Global Trends of Women in Private Spheres of Business

Introduction Close attention to women in entrepreneurship has emerged from the recognition of the fact that women have become increasingly interested in starting up their own business. Global trends of women in private spheres of business witness the overwhelming percentage of women coming into business; the statistical data shows the female dominance in initiating business over the male entrepreneurship activity.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Global Trends of Women in Private Spheres of Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As noted by Dyson (2003), the 2002 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor showed that 38% of New Zealand entrepreneurs are women. This data supports the prior findings of McGregor and Tweed (2000) that twenty women started up enterprises a day in 2000, representing 40% of all entrepreneurs of the country, as compared to 35% of Canada’s entrepreneurship. Though the UK tendencies show a steady decline in women’s participation in the private business sector, the late 1990s’ data showed that they used to comprise nearly a half of all private businesses (Fielden, Davidson, Dawe, Makin, 2003). These facts the literature methodology employed in the present work: identifying the recurrent topics in national and international research on female entrepreneurship, referring the conclusions and generalizations to New Zealand situation. This statistical information serves as obvious evidence of the growing motivation women have to start up their own business. However, there have emerged a number of discrepancies in entrepreneurship area because of the specificity of female entrepreneurship. The claims that private business research is male-biased have also undermined the viability of traditional approaches to research. Thus, a new methodological perspective is required for studying the dominant tendencies in female entrepreneurship; the most important f ields demanding specific, female-focused attention, include the variety of barriers existing for female entrepreneurs at all stages of business management, the specificity of female motivation in business as compared to males; personal features of male and female entrepreneurs etc. There is also a strong need to identify areas of research in which the gender factor should be taken into account as an essential variable affecting the judgment and conclusions, and where factors other than gender are enacted and allow generalizations on the issue of entrepreneurship devoid of any gender implications.Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A set of research articles and publications have been taken as a source base for the present literature review: the theoretical implications of the role of gender are discussed in the article of Moult and Anderson (2005), de Bruin, Brush, and Welt er (2007) research the theoretical framework of considering entrepreneurship in female aspects, and Shelton (2006) examines the family-work conflict as the major constraint in initiating an entrepreneurship. National surveys are also considered in the course of the literature review: Kutanis and Bayraktaroglu (n.d.) provide data on female entrepreneurship trends in Turkey, Zinger et al. (2005) research the Canadian women’s entrepreneurship efforts, and Fielden et al. (2003) turn to the distinction between American and British female entrepreneurship practices. The focus on New Zealand is provided by Dyson (2003) considering the progress in female entrepreneurship opportunities in New Zealand, Massey and Lewis (2003) turning to women and access to micro-finance in the country, and McGregor and Tweed (2000) examining previously utilized research practices in New Zealand. Views are generally shared on the majority of issues, but geographical differences are still evident in the specific situations faced by female entrepreneurs. Female Motivation for Starting up a Business There are many personal motives for starting up a business named by women interviewed on the issue of their private business and those who are only planning to start up a firm. These motives are diverse and include both the wishes and ambitions of women (e.g. the attraction of a new challenge and desire for a better life and work equilibrium) and necessities they experience in the current socio-economic environment (response to redundancy at the previous workplace or the need for flexibility in working time due to the responsibilities in child-rearing and keeping the household) (Dyson, 2003). These were the motive drives for New Zealand women questioned; he opinions of Turkish women, reviewed for comparison, do not differ greatly: among the strongest drives to create a private business dissatisfaction by the previous workplace, the need to utilize personal skills and resources, the lack o f personal autonomy and pursuit of independence and flexibility, difficult working conditions of the firms were named (Kutanis Bayraktaroglu, n.d.).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Global Trends of Women in Private Spheres of Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, there surely are some nation-specific differences in the female entrepreneurship trends and opportunities evident; the fact may be supported by the study initiated by Fielden et al. (2003) to find a solution to the sliding tendencies of female entrepreneurship percentage in the North West of the UK. The method they used was to look for more successful practices in motivating women to enter the private business sector in the USA and this way to detect the barriers most problematic to overcome in the domestic economy. Research of the female motivation to launch their own enterprise was the gender discrimination of many kinds at the corporate workplaces: the inability to overcome the ‘glass ceiling’ phenomenon at work, recurrent lack of recognition of their achievement at work, lack of serious attitude, isolation within an organization, and witnessing male promotions ahead of women (Fielden et al., 2003; Moult Anderson, 2005). These facts may imply that the UK corporate business was designed in a much more