity (23%) and will (15%).
BibliographyReferencesBaumol, W.J. (1990). “Entrepreneurship: productive, unproductive, and destructive”. Journal of Political Economy 98: p.893-921.
Blaug, M. (2000). Entrepreneurship – The Social Science View. Oxford Management Readers.Oxford University Press, p. 83/86.
26
Brouwer, M.T. (2002).” Weber, Schumpeter and Knight on entrepreneurship and economic development”. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 12: p.83-105.
David McClelland (1987) “Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs” The Journal of Creative Behavior Volume 21, pages 219–233,
Drucker, P.F. (1985) “The Practice of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Practice and Principles” p.19-33, electronic format book
Deakins, D., Freel, M. (2003). “Entrepreneurship and Small Firms”. Third Edition. Published by McGraw-Hill Education, p. 3/4
Das, T.K., Teng B-S. (Winter, 1998). “Time and Entrepreneurial Risk Behavior. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice” p.69-88. Electronic format book
DeVries, M.F.R. Kets (1977). “The entrepreneurial personality: a person at the crossroads”. The Journal of Management Studies: p.34-57Gartner. W.B (1988), Who is an entrepreneur? Is the wrong question, American Small Business Journal, Vol 12, p.60/65 Ebner, A. (2003). The Institutional Analysis of Entrepreneurship: Historist Aspects of Schumpeter’s Development Theory. In Joseph Alois Schumpeter – Entrepreneurship, Style and Vision. Backhaus, J. (Ed.), p.130
Fred Harrison (1987) The Power in the Land, p.45/47, electronic format bookGhenea Mihai “Antreprenoriat - drumul de la idei catre oportunitati si succes in afaceri” Universul Juridic, p. 31/60Goss, D. (March, 2005). “Schumpeter’s legacy? Interaction and Emotions in the Sociology of Entrepreneurship”. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice: p.205-218, electronic format book
Metcalfe, J.S (2004). “The entrepreneur and the style of modern economics”. Journal of Evolutionary Economics 14, p.157-175
Pages, E. R. (2005). “The Changing Demography of Entrepreneurship”, p. 93-97
Robert D. Hisrich, Michael P. Peters, Dean A. Shepherd - “Entrepreneurship” - 8th Edition, p.52/57 – electronic format book
Swedberg, R. (2000). “Entrepreneurship – The Social Science”, p.11 – electronic format bookStevenson, H.H, Roberts M.J, Grousbeck H.I, Bhidé A.V (2000). New business ventures and the entrepreneur. Fifth edition, McGraw-Hill International editions: 678p.Shane, S., Venkataraman, S. “The Promise of
27
Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research”, Academy of Management Review, 2000, p. 4/6
Internet sources:
http://www.legalzoom.com/business-management/success-stories/historys-top-women-entrepreneurs
http://entrepreneurs.nwhm.org/#/1980s-1990s/1
http://www.publishyourarticles.net/eng/articles/436-words-short-essay-on-women-entrepreneurs.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/geristengel/2014/01/08/11-reasons-2014-will-be-a-break-out-year-for-women-entrepreneurs/http://www.startups.ro/stiri/marius-ghenea-vorbeste-despre-tranzitia-de-la-freelancing-la-antreprenoriat
Appendix 1English Questionnaire
Hello! My name is Prihor Adina and I am a student of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. I conduct a research on the success and development of women entrepreneurs in Iasi. Completion questionnaire lasts about 5-7 minutes , and the information is strictly confidential. Thank you !
1.What is your current employment situation? I own your own business I am an employee of a company ( questionnaire stops here) Freelancer ( questionnaire stops here )
2.Which of the following statements best describe the size of your business? Micro (1-9employees)
Medium (10-49 employees)
Big ( 50-250 employees)
Large ( more that 250 employees)
28
3.What is the activity domain of your business ? Telecommunications infrastructure ( networks , software applications ,
equipment and systems ...) Telecommunication services ( mobile telephony , broadcasting, content ) Production Commerce / Sales IT Services Beauty Retail PR / Advertising Customer Services Insurance Other ( specify)
4.When did you open the first business? Specify year:
5..Which of the following statements describes best the situation of the business owned?
I developed the business by myself It's a family affair It is a bought business Other ( specify) _________________
6.When you opened the business, which were the main obstacles / problems you have encountered ?
No obstacle Low confidence in their own abilities Funding Lack of information / advice on how to start a business Finding business partners Access to support for setting up a business Lack of managerial skills and knowledge Lack of entrepreneurial skills Lack of necessary language skills intercultural foreign markets Combining personal life with professional life Gender discrimination Other ( specify) ___________
7. Present succinctly as you overcome obstacles :
29
8. What determined you to open a business?
Profit / financial stability I do not want to work for other companies Desire for control and freedom The desire to take own decisions Social status Confidence in products / services The fear that I might become unemployed anytime Self accomplishment Other ( specify) ___________
9.If you could advise entrepreneurs just getting started , what would be your recommendations for :
Never do.........
