The high importance placed on perso

The high importance placed on personal
qualities by the respondents in
this study may be due to the differing
socio-cultural environment that
these women operate in. As Patel
(1987) notes, the entry of women
into the entrepreneurial world is
only a recent development in India
due to the orthodox, traditional
nature of Indian society. Hence,
these women, who are the first to
break out of socio-cultural constraints,
must have felt that personal
qualities are more important than
managerial or technical skills.
Conclusions
This study examined the problems
faced by women in two states in
southern India in the starting and
operation of their business, their
reasons for starting in business,
their reasons for succeeding, and
the work-family conflicts faced by
these women. While many studies
in western nations had examined
the above issues in the context of
women entrepreneurs, very few
studies had focused on women
from the developing world. This
exploratory study indicates that
there may be both similarities
and differences between the
experiences of women from the
developing world and the developed
world. Specifically, this study
found that the start-up problems
faced by women in both cases
may be similar but there are
important differences in other
areas. There were some differences
in all three factors that Cooper
(1981) identified as having an
influence on entrepreneurial activities.
These women were different
from women entrepreneurs from