How To Write An Entrepreneurial Profile Of The Bihor County Women

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1 The Entrepreneurial Profile of the Bihor County Women Wishing to Start Businesses. Case Study A Research Performed within the ANTRES Project - Entrepreneurship and Equality of Chances. An Inter-regional Model of Entrepreneurial School for Women. MARIA-MADELA ABRUDAN mabrudan@uoradea.ro, OLIMPIA BAN Department of Economics oban@uoradea.ro, MIRELA BUCUREAN mbucurean@uoradea.ro, NICOLETA BUGNAR Department of International Businesses nbugnar@uoradea.ro, DORINA POPA Department of Finance-Accounting dlezeu@uoradea.ro, SIMONA BODOG sbodog@uoradea.ro, ADELA LAURA POPA apopa@uoradea.ro, Abstract: - Based on the experience accumulated by the authors of the paper within the ANTRES Project - Entrepreneurship and Equality of Chances. An Inter-regional Model of Entrepreneurial School for Women, which took place between , the paper, starting with the presentation of the economic-social characteristics of Bihor county as a premise and training frame of the entrepreneur woman, presents the results of a study at the level of Bihor county, whose results shape the entrepreneurial profile of the urban women of Bihor county wishing to start businesses and who have benefited from training in the entrepreneurial field within the activities of the project. Key-Words: - female entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial profile, business start-up, abilities, opportunities, obstacles 1 Female entrepreneurship The rapid technological process generates business opportunities and the entrepreneurs necessity to adapt to the changes incurred in the environment and with it the development of entrepreneurial skills allowing them to generate and develop the existing businesses by ISSN: ISBN:

2 implementing some strategies both by penetrating and remaining on the market. Classification of a company or economic entity in the category of entrepreneurial knew different views and we can say that entrepreneurship should not be characterized by the size of a company, but by the spirit of initiative, creative attitude, innovation, risk taking [2]. Studies in the field of female entrepreneurship show that the female entrepreneurs have an important impact on economy, both through their ability to create jobs for themselves and to create jobs for others. Women initiating businesses or women being managers or owners of small firms are still a few in the majority of countries, this being determined by the specific obstacles that women face, that is: the type of education, the lack of models in entrepreneurship, weak social status, the access to financial resources etc. In order to emphasise the differences between women and men as entrepreneurs, we must have in view the female entrepreneurship both at the individual level and at the company level in order to identify the performance of the companies run by women. Apart from these, the female entrepreneurship is influenced by women status in the society as well as by the role of entrepreneurship in this society, in this view being involved both the factors affecting this particular dimension system and the factors affecting the entrepreneurship in society [12]. On the other side, the psychological characteristics of female entrepreneurs have been analysed in many studies, beginning with 1983 [6] and 1987 [4]. The emphasis was on finding some correlations between the woman s psychological profile and the success of the business. Actually, they were looking for the optimum combination of psychological characteristics which could generate success in business. One of the recent subjects is the research of the woman s personal development in relation with the development of a personal business, through the experience accumulated [5] [7]. Most studies concluded that regarding the aspect of general psychological and demographic characteristics, the female entrepreneur resembles the male entrepreneur. We mention here only a few: the age between years old, the marital status married [4]. Other general characteristics defining a successful female entrepreneur are: the work capacity, the desire to be successful, the desire to earn money, the trust in personal vision, risk taking etc. [1]. Regarding the way in which the environment influences the woman s entrepreneurial spirit, Cooper (1981) [3]. suggests that there are three factors encouraging the manifestation of the entrepreneurial spirit: antecedents of family type and genetic factors, the existence of an incubating organization providing models of management and the environment factors of the economic growth type, the access to capital, changes on the labour market etc. 2 Bihor county diagnosis a premise and training framework of the female entrepreneur Framework, resources. Bihor County is situated in the North-Western part of Romania, with a surface representing 3.2% of