Absolute necessity for success consists of:
10. How much did entrepreneurship met your expectations , according to the following statements: On a scale of 1 to 5 rank the following statements (1 – extremely weak, 2 weak, 3 - well , 4 - good, 5 - extremely good)
1
Extremely weak
2
weak
3
well
4
good
5
Extremely good
Balance between personal and professional life
Financial reward
Career/ professional development
Creativity
Equal opportunities
30
11. As a business partner do you prefer ..Especially women Especially men
Women and men
Does not matter
12. What are, in your opinion, the top three features that you should not miss to an entrepreneur ......................................
13. What is the last school graduate ?
High school Post-secondary Faculty Doctorate
Master
14. What is your age ?
Between 20 and 25 years
Between 26 and 35 years
Between 36 and 45 years
Between 46 and 55 years
Over 56 years
Appendix 2Romanian Questionnaire
31
Buna ziua! Ma numesc Prihor Adina si sunt studenta a Facultatii de Economie si Administrarea Afacerilor. Derulez o cercetare privind succesul si dezvoltarea femeilor antreprenor in Iasi. Parcurgerea chestionarului dureaza in medie 5-7 minute, iar informatiile sunt strict confidentiale. Va multumesc!
1.Care este situatia dumneavoastră de muncă actuala ? Detin propria afacere Sunt angajat al unei firme (chestionarul se opreste aici) Freelancer (chestionarul se opreste aici)
2.Care dintre urmatoarele afirmatii descriu cel mai dimenisunea firmei dumneavoastra?
Micro ( 1- 9 angajati)
Mica (10 – 49 angajati)
Medie ( 50 – 250 angajati)
Mare ( peste 250 de angajati)
3.Care este sectorul de activitate al afacerii dumneavoastra? Infrastructuri de telecomunicatii ( retele , software si aplicatii , echipamente si
sisteme ... ) Servicii de telecomunicatii ( servicii de telefonie mobilă , audiovizual , de continut
) Productie Comert/ Vanzari Servicii IT Beauty Retail PR/ Publicitate Customer Services Asigurari Altul(specificati)
32
4.Cand v-ati deschis prima afacere? Precizati anul infiintarii:
5.Care dintre urmatoarele afirmatii descriu, cel mai bine, situatia afacerii detinute in prezent?
Am creat afacerea singura Este o afacere de familie Este o afacere cumparata Altele (specificati)_________________
6.Cand ati deschis afacerea, care au fost principalele obstacole, probleme pe care le-ati intampinat?
Niciun obstacol Incredere scazuta in abilitatile proprii Finantarea Lipsa de informare / consiliere cu privire la modul de a începe o afacere Găsirea partenerilor de afaceri Accesul la sprijin pentru infiintarea unei întreprinderi Lipsa abilitatilor si a cunostintelor manageriale Lipsa competentelor antreprenoriale Lipsa competentelor interculturale ti lingvistice necesare piețelor externe Combinarea vietii personale cu cea profesionala Discriminarea de gen Altele (specificati)___________
7.Prezentati, succint, cum ati depasit obstacolele intalnite:
8.Ce v-a determinat sa deschideti o afacere?
Profitul/ stabilitatea financiara
33
Nu doresc sa lucrez pentru alte companii Dorinta de control si libertate Dorinta de a lua decizii proprii Statutul social Increderea in produsele/serviciile oferite Teama ca as putea deveni somera oricand Realizarea de sine Altele (specificati)_____________
9.Daca ati putea sfatui femei antreprenoare la inceput de cariera, care ar fi recomandarile dumneavoastra pentru:
Niciodata sa nu ........
Necesitatea absoluta pentru succes consta in:
10. Cat de mult a reusit antreprenoriatul sa va indeplineasca asteptarile, privind urmatoarele afirmatii:Pe o scara de la 1 la 5 ( 1- foarte slab, 2-slab, 3- potrivit, 4- bine, 5- foarte bine) exprimati-va parerea in legatura cu urmatoarele afirmatii, privind cat de bine satisface antreprenoriatul asteptarile dumneavoastra
1
Foarte slab
2
Slab
3
Potrivit
4
Bun
5
Foarte bine
Balansul dintre viata personala si cea profesionala
Recompensa financiara
Carieara/dezvoltare personala
Creativity
Oportunitati egale
34
11. Ca parteneri de afaceri ati prefer..
Mai ales femei
Mai ales barbate
Si femei si barbati
Nu conteaza
12. Care sunt, in opinia dumneavoastra, principalele trei caracteristici ce nu ar trebui sa lipseasca unei antreprenoare ......................................
13. Care este ultima scoala absolvita?
Liceu Post-liceala Facultate Doctorat
Master
14. Care este varsta dumneavoastra?
Intre 20 si 25 de ani
Intre 26 si 35 de ani
Intre 36 si 45 de ani
Intre 46 si 55 de ani
Peste 56 de ani
35
