IMPROVING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

K.Prakash

ABSTRACT

Women entreprenurer's have been making a significant impact in all segments of the

economy in Canada, Great Britain, Germany Australia and US. The areas chosen by

women are retail trade, restaurants, hotels, education, cultural, cleaning insurance and

manufacturing. A Woman entrepreneur has also to perform all the functions involved in

establishing an enterprise. These include idea generation, and screening, determination of

objectives, project preparation, product analysis, determination of forms of business

organization, completion of formal activities, raising funds, procuring men machine

materials and operations of business. All business owners face certain challenges, but

women, because of their gender, often have additional challenges and obstacles that their

male peers are less likely to encounter. Working women who have children experience

even more demands on time, energy and resources. But this does not mean women are

less successful than men, in fact, statistics show that women are starting businesses at

more than twice the rate of male-majority-owned businesses. The growing success rate of

women entrepreneurs shows that they are resourceful, and able to succeed, despite the

odds. Women often have life skills and natural abilities that are useful in businesses.

Women have to build a great network; have inherent skills for negotiating, and the ability

to multi-task. Single mothers are often good at delegating and budgeting; skills that they

rely on to manage their families.

INTRODUCTION

It is estimated that women make up one-quarter to one-third of total business

population worldwide. In some countries, the growth in the number of women-owned

businesses is far out-pacing the overall growth of new businesses. Women also constitute

one in three of the labour force in manufacturing. However, their presence in

international markets is weak.

Small and medium enterprises, a sector that best represents women entrepreneurs’

productive activities, can play a key role in sustaining economic growth and equitable

development in developing countries. However, due to their size, individual enterprises

are usually unable to capture market opportunities which require large production

quantities, adherence to standards and state-of-the-art technologies. This very

characteristic of SMEs hinders internalisation of functions such as market intelligence,

logistics and technology acquisition. It is through networking that SMEs can overcome

problems related to their size and improve their competitive position.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is spreading fast around the

world. It is no doubt opening the doors for more opportunities in international trade.

However, international trade is, at the same time, governed by a series of regulations and

agreements that require businesses to adopt if they are to be competitive, and their

products to be acceptable for consumers. This paper suggests that while ICT is an

important factor to enter international trade, it does not ensure a sustained competitive

position for women entrepreneurs. Some other factors are indispensable for them to better

meet the challenges of globalisation and to access and succeed in export markets. These

are hard technology: machinery, equipment; soft technology: skills, knowledge and

information; as well as conformity with certain agreements and regulations related to

standards, accreditation, environment, pollution. In order to achieve this, public and

private sector institutions, NGOs, international organizations and other technical

assistance institutions should develop and deliver programmes for women entrepreneurs

in a coordinated and systematic fashion.

Women entreprenurer's have been making a significant impact in all segments of

the economy in Canada, Great Britain, Germany Australia and US. The areas chosen by

women are retail trade, restaurants, hotels, education, cultural, cleaning insurance and

manufacturing. It is the group of women or single women running an enterprise or

company in order to earn profit. Now days because of women empowerment women are

stepping-stone into the industries and are taking the place of men. Now a day's women's

are running several business like beauty parlours, switching shops, boutiques, etc.

Women entrepreneurs may be defined as a woman or a group of women who

initiate, organize and run a business enterprise. In terms of Schunpeterian concept of

innovative entrepreneurs, women who innovate, initiate or adopt a business activity are

called business entrepreneur.

The Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs based on women

participation in equity and employment of a business enterprise. Accordingly, a woman

entrepreneur is defined as an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a

minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of the

employment generated in the enterprise to a woman.

They have made there marks in business because of the following reasons:

They want to improve their mettle in innovation and competitive jobs.

They want the change to control the balance between their families and

responsibility and their business levels.

They want new challenges and opportunities for self fulfillment.

ROLE OF WOMEN AS AN ENTREPRENEUR'S

1) Imaginative: It refers to the imaginative approach or original ideas with competitive

market. Well-planned approach is needed to examine the existing situation and to identify

the entrepreneurial opportunities. It further implies that women entrepreneur's have

association with knowledgeable people and contracting the right organization offering

support and services.