the Romanian territory and 22.1% of the North-Western Region, occupying as dimension the 6 th place in the country and the first place in the North-Western Region [11]. The number of Bihor County inhabitants on January 1 st 2007 was of 594,615 people, thus being the 11 th county in the country taking into account the size, except Bucharest. Education, employment, economy. Bihor County is a fully developing county, with a positive dynamics in the field of education. In the 1990/1991 academic year, at the level of Bihor county, the school population counted 139,079 pupils and students. Regarding the school population at the level of university education, the situation changed radically in the last 15 years. In 2006, the school population in the university education counted 23,261 students, that is 18% of the total school population, while at the level of secondary education there has been a drop of 7 %. Regarding the evolution of the structure of the population employed on activities of national economy, in the reference period it can be noticed a change in the percentage of employed population in different fields of activity. The most significant changes were in agriculture and industry, many people in these fields of activity reorienting towards trade, health, public administration. The changes recorded in the percentage of different sectors of national economy have encouraged reorientations both in what the field, the place is concerned and in what the status on the labour market is concerned. It was a prolific period to give up a job and to start your own business. This is reflected, on one hand, in the increase in the number of SMEs, the increase in the number of jobs and the decrease of the unemployment rate. We notice that the North-Western Region is on the second position after Bucharest Ilfov as the SMEs density. Bihor County has even a higher density of SMEs than the region average, this being of for 2007 (processed data provided by the Board of Statistics of Bihor County). It is worth retaining that, in 2007 for the first time, the North-Western Region recorded the first place for the growth rhythm of the number of SMEs compared to the reference year 2000, which is of 6.7%. The analysis of the SMEs structure of Bihor County in 2007 shows the impressive percentage of microenterprises, of 88.7% of the total of SMEs. On the ISSN: ISBN:

3 second positions as percentage, there are the small enterprises with 9.42% of the total, being followed by the middle sized enterprises with 1.87% of the total. The unemployment rate in Bihor County, at the end of 2006, of 2.7% was much lower than the country rate, which was of 7.3% [8]. At the end of 2007, this rate at the county level of 2.4% was maintained below 4.1% [9] at the national level. In December 2008, there was a number of 5,34% unrequited unemployed, out of which 37% were women. Through the strategic position, the resources it has, the entrepreneurial enthusiasm manifested through the high number of SMEs set up in the last 10 years, Bihor County provides the suitable framework for the manifestation of the entrepreneurial spirit [10]. 3 Case study * The research was made within the ANTRES Project - Entrepreneurship and Equality of Chances. An Interregional Model of Entrepreneurial School for Women, performed by the Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea as an inter-regional coordinator, contract no POSDRU/9/3.1/S/5, period of implementation: , worth: 12,500,104 lei. The general objective is to promote the equality of chances in the field of entrepreneurship by stimulating the involvement of women generally and of women from the rural environment especially in the initiation and development of their own business in the context of sustainable development of the communities in the counties situated along the Western border of Romania and the focus groups are made up of: 288 SMEs female managers wishing to develop their business from the counties situated along the Western border of Romania (Maramures, Satu-Mare, Bihor, Arad, Timis, Caras- Severin) focus group I, 1440 women wishing to start up their own business from the counties situated along the Western border of Romania (Maramures, Satu-Mare, Bihor, Arad, Timis, Caras-Severin) focus group II and 72 women, students in the economic field in the last year who will be trained to become trainers in the entrepreneurial field and ho will benefit from a job, as trainers, within the project - focus group III. In what follows, the study refers to focus groups II and III urban area. Research methodology. The research is a descriptive one, of transversal type. In order to implement this quantitative research, the investigation was chosen as a research method. In this view, there was drawn up a questionnaire structured in 25 questions. The target * The authors of the study are members of the project team at Bihor territorial level population is