Unit No.

(19-22)
Women entrepreneurship: Role and importance, problems; Corporate entrepreneurship:
Role, mobility of entrepreneur;
Women Entrepreneurship : Role and importance , Problems
Even as India continues its rapid economic growth, women in the country struggle against
discrimination and
inequality.
Role of Women Social Entrepreneurs
A British Council study on the social enterprise landscape in India revealed that in comparision
to male-led social enterprises, female-led social enterprises tend to focus on improving the lives
of women and on education and literacy. They were also more likely than male-led social
enterprises to address the needs of children and persons with disabilities. Many women led social
enterprises work on empowering women and solving women specific issues.
Women Entrepreneurs in India
Women Entrepreneurs can not only contribute to the GDP, but can also play a key role in
addressing societal challenges. However, the number of women entrepreneurs in India remains
relatively low.
In India, a large percentage of women enterprises are micro enterprises that women undertake as
a forced economic activity. These micro enterprises can be classified into farm and off-farm
enterprises. They rarely achieve scale and serve only to barely sustain the women entrepreneurs
and their families.
In rural India, traditionally, a lot of women primary producers can be classified as entrepreneurs.
For instance, a dairy farmer who supplies milk to a nearby dairy or household is an entrepreneur.
But family responsibilities, traditional social norms and the established patriarchal structure
mean that these women entrepreneurs have limited exposure to the outside world. This restricts
their mobility and makes them dependent on intermediaries to reach the market or achieve scale.
In many situations, the solutions are available and the main hindrance is the entrepreneur’s lack
of knowledge and inability to access the solution. For instance, the StandUp India scheme,
launched by the Govt. of India, aims to facilitate bank loans of Rs.10 lakh-Rs.1 crore to at least
one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) and one-woman beneficiary per bank branch
for setting up a greenfield enterprise in trading, services or manufacturing sector. But many
women entrepreneurs, and even more so rural women entrepreneurs, are not able to access
schemes like this, due to lack of awareness.
ONLY FOR EXAM PURPOSE (FBM-354)
- TUSHAR K. D.
Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs
Across the world, the main deterrent to women entrepreneurship is the lack of confidence and
skills and difficulty in accessing entrepreneurial knowledge. In India, there are four key reasons
for women not choosing to become entrepreneurs:
Entrepreneurial Mindset: Many women prefer to get into salaried jobs, preferring the steady
working hours, income and perks like health insurance and paid leaves. Entrepreneurship is still
perceived as a riskier option, requiring longer work hours and lacking a fixed income every
month. Most women entrepreneurs though attest that this is not true. They cite flexible working
hours and being in control of their schedules as a key reason for becoming entrepreneurs.
Difficulty Accessing Resources: Women have difficulty accessing funds and other resources
due to several reasons: laws regulating the private sphere specifically regarding marriage,
inheritance and land can hinder women’s access to assets that can be used as collateral to secure
a loan; lack of awareness of schemes that are available to specifically support them; few
platforms that specifically support women entrepreneurs.
Lack of Practical Experience: Apart from a few high profile female founders, women do not
see too many entrepreneurs in their lives that they can look up to and learn from. Women
entrepreneurs often know from experience how challenging it is to start up and establish an
enterprise. So when women can reach out to and work with women entrepreneurs, they are more
likely to start up.
Mentoring & Network
A mentor can play a key role in helping a women to make the decision to start up. However,
unless women accidentally come across a mentor in the course of their work, there are very few
structured mentorship programmes available to help them find a mentor who will guide them on
their entrepreneurial journey.
Corporate Entrepreneurship :-
What is Corporate Entrepreneurship and Why it is Important for Business.
The Corporate Entrepreneurship is the process by which teams work in an established company,
conceive, encourage, launch and manage a new business that even while being new and therefore
different from that of the parent company, leverages assets, Market positioning, capabilities and
other resources. An investigation conducted by Robert Wollcot and Michael Lippitz allowed
to define four basic models of Corporate Entrepreneurship: O opportunist, Facilitator,
Defense and Producer.
In today’s world, corporate entrepreneurship is increasingly necessary: a recent survey shows
how the operating margins of companies that place greater emphasis on creating new business
models grow faster than their rivals.
ONLY FOR EXAM PURPOSE (FBM-354)
- TUSHAR K. D.
Corporate Entrepreneurship Reasons to Use.
There are several reasons why so few companies are doing Corporate
Entrepreneurship.
