This volume addresses the current challenges for and future prospects of women’s entrepreneurship research, bringing together a wealth of diverse insights with implications for research, education and practice alike. Presenting theoretical and empirical research papers and case studies, the book not only offers a topical reference guide for entrepreneurship researchers and educators, but also provides essential reading material for students interested in questions addressing diverse aspects of the challenges to and future academic and practical prospects of women’s entrepreneurship.

Over the past century, an extensive literature has developed, exploring the impact of entrepreneurship on economic performance. The active participation of entrepreneurs in virtually all aspects of business and economic activity has obliged policy makers within the global economy to consider entrepreneurship as a determining variable in any political force, not only for bodies and groups created specifically to this end, but also for any decision-making body. To this end, specific actions promoting entrepreneurship have already been established around the world. However, the particular dynamics of entrepreneurship by women present unique opportunities and challenges. The women’s perspective has often been overlooked in research, practice, and policymaking, and yet yields rich insights and implications. This volume features research from an international array of authors, global data, and in-depth analysis of women’s entrepreneurial activity in Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Canada, to shed light on the positive impact of women’s entrepreneurship on economic growth and development. The first part covers a broad range of concepts relating to the history and context of the female economic perspective. The second part focuses on performance and success factors, with respect to such issues as innovation, social needs, and entrepreneurial orientation. The third part addresses issues of financing, including discussion of access to capital, microcredit, and entrepreneurial behavior. The fourth part considers additional topics, such as work-family balance and access to education. Together, the chapters offer new perspectives on the unique characteristics of women entrepreneurs and their contributions to economic development in theory, practice, and policymaking.

There has been an increase in women entrepreneurs participating in the growth of local, regional, national, and global economies. While these women showcase crucial skills for strategic leadership and strategy that can advance companies, they face cultural, educational, social, and political barriers that impede their development and participation within the global economy. Women Entrepreneurs and Strategic Decision Making in the Global Economy is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on understanding the value of women entrepreneurs and the strategies they can use on the economy and examines gender impact on strategic management and entrepreneurship. While highlighting topics such as emotional intelligence, global economy, and strategic leadership, this book is ideally designed for managers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, academicians, and students.

"This volume challenges those who see gender inequalities invariably defining and constraining the lives of women. But it also broadens the conversation about the degree to which business is a gender-blind institution, owned and managed by entrepreneurs whose gender identities shape and reflect economic and cultural change." – Mary A. Yeager, Professor Emerita, University of California, Los Angeles This is the first book to consider nineteenth-century businesswomen from a global perspective, moving beyond European and trans-Atlantic frameworks to include many other corners of the world. The women in these pages, who made money and business decisions for themselves rather than as employees, ran a wide variety of enterprises, from micro-businesses in the ‘grey market’ to large factories with international reach. They included publicans and farmers, midwives and property developers, milliners and plumbers, pirates and shopkeepers. Female Entrepreneurs in the Long Nineteenth Century: A Global Perspective rejects the notion that nineteenth-century women were restricted to the home. Despite a variety of legal and structural restrictions, they found ways to make important but largely unrecognised contributions to economies around the world - many in business. Their impact on the economy and the economy’s impact on them challenge gender historians to think more about business and business historians to think more about gender and create a global history that is inclusive of multiple perspectives. Chapter one of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

This new series, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, presents various aspects of trends, problems and policy issues related to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in transition countries. SMEs represent an important source for growth and new jobs in market economies worldwide, but in transition economies they remain perhaps an untapped potential. For women, in particular, there is a gender gap in setting up such businesses, and the UNECE Programme on Womens Entrepreneurship aims to raise awareness of the various problems associated in establishing a business. This present volume includes selected papers prepared for the First Forum of Women Entrepreneurs, offers an overview of the situation and problems they face; outlines country experiences, and discusses the importance of networks and the global digital economy.

While acknowledgement of the contributions of female entrepreneurship is present in academic research, Michela Mari and Sara Poggesi uncover two under-researched aspects: innovation in female entrepreneurship and immigrant female entrepreneurship.