2) Attribute to work hard: Enterprising women have further ability to work hard. The

imaginative ideas have to come to a fair play. Hard work is needed to build up an

enterprise..

3) Persistence: Women entrepreneurs must have an intention to fulfill their dreams. They

have to make a dream transferred into an idea enterprise; Studies show that successful

women work hard.

4) Ability and desire to take risk: The desire refers to the willingness to take risk and

ability to the proficiency in planning making forecast estimates and calculations.

5) Profit earning capacity: she should have a capacity to get maximum return out of

invested capital.

A Woman entrepreneur has also to perform all the functions involved in establishing an

enterprise. These include idea generation, and screening, determination of objectives,

project preparation, product analysis, determination of forms of business organization,

completion of formal activities, raising funds, procuring men machine materials and

operations of business.

FUNCTIONS OF A WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR'S

Fredrick Harbiscon, has enumerated the following five functions of a women

entrepreneur's :

Exploration of the prospects of starting a new business enterprise.

Undertaking a risk and handling of economic uncertainties involved in business.

Introduction of innovations, imitations of innovations.

Co ordination, administration and control.

Supervision and leadership.

In nutshell, women entrepreneur are those women who think of a business enterprise,

initiate it organize and combine the factors of production, operate the enterprise,

undertake risk and handle economic uncertainties involved in running a business

enterprise.

WOMEN OWNED BUSINESS HELPS KEEP THE ECONOMY

GROWING

According to the non profit, Washington D.C. –based centre for women's business

Research, women's entrepreneurship is growing dramatically and has been one of the

defining trends of the past decade." The significance of women owned business is

documented in four reports issued by the CWBR:

Seizing the opportunities by wells Fargo provides a detailed overview of women –

owned entrepreneurship.

Location, Location by Wells Fargo identifies the regions and states in which

women –owned business are flourishing.

Access to Market by fleet Boston explores the opportunities and obstacles women

encounter in entering corporate markets.

Methods that work by PepsiCo foundation identify the strategies women can use

to launch and successfully launch business.

According to CWBR, there are 6.2 million privately held majority (50% or more)

women owned businesses in the U.S.employing 9.2 million workers and contributing

$1.15 trillion to the economy. Half of all privately Owned business in the U.S. are owned

by women, and between 1997 to 2005 women owned business grew at thrice the rate of

all businesses. Together, women owned businesses and those owned equally by men and

women number 10.2 million employ more than 18 million workers and generate $2.32

trillion. According to Women in the economy, a study conducted by Government of

India, there are approximately 10 million homes based Business in India and 55,000 of

them generate more than $1 million in revenue each year.

Beneath the numbers, Experts say, are trends that are vital to the growing economy

chief among which is entrepreneurism. The small business Administration's global

Entrepreneurship Monitor 2002, a 21 country study of the connection between

entrepreneurship and economic activity, found that economic growth is directly related to

the level of entrepreneurial activity, and that where entrepreneurism is high, so too is the

level of involvement of women. Michael Hay, Professor at London Business School, puts

it this way:" countries that are able to replenish the stock of businesses and jobs are best

placed to compete effectively. Put differently women owned businesses ride the wave of

entrepreneurism and entrepreneurism rides the wave of healthy economic activity

generally.

REASONS FOR STARTING AND CONTINUING BUSINESS BY

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR

1. Money:

The desire and need to generate income in households where incomes have been

reduced or where wage Earners have been laid off.

2. Demographics:

Divorce and family dislocation have been incentives for start up's fewer than

1/3rd of all women entrepreneurs are married and living with their spouses.

3. Technology:

Technology makes it possible for women to work productively from home and to

stay actively involved in the lives of their children. 27% of women with home based

businesses have children under the age of 18, 25% have children as young as 6 years old

and 30% have children less than 6 years old. To a much greater extent than men (56 to

48%), women starts businesses to supplement income and to manage family

responsibilities.