represented by the course attendants of focus groups II and III women wishing to start up their own business, participants to the entrepreneurial school within the Antres Project - Entrepreneurship and Equality of Chances. An Inter-regional Model of Entrepreneurial School for Women, a project financed from the European Social Fund Investing in People!. The data base of the focus groups II and III - women wishing to start up their own business, aggregated at the territorial level is based on the questionnaires applied at the level of Oradea, Aleşd, Beiuş, Marghita and Salonta between This data base has in total 122 recordings out of which 43 are questionnaires applied at the territorial level and 79 at the local level, distributed on the Oradea territorial centre - 43 and the local centres Aleşd - 20, Beiuş - 18, Marghita - 20 and Salonta 21. Women wishing to start up their own business and their entrepreneurial profile. Demo-economic characteristics Number of questionnaires Minimum Maximum Average applied Age Income/ household last month Personal income last month Table 1. Demo-economic characteristics of respondents at the level of Bihor County Occupational status. More than half of this group are employed (67.8%), but a high percentage is given by the students (9.9%, and 8.31% who directly declared their status of trainers), taking into account the characteristics of the focus group III trainers. Employed Student Trainer Student and trainer Housewife Unemployed Maternity leave Which is your current occupational status? Bihor County level 9,9 8,3 5,8 3,3 3,3 1,7 67,8,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0 50,0 60,0 70,0 80,0 Fig 1. The occupational status of respondents Almost a third of the respondents who have the status of employed work in the field of tourism and services (31.5%). Also, a high number of respondents work as unskilled workers (18.5%) and in fields such as education, schools, research, culture (17.4%), and trade (14.1%). ISSN: ISBN:

4 If you are an employee, what field do you work in? tourism, services 31.5% unskilled worker 18.5% education, schools, research, culture 17.4% trade 14.1% health/body care 9.8% industry, constructions 6.5% administration 2.2% Table 2. Fields of activity of employed Bihor level Regarding the marital status, the majority of participants are married (46.7%), and 40.8% are single. The majority of households are made up of 3 or 4 people. Most of women have a child (46.8%), while 22.1% do not have children. Bihor County level married 46.7 single 40.8 divorced 10.0 widow 0.8 married without papers 0.8 separated 0.8 Interest and experience in business. In order to identify the decision, the determination to start up a business, the questionnaires contained aspects related to the motivation to initiate, the degree of idea development, the resources she has, the partnerships she wants to use, the support of those close and also the way in which she perceives the seriousness of some problems when initiating a business in the current social-economic conditions. Market opportunities Experience in the field Theoretical training A successful model Collaboration offer The desire to earn money,8 10,2 14,4 17,8 22,0 34,7,0 5,0 10,0 15,0 20,0 25,0 30,0 35,0 40,0 Fig. 2. The reasons for start-up Regarding the reasons to initiate a business, the most frequent reason to start up a business is represented by the market opportunities (34.7%), followed by the experience in the field 22%); the theoretical training and the follow up of a successful model are equally mentioned as determinants of the business idea (17.8 % and 14.4%), as it can be seen in Fig. 2. These facts indicate that most of the respondents either know the market on which they want to launch the business or have a training which provides a context in which they get involved. The desire to earn money and that to be promoted exist in very few cases are in the real very few the real reasons for start-up. Regarding the fields in which they intend the initiation of business, almost 60% of the respondents indicated tourism and services and if we take into consideration tourism, services and trade together, these three fields cumulate over 80% of the women s preferences. Which field would you like to start up your business in? tourism, services 59.1 trade 24.3 industry, constructions 5.2 education, schools, research, culture 4.3 health/body care 4.3 agriculture 1.7 others 0.9 Table 3. Fields intended to start up a business (at Bihor County level) The intention to start up a business manifests, in case of the majority of respondents, only at the declarative stage, until the moment of registering for the Entrepreneurial School for Women. Therefore, the majority of them (69.4%) do not have a developed business plan, while only 3.3 % have already a business plan; we must notice that quite a high percentage started to prepare such a plan (27.3%). These data indicate