Exploration of Key Success Factors that Influence Business Performance: The Experiences of Women Micro-entrepreneurs from Mazovia Voivodeship of Poland

• Autorzy: Dariusz Leszczyński
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing categories of firms in the world, but they are greatly understudied in countries from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) [Zapalska et al., 2005]. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between business success predictors and the performance of female-owned micro-enterprises from the Mazovia Voivodeship in Poland during the period 2011-2013, using an Internet-based survey questionnaire. The data were collected by the CAWI (computer assisted web interview) and CATI (computer assisted telephone interview) methods. Exploratory factor analysis, correlation coefficients analysis and multivariate regression models were deployed to investigate the empirical data. This study contributes to the limited body of literature on factors that positively affect the business performance of female entrepreneurial undertakings, using the context of the Polish experiences. Drawing on Gartner's [1985] typology and "the resource-based view of the firm" theory, a theoretical research model was developed and verified empirically using three multivariate regression models. "Model A" displayed the highest explanatory power of the predicted dependent variable "Composite business performance" (R2 = 42,3). Our findings suggest that the most successful female business owners in the region were ideally 30-39 years old; completed a university education; had at least three years of business experience; displayed above average entrepreneurial orientation; and adopted a business strategy to deal with competitors. Moreover, the better performing women-owned micro-enterprises hired qualified and experienced employees ("hman capital"); offered products or services to domestic and international customers; were able to attract business sector clients; and had sufficient resources ("financial capital"). It is recommended that this research be replicated in other countries from the CEE region (e.g. Czech Republic) for comparative purposes. (original abstract)

Słowa kluczowe

EN

Micro-enterprise; Woman; Success strategy

PL

Mikroprzedsiębiorstwo; Kobieta; Strategia sukcesu

• Czasopismo: International Journal of Management and Economics
• Rocznik: 2016
• Numer: nr 51
• Strony: 63--89

