Policies for better performing female owned enterprises

Policies for better performing female owned enterprises

Policy makers wishing to strengthen the economic impact of women entrepreneurship need a better understanding of the factors contributing to the growth and success of female-owned firms.Several studies have shown that traditional performance measures, such as growth and profits, are not always the top priority for women entrepreneurs. A key issue for policy is whether the relatively low levels of turnover among female-owned businesses are due only to women’s preferences for particular sectors or are a consequence of the constraints women specifically face when starting and growing their companies. There is no definite answer to this question in the literature. While most studies find that female-controlled enterprises fare worse in terms of profits and other performance measures several analysts argue that these differences vanish once sectors of activities and key characteristics of the business owners other than gender are controlled.