Determinants of Women's Microenterprise Success in Ahmedabad, India: Empowerment and Economics

Abstract

Microenterprise success is often evaluated solely in terms of economic outcomes. These evaluations do not recognize how opportunities for success may differ across groups and contexts, and disregard the importance of power and control as factors in success. This article investigates the determinants of a two-dimensional concept of microenterprise success for women in Ahmedabad, India, by analyzing data from a 1998 study of home-based garment producers. Growing economic success for these garment producers decreased empowerment outcomes, which suggests that evaluating both economic and empowerment outcomes and their interactions is important to understanding the process of achieving success. Improving the economic outcomes of women's enterprises via better training and access to markets, credit, and capital equipment does not necessarily facilitate women's empowerment. Microenterprise scholars and practitioners must focus on improving women's status within their homes, so they may contribute to and benefit from the decisions made about how to use their resources.Microenterprise development, gender, empowerment, South Asia, India, JEL Keywords: O17, J16,

The Economic Impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on Microenterprises in the Context of Development

“…Moreover, studies that demonstrate a significant or even a limited positive effect of mobiles on microenterprise profitability are relatively scarce (see, for example, Souter, 2005;Kantor, 2005;Jensen, 2007;Esselaar et al, 2008;Aker, 2008). Furthermore, only Kantor and Esselaar et al investigated microenterprises in an urban setting, which is the research site of our investigation.…”

“…Recent examples include Aminuzzaman et al, 2003;Kantor, 2005;Prasad and Sreedevi, 2007;Buskens and Webb, 2009). One case study (Guihuan, 2005) does however provide some support to the direct impact argument that women benefit from the ICT usage.…”

Social progress orientation and innovative entrepreneurship: an international analysis

“…Regarding gender inequality, literature on female entrepreneurship suggests that the gap between women and men is harmful for social and economic development (Aidis et al 2007;Baughn et al 2006;Terjesen and Amorós 2010, among others). In this regard, Kantor (2005) highlighted that the participation of women entrepreneurs should also be considered in terms of its importance to the home, since it allows for their own development and knowledge transfer to their offspring. To incentivize this process, participation and status improvement of women in the home, job places and society in general, should be achieved.…”

“…To incentivize this process, participation and status improvement of women in the home, job places and society in general, should be achieved. Additionally, Kantor (2005) suggested empowering women in terms of financial resource access, childcare infrastructure and management skills. In this case, policies encouraging female participation in entrepreneurial activity and labor market should take into account characteristics such as marital status, presence of children, age, education level and business type (Lee et al 2011).…”

What impedes micro, small and medium firms’ growth the most in South Africa? Evidence from World Bank Enterprise Surveys

“…Many studies have shown that MSME growth is considerably explained by firm age (Haltiwanger, Jarmin & Miranda, 2013), the sector in which it operates (Soderbom & Teal, 2003), ownership structure such as ethnic origins and gender of owners (Kantor, 2005;Raturi & Swamy, 1999) and location (Gelb et al 2007;Aterido & HallwardDriemeier, 2010). On the back of this literature, it is fair to expect that the effect of an obstacle on growth will likewise vary across the categories of MSME such as age, sector, ownership, and location in South Africa.…”