This work examines gender differences among Canadian small and medium enterprise (SME) owners seeking external financing, including commercial debt, leasing, supplier financing, and equity capital after controlling for size and industry sector. The work also examines potential gender differences in owners' strategic choices (application rates) and financiers' evaluative responses (turndown rates). Contrary to previous work that did not control for size and sector of firm, women business owners were equally likely as men to seek all types of external financing, except for external equity capital. Business in which women held majority ownership were significantly less likely to seek equity capital even after controlling for systemic factors. Male and female business owners that do apply for financing were equally likely to obtain capital. When asked the reasons for not seeking financing, the majority of respondents, male and female, specified that financing was not needed. Recommendations about future research are advanced.

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This article draws on theories about the internationalization process of small-and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) and feminist arguments to explain gender differences in export propensity. Findings are based on a large-scale survey of Canadian SMEs. After controlling for sector, firm, and owner attributes, female majority-owned firms were significantly less likely to export than firms owned by men. The implications for entrepreneurship and feminist theory, export policy, and research are considered.

This paper provides an analysis of the acceptance and rejection criteria of private investors using formal qualitative analysis. The findings indicate that private investors view the overall business opportunity and the principals of the company as key criteria in the decision-making process. Active and occasional investors differ somewhat in the emphases that they place on particular criteria. Perhaps the single most important finding, however, is that the reasons that prompt investors to reject opportunities are not simply the converse of reasons that prompt them to invest.

This paper reports on an analysis of whether or not the terms of bank credit differ between men and women business owners. Based on a large sample of borrowing experiences, it is found that men and women business owners differ in systemic ways, but that when such differences are taken into account, no differences in the terms of credit persist. In spite of this conclusion, it is found that women small business owners feel themselves to have been treated disrespectfully by lending officers to a significantly greater extent than do male business owners. These findings provide a reconciliation of previous research findings, findings that report both equity of treatment of both genders by financial institutions yet a widespread sense of injustice on the part of women business owners. Implications for the training of loan account managers are developed.