beneficial way for women, minimizing their desire to leave the public enterprise field and to start their private business. However, this was not so – the barriers to entry to the private entrepreneurship sector turned out more influential than the attraction of staying at the previous workplace. Hence, a set of gender-neutral factors motivating women to start a private enterprise have also been found. Women have turned out to possess many of the features needed for a successful private business career. They were (and are) well-educated, energetic, resourceful, motivated by potential achi evement, and self-confident (sometimes even at a higher level than their male counterparts) (Fielden et al., 2003). Women in the USA initiating their own private business turned out more dynamic, coming from managerial backgrounds, and having a business start-up experience, which made them correspond to the image of ‘modern’ entrepreneurs. The tendency showed the contrast between the current state of affairs and the 1980s’ tendencies of low-income, uneducated and inexperienced women mainly coming to the private sector of economy.Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The conclusions made for the UK business settings included the business support by governmental and private institutions, introduction of mentoring schemes to provide support on the psychological level, and financial support to initiate start-up businesses in Great Britain (Fielden et al., 2003). This research shows the genuine interest of the state in the promotion of both male and female entrepreneurship, hence the state’s role in building healthy motivation and opportunity for women is significant. The fact that entrepreneurship becomes more and more attractive for women is obvious; speaking about New Zealand in particular, one should not that not only the desire to start up a business serves as a decisive factor for initiating an entrepreneur career, but the private business career as a socially acceptable option for women plays its significant role. The country is ranked as one of the highest in encouraging women to become self-employed or start a business of their own ( Dyson, 2003). Hence, the governmental help is a very influential factor in forming motivation for entrepreneurship. Barriers to Business Entry for Women Women and men generally have the same range of opportunities in starting up a private enterprise, mainly because of their ability to access funds and conduct managerial and financial activities. However, as noted by Moult and Anderson (2005), women still suffer from the specific gender-based disadvantages in starting a business. They are diverse and refer to both the access to financial instruments such as micro-finance, more family and social responsibilities (e.g. child-rearing and domestic issues), higher need for flexibility at work etc. Women’s private enterprise is always the issue of a compromise between a family and a job, hence family-business prioritizing often serves as an additional constraint restricting both time and effort allocated for developing a business (Moult Anderson, 2005). The problem is universal in its significance, and, as noted by Dyson (2003), New Zealand women also face the challenge of balancing work, family, whanau and community roles, preserving their own mental and physical health, safety and well-being at the same time. The barriers to business entry for women result in more time spent on the business efforts, resulting in a work-family conflict in the lives of female entrepreneurs. This family-work conflict causes an inevitable tension in the women’s lives and urges them to apply management strategies such as elimination, reduction or sharing ones (Shelton, 2006). As Shelton (2006) argues, the mitigation of the family-work conflict is female-specific, as males are rarely so actively involved in child-rearing and household chores. The family-work conflict serves as an additional barrier in entrepreneurship; there are various roles preferred by women, so in case they prioritize their family roles, they implement participative management, competitive compensation etc., that is technologies that minimize the entrepreneur’s presence at the workplace. Prioritization of work roles may involve hiring staff for childcare and household, seeking help of the family etc. (Shelton, 2006). Some other barriers for female entrepreneurship include the overall negative attitude to women-entrepreneurs, lack of affordable business premises, high costs and overheads of running a small business, lack of support groups etc. (Fielden et al., 2003). Although these barriers constitute serious threats for women starting up a business, the lack of access to financing business starts-up is a more serious barrier. Massey and Lewis (2003) have conducted a survey in New Zealand and have produced a set of highly relevant conclusions on the issue of financing and gender biases in the discussed context. The lack of women’s access to loans and equity finance is considered to have the following set of reasons: low debt capacity of women, less demands for loans for women not apt to take risks, lower income of industry sectors preferred by women, less property of women resulting in their lack of ability to conclude collateral agreements (Massey Lewis, 2003). In addition, the researchers state that women have less experience in finance management, lack skills and knowledge to conform to the banking criteria, being literally unable â€Å"to speak the banker’s language† (Massey Lewis, 2003, p. 16). The problem also has the institutional roots, with lack of attention to the women-specific needs in micro-finance: â€Å"while there are a number of agencies that provide micro-finance to women, there is an almost total lack of interest in evaluating whether this is necessary, and whether the particular measures that are being undertaken are effective and/or efficient† (Massey Lewis, 2003, p. 6). Looking at the current situation in New Zealand, one can say that there are a large number of financing tools for women, including the Federation of Business and Professional Women, the Women’s Loan Fund, the Maori Women’s Development Inc., and