Interpretations of Entrepreneurial Success Factors by Female Entrepreneurs and Executives in a Catch-up Economy Tiit Elenurm and Evelin Vaino __________________________________ This paper examines the views of females, who have already attained business success and possess prominent positions as entrepreneurs and leaders in the Estonian business community. The ranking list of the Top 100 female executives for 2008 served as the basis for this sample. Interview results are compared with some Estonian data of the Entrepreneurship Work in Organizations Requiring Leadership Development research programme in order to specify the differences between entrepreneurial success factor interpretations by outstanding female entrepreneurs and respondents in a broader sample. Female entrepreneurs and executives who have gained success follow several principles of transformational leadership. Resistance to stress, intelligent, open minded, effective negotiator, and trustworthy were the five characteristics that female entrepreneurs in this sample rated as the highest contributors to successful entrepreneurship. At the same time, they do not consider negotiating skills and being innovative as important for successful entrepreneurship as do females with more limited or missing entrepreneurship experience. ____________________________________

Introduction Entrepreneurship is especially significant in the process of economic recovery after a global crisis since it carries a positive, empowering message, which leads to innovation and a decrease in unemployment through creating new jobs. Several studies have indicated that entrepreneurs are rated higher on the locus of control, innovation and _______________ Tiit Elenurm [email protected] is head of the Entrepreneurship Department of the Estonian Business School, PhD. His research his focused on links between entrepreneurship, innovation and knowledge management. Evelin Vaino [email protected] manages the Estonian branch office of a Swiss oil treatment company and has written her master’s thesis at the Estonian Business School under the supervision of Tiit Elenurm in the framework of the research project on success factors of entrepreneurs.

creativity than the general population (Shane 2003). Characteristics and traits linked to entrepreneurial behaviour and success by the business community and society at large are among the factors that shape the environment for new entrepreneurial initiatives. Entrepreneurs are often encouraged or discouraged in a society, depending on the interpretations of reasons behind their business success. The global interest in female entrepreneurship has significantly increased in recent decades (Minniti and Naude 2010). First, this is due to the overall increase in interest in the entrepreneurial role in the economic growth and restructuring process (Gries and Naude 2010) and the recognition of the wider social base for entrepreneurship as an important factor of economic growth (Audretsch et al. 2006; Minniti 2008). Second, the rationale behind the increased interest in female entrepreneurship stems from the growing number of female entrepreneurs in the world and findings that female-owned micro and small enterprises have a much more significant impact on general welfare and consumption than male owned larger enterprises (Kevane and Wydick 2001). The main research questions of our study are: 1. How do interpretations of entrepreneurial success factors in a small catch-up economy differ between male and female respondents? 2. How do these same interpretations differ between female entrepreneurs and female executives who have achieved business success in recent years? We also discuss some implications of entrepreneurial success factors for entrepreneurship education and leadership training that could support gender equality and diversity in new entrepreneurial initiatives.

Approaches to Studying Gender and Entrepreneurship Calás et al. (2007) stress that research on gender and entrepreneurship is a critical area for understanding opportunities for social change. They discuss liberal, radical and psychoanalytic theoretical approaches and point out their common, fundamental assumption that the disadvantages of female entrepreneurs result from their conditions as women. Radical feminism is focused on features of social systems and cultures that support male domination in management and entrepreneurship. Psychoanalytic feminism tries to understand experiences acquired in developmental relations with parents and other psychologically close relations. In liberal feminism, equal rights and equal representation in public or corporate life have been a traditional issue (Friedan, 1963). Setting rules for more equal representation of women on boards of directors can be seen as a practical political result of the liberal feminist approach. Such rules are, however, based on the assumption that unregulated competition for talent and shareholder democracy does not guarantee equal representations of females and males. In this context, it is logical that liberal feminism has made a transition to studying the differences between the performance of male and female leaders and entrepreneurs, which can be explained by the conditions in society that limit the equal rights of women (Calás et al. 2007, p. 81). In this context, we consider it important to also study the views and success factors of these female entrepreneurs who have managed to gain a leadership role and succeed in entrepreneurship in a transition economy, even in the absence of policies for regulating equal representation of females in business life.

