Behind the veil: women-only entrepreneurship training in Pakistan

Practical implications – For women entrepreneurs living in an Islamic society, this analysis has implications for understanding the importance and effectiveness of entrepreneurial training especially in a women-only setting. For policy makers, it turns the spotlight on the need for creating an environment conducive to female entrepreneurship consistent with socio-cultural structures and gender asymmetries. Originality/value – There are no comparable previous data on the learning preferences and outcomes of this particular demographic group.Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the gender-related challenges of Pakistani women entrepreneurs, to explore these women's particular capacity-building needs, and to assess the impact of capacity-building programs on the establishment and performance of the women's enterprises. Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins with a review of various theoretical contexts through which to understand women's entrepreneurship in an Islamic socio-cultural context. From this, the paper derived two working propositions: women in Islamic Pakistan face particular barriers to becoming entrepreneurs; these barriers can be reduced by women-only training in entrepreneurial competences. These propositions are examined in a three-part longitudinal process: a field survey to gather information about the training needs of current and potential women entrepreneurs, the design and delivery of a women-only training module, a follow-up survey with participants, 18 months later. Subjects and participants were randomly selected, and segmented according to entrepreneurial factors and characteristics. Findings – Results confirm that the barriers perceived by women entrepreneurs in Islamic Pakistan can be alleviated through women-only training that allows participants to develop capital and competences. Greater clarity about learning outcomes desired and achieved by women entrepreneurs in an Islamic socio-cultural context can be a basis for designing improved training and education programmes, with a view to women's economic empowerment

Entrepreneurial leadership: what is it and how should it be taught?

Main ArticleWe offer a comprehensive review of the literature relating to entrepreneurial leadership, noting that there are diverse understandings of the concept and little exploration of how best to teach it. We next present empirical data from a survey of teaching practices at 51 HEIs in the UK that indicate little explicit teaching of entrepreneurial leadership. Drawing on this literature and data, we make recommendations for the design of teaching materials that emphasise the relevance of leadership in entrepreneurship education and of entrepreneurship in leadership education

Training needs for women-owned SMEs in England

Originality/value – The study offers original primary research into the contributory growth factors for women-owned enterprises in a representative area of Britain, identifies key issues, maps survival and success factors, and assesses women entrepreneurs' training needs and preferences.Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate the needs and preferences for training among growth-oriented women-owned SMEs in the East of England. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative data were collected through 108 on-line questionnaires, and the means analysed using SPSS. Qualitative data collected in response to open-ended questions were inductively analysed and interpreted. Findings – Only one fourth of respondents received growth-oriented training in the previous two years, with an average duration of 3-5 days per year. Programmes most in demand concerned innovation and opportunity recognition, business evaluation and growth considerations, developing strategic customers and customers care, customer relationship management, as well as selling, networking and negotiation skills. High demand for these programmes corresponds to others results identifying contributory factors to higher enterprise performance and growth: product/service quality, new product/service development, appropriate marketing, effective use of websites, selling skills and informal networking. Research limitations/implications – The scope of the project is limited to service sectors and sole proprietorships. Geographic scope is limited to the East of England. These limits nonetheless provide a reasonable base and rationale for the scope of the study. Practical implications – With a better understanding of the capacity building requirements of women entrepreneurs in growth businesses, appropriately designed training programmes can be developed to help women achieve higher levels of entrepreneurial success

Women-owned small and medium enterprises in England: analysis of factors influencing the growth process

Practical implications – This research has implications for government or other business development agencies seeking to understand the growth patterns and problems of women-owned enterprises in the East of England. Originality/value – There are few British studies that have focussed on growth oriented women-owned businesses. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by attempting to understand the nature and activities of such business, by analysing the main growth factors and their influence on different growth strategies.Purpose – This study attempts to understand the nature and activities of growth-oriented women-owned businesses in the East of England by highlighting the problems faced by women entrepreneurs during the growth process. Design/methodology/approach – The approach analysed the main growth factors and their influence on the adoption of different growth strategies. An online questionnaire was designed using Snap survey software™, with results exported to SPSS™ for analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected via a variety of scaled, open-ended, rank order, dichotomous, multiple choice and open questions. Findings – The research indicates that most do not opt to develop growth-oriented businesses, choosing instead small, non-scalable, locally focused businesses providing services or operating in low-tech industries. Women who are growth-oriented appear to be inhibited due to a lack of access to, and control over such resources as, capital, business premises, information and technology, production inputs, appropriate childcare, qualifications, experience, training facilities and appropriate assistance from business development agencies. Non-effective accumulation and use of social capital hinders access to appropriate decision-making circles, and limits the probability of accessing critical management and financing resources, especially through the venture capital industry

Entrepreneurial Leadership and Islamic Perceptions: Institutional, Market, and Cultural Approaches

This paper reviews different theoretical approaches to understanding entrepreneurial leadership in an Islamic context in order to determine the best means of researching it more rigorously, and of promoting more of it. Neo-institutional, market-based and culturally informed theory are proposed as better able to explain and develop Islamic entrepreneurial leadership. Several embryonic models of Islamic entrepreneurial leadership are also critiqued

‘Never let a crisis go to waste’: entrepreneurship in the age of coronavirus

Entrepreneurs can respond to opportunity in three ways: business-as-usual, pivoting, and new venture creation, write Ali Aslan Gümüsay and Pegram Harriso

Pegram Harrison, professor de la Saïd Business School (Universitat d'Oxford)

La UAB acollirà del 27 al 31 de maig, per primera vegada a Europa, el Food & Health Entrepreneurship Program, un programa internacional que es celebra des de 2006 a la Universitat Califòrnia Davis (UCD), per formar investigadors universitaris de l'àmbit de ciència de l'alimentació i de la nutrició en aspectes claus en desenvolupament de negoci. Pegram Harrison, professor en emprenedoria a la Saïd Business School de la Universitat d'Oxford i director del programa, ens n'explica els detalls i comenta com les universitats i els governs poden ajudar els emprenedors a fer realitat les seves idees de negoci

Precursors to postcolonialism : Leonard Woolf, E.J.Thompson, and E.M.Forster and the rhetoric of English India.

Digitisation of this thesis was sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Association of ERBB2 gene status with histopathological parameters and disease-specific survival in gastric carcinoma patients

The clinical significance of ERBB2 amplification/overexpression in gastric cancer remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated the ERBB2 status in 463 gastric carcinomas using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), and compared the findings with histopathological characteristics and with disease-specific survival. ERBB2 overexpression (2+ and 3+) and amplification (ratio ERBB2/CEP17⩾2) were found in 43 (9.3%) and 38 (8.2%) gastric carcinomas, respectively. Perfect IHC/FISH correlation was found for the 19 cases scored as 0 (all negative by FISH), and also for the 25 cases scored as 3+ (all positive by FISH). One out of six carcinomas scored as 1+ and 12 out of 18 carcinomas scored as 2+ were positive by FISH. ERBB2 amplification was associated with gastric carcinomas of intestinal type (P=0.007) and with an expansive growth pattern (P=0.021). ERBB2 amplification was detected in both histological components of two mixed carcinomas, indicating a common clonal origin. A statistically significant association was found between ERBB2 amplification and worse survival in patients with expansive gastric carcinomas (P=0.011). We conclude that ERBB2 status may have clinical significance in subsets of gastric cancer patients, and that further studies are warranted to evaluate whether patients whose gastric carcinomas present ERBB2 amplification/overexpression may benefit from therapy targeting this surface receptor