Gender and Small Business Success: An Inquiry into Women\u27s Relative Disadvantage

Even among a Successful Group of Small Business Owners, Women Generate Lower Sales Volumes and Derive Less Income Than their Male Counterparts. Alternative Explanations of Women\u27s Relative Disadvantage Are Evaluated Systematically. the Characteristics of the Owner and the Small Business that Differ between Genders Explain the Discrepancy in Financial Success, with the Smaller Size of Women\u27s Businesses Emerging as the Major Explanatory Factor. Women\u27s Lack of Experience and their Concentration in the Least Profitable Industries Contribute Strongly to the Gender Discrepancy as Well. the Processes through Which the Female Small Business Owner Generates Sales and Derives Income Are Quite Similar to Those of Her Male Counterpart, But Even Successful Women Are Not as Well Positioned to Exploit Business Opportunities as their Male Counterparts Because of their Structural Disadvantages Both within and Outside of the Business Arena. © 1991 the University of North Carolina Press

Ownership Patterns and Centralization: A China and U.S. Comparison

The Paper Examines the Relationships between Ownership and Decision-Making Patterns in Small Business Organizations in China and the United States. We Also Consider Organizational Size and the Culture-Free/culture-Bound Argument. the U.S. Data (A Sample of 540 Enterprises) Were Collected by Questionnaire in 1988; the Chinese Data (A Sample of 53 Enterprises) by a Converted and Translated Questionnaire based on the U.S. Version and Interviews in 1989. Findings Indicate that the Chinese Organizations with Various Forms of Ownerships Are More Centralized Than their U.S. Counterparts, Which is Consistent with the Culture-Bound Perspective. on the Other Side of the Coin, Findings Suggest that in Both China and United States, Organizational Centralization of Decision Making Decreases with Increasing Size, Although to Different Degree, Which Appears to Support the Culture-Free Argument. © 1993 Plenum Publishing Corporation