In recent decades, comparisons of male and female entrepreneurs have been focusing on their background and motivation to start a business (Buttner et al. 1997), management practices (Chaganti 1996) and style (Buttner 2001) or personality (Fagenson 1993). Some research indicates that female entrepreneurs tend to view success differently than their male counterparts. Male entrepreneurs tend to measure their success on the basis of revenues, sales and financial indicators, while female entrepreneurs focus more on intrinsic values (Buttner and Moore 1997). Romano (1994) reported gender specific differences in definitions of success. Female entrepreneurs defined success as the ability to control their own destinies, build client relationships and do something meaningful, while males viewed success in terms of achieving goals (Romano 1994) and financial profitability (Buttner and Moore 1997), measured in monetary terms. Entrepreneurs motivated by extrinsic rewards reported higher sales and profits than entrepreneurs motivated by intrinsic rewards. With regard to demographic factors, the common notion through various research findings (Brush et al. 2006) has been that female entrepreneurs start their businesses later in life than their male counterparts. Frequently, female business owners held executive positions prior to deciding to start their own companies. The primary reason for such a change was found to be frustration with the corporate environment and “the glass ceiling”, which is related to the discriminatory wage and advancement policy (Matthews and Moser 1996). When discussing the success factors of female entrepreneurs, a comparison of entrepreneurs and managers can highlight the differences between women who have a successful managerial career in large enterprises or those who have created their own enterprise. Leadership qualities are important in both roles, however. The degree to

which women and men tend to follow similar or different leadership styles has been a subject of intensive debate (Eagly and Johannesen-Smith 2007). For example, the change management expert Kanter (1993) has not treated gender differences among the essential factors of leadership style. At the same time, researchers of prominent female executives (Helgesen 1990) have described the following features of female leadership style: personal connections with employees and clients combined with levelling of workplace hierarchies. Rosener (1990) has characterized female leadership style as an interactive and conversational way of sending signals that invite employees to get involved. Transformational leadership is focused on inspiring followers for future changes and supporting their creative initiative. Such a style assumes not only a clear statement of innovative goals, but also the gaining of trust and confidence of followers through mentoring and role models. Eagly and Johannesen-Smith (2007) contrast the transformational style with the transactional style, which refers to establishing exchange relationships between the leader and the subordinate by rewarding desirable behaviour and punishing for undesirable behaviour. Their meta-analysis of 45 studies comparing male and female managers supports the view that not only do female managers engage in more transformational behaviour patterns, but they also demonstrate some features of transactional style by offering more rewards for the satisfactory performance of followers. Women especially exceeded men in supportive and encouraging treatment of subordinates. Recent research (Sheaffer et al. 2011) has added evidence that masculinity is positively associated, whereas transformational leadership is inversely associated with perceived crisis proneness.

Brush (1997) has stressed the ability of women to integrate societal, business and family relationships and to use their relational skills in business development. Calás et al. (2007, 87) reflect a feminist critique of research interest in the differences between male and female entrepreneurs and the treatment of these differences as disadvantages that lead to promoting further exploitation in a patriarchal society.

Studying successful

female entrepreneurs can, however, demonstrate ways to overcome obstacles and to transform those differences into advantages. Economies that have gone through transition from a command economy to a market economy and joined the European Union in the year 2004 offer a new field for such studies. Cowling and Taylor (2001) ask if female and male entrepreneurs are “two different species”. However, in the process where new market economy institutions have been created during the two recent decades, entrepreneurs as such should be treated as a “new species”. The implicit leadership theory (Lord and Maher 1991) focuses on implicit beliefs, convictions, and assumptions regarding attributes and behaviours that differentiate leaders from followers, and effective leaders from ineffective leaders. In the present paper this theory is applied for studying interpretations of entrepreneurial success factors. In essence, it is proposed that both individuals involved in entrepreneurial activities and individuals currently not acting as entrepreneurs have implicit beliefs, convictions, and assumptions about the success factors of entrepreneurs in their society. Beatty (2007) discusses the invisible social identities of women in organizations. This paper focuses on women who have visible roles as entrepreneurs and executives in Estonian society. The paper reflects interpretations of high priority entrepreneurial success factors of female entrepreneurs and executives in Estonia in the situation, where a

rapid economic catch-up process of the Estonian economy has been followed by a deep GDP decline during the years of the global economic crisis. Recent trends have, however, been encouraging in the context of the economic catch-up. In the fourth quarter of 2010, Estonian GDP growth, compared to the fourth quarter of 2009, was 6.6 percent, the second highest after Sweden (7.2 percent) in the European Union (Eurostat 2011). The sustainability of the Estonian economic catch-up in the European Union, however, depends on entrepreneurs who are able to create and develop internationally competitive ventures.

Research Methods and Samples The aim of the empirical research was to study the interpretations of entrepreneurial success factors in a sample of successful Estonian female executives and entrepreneurs as well as to reveal the challenges and barriers that women face in entrepreneurship and leadership roles. The combination of interviews and questionnaires as a quantitative research tool enables triangulation, which can lead to more powerful and reliable conclusions and produce ideas for training and development (Fraenkel and Wallen 2008). The qualitative analysis focused mainly on information derived from individual semistructured interviews with successful female executives and entrepreneurs concerning their opinions about obstacles facing women in business, leadership styles, qualities and behavioural patterns they deem necessary for success. A content analysis was applied to categorize the qualitative data. The quantitative tool in this research is based on the E-World questionnaire, which tries to overcome contradictions between followers of the trait approach (Rauch

and Frese 2007) – looking for universal personality characteristics that predict entrepreneurial success – and supporters of contingency thinking that link the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur with the business environment and the prevailing context of the enterprise (Aldrich 2000; Littunen 2000). The E-World questionnaire was developed by the research team of the Missouri State University in cooperation with partners from several countries, including Estonia (Rozell et al. 2009). This self-administered questionnaire lists 115 behaviours or characteristics related to entrepreneurs. These items were assessed by respondents on the scale 1 (greatly inhibits a person from being a successful entrepreneur) to 7 (contributes greatly to a person being a successful entrepreneur). In addition to assessments of behaviours and characteristics, 18 socio-demographic questions were combined with semi-structured interviews with female entrepreneurs and executives from the 100 top-ranking Estonian enterprises. The ranking list of the Top 100 female executives for 2008 had already been compiled by the business newspaper “Äripäev” on the basis of the sales turnover, profit level and growth, plus the return on investment and return on equity. A random sample of 37 candidates was selected using an online random number generator. However, due to the time constraints of the candidates involved in the sample only 32 usable questionnaires and interviews were available for this study, which equates to an 86 per cent response rate. The interviews and survey were conducted in autumn 2010. All women interviewed were well educated, with 44 percent of all respondents holding at least a bachelor’s degree, 50 percent a graduate degree and six per cent a doctorate degree. Among the respondents in the final sample of top-ranking enterprises,

44 percent held a degree in business and 28 percent had educational background in social sciences or liberal arts.

During the interviewing process the status of executives

interviewed was clarified, resulting in sub-samples consisting of 16 female entrepreneurowners and 16 female executives that do not have a meaningful ownership stake in the enterprise where they work as executives. Most entrepreneurs were over 50 years old, while most executive females were in the 35 to 39 age category. The average age of female entrepreneurs was 48, while female executives were on average 42 years old. Industries represented in the sample included retail business (41 percent) followed by manufacturing (19 percent). Female entrepreneurs from the Top 100 mainly operated in retail businesses, while female executives were equally represented in both retail and manufacturing companies.

Survey and Interview Results Results in the Top 100 Sample Resistance to stress, intelligent, open- minded, effective negotiator, and trustworthy were the five characteristics that female entrepreneurs in the Top 100 considered to be the highest contributors to successful entrepreneurship (Table 1). Female executives considered team building and effective negotiating to be of primary importance, followed by the ability to clearly define measurable goals, to have opportunity awareness and coordinating. A regression analysis between survey results and variables identified in the interviews revealed strong positive associations between family support for the female

entrepreneur and the high rating to being open minded (R2 equals 50.96 percent, P<0.05).

Table 1 Mean Values of Top Ten Entrepreneurial Success Factors Reported by Female Entrepreneurs and Executives Entrepreneurs (N=16)

Executives (N=16)

Rating

Characteristic

Mean

Rating

Characteristic

Mean

1

Resistance to stress

6.88

1

Team builder

6.88

2

Intelligent

6.75

2

Effective negotiator

6.88

3

Open minded

6.69

3

Defines clear goals

6.81

4

Effective negotiator

6.69

4

Opportunity awareness

6.81

5

Trustworthy

6.69

5

Coordinator

6.81

6

Positive

6.69

6

Improvement oriented

6.81

7

Team builder

6.56

7

Good judgment

6.75

8

Good judgment

6.50

8

Problem solver

6.75

9

Innovative

6.50

9

Innovative

6.75

10

Diplomatic

6.50

10

Open minded

6.75

Of the female entrepreneurs, 72 percent reported that they were the first and the only child in their family. A very high proportion, namely 91 percent of the respondents, stated that they had a supportive spouse or partner, which allowed them to manage both their business as well as family responsibilities. When discussing links between

leadership and successful entrepreneurship, overall moral excellence was reported to be the most important leadership quality. This category of responses contained characteristics, such as honesty, respect, justice and trustworthiness often mentioned by female entrepreneurs. Women themselves explained such choices through the following statements: 

“Personal integrity has to extend through one’s work”



“One cannot do business without trust”



“A woman’s word is often times worth much more than a man’s”. Among the advantages that female entrepreneurs may have compared to male

entrepreneurs, compassion and intuition were mentioned most frequently during the interviews that followed the survey. People management skills were the second important leadership characteristic, which included responses relating to motivation, inspiration and teamwork. Female entrepreneurs stressed psychological immunity, identified by resistance to stress and optimism. Communication skills were also among the leadership qualities considered important for success. This category of responses included negotiation, persuasion and general communication skills, which were pointed out more frequently by female executives. Both female entrepreneurs and executives considered having high ambitions and setting high goals to be essential in leadership. Additionally, the overall consensus in the Top 100 sample was that leadership qualities are not as much associated with the gender of an individual as they are with the personality. When discussing barriers and advantages faced by women entrepreneurs and executives in Estonia, those interviewed most often pointed out that females have to prove themselves more than males. Prejudice and stereotyping were the second obstacles,

and family responsibilities, the third. Among the beneficial qualities, compassion and intuition were mentioned most. Nine respondents, however, held the view that women do not possess any special characteristics that differentiate them from their male counterparts. At the same time, femininity and charm were described as useful assets when dealing with a man, which ultimately creates a “surprise” effect, especially when a woman is professionally skilled. One respondent suggested: “Women have a choice whether to employ a masculine leadership style and compete on equal terms with men, or use a softer approach, by using femininity and charm to attain goals, while men only have one option at their disposal”

Comparison of Top 100 Survey Results with a Broader Sample Survey results of the top-ranking female executives and entrepreneurs were compared with the entrepreneurial success factors reported in a broader sample of 582 Estonian respondents, which included 336 males and 246 females involved in business activities or business studies. Approximately half of the respondents (n=250) had held their own business at some point, with 209 respondents indicating that they held active businesses during the survey. In this broader sample the following five characteristics were considered the most important contributors to successful entrepreneurial activity by the female respondents: effective negotiator, resistance to stress, innovative, intelligent and adapting quickly to new environment. Male respondents in the same sample demonstrated, to some extent, a different ranking of features that contribute to entrepreneurial success: being an effective negotiator, innovative, intelligent, problem solver and resistance to stress. Women found

the following characteristics significantly more important for successful entrepreneurial activity than men: intelligence, diplomatic, effective negotiator, dynamic, open minded, innovative, resistance to stress, networking, focused, perseverance, realist, adapts to new environments quickly. Men, on the other hand, considered having masculine characteristics significantly more important than women. When considering obstructive factors, women found the following characteristics to be significantly more inhibiting to the success of an entrepreneur: being a loner, indirect, cynical, a micromanager and spontaneous. Among female entrepreneurs from the Top 100 sample enterprises, being innovative received a lower ranking than among females in the broader sample. It can be explained by the higher average age of successful female entrepreneurs compared to female respondents in the broader sample and as a reflection of their established status in the business community. In addition, it can be viewed as an implication of the changing business environment in Estonia. At the time when many present top-ranking businesses started, the local market was less developed and it was easier to use the cost advantage for export than today. New start-ups in the post-crisis situation have to search for more innovative business ideas. Both female entrepreneurs in the Top 100 and female respondents in the broader sample gave high priority to negotiating skills and also rated being open minded and diplomatic among the 10 most contributing features. These results support the view of Hayward (2005) that good communication skills are among the main reasons behind women’s business success. Resistance to stress received the highest rating in the sample of female entrepreneurs in the Top 100 sample and the second highest rating among

females in the broader sample, while for male respondents in the broader sample it had a lower 5th rating. This can be explained by the more intensive role conflicts and time management pressures of female entrepreneurs. Our research evidence supports the social and cultural interpretations of gender and life experience implications on entrepreneurial career drivers.

Applications in Training and Development Activities Obstacles limiting the advancement of women in the Estonian business context have not been among the most topical issues in public discourse during first decade of the transition to the market economy. Overcoming salary differences and creating more equal business career opportunities for females and males has in recent years, however, become an important issue for developing and applying human capital in Estonia as in a small open economy. The survey and interviews with the most successful female entrepreneurs contribute to understanding the patterns of entrepreneurial success and allow for reflection on gender-related self-development needs and priorities in training and mentoring programmes for present and potential entrepreneurs. Our research results are in line with the conclusions drawn by Catalyst (2006) that mentors guided executive women on career choices, promoting ideas, and politics of the corporate environment. The same study reported that having a supportive and understanding spouse increased women’s chances for success. Potential female entrepreneurs could be more actively involved in the business education process and mentoring networks. Emotional support, coping with stress and reflecting on barriers and on possible entrepreneurial success paths are for potential female entrepreneurs even

more important than for potential male entrepreneurs. After gaining business success they could themselves exercise the role of mentor, which would contribute to the fine-tuning of transformational leadership skills. Successful entrepreneurs act as leaders and visionaries who are passionate and dedicated to their cause. Engaging more female entrepreneurs as guest lecturers at entrepreneurship courses will create role models for students. This is true especially if the presentations by entrepreneurs are not limited to the overview of their venture but also disclose more personal choices and challenges on their entrepreneurial career path. Group work exercises that are linked to business opportunity identification should be linked to creativity techniques that demonstrate the positive impact of gender diversity and open minded discussion in teams. Self-assessment tools that help to understand readiness for imitative, innovative and co-creative entrepreneurship (Elenurm and Moisala 2008) can be used for reflecting gender-related differences in dealing with business risks, innovations and co-operation. Recognition of crucial choices, tactics and obstacles on the entrepreneurial career path will make it possible for potential female entrepreneurs to take them into account when planning a career or looking for tools to create a winning strategy.

Conclusions Female entrepreneurs highlighted different success factors, which overall drew a different profile of a successful entrepreneur than their executive colleagues. In their view, the success of an entrepreneur is attributed to the following qualities: resistance to stress, intelligence, trustworthiness, positivity, and diplomacy. These qualities relate more to the

personality and character of the entrepreneur, and the innate characteristics; they are more concerned with the question of who the entrepreneur is. Female executives, on the other hand, consider team building and effective negotiating skills to be of primary importance, followed by the ability to clearly define measureable goals, coordinate, and to be improvement oriented. These qualities can be summarized as more concerned with the question of what the entrepreneur does. Female entrepreneurs who have gained business success share with female executives several principles of transformational leadership. They value highly business ethics and diplomatic communication and are open minded. Experienced female entrepreneurs, at the same, time do not consider being innovative as important as an entrepreneurial success factor as does the younger generation of female entrepreneurs and business students. A challenge of business education is to empower students for innovative and co-creative business development efforts that can apply principles of transformative leadership in the new venture creation process. Factors that vary significantly between male and female, female entrepreneur and female executive samples can lead to a new exploration and analysis that will include international comparisons.

References Aldrich, H. (2000). Organizations Evolving. Beverly Hills: Sage. Audretsch, D. B., Keilbach, M. C., Lehmann, E. E. (2006). Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Beatty, J.E. (2007). “Women and Invisible Social Identities: Women as the Other in Organizations,” In Handbook on Women in Business and Management. Ed. D. Bilimoria and S.K. Pederit. Celtenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 34-56. Brush, C. (1997). “Women-owned Businesses: Obstacles and Opportunities,” Journal of Developmental Entrepreneursip,“ (1), 1-24. Brush, C., Carter, N., Gatewood, E., Greene, P. and Hart, M. (2006). Women’s Entrepreneurship in the United States. Growth–Oriented Women Entrepreneurs and Their Businesses. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Buttner, E.H. (2001). “Examining Female Entrepreneurs’ Management Style: an Application of Relational Frame,” Journal of Business Ethics, 29 (3), 253-270. Buttner, E. H, and Moore, D.P. (1997). “Women’s Organizational Exodus to Entrepreneurship: Self-reported Motivations and Correlates with Success,” Journal of Small Business Management, 35(1), 34-46. Calás, M., Smircich, M., Bourne, K. (2007). “Knowing Lisa? Feminist Analysis of “Gender and Entrepreneurship”, in Handbook of Women in Business and Management. Ed. D. Bilimoria and S.K. Pederit. Celtenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 78-105. Catalyst. (2006). 2005 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners of the Fortune 500 (online case study). . Accessed on March 26, 2011. Chaganti, R. (1986). “Management in Women-owned Enterprises,” Journal of Small Business Management, 24 (4), 19-29.

Cowling, M., and Taylor M. (2001). “Entrepreneurial Women and Men: Two Different Species?,” Small Business Economics, 16 (3), 167-175. Eagly, A.H. (2007). “Leadership Style Matters: the Small, but Important, Style Differences between Male and Female Leaders,” in Handbook of Women in Business and Management. Ed. D. Bilimoria and S.K. Pederit. Celtenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 279-303. Elenurm, T., and Moisala, A. (2008). “Human Resources for Entrepreneurship: Comparing Orientations of Estonian and Finnish Business Students,” European Journal of International Management, 2 (4), 454 - 470. Eurostat (2011). “Eurostat Newsrelease Euroindicators. 35/2011 – 3 march 2011.” . Accessed on March 27, 2011. Fagenson, E. (1993). “Personal Value System of Men and Women: Entrepreneurs versus Managers,” Journal of Business Venturing, 8 (5), 409-430. Fraenkel, J. R., and Wallen, N. E. (2008). How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Friedan, B. (1963). The Feminine Mystique, New York: Dell. Gries, T., and Naude, W. A. (2010). “Entrepreneurship and Structural Economic Transformation,” Small Business Economics Journal, 34 (1), 13-29. Helgesen, S. (1990). The Female Advantage: Woman’s Ways of Leadership. N.Y.: Currency/Doubleday. Hayward, S. (2005). Women Leading. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kanter, R. M. (1993). Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books.

Kevane, M., and Wydick, B. (2001). “Microenterprise Lending to Female Entrepreneurs: Sacrificing Economic Growth for Poverty Alleviation?,” World Development, 29 (7), 1225-1236. Littunen, H. (2000). “Entrepreneurship and the Characteristics of the Entrepreneurial Personality,” International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 6 (6), 295-309. Lord, R., and Maher, K. (1991) Leadership and Informational Processing: Linking Perceptions and Performance. Boston: Unwin-Everyman. Matthews, C., and Moser, S. (1996). “A Longitudinal Investigation of the Impact of Family Background and Gender on Interest in Small Firm Ownership,” Journal of Small Business Management, 34 (2), 29-43. Minniti, M., Allen, I., Langowitz, N. (2005). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2005. Report on Women and Entrepreneurship. Babson Park: Babson College. Minniti, M., and Naude, W. (2010). “What Do We Know About The Patterns and Determinants of Female Entrepreneurship Across Countries?,” European Journal of Development Research, 22, 277-293. Rauch, A., and Frese, M. (2007). “Let’s Put the Person back into Entrepreneurship Research: A Meta-analysis on the Relationship Between Business Owners’ Personality Traits, Business Creation, and Success,” European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology,16 (4), 353-385. Romano, C. 1994. “It Looks Like Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus,” Management Review, 83 (10), 7-9. Rosener, J.B. (1990). “Ways Women Lead,” Harvard Business Review, 68 (6), 119-125.

Rozell, E., Scroggin, W.A., Elenurm, T., Alas, R., Guo, A., Denny, S., Velo, V. (2009). “Cultural Prototypes of the Successful Entrepreneur: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Estonia, The United Kingdom and China,” in Managing in a Global Economy XIII. Ed. J.K. Miller. Rio de Janeiro: Eastern Academy of Management – 2009. Shane, S. (2003). A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: The Individual-Opportunity Nexus. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Sheaffer, Z., Bogler, R., Sarfaty, S. (2011). “ Leadership Attributes, Masculinity and Risk Taking as Predictors of Crises Proneness”, Gender in Management: An International Journal, 26(2), 163-187.