quite a high degree of seriousness and determination in starting up the business, but in this view we must mention that similar questions have been used in the selection process too in order to establish the degree of interest in the project. Resources and difficulties regarding the business start up. The participants to the research mostly have human resources to start up the business, and to lesser degree they have financial resources; generally, yet, as it can be seen in Table 4., the resources they have are generally appreciated as being low. Speaking about the self-appreciation of these resources, these data indicate only the needs of these focus groups, but the high number of people who do not have resources at all raises questions marks related to the chances to succeed. Yet, it is possible that the respondents might have omitted the partnerships or the collaborations they have in view in case of business start up. In this view, the answers to the following questions regarding the involvement and the support of the family as well as referring to the people wishing to start up the business show that it is possible that the resources needed to initiate a business come from the family which is involved in the business plans. What resources do you have to start up your business: nothing few many considerable financial % 8.0% - human 6.5% 48.6% 35.6% 9.3% material 26.7% 60.0% 10.4% 2.9% Table 4. Resources for business start up (Bihor County level) ISSN: ISBN:

5 The majority of respondents (55.6%) in these groups want to involve the members of their families in the firm s activity, but in the questionnaire we do not have questions referring to the latter s form if involvement (management or executive positions, employees or volunteers etc.). In spite of all these, these answers show the fact that the respondents do not perceive the activity in the firm as being separate from family, but there are interconnections between them. To what extent does your family support you in starting up a business? It is not the case To a very large extent To a large extent To a small extent At all 2,6 % 8,5 % 19,7 % 28,2% 41,0 %,0 5,0 10,0 15,0 20,0 25,0 30,0 35,0 40,0 45,0 Fig. 3. Family support (Bihor County level) Also, the family support is perceived as high, as it results from Fig. 3. This strengthens the remark expressed above according to which, in the case of women wishing to start up a business, there is no opposition between the family and the activity in the firm. Which do you think are the main problems in starting up a business? at all little much totally High fees and taxes 8.7% 19.1% 59.1% 13.0% Bureaucracy 4.3% 25.9% 43.1% 26.7% Frequent legislative changes 9.7% 22.1% 52.2% 15.9% Competition 3.6% 42.7% 43.6% 10.0% Financial 3.5% 26.3% 57.0% 13.2% Lack of information and counselling 15.6% 51.4% 30.3% 2.8% Finding the necessary people and relations 22.3% 54.5% 19.6% 3.6% Lack of time for skill education and improvement 26.8% 51.8% 20.5% 0.9% Trust in oneself and personal skills 63.9% 28.7% 4.6% 2.8% Relating the family life with the professional life 45.5% 38.2% 13.6% 2.7% Getting people s acceptance and respect 46.8% 36.7% 11.9% 4.6% Table 5. Perception of problems the entrepreneurs are facing Bihor County level Table 5 presents the perception on the problems and obstacles in starting up a business as well as their dimension. The most serious problems are considered to be: high fees and taxes, as well as bureaucracy, followed yet by the financial problems. The least serious problems, difficulties are self confidence and finding the necessary people and relations to start up the business. Also, relating the family life with the professional life and getting people s acceptance and respect are not considered main impediments in the business initiation process. Professional training and experience. The level of education of women wishing to start up a business is, generally, meant to create the premises of success in initiating the business. Thus, 70% of the respondents have university and post-university education. Regarding the field, almost half (45.1%) have economic studies, followed by social-human, technical studies etc. (see Table 6). State the field of your education: economic 45.1 social-human 18.9 technical 14.8 health/body care 9.0 law 4.9 exact sciences 4.1 average 3.3 Table 6. Field of education Bihor level Additionally to the initial education, a small percentage of the respondents (approximately 12%) attended professional training courses in the fields which help them in their entrepreneurial activity. The courses attended by the participants of these two focus groups are mainly in the fields of: management, entrepreneurship, computer science. The perception towards female entrepreneurship. The perception towards types of problems The fields considered the most suitable to start up a business by a woman are tourism-services as well as trade, these