Women and Business Ownership

Entrepreneurs in Dallas

Alicia S. Lupinacci

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Topic: Business
• eBook ISBN:
  9781135674731
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

First Published in 1998. This book explores the preparation for entrepreneurship, issues of family and work, and satisfaction levels of a sample of women business owners in Dallas County, Texas. Is gender inequality in access to managerial jobs and associated rewards what compels women to start their own businesses? This study asks and answers this question for a diverse sample of women entrepreneurs. This book directs our attention to this high growth employment area for women and enhances our understanding of the experiences of women entrepreneurs.

Chapter I

Introduction

Women’s business ownership has been expanding much more rapidly than men’s business ownership in the United States (Carter and Cannon 1992; Dolinsky et al., 1994; Zellner 1994; Zimmerer and Scarborough 1994). Women business owners are currently starting businesses at twice the rate of men according to the U.S. Department of Labor (1995). The National Foundation for Women Business Owners (1995) indicates that almost 8 million women now own businesses in the United States compared to 3.6 million women-owned businesses in 1985. This number represents 37 percent of all American businesses compared to 5 percent a quarter of a century ago. The number of women becoming entrepreneurs is rising dramatically, and more women are starting businesses in nontraditional industries, for example, construction and manufacturing (Allen 1996; Longenecker 1994; Silver 1994). Women are not confined to health and beauty aids, jewelry, clothing, and similar traditional retail establishments, although most women’s business starts are still in services.

The economic importance of small business operations in the United States is well established and documented in the literature (Andersen 1991; Sexton 1988; Zimmerer and Scarborough 1994). Small businesses, dominating the service, retail and construction sectors, contribute to the nation’s economic welfare because they expand industries, stimulate competition, provide jobs, and produce goods and services with innovation and efficiency (Ireland and Van Auken 1987; Kalleberg and Leicht 1991; Plotkin 1990). The National Foundation for Women Business Owners (1996) reports that women business owners employ 18.5 million workers (one of every four workers in the United States) and total annual sales revenues of almost $2.3 trillion. Although the number of small businesses owned by women in the United States is increasing, data concerning women business owners are relatively recent and limited (Birley 1989; Nelton 1996; Van Auken et al., 1994). “The research on women small business owners can best be described as piecemeal and inconclusive. Much of the research has been conducted using the male model or image as a standard rather than looking at the diversity or uniqueness of the women owners” (Andersen 1991, 69). This book helps on a small scale to examine women entrepreneurs and to refine our knowledge and understanding of the woman entrepreneur.

Historically, the world of business has been predominantly a masculine domain. Women have often held the lower paid occupations (Carter and Cannon 1992; England et al., 1988) and have been concentrated in lower paying industries such as retail and services. Women owning their own business may be a reaction to or means of escaping from the segregation and restricted opportunities in the labor market (Carter and Cannon 1992).

The definition of a small business is confusing. Small business owners are often called “entrepreneurs” (Jennings (1987). “Entrepreneur” is often used as a synonym for “owner manager” (Carter and Cannon 1992). The Small Business Administration defines a small business enterprise as having at least 1 but not more than 500 employees (SBA 1988). Many owner-managers or self-employed people do not employ any other employees but themselves. An entrepreneurship was described by Bart (1983) as an “independently owned and operated business with less than 100 employees or less than $1,000,000 gross receipts per year,” (Moore 1990, 275). The terms “self-employed,” “entrepreneur,” and “small business owner” will be used interchangeably in this book.

The definition of entrepreneur is different today from its original meaning. The word “entrepreneur” first appeared in the French language in the early sixteenth century (Jennings 1987). Entrepreneurs referred to men engaged in leading military expeditions, but in later centuries, the word applied to those who took the lead in pursuit of business risks. “Entrepreneurs may not leap buildings in a single bound or rescue people in distress, but they break the velvet chains of the corporate culture just as convincingly as legendary heroes” (Jennings 1987, 14). Jennings further states that entrepreneurs “walk a tightrope without a safety net.” In other words, entrepreneurs who own their own business take professional, financial and personal risks that differ from those of employees of companies. For example, rather than receiving a regular paycheck, entrepreneurs may have to reinvest their “salary” into their company. Many entrepreneurs have to borrow money for needed capital to start their business, and lean times may be experienced before a profit is evidenced.

According to Ashmore (1983), entrepreneurs are defined as individuals who make a living by creating new businesses, new jobs, and new ideas, seeking through their ventures the kind and quality of life they envision. “An entrepreneur is a person who creates a new business in the face of risk and uncertainty for the purpose of achieving profit and growth by identifying opportunities and assembling the necessary resources to capitalize on those opportunities” (Zimmerer and Scarborough 1994, 4).

Purpose of this Study

The purpose of this study was to explore the entrepreneurship activities of a small sample of the women small business owners in Dallas County, Texas. This study explored the women’s preparation for entrepreneurship, issues of family and work, and success and satisfaction levels. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 respondents identified from among those responding to a larger survey (sponsored by the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce). A series of open-ended questions were asked of each respondent.

The questions explored were the following:

Preparation for Entrepreneurship

(1)	What formal education or training helped prepare the women for owning their own company?
(2)	Was a mentor and/or role model important in influencing the women business owners’ career path?
(3)	Is having their own business a tradition in their family?

