The Financing of Small Business: A Comparative Study of Male and Female Small Business Owners (Routledge Studies in Entrepreneurship and Small Business)

A detailed empirical study of how small business owners finance their enterprises, this volume compares the experiences of women with those of men. The author redresses an over-reliance on subjective and anecdotal evidence of discrimination in this area with a controlled study of forty matched pairs of male/female owners and their strategies for raising finances. The research reveals the importance of adopting a theoretical framework in which the role of gender in the financing of small businesses is considered, and the practical implications for female entrepreneurs, banks and policy-makers.

Lauren Read studied for her Ph.D. at the University of Southampton. She is currently a senior policy advisor at the Confederation of British Industry, responsible for small firms policy in the SME Unit.