Susan Coleman

University of Hartford · Department of Economics, Finance and Insurance

This paper explores women’s entrepreneurship policy and practice in three different countries: Canada, Ireland and the U.S. We focus specifically on policies relating to access to financial capital, and ask: How are ‘access to financial capital’ policies and practices operationalized at national and regional level? We draw on institutional theory t...

Analyses of the diversity of women entrepreneurs and their enterprises, using novel approaches and theoretical viewpoints, is lacking in contemporary scholarship. Accordingly, this article reviews and critiques five articles that constitute this Special Issue (SI) focused on exploring the diversity of women’s entrepreneurship. The authors acknowled...

This paper examines the positioning of gender within women-focused capital funds (WFCFs) to consider the extent to which these digitally enabled sources of finance reflect the tenets of entrepreneurial feminism. Content analysis of 27 funds situated in Canada and the USA informs about fund mandates, rationales, types of capital, and anticipated out...

The issue: While recessions tend to affect male-dominated sectors more acutely (e.g. manufacturing, construction), the COVID-19 crisis and associated policy responses (e.g. shelter at home, social distancing) have significantly impacted female-dominated sectors, such as hospitality and retail. The crisis has also reduced access to paid childcare af...

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) hosted webinar on response strategies to support SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic

This cross‐country study documents policies and practices designed to increase women entrepreneurs’ access to financial capital in Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and the United States. Drawing on feminist theory, we examine assumptions of policy alongside the eligibility criteria, rules and regulations of practices. Our findings reveal that four...

Presentation of findings from two-country (Canada, USA) study on women-focused capital funds (WFCF). The work examined the extent to which WFCFs remove rather than replicate capital market constraints, ways WFCFs position women in facilitating access to capital, and the extent to whichWFCFs broaden the definition of who is an entrepreneur and what...

The Rising Tide Angel Training Program was launched to address the public policy priority of increasing the number of growth-oriented women-owned firms by expanding the entrepreneurial ecosystem in ways that will benefit women. In particular, the founders sought to address structural weaknesses in a key component of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, w...

Purpose Government attention to women’s entrepreneurship has increased in the past two decades, however, there are few cross-cultural studies to inform policy development. This 13-nation study draws on gender and institutional theory to report on the status of female-focused SME/entrepreneurship policies and to ask How - and to what extent - do wo...

Public policy is a key element within the entrepreneurial ecosystem in that policy has the potential to shape venture creation behavior and entrepreneurial outcomes. In response to studies documenting a gender gap in entrepreneurial activity, government attention to women’s entrepreneurship has increased in the past two decades. Nevertheless, there...

Women increasingly start and lead growth ventures yet receive a small proportion of external equity funding. Term sheet negotiation is a pivotal moment for obtaining growth capital. We employ a multi-method, mixed mode research design to explore strategies of women entrepreneurs who have negotiated term sheets and discuss our quantitative findings....

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore an optimal research design for research on women entrepreneurs involved in negotiating term sheets for private equity capital. This research explores new ways for researchers to connect with such current “invisibles” through the use of a mixed method and mixed mode research design to expand sampling...

Conventional wisdom asserts that women-owned firms underperform firms owned by men. Studies reveal, however, that women and men do not differ in measures of firm survival or profitability when we control for factors such as industry, firm size, and firm age. Gender differences persist, however, in measures of firm size and growth. Recent research s...

Social entrepreneurship is a growing area, and we frequently hear of new ventures committed to social change. In academia, however, social entrepreneurship has typically been taught as a "version" of entrepreneurship, ignoring the unique structure, challenges, and goals of the social venture. In this book we draw upon the latest theory and research...

Social entrepreneurship is a growing area, and we frequently hear of new ventures committed to social change. In academia, however, social entrepreneurship has typically been taught as a 'version' of entrepreneurship, ignoring the unique structure, challenges and goals of the social venture. In their new book, Coleman and Kariv draw on the latest t...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of small loans on new firm performance using data from the second Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, a large longitudinal data set of new firms in the USA. Contrary to prior research which suggests that small or microloans primarily benefit entrepreneurs who experience disadvantages...

WHERE we look for data determines WHOM we find. Women entrepreneurs employ a much lower percentage of external equity capital to finance their firms; they are also largely invisible in dominant data sources. This paper explores new ways for researchers to connect with such ‘invisibles’ through the use of social networks. The paper reviews research...

Growth-oriented firms generate jobs and economic impact, and female entrepreneurs are markedly unrepresented in this subset of firms. Data for the United States as a whole indicate that women's representation in business ownership has plateaued. In 2012, it is estimated that women owned just 30% of businesses in the United States and just 16% of fi...

We examine the debt-equity decisions of startup firms using the Kauffman Firm Survey, the largest database of U.S. startups launched in 2004. To control for sample selection bias and the correlation among financing decisions, we employ a Bivariate Probit-Tobit model. Our results show that several firm characteristics such as growth prospects, firm...