cumulating over 70% of the options, followed by the education-schools-research-culture field (21.1%). Moreover, it should be stated that the three fields cumulating over 70% of the options (tourism, services, trade) highly overlap both with the fields in which the respondents work (almost half of the course attendants work in these fields), and with the fields in which they want to launch in business (over 80% of the respondents have chosen these fields for the business start up), which means that stereotypes related to the specific and main fields for the female entrepreneurship strongly manifest. Of the fields listed below, which are the most suitable for a woman wishing to start up a business? Tourism, services Trade Education, schools, research, culture Industry, constructions Administration Any of them Health/body care 2,6 1,8 0,9 0,9 21,1 27,2 45,6,0 5,0 10,0 15,0 20,0 25,0 30,0 35,0 40,0 45,0 50,0 Fig. 4. Fields suitable to female entrepreneurs Bihor County level ISSN: ISBN:

6 The attitude towards the gender is, as it was expected, pro-feminist, the respondents consider that women should gat involved in politics and in public life, they must have equal rights with men in all the fields (access to jobs, equal payment). Correlating the results obtained in the research at the county level with those at the interregional level it is worth noticing that the feminist attitude at Bihor County level is more accentuated than the average at the region level. To what extent do you agree with the following statements: Totally against Rather Rather against agree Totally agree I do not know women should candidate for public positions and take part in the country 1.7% 1.7% 19.7% 76.9% - ruling as men do women should have the same rights with men in % 88.1% - all the fields women should not get 64.7% 19.0% 7.8% involved in politics 4.3% 4.3% when there are few jobs, men should have more 80.2% rights to work than 7.8% 6.0% 1.7% 4.3% women men and women should have an equal salary when 0.8% 1.7% 8.5% 87.3% 1.7% they have the same jobs men are better qualified than women as political 42.6% 26.1% 14.8% 3.5% 13% leaders Table 7. Attitude towards the gender Bihor level 4 Conclusions A country s economy highly depends on the number of newly created enterprises every year. The entrepreneurial spirit should be encouraged and rewarded, the entrepreneurs acting in order to activate and stimulate all the economic activities. Together with the male entrepreneurs, the female entrepreneurs have an important impact on the economy through both the number of small enterprises they can create and through the fact that some of them are capable of creating companies with hopes of development and expansion. As a result of the research, we can delineate the entrepreneurial profile of the women in Bihor County, wishing to start up businesses. Therefore, a prospective female entrepreneur: is averagely 32 years old has an average income of 1070 lei is employed in the tourism and services field is married and has a child has as main reason the market opportunities considers that the most attractive fields are tourism and services does not yet have a well developed business plan has human resources considers that she has the family support and wishes to involve the members of the family in the firm s activity has university and post-university education in the economic field considers that women should have the same rights as men in all the aspects. References: [1] X1. Buttner, E.H., Female business owners: How far have they come?, Business Horizons, 18 (2), 1993, pp [2] X2. Bugnar N., Bodog S., Entrepreneurship and Female entrepreneurship, Annals of the University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, Tom XVIII, 2009 [3] X3. Das, M., Women Entrepreneurs from India: Problems, Motivations and Success Factors, Journal of small business and entrepreneurship, vol.15, no.4, 2001 [4] X4. Hisrich, R., Brush, C., Women business owners: A longitudinal study. In N. Churchill et al., (Eds.) Frontiers of business ownership research, Wellesley. MA: Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Babson College, 1987, pp [5] X5. MacKeracher, D., Making sense of adult learning. Toronto: Culture Concepts, 1996 [6] X6. Watkins, J., Watkins, D., The female entrepreneur: Background and determinants of business choice--some British data, 1983 [7] X7. Wells, S. J., Women business owners: Developing leadership for success, New York: Garland, 1998 [8] X8. *** - Romanian Statistical Yearbook 2006 [9] X9. *** - The National Agency for Employment Ianuarie 2008 [10] X10. Anca Otilia Dodescu, Marin Dinu, Alina Bădulescu, Maria-Madela Abrudan, Olimpia Ban, Nicoleta Bugnar, Andra Croitoru, Cristina Fometescu, Adela Laura Popa - Diagnoza economică a judeńului Bihor, a volume written within the AntrES Project, 2009 [11] X11. *** - Development Plan for Bihor County , 2007, p.10 [12] X12. ISSN: ISBN: