Entrepreneurship – a learning process: the experiences of Asian female entrepreneurs and women in business

The growth of Asian enterprises has been a much commented on feature of the small business population. While academic research has sought to identify the key success factors for this entrepreneurial minority, little study has been undertaken of the role female Asian entrepreneurs and Asian women working in “family” businesses play. This article features interview evidence gathered from both Asian women entrepreneurs in their own right and Asian women working in family enterprises, and seeks to provide a clearer picture of the roles, responsibilities and relationships of these two groups. In addition, the study is methodologically novel in so far as the researcher (an Asian female from a “typical” family business background) has taken care to observe the cultural proprieties often noted within this particular group. Hence, the data are arguably more authentic than previous studies undertaken by “distant” researchers.