Many feel incapable, whether for creative, technological or economic resources, or for a
combination of them all. This makes many companies abandon the venture before even
giving it a chance in their minds. And this is the cause of its collapse.
A new business can start with an innovation in process management, key or alliancebased,
product and service innovation, channel, brand and customer experience, or finance.
Every little innovation is important in itself. And although the results are not seen or are
not too relevant at first, small innovations contain a large corporate value in the form of
creative confidence and cohesion they generate among employees, fueling the environment
and organizational culture that will be needed for major innovations in the very near future.
The research identifies two dimensions that are under the direct control of management
and differentiate the way of approaching corporate entrepreneurship.
The first dimension is organizational ownership: who, within the organization, has
primary responsibility and must be accountable for the creation of a new business. The
second is the authority that allocates resources: Is there a budget for corporate
entrepreneurship, or is the new business concept financed on an ad hoc basis?
The opportunist Model
The Opportunist model is usually the initial model in companies. There is no focused
property or resources, and corporate ventures are advanced (if at all) on the basis of fortuitous
efforts and efforts by intrepid “project champions”, people who struggle against the wind and
tide to create new business units, Despite the organization.
The opportunistic model works well only in corporate cultures based on trust, open to
experimentation and with various social networks below the official hierarchy. Without this
kind of environment, good ideas get stuck in the fissures of the organization or receive
insufficient funds.
Once this has appeared unsought opportunity to corporate entrepreneurship, companies
have the second triple chance to 1. Establish a corporate culture that encourages,
Responsibility, Innovation, Commitment and Excellence); 2. Establish an effective Corporate
Entrepreneurship program to improve the ability of a company to absorb opportunities and
knowledge; 3. Establish more formal development practices to bring new ventures to the
market
The evolution of the causal opportunistic model, towards the other three deliberate
models.
The evolution of opportunistic model to any deliberate forms of corporate
entrepreneurship usually begins with a broad view, clearly communicated.
Once the vision is established, the company must outline the specific objectives in order
to determine the appropriate model.
The Facilitator model
ONLY FOR EXAM PURPOSE (FBM-354)
- TUSHAR K. D.
For companies seeking cultural transformation, facilitators processes, combined with new
approaches to recruitment and staff development, they can convert some employee’s effective
agents of change.
The Defender Model
In case a company wants to accelerate the growth of its established divisions, the defending
model could be the best option.
In this model the organization invests in the creation of a small internal group focused
on corporate growth that learns and works following an entrepreneurship program that assists
them in a wide range that goes from the conceptualization to the marketing of the idea and
that can include A four-day seminar on business creation. The goal is for the team to develop
a detailed business plan that must be presented to the leaders of the “innovated” business unit
for approval. Success in one business unit arouses the interest of others and, over time, these
selected teams become agents of change.
The Producer model

The Defender Model

In case a company wants to accelerate the growth of its established divisions, the defending
model could be the best option.
In this model the organization invests in the creation of a small internal group focused
on corporate growth that learns and works following an entrepreneurship program that assists
them in a wide range that goes from the conceptualization to the marketing of the idea and
that can include A four-day seminar on business creation. The goal is for the team to develop
a detailed business plan that must be presented to the leaders of the “innovated” business unit
for approval. Success in one business unit arouses the interest of others and, over time, these
selected teams become agents of change.
The Producer model
When a company aims to discover (or prevent competition explore) disruptive opportunities,
you should consider the producer model, because it helps business units to overcome the
short – term pressures and other obstacles that discourage investment in new platforms of
growth.
Each of the models described requires different processes, skills and leadership styles. In
order to implement the facilitating model, clear and simple project selection, fund allocation
and follow-up processes should be established and communicated, and the involvement of the
executives involved should be clearly defined. The advocate needs individuals with the
instinct, the talent and the access necessary to cross the corporate culture and facilitate the
change. The producer model requires considerable capital and personnel, and a direct line
with top management; otherwise, it fails.