The main purpose of this paper is to critically assess the context and policy environment for the recent development of women's entrepreneurship in Pakistan. The paper highlights the fact that Pakistani women have been the passive recipients of various opportunities and programmes related to welfare and development, e.g. related to skill training, but the political commitment needed for achieving a fundamental change of the role of women in society is only slowly emerging. The Pakistani system has traditionally favoured large companies rather than SMEs and entrepreneurs, which has resulted in an economic contribution which is only slowly accelerating. Though there are some positive trends for empowering women entrepreneurs, the gender gap actually appears to be increasing in Pakistan.
"Prepared under contract no. DHR-1005-0-00-0019-00." ; Includes bibliographical references. ; v. 1. Background paper / by Mona Serageldin -- v. 2. Discussion papers. Informal residential land development in Indonesia / by Michael L. Hoffmann. Less is more : the benefits of minimal land development regulation / by David E. Dowall. The Institute for Liberty and Democracy's Property Rights Program / by Albert Alex Forsyth. Land tenure in Jordan : informal markets and the resolution of problems. ; Mode of access: Internet.
Intensifying international competition, increasing volatility, and systemic technological and political transformations (Dunning, 1995; Hitt, Keats and DeMarie, 1998) constitute the current competitive landscape for organisational activities (Sampler, 1998). To successfully adapt to these challenges and find new ways to renew fast obsolescing firm-specific advantage (Buckley and Casson, 1976; 1998) a more holistic approach to organisational management is emerging. This involves the integration of the traditional strategic management or advantage seeking perspective with the more innovative or opportunity seeking dimensions of entrepreneurship (Hitt et al, 1998). Developing a culture of creating or identifying opportunities and exploiting them is fundamental to entrepreneurship (Hitt, Ireland, Camp and Sexton, 2001; Lumpkin and Dess, 2000; Zahra and Dess, 2001), and the subsequent diffusion of the ensuing knowledge and capabilities across the multi-national corporation's (MNC's) subsidiaries (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000; Teece, Pisano and Shuen, 1997) can then generate sustainable competitive advantage, constituting the application of strategic entrepreneurship within the MNC. The extension of strategic entrepreneurship across the multinational organisation to include its dispersed subsidiaries is intuitively appealing but at present there is a deficit of entrepreneurial theory at any organisational level (Brown, Davidsson and Wiklund, 2001; Sexton and Landstrom, 2000). This study contributes to theory development in this area by integrating aspects of strategic management and entrepreneurial theory at the subsidiary level of analysis. Strategic or entrepreneurial posture, as described by Miles, Covin and Heely (2001, pp. 65) 'is demonstrated by the extent to which top managers are inclined to take business-related risks, to favour change and innovation in order to obtain a competitive advantage….and to aggressively compete'. Combining the strategic literature in relation to studies on subsidiary role and initiative generation with the entrepreneurship theory on firm level innovation and performance, it is proposed that several contextual factors, including aspects of the parent / subsidiary relationship influence subsidiary entrepreneurial posture. A range of variables representing subsidiary context, which have not been previously assessed from this perspective are examined. In addition, a new measure to capture the influence of the internal MNC market on subsidiary behaviour is created.
In: CESifo economic studies: a joint initiative of the University of Munich's Center for Economic Studies and the Ifo Institute, Band 54, Heft 3, S. 325-357