many more funds such as the Nelson Enterprise Loan Trust, the Poutama Trust etc. (Massey Lewis, 2003). However, the situation is still considered not ideally equal for men and women, with some action needed to be taken to ensure easier access to financing for women. Some of the proposed decisions called to solve the problem of barriers in financing a private enterprise for women are: to gain a deeper understanding of the women’s wants regarding the entrepreneurship; research the views of stakeholders in the field of financing, and link these data to the current initiatives and delivery methods of government agencies in the field of business finance (Massey Lewis, 2003). Personal Features of Male/Female Entrepreneurs Though the gender bias is actively debated in the field of entrepreneurship, there is still a great body of evidence regarding the fac t that women and men base their entrepreneurship efforts on a differing set of values, attitudes and skills. McGregor and Tweed (2000) have marked the following set of differences in male and female entrepreneurs’ features: women are more concentrated in the micro business field; they are less growth-oriented than men because of their caution regarding business risks. Women reported to prefer small and stable businesses, and wished to preserve the quality of life it gave them but not to develop further. Expansion was even often seen by women as a threat to their welfare. This tendency makes women â€Å"satisficers†, while men are more of â€Å"expansionists† by entrepreneurial nature (McGregor tweed, 2000). McGregor and Tweed’s (2000) findings are supported by the research of Zinger et al. (2005) in the Canadian settings: both teams agreed that women worked predominantly part-time, with their enterprises showing much lower levels of income than malesâ₠¬â„¢ ones. In addition, women were found to be more conservative in their attitude to business, and tending to affiliation but not autonomy (while men expressed the wish for autonomy as one of the dominant incentives for a business start-up). Women preferred mentorship at the initial stages of entrepreneurship and sought reassurance from women in similar circumstances (McGregor Tweed, 2000). However, the categories of women entrepreneurs are also heterogeneous, with the various extent of confidence and prioritization, which can be seen on the example of Turkish women categorized into ‘conventionals’ (women who balance their work and family in a conventional way, not prioritizing any of the fields), ‘innovators’ (women more focused on business than on family roles), ‘domestics’ (women prioritizing family and sacrificing business in case a family-work conflict arises), and ‘radicals’ (women unable to balance their careers with famil y roles and prioritizing business) (Kutanis Bayraktaroglu, n.d.). Some other features specific for female entrepreneurs include the concentration in the retail trade and service sectors (Zinger et al., 2005; Moult Anderson, 2005). Low levels of self-efficacy reported by many women affected the recognition of poor opportunity available for them in private business (Zinger et al., 2005). These facts prove the point that male and female entrepreneurship models are substantially different based on the individual, social and cultural roles of women and men as well as their self-awareness and assessment of success opportunities. Conclusion Despite the fact that literature on female entrepreneurship is heterogeneous, covering may theoretical and practical aspects, some key concerns stand out and require specific attention. It is evident that entrepreneurship needs a much deeper and closer focus because of its specificity and variability of research. The present literature review shows th at there are many similarities in ways of doing business for men and women, but women still have a set of unique features, challenges and approaches to entrepreneurship requiring special attention. As de Bruin, Brush, and Weler (2007) note, there may be no necessity for a separate theory on women’s entrepreneurship, while a certain expansion of existing theoretical concepts may still be needed to incorporate the vision of female entrepreneurship’s distinctiveness. Therefore, research may be based on some well-established methodological principles applied to the whole concept of entrepreneurship. It is also clear that a set of practical solutions for the expansion, encouragement and promotion of female entrepreneurship worldwide. As women are known to have unique constraints such as the family-work conflict, lack of opportunity and access to finance, lack of experience and managerial training, the governmental and private initiatives in the field perform the number one necessity for female stimulation in the private sector. Since women value mentorship at the initial stages of self-employment, the government should offer such services on a more accessible and efficient basis. Women lack self-confidence and lack flexibility, even under the conditions of being prosperous entrepreneurs. Hence, new solutions to face those problems are needed. Finally, one can draw a conclusion that the generally known bias against women entrepreneurs is more a socio-cultural than an economic problem, so measures to overcome it have to be searched in the stereotypical, patriarchal views of the society and addressed accordingly. Only this way may women receive the adequate access to information and resources related to business. The support on the psychological level, adequate business education and recognition of potential may also serve as the indispensible driving forces of female entrepreneurship. References de Bruin, A., Brush, C., Welter, F. (2007). Advancing a f ramework for coherent research on women’s entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory Practice, 31(3), 323-339. Dyson, R. (2003). Address Her Business Conference. Email communication: announce@ministers.govt.nz. 4 March 2003. Fielden, S., Davidson, M., Dawe, A., Makin, P. (2003). Factors inhibiting the economic growth of female owned small businesses in North West England. