Female Entrepreneurs: Orchids in the Forest – Conditions for female start-ups Author(s): Yunfeng Wang, Tutor: Dr. Prof. Philippe Daudi Leadership and Management in International Context Examiner: Dr. Prof. Philippe Daudi Ana Isabel Quiroga Fernández, Subject: Master's Thesis Leadership and Management in International Context Level and semester: Master level Spring 2011 To Future Female Entrepreneurs with respect and love Abstract The last century has witnessed blooming achievements of females as rising workforce in modern society. With their active participation in business world recently, female entrepreneurship research has caught extensive attention globally, not only from academic field, but also from market entities, policy makers, social activists, as well as broad masses, concerning the social and economic contribution of female-started entreprises. Current studies within this topic concentrate on two issues: the difference between male and female entrepreneurs; demographic research for certain countries, regions, or industries. Following a qualitative research approach, this thesis applies implementations of actors view and grounded theory. With the purpose to create in-depth business knowledge, a well-structured empirical exploration is conducted mainly through theoretical sensibility acquisition, secondary data collection and face-to-face dialogues focusing on the issue of conditions for female entrepreneurs to start up and to develop a business. The researchers share their comprehensive (from both micro and macro perspective) understanding about this subject: . There is no such a formula of necessary conditions existing. Female entrepreneurs need to define them according to the type of the ventures they establish and the demand for their projected growth, pursue them by taking actions instead of waiting for all conditions to be ready. The forthcoming female economy brings millions of opportunities that favor female entrepreneurs to start up enterprises, despite the current situation where they have not received effective supports that they deserve. In the end, the researchers create a new term „femesh‟ to conclude their findings and their anticipation for the future blossom of female entrepreneurs. Especially, the academic research process is described as an exploration adventure for searching orchids in the forest, together with the romantic writing style of the authors, bringing enjoyable readability without losing its preciseness, accuracy and logic as an academic research. Keyword(s): Entrepreneurship, Female Entrepreneurship, Female Entrepreneur, Start-up Conditions. Acknowledgement This thesis has been elaborated with the great help and guidance of many supportive individuals. Their contributions deserve a special recognition. Our greatest gratitude goes to Dr. Prof. Philippe Daudi, our thesis tutor as well as Head of the Master Program Leadership and Management in International Context, for his bright insights, continuous guidance and outstanding support. Additionally, we highly appreciate Dr. Prof. Björn Bjerke and Dr. Mikael Lundgren for their brilliant ideas and precious advice. We also would like to thank our friend Woraphan Atikomtrirat for his infinite patience and help in the design of the thesis website to share our research achievements. We would like to express our deep gratitude to all the female entrepreneurs who are involved in our research. Besides the three female entrepreneurs presented in our thesis, Sofia Hagelin, Linda Krondahl and Jeanette Gorosch, there are several amazing ladies who provide us with valuable contacts and inspiration, such as Emelie Norborg, Terese Gustafsson, Mai-Li Hammargren and Anna Omstedt Lindgren. Special thanks go to extraordinary members of the Swedish female entrepreneur community PokerFace in Stockholm for sharing their energy and passion with us. Their experiences as entrepreneurs have been impressively determinant in the development of our research. Additional thanks to Terese Johansson for her assistance and her contribution to the administration of our program. Our profound appreciation extends to our families, friends and young, bright and beautiful classmates for their ultimate support, creative ideas and constant encouragement. Yunfeng Wang & Ana Isabel Quiroga Fernández. Kalmar, Sweden. Table of Content 1. Introduction: Female entrepreneurs- Orchids in the forest ............................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 The issue of female entrepreneurship ................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Research question and research purpose .............................................................................................. 3 1.4 Romantic research journey .................................................................................................................... 3 2. Methodology: Mapping the journey with GPS ................................................................................................. 6 2.1 Qualitative Approach .............................................................................................................................. 6 2.2 Actors View ............................................................................................................................................. 7 2.3 Grounded theory .................................................................................................................................... 7 2.4 The development of empirical cases and dialogues ............................................................................... 8 2.5 Adjustment system ............................................................................................................................... 11 2.6 Justification and limitation ................................................................................................................... 12 3. Literature Review: Exploration tools .............................................................................................................. 13 3.1 Entrepreneurship .................................................................................................................................. 13 3.2 Female Entrepreneurship ..................................................................................................................... 15 3.3 Conditions to start up and develop a business .................................................................................... 17 3.3.1 Motivation ................................................................................................................................. 20 3.3.2 Entrepreneurial characteristics ................................................................................................. 20 3.3.3 Creativity ................................................................................................................................... 21 3.3.4 Uncertainty and risk-taking ....................................................................................................... 22 3.3.5 Opportunity recognition ............................................................................................................ 23 3.3.6 Working experience ................................................................................................................... 24 3.3.7 Capital ........................................................................................................................................ 24 3.3.8 Network ..................................................................................................................................... 25 4. The narratives of female entrepreneurs: Bloomed orchids ........................................................................... 27 4.1 Anita Roddick ........................................................................................................................................ 27 4.2 Zhang Yin .............................................................................................................................................. 34 4.3 Beatriz Canedo Patiño .......................................................................................................................... 38 4.4 Findings of the three cases ................................................................................................................... 43 5. The narratives of female entrepreneurs: Blooming buds ............................................................................... 48 5.1 Sofia Hagelin ......................................................................................................................................... 48 5.2 Linda Krondahl ...................................................................................................................................... 52 5.3 Jeanette Gorosch .................................................................................................................................. 55 5.4 Findings of the three dialogues ............................................................................................................ 60 6. Conditions that favor female entrepreneurs: The ecosystem of orchids ....................................................... 69 7. Comprehensive perspective：Helicopter