Women-owned businesses are no passing fad. They are crucial to a healthy

economy. They typically require little or no investment, they can be headquartered in the

home, and they give women flexibility in balancing their work and family lives.

Technology allows the cultivation of clients nationwide and even worldwide and there

are lots of resources to help women get started. The greatest advantage of owning a

business, According to Ashley:" Working for yourself makes all the difference because

you can do thing's the way you know are right so that your work speaks your values,

beliefs, and ethics at the same time you are providing a necessary service.

WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LEADERSHIP

Women economic empowerment is the policy level priority to bring the

previously neglected half of Indian population in to the mainstream of economy. The

Financial Express was face to face with a few women who are empowered and work for

the development of other women entrepreneurs. The evident fact is that women are half

of the total; their contribution to the economy is unrecognized in most cases. They are

underrepresented in many economic sectors. These discouraging figures turn

momentarily pale when it is seen that, among women a good number are successful and

have scaled to the peak where many men find it hard to reach. They are mentors for

hundreds of thousands of women particularly in business having the qualities like hard

work, devotion, sincerity, professionalism and significant managerial capacity.

According to Laila Kabir a noted Entrepreneur:

"If women get the opportunity to develop as entrepreneurs, I think they can do

very well because they very early in life learns to manage available resources and time

successfully"

And it is very true because women are far more better Managers as compared to

their Male counterparts because they learn Management not in Schools but through real

life Experiences. The biggest challenge that many literate and illiterate women in rural

and urban areas faces in entering into small industry as entrepreneurs is due to the lack of

knowledge on product, Market and Quality and its to be seen that some committee should

be constituted and the recommendations which are placed should be implemented in

phases to root out the problems mentioned above.

According to Noted women Entrepreneur Anu Aga C.E.O Thermax Industries

Ltd., Every woman has the potential to be an Entrepreneur and it can be developed

through nurturing skills and ideas. According to her women in business attain success for

their intelligence, efficiency, commitment and Honesty. But she said that women in our

country have to earn an extra quality to consider the society and it's norms and values for

the sake of business and added that although it is an added burden on them but this

consideration helps them to stand beside the men as equals, however she feels that the

big thirst for finance and knowing the Markets created among women need to be satisfied

through taking necessary steps by all stakeholders including Banks and the Government.

In the End there is an urgent need for establishing a Women Development Bank (WDB),

a separate and independent bank for women, in the rural and remote areas after observing

that a large number of women fail to compete with the male entrepreneurs in receiving

bank loans and assistance.

The government of India should acknowledge the importance of Entrepreneurs

and provide assistance to groom entrepreneurs especially in the wake of liberalization

policy. At the same time, the education system should be revamped so as to groom

female Entrepreneurs. Every economy has recognized the need of having entrepreneurs.

In fact in the U.S. and most of the developed countries, as much as 36% of the total

working class are entrepreneurs. Our future rests squarely upon the entrepreneurial

ventures founded by creative, adventurous individuals. People who seize opportunities,

who harness and use resources in usual ways to emerge into the new era with a flourish.

HOW TO DEVELOP WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Right efforts on from all areas are required in the development in the development

of women entrepreneurs and the participation in the entrepreneurial activities. Following

efforts can be taken in to account for effective development of women Entrepreneurs and

in turn resulting in the economic development of the country.

Consider women as specific target group for all the developmental activities.

Better educational facilities and schemes should be extended to women folk from

government.

Adequate training programme on management skills to be provided to women

community.

Encourage women participation in the decision making.

Vocational training to be extended to women community that enables them to

understand the production process and production Management.

Skill development to be done in women polytechnics and ITI's.

Training on professional competence and leadership skills to be extended to

women Entrepreneurs.

Training and counseling on a large scale of existing women Entrepreneurs to

remove psychological causes like lack of self confidence and fear of success.

Continuous monitoring and improvement of training programmes.

Industrial Estates could also provide marketing outlets for the display and sale of

products made by women Entrepreneur.

Repeated gender sensitization programmes should be held to train financiers to

treat women dignity and respect as persons in their own Right.

