Mid Term Exam Cases and Critical Thinking due Halloween 2003 J.
Case 1-1 Woman Entrepreneurs in Small Business.
1. Since most developing countries don't have the mass marketing amenities that the United States does, their encouragement tactics will have to stay somewhat basic. First of all, I think that the governments should team together with financial institutions and offer low rates for small business loans. These types of loans should be easily assessable and not appear tedious or impossible to get; otherwise, the potential applicant would be less likely to apply. Education for these entrepreneurs also needs to be available. Small business owners need to feel confident in their management skills and tactics. Almost like a work reimbursement program, this higher education could be tied to the loan. In essence, for good marks in courses, banks could lower interest rates or offer some other form of payback. The governments themselves could also, possibly through taxation, create an education surplus for entrepreneurial courses in secondary schools and universities. This way, using statistics as a guide, offer business courses to younger learners. This will create a knowledge base and therefore possibly more aggressive managers. Being a woman myself, I believe knowledge is power. Supplying these women with funds and an education is crucial to the survival of their businesses.
2. First off and obvious due to the reading, women will reach high levels of management due to starting their own businesses and therefore will not deal with the glass ceiling. Outside of that, there is a program that started some years ago that I believed opened doors. Due to Equal Opportunity Employment, more women and minorities have been able to get their feet in the door, so to speak, and establish themselves in more administrative and entry-level positions in higher paying firms. Since EOE gained popularity in the 1990's, more and more colleges and employment places were somewhat "forced" to accept people other than white males.