Characteristics of Thai Women Entrepreneurs: A Case Study of SMEs Operating in Lampang Municipality Area

Announcing: Thakur, Reema and John Walsh, “Characteristics of Thai Women Entrepreneurs: A Case Study of SMEs Operating in Lampang Municipality Area,” Journal of Social and Development Studies, Vol.4, No.4 (April, 2013), pp.174-81, available at: http://ifrnd.org/admin/jsds/48.pdf.

Abstract:

Thai female entrepreneurs often establish entrepreneurial ventures as time-sensitive operations that are not necessarily intended to be the principal income generators for a household but act as supplementary sources of income. Such ventures might also provide other secondary benefits, including occupation for migrant women with no other occupation or qualifications, while the flexible nature of their operation can make it possible for operators to combine it with care for children or other dependents. It has also been found that network connections created and maintained by some entrepreneurs, including women, can be mobilized for other mutually advantageous purposes. This research study explored these issues through a questionnaire-based survey of 80 female Thai entrepreneurs. It was shown that the majority of these women started their businesses of their own volition and maintained autonomy over operations. The structure of these businesses is different, therefore, from family-owned businesses which tend and are intended to remain in operation for multiple generations and which have their destiny ultimately controlled by men. Various results of the study are discussed and used to draw conclusions and make recommendations about the management of such businesses in the future.

Keywords: Women entrepreneurs, SMEs, Lampang Municipality Area

 

Space and Workplace Issues for Nepalese Female Entrepreneurs

This paper, by Ms Reema Thakur and myself, has been accepted for presentation at the forthcoming ICGBE conference to be held in Bangkok in June.

Abstract:

Most of the literature focusing on the work and aspirations of female entrepreneurs has been produced by and about a western environment and context. Comparatively little literature has been produced within the sphere of management studies about the particular issues facing women entrepreneurs in terms of aspirations, work-life balance and general operational issues. Among the problems facing Nepalese women wishing to work outside the house is the issue of being seen in public and interacting with strangers in public places while remaining decent and respectable. Some public spaces are considered suitable for women to occupy and this can vary because of the powerful caste, class and ethnicity issues that colonise Nepalese society, This paper investigates the different strategies that a sample of Nepalese female entrepreneurs have used to negotiate their presence in public spaces and the censure that they might experience if they are perceived to have overstepped the limits of propriety. This includes the work of street vendors and other entrepreneurs. Data is provided by personal interview as well as ethnographic observation. This provides recommendations for both the women involved and also public policy.

Keywords: entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs, Nepal, public space

Reema Thakur and John Walsh

Environmental Changes in the Mekong Region and the Impact on Female Entrepreneurs

 

Announcing: Walsh, John, “Environmental Changes in the Mekong Region and the Impact on Female Entrepreneurs,” Pacific Business Review: A Quarterly Journal of Management (February, 2013), available at: http://pbr.co.in/Vol%205%20Iss%208/3.pdf.

Abstract:

The Greater Mekong region continues its evolution from battlefield to marketplace through the increasing provision of infrastructure to facilitate regional integration. This is composed of three
principal elements: transportation infrastructure, changing economic geography and the ASEAN Economic Community due in 2015. These changes have had significant impacts upon the nature of entrepreneurial opportunities for people, particularly women, in terms of business models that may be successfully operated. This paper explains the nature of the changes that have occurred and area occurring and outlines the impacts they are having for business practice in general. It continues with a closer evaluation of research that concerns the role and nature of entrepreneurial work by women in the region. This work is important not just for the women concerned and their dependants but it also has implications for social cohesion and regional and
national development by offering alternatives to labour migration. The paper concludes with a brief assessment of changes in the purposes and flows of migration in the Mekong region and the issues involved with reintegrating migrant women into the economy via entrepreneurial activities.

Impact of the Environmental Changes in the Greater Mekong Region for Female Entrepreneurs

This is the paper with which I plan to open the panel on female entrepreneurs in the forthcoming ICIRD Conference. It will, I hope, set the scene for the more interesting papers which will follow. Here is the abstract:

The Greater Mekong region continues its evolution from battlefield to marketplace through the increasing provision of infrastructure to facilitate regional integration. This is composed of three principal elements: transportation infrastructure, changing economic geography and the ASEAN Economic Community due in 2015. These changes have had significant impacts upon the nature of entrepreneurial opportunities for people, particularly women, in terms of business models that may be successfully operated. This paper explains the nature of the changes that have occurred and area occurring and outlines the impacts they are having for business practice in general. It continues with a closer evaluation of research that concerns the role and nature of entrepreneurial work by women in the region. This work is important not just for the women concerned and their dependants but it also has implications for social cohesion and regional and national development by offering alternatives to labour migration. The paper concludes with a brief assessment of changes in the purposes and flows of migration in the Mekong region and the issues involved with reintegrating migrant women into the economy via entrepreneurial activities.

[thanks for spotting the typing mistake]

ICIRD 2012

I’m chairing a panel at the ICIRD Conference to be held in Chiang Mai on July 26th-27th with the title of Female Entrepreneurs in the Mekong Region. Do let me know if you would like to take part or even provide a paper (although it must be submitted by this Friday so there is a need for a bit of a hurry). I will provide the abstracts for the papers that have been confirmed in due course.

Reaching across the Mekong: Local Socioeconomic and Gender Effects of Lao-Thai Crossborder Linkages

Announcing the publication of:

José Edgardo Gomez, Jr., Nittana Southiseng, John Walsh and Samuel Sapuay, “Reaching across the Mekong: Local Socioeconomic and Gender Effects of Lao-Thai Crossborder Linkages,” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Vol.30, No.3 (2011), pp.3-25, available at: http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jsaa/article/view/473/471. 

Abstract:

Following trade agreements between ASEAN states, the expansion of cross-border roads and bridges between Laos and Thailand has linked local communities and distant markets in increasingly diverse ways. Although the planned impacts of such integration are expected to be beneficial, effects on the ground vary, as witnessed at a sleepy outpost in Xayabury and a more vibrant crossing in Savannakhet. This paper discusses first the physical setting of such border facilities, and then explores their actual local effects on traders’ activities, highlighting changes in gender roles and perceptions of entrepreneurial competition participated in by women in the two research sites.

Keywords: Laos, Thailand, Greater Mekong Subregion, GMS, frontier trade, female entrepreneurs, gender, regional development