Twórcy

autor

Dariusz Leszczyński

• Warsaw School of Economics, Poland

Bibliografia

• Aldrich, H. E., Carter, N., Ruef, M. (2002), With very little help from their friends: Gender and relational composition of nascent entrepreneurs' startup teams, in: W. D. Bygrave, J. A. Hornaday, D. F. Muzyka, K. H. Vesper and W. E. J. Wetzel (eds.), Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Wellesley, MA: Babson College, [Online], available at: http://fusionmx.babson.edu/entrep/fer/Babson2002/VI/VI_P1/VI_P!.htm, accessed: August 14, 2016.
• Bryman, A., Bell, E. (2011), Business Research Methods, Third ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Buttner, D. P., Moore, E. H. (1997), Women Entrepreneurs: Moving Beyond the Glass Ceiling, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
• Capelleras, J. L., Greene, F. J. (2008), The determinants and growth implications of venture creation speed, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 20 (4), pp. 317-343.
• Carter, H., Allen, K. (1997), Size determinants of Women-owned Businesses: Choice or Barriers to Resources?, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 9 (3), pp. 211-220.
• Carter, S., Anderson, S., Shaw, E. (2001), Women's Business Ownership: A Review of the Academic, Popular and Internet Literature, Report to the Small Business Service, Glasgow: The University of Strathclyde, Department of Marketing, [Online], available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090609003228/http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file38362.pdf, accessed: March 3, 2016.
• Carter, S., Marlow, S., Bennett, D. (2012), Gender and entrepreneurship, in: S. Carter and D. Jones-Evans (eds.), Enterprise and small business: Principles, Practice and Policy, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, pp. 218-231.
• Coleman, S. (2007), The Role of Human and Financial Capital in the Profitability and Growth of Women-Owned Small Firms", Journal of Small Business Management, 45 (3), pp. 303-319. [Crossref]
• Davidsson, P., Honig, B. (2003), The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs, Journal of Business Venturing, 18 (3), pp. 301-331. [Crossref]
• Davidsson, P., Achtenhagen, L., Naldi, L. (2010), Small Firm Growth, Foundations and Trends® in Entrepreneurship, 6 (2), pp. 69-166.
• De Bruin, A., Brush, C. G., Welter, F. (2006), Introduction to the Special Issue: Towards Building Cumulative Knowledge on Women's Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30 (5), pp. 585-593.
• Elg, U. (2003), Retail market orientation: A preliminary framework, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 31 (2), pp. 107-117.
• Field, A. (2013), Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics, Fourth ed., London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
• Fielden, S. L., Davidson, M. J. (2010), Introduction, in: S. L. Fielden and M. J. Davidson (eds.), International Research Handbook on Successful Women Entrepreneurs, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 1-9.
• Fischer, E., Reuber, A. R., Dyke, L. (1993), A theoretical overview and extension of research on sex, gender, and entrepreneurship, Journal of Business Venturing, 8 (2), pp. 151-168. [Crossref]
• Gartner, W. (1985), A conceptual framework for describing the phenomenon of new venture creation, Academy of Management Review, 10 (4), pp. 696-706.
• Grant, R. M. (2010), Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Text and Cases. Seventh ed., Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• GUS (Central Statistical Office of Poland), (2016), Information portal: Classifications, [Online], available at: http://stat.gov.pl/en/metainformations/classifications, accessed: February 11, 2016.
• Guzowska, M. (2011), Mazovia in brief: Economy, [Online], available at: http://www.mazovia.pl/en/shortly-about-mazovia/mazovia-in-brief/art,2,economy.html, accessed: February 11, 2016.
• Hair Jr., J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E. (2014), Multivariate Data Analysis, Seventh ed., Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
• Iakovleva, T., Kickul, J. (2006), Personal and Organizational Success Factors of Women Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Russia, Center for Gender in Organizations, Working paper, October, No. 21, Boston, MA: Simmons School of Management.
• Investopedia, (2016), Human Capital, [Online], available at: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/humancapital.asp, accessed: February 11, 2016.
• Jennings, J. E., Brush, C. G. (2013), Research on Women Entrepreneurs: Challenges to (and from) the Broader Entrepreneurship Literature, The Academy of Management Annals, 7 (1), pp. 661-713.
• Kelley, D. J., Brush, C. G., Greene, P. G., Litovsky, Y. (2011), Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: 2010 Women's Report, Wellesley, MA: Babson College and Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA).
• Kelley, D. J., Brush, C. G., Greene, P. G., Litovsky, Y. (2013), Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: 2012 Women's Report, Wellesley, MA: Babson College and Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA).
• Kelley, D. J., Brush, C. G., Greene, P. G., Herrington, M., Ali, A., Kew, P. (2015), Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: Women's Entrepreneurship 2015, Wellesley, MA: Babson College and Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA).
