Abstract
This article explores female entrepreneurial activities in 13 Latin American and Caribbean countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela. Specifically, we explore the following research questions: What percentage of the female and male Latin American populations is involved in opportunity- and necessity-based entrepreneurial activities? And what quality of institutions is associated with female entrepreneurial activity opportunity and necessity rates? We comment on the impact of female entrepreneurship on economic development and conclude with implications for policy, practice and future research.
Cet article explore les activités entrepreneuriales des femmes dans treize pays d’Amérique latine: l’Argentine, la Bolivie, le Brésil, le Chili, la Colombie, la République dominicaine, l’Équateur, la Jamaïque, le Mexique, le Pérou, le Porto Rico, l’Uruguay et le Venezuela. Plus précisément, nous soulevons les questions de recherche suivantes: quels sont les pourcentages de femmes et d’hommes qui sont engagés dans des activités d’entreprenariat de nécessité et d’opportunité? Quelle est la qualité des institutions associée aux taux d’entrepreneuriat de nécessité et d’opportunité parmi les femmes? Nous examinons l’impact de l’entreprenariat féminin sur le développement économique et ses implications en termes de politiques, pratiques et de recherches futures.
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Notes
The GEM project is an annual population-representative survey that measures entrepreneurship activities, and includes 4 billion of the estimated 6.3 billion world population. GEM data is used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Economist and numerous other outlets for comparative entrepreneurship studies.
GEM's definition of entrepreneurial activity is the share of adults (aged 18–64 years) in the population who are either actively involved in starting a new business or in managing a business that is less than 42 months old.
By Latin America, we refer to Latin American and Caribbean countries.
We performed a series of Akaike tests and Schwarz tests for different model specifications. Previous empirical studies show that GEM's Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) and opportunity-driven rates follow a quadratic specification ‘U-shape’ (see Wennekers et al, 2005; Acs and Amorós, 2008). This model is less restricted than linear or logarithmic models. For necessity-based rates, we used a logarithmic model because our hypothesis is that the relationship between female necessity-based entrepreneurs (FNEC) and economic or competitive performance is negative following the ‘L-Shape’ path (see also Acs and Amorós, 2008).
This may explain why the inclusion of a set of dummies for each country in preliminary models for entrepreneurial dynamics as a function of CI induces substantial collinearity in the estimation.
The Global CI was developed by World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Programme and conducted by Professor Xavier Sala-i-Martin. The Global CI uses Porter's competitiveness stages to determine three sub-indexes based on the nine pillars: Basic requirements sub-index (Stage 1: factor-driven): Institutions (pillar 1), Infrastructure (pillar 2), Macroeconomic (pillar 3), Health and basic education (pillar 4). Efficiency enhancers sub-index (Stage 2: efficiency-driven): Higher education and training (pillar 5), Market efficiency (pillar 6), Technological readiness (pillar 7). Innovation and sophistication factor sub-index (Stage 3: innovation-driven): Business sophistication (pillar 8), Innovation (pillar 9). With these concepts, Global CI uses the model of developmental stages by weighing each sub-index differently, depending on a country's development stage. Latin American and Caribbean countries are weighted on basic requirements and efficiency enhancers.
The International Monetary Fund's World Economic and Financial Surveys and World Economic Outlook Database are available at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/01/weodata/index.aspx.
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We are grateful to the GEM Consortium and Niels Bosma for the use of the data. All errors are our own.
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Terjesen, S., Amorós, J. Female Entrepreneurship in Latin America and the Caribbean: Characteristics, Drivers and Relationship to Economic Development. Eur J Dev Res 22, 313–330 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2010.13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2010.13