Strategic Planning in Women's Business in India

Abstract

Over the past few years, women's participation in the work-force has shown a steady increase. This is particularly true of women running their own business. As a consequence, interest in understanding women's business has also increased, and recent years have seen quite a few studies examining various aspects of Indian women's business. Even so, there has not been much research reported on performance correlates of women's business, especially with regard to their strategic orientation. The criticality of this parameter can be assessed from the fact that strategic orientation, and therefore strategic capability, as a measure of proactivity of a business is a determinant of business health and hence, in the long run, a major contributor to the growth of the economy. Most literature reports only a limited amount of strategic planning in small business, whether run by male or female entrepreneurs. A few studies, nevertheless, have examined the issue In the context of Indian male entrepreneurs ( e.g., Ramachandran, 1994), and have suggested that men's businesses are characterized by some degree of strategic thinking, even if that thinking does not translate into formal business plans. This study attempts an examination of strategic planning and strategic orientation in women's business on the basis of data collected from 197 middle-income group w0!"Tlen entrepreneurs from four cities in India.