Training in entrepreneurial attitudes should start at the high school level through

well design courses, which build confidence through behavioral games.

More governmental schemes to motivate women entrepreneurs to engage in small

scale and small scale business ventures.

District Industries Centres and single window agencies should make use of

assisting women trade and business guidance.

Involvement of Non governmental Organization in women entrepreneurial

Training Programmes and counseling.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES FACING WOMEN IN BUSINESS

All business owners face certain challenges, but women, because of their gender, often

have additional challenges and obstacles that their male peers are less likely to encounter.

Working women who have children experience even more demands on time, energy and

resources.

But this does not mean women are less successful than men, in fact, statistics show that

women are starting businesses at more than twice the rate of male-majority-owned

businesses. The growing success rate of women entrepreneurs shows that they are

resourceful, and able to succeed, despite the odds.

There are three major areas where women business owners may face challenges, less

common to men in business:

Gender Discrimination and Stereotyping

Dual Career-Family Pressures

Lack of Equal Opportunities in Certain Industries

HOW WOMEN CAN OVERCOME BUSINESS CHALLENGES

Women often have life skills and natural abilities that are useful in businesses. Women

tend to be great net workers, have inherent skills for negotiating, and the ability to multi-

task. Single mothers are often good at delegating and budgeting; skills that they rely on to

manage their families.

Specific strategies to help women entrepreneurs succeed include:

Create a Strong Network

Consider Certifying as a Women-Owned Business

Understand the Power of the Internet

Learn New Ways to Balance Work and Life

Get Inspiration and Advice From by Other Women Succeeding in Business

IMPROVING & ENHANCED WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’

COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

1. WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN INDUSTRIAL

DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE:

Women’s small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) constitute a seedbed for

entrepreneurship development and are an important source for the emerging private

sector in developing countries. They naturally play an important role for private sector

led growth. Taking into account that women constitute one in three of the global labour

force in manufacturing, the importance of women entrepreneurship development

becomes even more obvious for promoting and sustaining industrial development.

Society recognizes that the participation of women in industrial production is a means of

empowering women economically which results in better education, better health and

child care. Women’s economic empowerment leads in many instances to more social

recognition and less discrimination. It is also widely recognized that promoting small

entrepreneurship may lead to a more equitable distribution of income thus contributing to

poverty alleviation. Particularly, as women are more affected by poverty worldwide,

promotion of women entrepreneurship and boosting of women’s businesses become all

the more important. It is estimated that women make up one-quarter to one-third of total

business population worldwide. In some countries, such as United States and Canada, the

growth in the number of women owned businesses is far out-pacing the overall growth of

new businesses.1 In the United States, women entrepreneurs are called the new heroes of

economic development. Their enterprises expand and grow at a fast pace in all walks of

life, from catering to information technology.

However, women’s entrepreneurial endeavours are not without constraints and

problems. Some are due to stereotype discrimination, others are related to their limited

training, limited access to economic opportunities, information and technology,

particularly in the developing countries. In order to be competitive in national and

international markets, women should not be constrained by these limitations. Increased

participation of women entrepreneurs in national and global economies can be promoted

through the creation of an enabling environment with policy measures addressing

impediments to women’s businesses, training and improved access to new technologies.

Women entrepreneurs often face difficulties in gaining market access as their products do

not enjoy comparative advantages. They are unable to meet either quality requirements or

environmental regulations imposed by the markets due to their inadequate skills, low

level of technologies and production techniques.

Lack of modern marketing techniques or information further hampers them to

export their products. Moreover, particularly in the case of Africa, women entrepreneurs

face increasingly competitive threats from large Asian developing countries. Thus it

becomes imperative that through various interventions and support services, they become

capable of participating in the global value chain of industrial production. This requires

not only knowledge and skills but also information access and absorptive capacity of new

technologies. Collective efficiency in terms of networking and clustering of enterprises is

another aspect that contributes to this process particularly as it relates to the (SME) sector

where women entrepreneurs are most involved.