We examine the impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and community entrepreneurial culture on financial strategy and firm performance, by gender. In doing so, we ‘deconstruct’ both ESE and community culture into various components and view them as multidimensional constructs. Our data sample consists of 1214 firms included in the second Pan...

We examine the debt-equity decisions of startup firms using the Kauffman Firm Survey, the largest longitudinal database of U.S. startups launched in 2004. To control for sample selection bias and the correlation among financing decisions, we employ a Bivariate Probit-Tobit model. Our results are consistent with the predictions of theoretical models...

This article explores the impact of financial strategy, by gender, on firm performance using data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED). Our findings reveal that financial strategies do have an impact on performance and that female and male entrepreneurs use different financial strategies. Our findings also show no significant per...

This article explores factors affecting the survival and exit routes of new firms created in 2004 using data from the Kauffman Firm Survey. We draw upon the Resource-Based View to test several hypotheses regarding the impact of both tangible and intangible resources on new firm survival in both service and non-service firms. We also distinguish bet...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which various theories of capital structure “fit” in the case of new technology‐based firms. Design/methodology/approach This study uses data from the Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal data set of over 4,000 firms in the USA. Descriptive statistics and multivariate results are provid...

This article reviews recent research on the financing strategies of women-owned firms. It focuses narrowly in light of the fact that the number of articles on women-owned firms has increased dramatically in the past two decades. Rather than trying to tackle the full gamut of issues, it chooses instead to focus on the area of financing where recent...

This article uses data from the Kauffman Firm Survey to explore the financing sources and strategies of new technology-based firms. Findings reveal that technology-based firms, and particularly high tech firms, raise larger amounts of capital at startup than firms on average. These findings also suggest that, contrary to the Pecking Order and Life...

Abstract Prior research and anecdotal evidence suggests that women-owned,small businesses use less debt than men. This study uses data from a nationwide sample of small businesses to determine differences in leverage between men and women-owned,firms. Findings reveal that the primary determinants of leverage are firm size, firm age, and profitabili...

We examine new firms created in 2004 and track their business status in the following four years using the Kauffman Firm Survey data. For firms that exited the sample during the 2004-2008 period, we distinguish between voluntary firm closure in the form of merger or acquisition and compulsory firm closure in the form of failure/permanently closed o...

Our approach to teaching introductory artificial intelligence (AI) unifies its diverse core topics through a theme of machine learning, and emphasizes how AI relates more broadly with computer science. Our work, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, involves the development, implementation, and testing of a suite of projects that...

In this article we used data from the Kauffman Firm Survey to compare the financing strategies of women-and men-owned new technology-based firms. Our findings reveal that women raised dramatically less financial capital than men in the startup year and in the subsequent four years of operation. We also found that women used a significantly higher l...

This study uses data from the new Kauffman Firm Survey to explore gender differences in the use of start-up capital and subsequent financial injections by new firms. We find that, consistent with previous studies, women start their businesses with significantly lower levels of financial capital than men. A new finding from this research is that wom...

This article uses data from the 2003 Survey of Small Business Finances to determine if banks ration credit more severely to black-owned firms. Our results reveal this is the case. Using the Heckman two-step procedure, we determined that black- and white-owned firms have a comparable demand for credit as measured by their actual use of lines of cred...

In this short report, data was used from the Kauffman Firm survey to examine the financing sources and strategies, by gender, of high-tech firms. The findings reveal that women entrepreneurs raised significantly smaller amounts of financial capital at startup than men did. When controlled for a variety of firm and owner characteristics, however, th...

In this article we used data from the Kauffman Firm Survey to compare the financing strategies of women-and men-owned new technology-based firms. Our findings reveal that women raised dramatically less financial capital than men in the startup year and in the subsequent four years of operation. We also found that women used a significantly higher l...

This article uses data from the Kauffman Firm Survey to explore, by gender, the relationship of start up capital for new firm performance in terms of assets, revenues, income, employment, and survival. Our results reveal that, consistent with prior research, women-owned firms start with smaller amounts of capital than men-owned firms. Our findings...

This short report uses data from the Kauffman Firm Survey to explore, by gender, various firm, owner, financing, and performance characteristics of new firms. Women-owned firms represent an increasingly important segment of the smallbusiness sector. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 6.5 million privately held women-owned fir...

Due to their inability to access public debt and equity markets, small firms are heavily dependent on loans as a financing source. Prior research reveals that women and minority borrowers experience greater difficulty securing loans than white male borrowers. Previous research has also revealed a link between the educational level of the owner and...

Black-owned firms are growing in terms of both number and economic importance. They play an important role in providing jobs as well as products and services, particularly in urban communities. In spite of this, prior research indicates that black-owned firms experience greater difficulty in securing sources of external capital. This study revisits...

ElectroChem, Inc. was a global supplier of fuel cell technology for government and commercial applications. When the founder unexpectedly died in 1992, the firm had not yet achieved profitability and was burdened with a high level of debt. Without any formal technical training or business experience, his wife, Radha Jalan, became president. Her pri...

