FEATURE
PAPER
Obstacles
for Entering E-Business: The Gender Aspect
The
following paper was presented at the 2007 Allied Academies
International Conference - Jacksonville. It was written
by Thomas Poulios, Technological Education Institute of Larissa
& Anastasios Vasiliadis, University of Aegean.
Abstract
Women
entrepreneurship is an important research field while women
have been
underrepresented to the most fields of the economy. The present
article attempts a first literature
review to the women obstacles in e-business enterprises. Moreover
we present the results of a
conducted qualitative research for the women’s opinion
in net entrepreneurship and the obstacles
that they face. The research confirms what international literature
states and shows that women face
more obstacles and problems than men do in entering and developing
an e- entrepreneurial life.
This is observed because women should combine family and professional
life playing different roles,
while they are obliged to face gender stereotypes that are
still exist in our society. Future research
should focus on the opinions of the entrepreneurs researching
them in a quantitative way.
Introduction
In
Amsterdam, the European leaders signed a convention which
sets entrepreneurship,
especially women’s entrepreneurship, a basic topic for
the union development policy. So, all the
member countries are encouraged to support women to find their
own enterprise or to be self
employed. Indeed, all countries tried to go toward this direction,
but despite these efforts and the
support of the European Union funding there have still been
big differences between women and
men entrepreneurship. One of the main objectives of the European
Union is to withdraw the
obstacles that female entrepreneurs face. However, according
to Eurostat, the enterprise demography
in the European Union appears to consist of important differentiations,
according to the gender of
the entrepreneur (Table 1). Thus, we note that except the retail
sector, the hospitality business and
other services, male entrepreneurs hold bigger shares in the
entrepreneurship activity. This probably
is due to the obstacles, which female entrepreneurs encounter
in the beginning of a business activity
or in its development. The international bibliography reports
detailed the obstacles that female
entrepreneurs encounter regarding a series of parameter such
as social comprehension of
entrepreneurship as well as financial and psychological factors.
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TIP
OF THE WEEK
The
Task of Strategic Implementation
Strategic implementation is the process of implementing
the strategy through careful, intentional, and thoughtful execution.
People, departments, and task forces need to be assigned the
various responsibilities of the strategy so that it can be
accomplished in a timely and appropriate manner. Strategic
planning, because it takes complex tasks and breaks them into
manageable chunks, can be an important tool for the task of
implementation.
Implementation may take hours, or it may take years, but where strategy
often fails is implementation. The most brilliant strategy in the world
will fail if individuals do not carry out their functions. People sometimes
forget, leave the organization, or lack the ability to carry out their
tasks.
Beaudan (2001) talks about three important factors in successful implementation.
First, clarification of the strategy; a combination of interpretation
plus acceptance. Second, the engagement of people is critical; a function
of commitment plus competence. Third, long-term sustainability is crucial;
a function of flexibility and pace.
If those three factors are managed well, then the probability of success
increases. A good way to manage the implementation process is to set milestones.
These are marker events along the strategic path - a measurement to show
if you're making process. Setting milestones better allows the organization
to see the long-term direction.
Strategic evaluation means to evaluate each task of the strategy. Was
our analysis complete? Was or formulation perceptive? Did our dialog prove
useful? Was our implementation appropriate? And don't forget to evaluate
the evaluation: Was our evaluation robust enough?
Organizations often evaluate whether individual assignments were completed
while neglecting to evaluate the other tasks. Evaluation should be a source
of learning, so leadership should create ways for employees to understand
the evaluation. Evaluation should go hand in hand with the task of strategic
analysis.
The best evaluation takes a
broad perspective on a variety of topics. The question to be asked is
not just, "Did we perform the tactics
efficiently?" or "Did we meet the goal?" but "Was
the goal a good one in the first place?" Good evaluation does not
just determine that we didn't accomplish the goal; good
evaluation looks into why the goal wasn't accomplished. The whys will always tell you more
than the whats.
Jim
Ollhoff. Strategy
101: An Introduction and Guide.
2007. Sparrow Media Group. pg 64-65.
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CONFERENCES
MEI
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| Who: |
MEI
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The
3rd International Symposium on Management, Engineering
and Informatics
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| Where: |
Orlando,
Florida, USA |
| When: |
June
8-11, 2007
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USDC
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U.S.
Department of Commerce
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Inaugural Americas Competitiveness
Forum
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Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| When: |
June
11-12, 2007 |
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ICSB
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International
Council for Small Business
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| What: |
World
Conference
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| Where: |
Turku,
Finland |
| When: |
June
13-15, 2007 |
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ASBE
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| Who: |
Association
for Small Business and Entrepreneurship
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| What: |
2007
Conference
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| Where: |
Austin,
Texas, USA |
| When: |
October
10-12, 2007 |
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AGB
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Association for Global Business
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| What: |
Nineteenth
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Marriott Key Bridge, Washington D.C.,
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November 15 - 18, 2007 |
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Institute
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30th
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November
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Submission
Deadline:
June 30, 2007
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AEBAI
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Applied
Business and Entrepreneurship Association International
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4th
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Marriott Wailea Beach Resort, Maui,
Hawaii |
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November 16-20, 2007 |
Submission
Deadline:
August 15, 2007
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USASBE
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| Who: |
United
States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship
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| What: |
USASBE
2008 Annual Conference
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The
Westin La Cantera Resort - San Antonio, Texas |
| When: |
January
10-13, 2008 |
Submission
Deadline:
August 15, 2007
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SBI
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| Who: |
Small
Business Institute
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| What: |
2008 SBI Conference
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| Where: |
Handlery
Hotel – San Diego, CA |
| When: |
Feb.
14-16, 2008 |
Submission
Deadline:
October 1, 2007
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