2. NETWORK AND CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT AMONG

SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES:

While small and medium enterprises, a sector that best represents women

entrepreneurs’ productive activities, can play a key role in sustaining economic growth

and equitable development in developing countries, this potential is often not tapped

fully. This is mainly due to problems attributed to the size of their enterprises. Individual

enterprises are usually unable to capture market opportunities which require large

production quantities, standards and state-of-the-art technology. This very characteristic

of SMEs hinders internalisation of functions such as market intelligence, logistics and

technology innovation. It also constitutes a hurdle to capture new market opportunities or

to open up to international markets. It is through networking that SMEs can overcome

problems related to their size and improve their competitive position. Due to the fact that

they often share common problems, they can also support each other.

This is evidently a situation which could create competitive advantages for

women entrepreneurs. Through horizontal cooperation, i.e. with other enterprises

occupying the same position in the value chain, women entrepreneurs can demonstrate

collective efficiency in achieving optimal scale in the use of machinery and pool together

their production and marketing capacities. Through vertical cooperation, i.e. with other

SMEs as well as with large-scale enterprises in the value chain, women entrepreneurs can

better specialise in their area of production, exchange information and knowledge to

improve product quality and technologies. This will enable them to capture more

profitable niches in both domestic and international markets.. Local support institutions

are strengthened to act as facilitators of the networking process and common

development projects are undertaken.

3. ACQUIRING NEW TECHNOLOGIES MAY BE EASIER

THROUGH SME NETWORKS AND CLUSTERS

Helping an SME cluster to articulate its needs more effectively is an important

step addressing the relationships between enterprises and business development service

(BDS) providers. A great deal of work is required to ensure that BDS providers respond

to the newly emerging demands and use their skills and competence to provide the

services needed by enterprises. Once a consensus is reached among the entrepreneurs in

the cluster, a dialogue starts between the provider and the clients as a result of which pilot

product or service development takes place. This was very clearly demonstrated by the

introduction of information technology in the cluster of Ludhiana, in India: Adoption of

IT was high on the agenda of the hosiery cluster of Ludhiana but was prohibitively

expensive due to the non-existence of a point of presence in the area.

- improving the linkages among the cluster actors

- enhancing the design production and marketing capacity of the firms

- developing a product image (including a common brand) in line with current market

demand

- improving and increasing the types of business development services available to the

cluster, including training in ICT.

Therefore, several networks were promoted and an export consortium,

Consortium of Textile Exporters, was formed. New products and designs were

introduced, a common brand image was promoted, all accompanied by marketing

courses, including joint participation in trade fairs. In addition, a credit scheme was

promoted. The clusters are now being given ICT courses to be able to have access to

global networks. All businesses, small, medium and large, have been affected in various

ways by recent global economic events. In order to accelerate industrialization, it is

necessary to create growth potential and improve the competitiveness of industrial

enterprises. This requires having easy access to information on skills, capital, technology,

export markets, raw material supplies and other value-added or support services.

CONCLUSION

Women entreprenurer's have been making a significant impact in all segments of

the economy in Canada, Great Britain, Germany Australia and US. The areas chosen by

women are retail trade, restaurants, hotels, education, cultural, cleaning insurance and

manufacturing. A Woman entrepreneur has also to perform all the functions involved in

establishing an enterprise. These include idea generation, and screening, determination of

objectives, project preparation, product analysis, determination of forms of business

organization, completion of formal activities, raising funds, procuring men machine

materials and operations of business. Women entrepreneurs face lots of challenges. This

paper highlights various strategies which can be adopted by a women entrepreneur to

overcome their challenges which includes Creating a Strong Network, by understand the

Power of the Internet, by learning new Ways to Balance Work and Life, by getting

Inspiration and Advice From by Other Women Succeeding in Business

REFERENCES

1. http://www.indiatogether.org/women/business/renuka.htm

2. http://www.infibeam.com/Books/info/s-k-dhameja/women-entrepreneurs-

opportunities-performance-problems/8176294071.html

3. http://www.leadingwomen.org/Index2.asp

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