Few studies on female entrepreneurship have focused on preventure women and their training needs. This study used four years of data collected from a Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in a large mid-western city. The information needs sought by pre-venture females were compared with those of women who were already business owners. The groups were compared to determine training need differences before and after seeing an SBDC counselor. Male clients also were included.Data were obtained from two sources: A Small Business Administration counseling request form to be completed before counseling, and a SBDC counseling form which is a record of items discussed during the counseling session. Of the usable surveys, 553 were female and 276 were male.The three information needs most requested by pre-venture women were: Information on SBDC services (including start-up information), sources of capital, and the business plan. In counseling sessions, the business plan was the most discussed topic. Educational opportunities were the second most discussed.The next six information needs were rated closely together: Sources of finance; legal structure; industry information; business license; business name; and tax information.Little difference was found between the requested needs of pre-venture women and women in business. A greater percentage of the women in business discussed assistance in marketing, record keeping, accounting, advertising, and financial analysis. Further, women in business required more detailed information than did pre-venture women.No difference was found between African-American and white women on the amount of time spent with a counselor. Significantly more African-American women requested information on the business plan, government procurement, and international trade than did white women No difference was found in rank order comparisons of requested training needs between the two groups.Significantly more males than females requested information on bidding, sources of finance, advertising, government procurement, accounting/record keeping, and personnel. Similar gender differences were found in topics discussed during counseling. These differences may be due to the type of business started rather than gender. Rank order comparisons of training needs requested by males and females were identical.More research needs to be done with pre-venture entrepreneurs. Follow-up studies need to identify those who did or did not actually start businesses and the determinants of their decision. / Department of Educational Leadership

Revision of the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, 1981. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [67]-70).

Revision of the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, 1981. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [67]-70).

Report (M. Pub. Aff.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 180-184). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-161). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

With over 11.6 million establishments, women owned small businesses hold a crucial part in supporting the US economy’s wellbeing. However, owning a small business comes with numerous challenges that not all can overcome. This study investigates the challenges of ten women-owned small businesses in Johnson City, Tennessee. The interview results display that women struggle with similar challenges as men; however, they have more difficulty balancing gender roles and societal expectations with owning a small business. This research concludes that men and women do not have equal opportunities when it comes to owning a small business and women are at a disadvantage in specific areas.

Though 48% of all privately-held firms are at least 50% owned by a woman or women, women-owned enterprises received only 9% of the institutional investment deals and 2% of the dollars in 1999 in 2006. In the corporate supplier market, women-owned enterprises obtained only 4% of the market share. These figures indicate that women or women-owned enterprises face some level of hurdles in the marketplace. Drawing on Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior, the study explored the impact of corporate supplier diversity programs on corporate purchasers' intention to purchase from women-owned enterprises. Two hundred seventy two corporate purchasers across a diverse range of industries and geographical regions in the U.S. participated in a scenario-based mail survey. The findings suggest that corporate supplier diversity programs did influence the purchasers' intention to purchase, and the influence was more direct than indirect, contrary to some of the hypotheses proposed in the study. The findings contribute to both the corporate social responsibility literature and the women's entrepreneurship studies. With regard to the corporate social responsibility literature, the findings demonstrate that it is possible for business to incorporate positive duty into its core economic activities without compromising its financial gains and that the economic-aligned and duty-aligned orientations can be integrated. With reference to the women's entrepreneurship studies, the findings point to a way to overcome the hurdles that women-owned enterprises face. Given that 40% of the corporations do not have a supplier diversity program, the findings have practical implications as well; corporations are urged to implement a supplier diversity program if they do not have one, and to be committed to implementing their programs if they already have established one, for doing so is simply another case of doing well by doing good. / Ph. D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2004. / Mode of access: Internet via the World Wide Web. Title from title screen (viewed May 10, 2005). "December 2004." Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-73). Also issued in paper format.

Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / In today‟s post-modern era, the role of women-owned small businesses in economic development is inevitable. Women are willing to act in business and contribute to the nation‟s growth. However, most women in small businesses face a wide variety of challenges both in starting and in growing their business ventures. Some of the challenges relate to lack of skills and an environment that is not favourable to women small business owners. Thus, a study was conducted in Lepelle-Nkumpi local municipality in Limpopo Province. The aim of the study was to investigate the challenges faced by women-owned small businesses in the Lepelle-Nkumpi local municipality, Limpopo Province of South Africa. The study used a qualitative research method to collect data. Fifteen (15) individuals participated in the study; twelve (12) of the participants were women who owned small businesses in the municipality and three (3) of the participants were officials working in the LED unit. Participants in the study were chosen purposively because of the knowledge that they possessed. Semistructured interviews were used in the qualitative study to collect data. The study discovered that some of the challenges included lack of skills and training, lack of access to finance, lack of marketing strategies and inadequate resources. Thus, the study recommended that the municipality should provide need-based training for small business owners.

Regardless of the level of development achieved by the respective economies, women play a pivotal role in agriculture and in rural development in most countries. Evidently there are serious constraints which militate against the promotion of an effective role for women in development in those societies which were bound by age-old traditions and beliefs. Patriarchal modes and practices motivated by cultures and/or interpretations of religious sanctions and illiteracy hinder women’s freedom to opt for various choices to assert greater mobility in social interactions. Resulting from these situations, women’s contribution to agriculture and other sectors in the economy remain concealed and unaccounted for in monitoring economic performance measurement. Consequently, they are generally invisible in plans and programmes. They were, in fact, discriminated against by stereotypes which restrict them to a reproductive role and denied access to resources which could eventually enhance their social and economic contribution to the society.