Issues of Family and Work

(4)	What are the time inputs of women business owners?
(5)	Does the woman business owner have the support of her spouse?
(6)	Does the woman business owner have the support of her children?

Success and Satisfaction Levels

(7)	What are the extrinsic rewards for women business owners?
(8)	What are the intrinsic rewards for women business owners?
(9)	What is the level of success and financial satisfaction for women business owners?

In addition to the interview, observations of the actual work site and environment of the respondent’s business operation were conducted to gain additional insight into the business owner’s workstyle, level of activity, and personal attributes.

Theoretical Framework

This is an exploratory study in the sociology of women’s entrepreneurship. The “sociology of entrepreneurship” studies the relationship between group characteristics and the development of business activity (Butler 1991). Butler suggests that the more a group is assimilated into a society, the higher the probability of economic stability is for that group. Economic opportunities are provided by the prevalent society, and as groups move into the society and years increase, they move up the “economic ladder of success.”

Butler uses the sociology of entrepreneurship in his study to better understand African American entrepreneurs in the small business enterprise sector. Butler sees entrepreneurship as a vehicle for achieving economic success for groups that are discriminated against. Because others won’t “let them in,” the groups act on their own ideas. The sociology of entrepreneurship shifts the analysis from an emphasis on topics of prejudice and discrimination to the creation of ethnic enterprises which facilitate economic stability for ethnic groups. Butler says it is the sociology of self-help which recognizes that groups develop economic stability as a result of entrepreneurship.

Minority groups, such as Asians, Hispanics, and African Americans, in that order, are likely to become entrepreneurs, but minority business ownership still remains low (Chun et al., 1996; Zimmerer and Scarborough 1994). Many women, like minorities, have found themselves in marginal economic positions, and have responded by entering business ownership (Mehta 1995; Waldinger et al., 1990; Zellner 1994). Helen Mayer Hacker’s classic work (1951) postulated that women are a minority group, comparable to racial, ethnic, and national minorities. She believes that an individual, on the basis of his or her minority group affiliation, is denied full participation in those opportunities which the value system of the culture extends to all members of the society. Hacker points out that the sense of group identification is not as conspicuous in women as in racial and ethnic minorities, but that women tend to develop their own separate sphere or subculture in language, issues and interests.

The growth of women-owned businesses is a reflection of a changing society and a reformation of social attitudes. As women continue to work and to cross structural and social barriers, they have experiences and insights of their own to share. Hacker’s view of women as a minority group, denied full participation in those opportunities which the value system of the culture extends to all members of the society, suggests that the theoretical approach to the sociology of entrepreneurship used by Butler is appropriate for this study. Butler’s perspective may explain why the rates of entrepreneurship for women are so high and increasing. I expected to find that women’s minority status would result in patterns of entrepreneurship similar to that for racial ethnic minority groups. The sociology of entrepreneurship has not utilized women’s experiences in the theory building process.

It is not the purpose of this book to develop a new or even revised theoretical framework, but it is hopeful that this exploratory study will expand our knowledge and contribute to the context of the literature about women entrepreneurs. Obviously, women entrepreneurs face problems and challenges common to all entrepreneurs. However, they must also experience some unique experiences in their entrepreneurial roles. This book provides detailed accounts of some of these entrepreneurial experiences of women business owners in Dallas, Texas.

Chapter II

Literature Review

The literature review is divided into four sections: (a) a brief overview of women’s labor force participation, (b) an examination of women’s employment as managers, (c) a review of the literature on women and entrepreneurship, and (d) a discussion of the sociology of entrepreneurship and self-help.

Women and Paid Work

Women in the workforce is not a new phenomenon; many women have worked when given the opportunity (Nichols 1993; Nichols and Kanter 1994). Women from the lower classes have worked in positions ranging from domestic service to factory jobs (Goldin 1990; King 1992; Nichols 1993). As the need for employment in occupations such as nursing, teaching, and social work increased, middle-class women filled these positions. With “the invention of the typewriter and the telephone creating other suitably feminine jobs” (Sapiro 1990, 358), many women were hired as secretaries (previously an entry-level male job in business) and switchboard operators. Factory owners continued to employ women because of their assumed ability to handle repetitive work. Historically, the career choices made by some women were not the result of their personal or professional choosing, but rather the result of constrained opportunities (England 1987; Goldin 1990; Maier 1992).

Education is an important tool that increases employment opportunities for women. Until the 19th Century, relatively few people had formal education unless they were wealthy or a member of the upper class. Most people learned a trade or craft from their parents or by apprenticeship; knowledge and skills were passed from one generation to the next with women teaching women and men teaching men. “Formal education was largely restricted to the wealthy and well connected, generally the men of the upper class. Formal education was considered irrelevant for most free citizens, and dangerous and even illegal for black people held as slaves. Although there are numerous examples of well-educated women, education for upper class women was generally confined to a bit of literature, a bit of music, and perhaps a bit of foreign language, all taught at home” (Sapiro 1990, 96).

This limited access to education affected women’s employment patterns because the training did not prepare the women for labor force participation but as he...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• List of Tables
• Chapter I: Introduction
• Chapter II: Literature Review
• Chapter III: Methodology
• Chapter IV: Data Analysis and Results
• Chapter V: Success, Profit, Rewards, Barriers
• Chapter VI: Conclusion
• Appendix A: Survey Instrument
• Appendix B: Interview Schedule
• Appendix C: Letter Sent to Interviewees
• Bibliography
• Index