This paper examines the relationship between human and financial capital and firm performance for women- and men-owned small firms in the service and retail sectors. Results indicate that human capital variables, including education and experience, had a positive impact on the profitability of women-owned firms, whereas measures of financial capita...

We present work on project MLExAI, funded by the National Science Foundation with a goal of unifying the artificial intelligence (AI) course around the theme of machine learning. Our work involves the development, implementation, and testing of an adaptable framework for the presentation of core AI topics that emphasizes the relationship between AI...

This article examines theories of capital structure pertaining to small firms and looks at the capital structure of small to mid-sized manufacturing firms within the context of those theories. Results provide support for Leland and Pyle's (1977) Signaling Theory, Myers' (1984) Pecking Order Theory, Berger and and Udell's (1998) Life Cycle Theory. C...

Nutzungsbedingungen: Die ZBW räumt Ihnen als Nutzerin/Nutzer das unentgeltliche, räumlich unbeschränkte und zeitlich auf die Dauer des Schutzrechts beschränkte einfache Recht ein, das ausgewählte Werk im Rahmen der unter → http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen nachzulesenden vollständigen Nutzungsbedingungen zu vervielfältigen, mit dene...

It is generally recognized that an undergraduate introductory artificial intelligence course is challenging to teach. This is, in part, due to the diverse and seemingly disconnected core topics that are typically covered. The paper presents work funded by the National Science Foundation to address this problem and to enhance the student learning ex...

Loans and trade credit are major sources of short-term debt and liquidity for small firms. This article uses data from the 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances to compare the borrowing experience of small firms owned by black men to those owned by white men. Results reveal that black firm owners were more dependent on loans from non-bank sources...

Previous research has indicated that women-owned firms tend to trail men-owned firms in various performance areas.The influence of human capital variables--e.g., education, experience--on the performance of women-owned firms was investigated to see if levels of human capital are positively correlated with levels of firm performance. The sample was...

Introduction Literature pertaining to the "liability of newness" contends that newer firms face particular difficulties and a greater risk of failure. This article seeks to determine if "newness" is also a disadvantage in the acquisition of debt capital. Results indicate that newer firms were significantly less likely to have lines of credit and we...

Attitudes toward risk and willingness to hold risky assets are compared for white, Hispanic, and black heads of household using data from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances. Results indicate that Hispanic heads of household evidenced a significantly higher level of risk aversion and held a significantly lower percentage of risky assets to net wor...

Recently released data from the 1998 National Survey of Business Finances reveals that ommercial banks continue to be the dominant source of loans for both women- and men- owned small firms. Controlling for other variables, women were no less likely than men to apply for or be approved for a loan within the last three years. These findings suggest...

This article compares access to capital for men-and women-owned small businesses using data from the 1993 National Survey of Small Business Finances. Findings reveal that women-owned firms are less likely to use external financing as a source of capital. It does not appear, however, that lenders discriminate against women on the basis of gender in...

Securing adequate capital is an ongoing challenge for many small family-owned businesses. This article uses data from the 1993 National Survey of Small Business Finances to determine the extent to which small family-owned firms use various types of credit products. Using logistic regression, it also identifies variables that predict the likelihood...

Prior research indicates that women are less likely to enroll in quantitative courses and majors including finance. If this is the case, women students may be less motivated to pursue careers in finance which could provide both personal and economic rewards. This article describes the use of focus groups composed of women who were high achievers in...

This paper presents work on a collaborative project funded by the National Science Foundation that incorporates machine learning as a unifying theme to teach fundamental concepts typically covered in the introductory Artificial Intelligence courses. The project involves the development of an adaptable framework for the presentation of core AI topic...

ABSTRACT This study uses data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Small Business Finances to compare women-owned growth firms to women-owned non-growth firms. In addition, women-owned growth firms were compared,to a sample of men-owned growth firms to determine if the same factors contribute to growth in both. Results reveal that human,capital in...

In response to the increasing number and economic prominence of small and entrepreneurial firms, a growing number of colleges and universities are developing courses in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance. Many of the principles and techniques taught in corporate finance can be applied to entrepreneurial finance situations. In some instanc...

The Upper Albany Micro Business Incubator (MBI) is a service-learning program that brings together university faculty, students, inner city entrepreneurs, and community organizations to create an environment of mutual learning, respect, understanding and collaboration with the aim of community revitalization and economic development. The MBI offers...

This paper presents a service-learning approach to inner city revitalization that is grounded in a human capital model for economic development. The case study demonstrates how a private university became the catalyst for growth in an 'at risk' neighborhood of an urban inner city. Our ongoing service- learning project, called The Upper Albany Micro...

Technology-based firms have been and will continue to be important contributors to the U.S. economy. For the past two decades, technology firms have been a major source of innovation, business development and growth, and new jobs. Securing funding for new technology-based firms is particularly problematic, however, whether they are owned by women o...