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 10(2), 152-166. Kutanis, R.O., Bayraktaroglu, S. (n.d.). Female Entrepreneurs: Social Feminist Insights for Overcoming The Barriers. Sakarya University. The Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business Administration, Turkey. Massey, C., Lewis, K. (2003). New Zealand women and micro-commerce. New Zealand Centre for Small Medium Enterprise Research, Massey University. The paper prepared for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. McGregor, J., Tweed, D. (2000). Towards a typology of female entrepreneurship: New directions f rom a nationwide study. Paper presented at the 30th European Small Business Seminar, Ghent, Belgium Conference publication, pp. 603-613. Moult, S., Anderson, R. (2005). Enterprising women: Gender and maturity in new venture creation and development. Journal of Enterprising Culture, 13(3), 255-271. Shelton, L. (2006). Female entrepreneurs, work-family conflict, and venture performance: New insights into the work-family interface. Journal of Small Business Management, 44(2), 285-297. Zinger, J.T., LeBrasseur, R., Riverin, N., Robichaud, Y. (2005). Stages of Small Enterprise Development: A Comparison of Female and Male Entrepreneurs. Paper presented on the 21st Annual C.C.S.B.E. Conference, Waterloo, ON R. Oct. 26-28, 2005. 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How to write facilities management tenders - Emphasis

How to write facilities management tenders How to write facilities management tenders Theres usually one guest at a party with a perennial case of its all me, me, me. This is the type of male or female who will wedge you in a corner, and wax lyrical about their latest business success, holiday or views on Americas political landscape. Its difficult to get a word in edgeways and you feel as though youre being assaulted with unwanted information. Most of us would flinch at the thought of being such a social bore. But in business we often make the same mistake of bombarding potential clients with too much information about how great we are. In fact, we should be focusing on their needs and interests. Theres no doubt that facilities managers are great at dealing with people and offering integrated workplace solutions. But translating these skills into a written proposal in order to sell your services is not an easy task. Unless your bid or tender proposal is carefully structured to be reader-focused rather than company-focused, it can have the same effect as the unwanted party guest. It doesnt matter whether youre responding to a warm or a cold lead, showing understanding is more important than trying to dazzle. Your company facts and testimonials should just confirm that you know what youre talking about. Here are seven tips that will help you write bids and tenders that shine the spotlight back onto your prospects and help to win you new business in the process. Grab a pencil and paper Its important to separate the thinking process from the writing process. So get away from your computer screen and ask yourself what core issues you want to address in your proposal. Better still, bounce ideas off a colleague. Decide which ideas are important, essential, desirable and unessential and aim to only include those that are in the first two categories. Put the reader first Always put the prospect first, by starting with their situation and the problems they need to solve. Use the Four Ps technique, which stands for: position (where they are now), problem (why they cant stay there), possibilities (where they could go) and proposal (where they should go). Resist the temptation to write down everything you think will win the contract. Instead, focus on the possible solutions before backing up your recommendations with information about your capabilities. Remember, it doesnt matter whether you are an in-house department; specialist contractor or a large multi-service company, the reader always comes first. And always highlight the benefits of the services in terms of cost reductions for the client, health and safety or other key measurements. Be inclusive Its likely that a variety of decision-makers will read your proposal. Consider the varying needs of the head of finance compared to a business development executive, for instance. And add in facts and figures that will keep everyone happy. But use appendices for detail, rather than stuffing the body text with too many facts that only one person will be interested in. Youre in it to win it Dont forget that you still need to sell the solutions youre proposing. Use persuasive language that will connect with the reader. For example, its useful to use the terms you, we and us to help the prospect visualise you working together. And use the active voice where possible. Check your facts Simple mistakes can seriously undermine what youre offering. Always check the spelling of product and place names and get a colleague to proofread your work carefully. Its easier for a fresh pair of eyes to spot any mistakes. Typos and other errors can still go unnoticed though, so proof-read extra slowly by stopping a pencil at each word to check that its accurate. Jargon is not the bogeyman Ask yourself how much the prospect knows about facilities management. And remember, its very easy to over-estimate this. Dont be afraid to use jargon though, as long as youre certain that your reader will understand it. Keep it short and sweet Many people think that tenders need to be long in order to show the client that youve made an effort. In fact, the opposite is true. It takes more effort to keep a tender clear and concise. Go through and cut out meaningless phrases and unessential information. And keep your sentences short, with each one no more than 15-20 words. A tender process may be your first foot in the door, with what you write determining whether or not youre invited to a face-to-face meeting. But dont be tempted to use flowery language. Instead, write to express rather than impress and youll keep your prospects interested and wanting to find out more. Want to win more business with your tenders? See our tender writing-courses for individuals and our tender-writing course for groups. Robert Ashton is the Chief Executive of Emphasis.