• Lemańska-Majdzik, A., (2009), Czynniki sukcesu firm powstałych w wyniku samozatrudnienia, Częstochowa: Sekcja Wydawnictwa Wydziału Zarządzania Politechniki Częstochowskiej.
• Leszczyński, D. (2013), The investigation into motivations, success factors and barriers among women small business owners: An overview of extant literature, International Journal of Management and Economics, No. 39, July-September, pp. 108-125.
• Lumpkin, G. T., Dess, G. G. (2001), Linking two dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation to firm performance: The moderating role of environment and industry life cycle, Journal of Business Venturing, 16 (5), pp. 429-451. [Crossref]
• McAdam, M. (2013), Female Entrepreneurship, First ed., Abingdon: Routledge.
• McGrath Cohoon, J., Wadhwa, V., Mitchell, L. (2010), The anatomy of an entrepreneur: Are successful women entrepreneurs different from men?, Kansas City, MO: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
• Merriam-Webster, (2015), Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Success, [Online], available at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/success, accessed: February 10, 2016.
• Minniti, M., Arenius, P., Langowitz, N., (2005), Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: 2004 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship, Wellesley, MA: The Center for Women's Leadership at Babson College.
• Nordin, N. A. M., Abdul-Hamid, A., Woon, C. C. (2011), Factors affecting profitability of women entrepreneurs' business in Malaysia, Annual Summit on Business and Entrepreneurial Studies (ASBES 2011), Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, pp. 972-985.
• Organizacja Firm Badania Opinii i Rynku (OFBOR), (2016), Strona Główna - Organizacja, [Online], available at: http://www.ofbor.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=5, accessed: February 11, 2016.
• Orhan, M. (2005), Why women enter into small business ownership, in: S. L. Fielden and M. J. Davidson (eds.), International Handbook of Women and Small Business Entrepreneurship, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 3-16.
• Oxford University Press, (2016), Oxford Dictionaries: Growth, [Online], available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/growth, accessed: February 10, 2016.
• Parker, S. C. (2009), The Economics of Entrepreneurship, First ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• PARP, (2011), Women Entrepreneurship in Poland, Warsaw: Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP).
• Perry, M. (2014), Market orientation in small businesses: creative or lacking, The Marketing Management Journal, 24 (1), pp. 96-107.
• Raosoft (2004), Sample size calculator, [Online], available at: http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html, accessed: August 20, 2016.
• Ramadani, V., Gërguri-Rashiti, S., Fayolle, A. (2015), Introduction: Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies as a Significant but Understudied Field, in: V. Ramadani, S. Gërguri-Rashiti and A. Fayolle (eds.), Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies: Trends and Challenges, Basingstoke: Macmillan Publishers Limited, pp. 1-8.
• Rauch, A., Wiklund, G. T., Frese, M. (2009), Entrepreneurial orientation and business practice: an assessment of past research and suggestions for the future, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33 (3), pp. 761-787.
• Robichaud, Y., Cachon, J., Haq, R. (2010), Motives, Success Factors, and Barriers among Canadian Female Entrepreneurs: The Case of Greater Sudbury, Entrepreneurial Practice Review, 1 (2), pp. 36-65.
• Schwenker, B., Spremann, K. (2009), Management between Strategy and Finance: The Four Seasons of Business, First ed., Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
• Stair Jr, R. M., Crittenden, W. F., Crittenden, V. L. (1989), The use, operation, and control of the small business computer, Information & Management, 16 (1), pp. 125-130.
• Taylor, S. R., Newcomer, J. D. (2005), Characteristics of women small business owners. in: S. L. Fielden and M. J. Davidson (eds.), International Handbook of Women and Small Business Entrepreneurship, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 17-31.
• Valencia, M. (2007), Past female entrepreneurship with the stress on the future in the new economy globalization, in: M. Radović Marković (ed.), The Perspective of Women's Entrepreneurship in the Age of Globalisation, Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing Inc., pp. 13-23.
• Watson, J., Robinson, S. (2003), Adjusting for risk in comparing the performance of male- and female-controlled SMEs, Journal of Business Venturing, 18 (6), pp. 773-788. [Crossref]
• Westhead, P., Howorth, C. (2006), Ownership and Management Issues Associated with Family Firm Performance and Company Objectives, Family Business Review, 19 (4), pp. 301-316.
• Yordanova, D. I. (2011), The effects of gender on entrepreneurship in Bulgaria: An empirical study, International Journal of Management, 28 (1), pp. 289-305.
• Zapalska, A., Bugaj, M., Rudd, D. (2005), Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Polish Economy, Problems and Perspectives in Management Journal, Issue 2, pp. 32-39.
• Zapalska, A. M., Brozik, D., Zieser, N. (2015), Factors affecting success of small business enterprises in the Polish tourism industry, Tourism, 63 (3), pp. 365-381.
• Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., Griffin, M. (2009), Business Research Methods, Eighth ed., Mason, OH: South-Western College Publications & Cengage Learning.