Download Women`s Entrepreneurship 5M Framework

What we Know about the Mothers of Invention’
Women’s Entrepreneurship Research:
Past Trends, Future Directions
Professor Anne de Bruin
Presentation at Best of ESTRAD, 11 June 2007
Stockholm
The Phenomenon of Women’s
Entrepreneurship
 WOB are a significant and important presence in
the world economy
 WOB is one of fastest growing populations of
entrepreneurs around the world
 WOB contribute to innovation, employment,
wealth, in all economies
YET….
A continuing Gender Gap in academic research
Research Perspectives: Chronology
 1970’s -1980’s - Gender as a Variable
 1990s - 2000’s Gender as a Lens
 A lens with which to conduct research not just a variable to
measure
 Context and feminist perspectives important
(Greene, Brush & Gatewood, 2006)
Mitigating the Gender Gap
 Propose a new gender-aware framework to
provide a springboard for future research and
policy
(de Bruin, Welter and Brush 2007)
 Extends existing framework of ‘3Ms’ of venture
creation and growth: market, money, management
to a ‘5M’ framework
 to enable the study of women’s entrepreneurship in its
own right
Women’s Entrepreneurship
5M Framework
 Assume that all entrepreneurship is socially
embedded
 Explicitly explore this embeddedness through
incorporation of two facets:
‘Motherhood’ - metaphor to represent the
household/family context
 Draws attention to the fact that family/household
contexts might have a larger impact on women than
men
‘Meso’ and ‘Macro’ Environment to represent
socio-economic and cultural context of
entrepreneurship
Interconnectedness of the 5 Facets
Centre M’HER
Spotlights ‘gender as a process
integral to business ownership’
Top Venn Circle ‘Market’ Encapsulating also opportunity,
the well-spring for all
entrepreneurship.
Bottom circles - Entry and survival
in the market, requires money
and management - enablers of
opportunity exploitation
Surround - Encompassing
influences mediate and shape
other facets e.g. macro social
norms, gender socialization
mediate M’Her or Market; sex
segregated networks mediate
Money etc.
The Future Research Agenda
5 Questions
1. What Approaches should be used to study
Women’s Entrepreneurship?
2. Do we need a Separate ‘theory’ of women’s
entrepreneurship?
3. How can the Legitimacy of studying women’s
entrepreneurship by elevated?
4. Should we build a separate Scholarly
Community?
5. How do we grow Synergies between researchers,
policy-makers and also women entrepreneurs
themselves?