Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Allen, Jane D
• Bandeen, Mona

Titel

Women entrepreneurs conducting business in southeast Asia: perceptions, barriers and policy options

Ist Teil von

• Canadian woman studies, 1994-12, Vol.15 (1), p.91

Ort / Verlag

Scarborough, Ont: Centennial College

Erscheinungsjahr

1994

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Literature Online (LION)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This research was initiated on behalf of the Canada-ASEAN Centre to explore the activities of Canadian women business owners vis-a-vis trade with the ASEAN region, with a view to identifying whether or how this activity could be increased through government support. The study was undertaken in recognition of the importance to the Canadian economy of businesses owned by women: the rate of new business formation by women is three times that of men, businesses led by women have a greater success rate than those led by men, and one in three Canadian businesses are forecast to be owned by women within this decade (FBDB). Another increasingly important factor affecting the Canadian economy is the role of exporting, and the need for Canadian firms to be able to compete with global competitors in order to thrive. In this regard the ASEAN region is one of the world's fastest growing economies, and there has been considerable effort by provincial governments and the federal government to encourage trade linkages with that region. Our expectations going into the study were that we would identify the range of programs that promote trade between the regions, and the proportion of women business owners currently participating in them. We also hoped to identify any barriers that may exist to their participation in these programs, and if these barriers are unique to women business owners, explain why; as well as provide specific suggestions for changes to programs and/or policies to overcome any barriers identified. Further-more, we intended to examine the role and effectiveness of Canadian and ASEAN region women's networks in promoting international business development, and recommend any role, and specific activities, that existing or new women's business networks could have in encouraging trade between the two regions. A number of other findings became apparent, beyond the original research questions posed, that are also instructive. These fall into two categories: barriers to women entrepreneurs conducting business in the ASEAN region, generally, as opposed to barriers to using government export programs; and women's experiences with government export programs. We learned that the greatest barrier to conducting business is ASEAN is lack of knowledge: all respondents indicated that if they could be put in touch with local contacts that knew the market well, they would have a much greater chance at successfully pursuing international business. The respondents indicated that without a local contact, one could spend an enormous amount of time, effort, and money pursuing international contracts, and that this was a risk few were willing to take, given other demands of their businesses. A number of suggestions were made for governments' role, related to this barrier.