No abstract

Purpose – Academic research has endeavoured to understand women's behaviours in entrepreneurial activity, identifying the differences when compared to men. The main topics analysed show similar findings in relation to characteristics and motivations, leadership style, strategic choice, obstacles and results. This paper delves further into these differences by examining the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs, the motivation to enter the activity and the performance of their enterprises. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors study Spanish entrepreneurial activity using a survey carried out in 2009 of 608 randomly selected entrepreneurs. The main methods used are descriptive analyses and logistic estimations. Findings – There were two groups of entrepreneurial women with different profiles and results: the first group comprises a variety of sectors reflecting the economy's average; and the second mainly operates in those sectors traditionally considered as female. Male and female reasons for success and survival are found to be substantially the same, but personal characteristics and motivations were found to be different. Among the differences found, it is worth highlighting the amount of time devoted by entrepreneurial women to household chores, the higher proportion of women in the staff they employ, and their commitment to product and service innovation. Social implications – The findings point to some ideas in terms of policies regarding entrepreneurial activity and gender. The women's greater commitment to innovation in goods and services suggests new approaches in policies aimed at promoting the entry of women in entrepreneurial activity. Originality/value – The main findings of the paper are consistent with relevant existing literatures, but the results offer new insights that contribute to improving the knowledge of the dynamics of entrepreneurial women.

No abstract

No abstract

The work aims to study, using GIS techniques and network analysis, the development of the road network in Spain during the period between the War of Succession and the introduction of the railway (1700-1850). Our research is based on a detailed cartographic review of maps made during the War of Succession, largely improving preexisting studies based on books of itineraries from the sixteenth century onwards. We build a new, complete map of the main roads at the beginning of the eighteenth century along with the matrix of transport costs for all the important towns describing the communications network. Our study of this complex network, supplemented by a counterfactual analysis carried out using a simulation model based on agents using different centralized decision-making processes, allows us to establish three main results. First, existing trade flows at the beginning of the eighteenth century had a radial structure, so the Bourbon infrastructure plan only consolidated a preexisting situation. Second, the development of the network did not suppose important alterations in the comparative centrality of the regions. Finally, the design of the paved road network was adequate for the economic needs of the country. These findings are in stark contrast with claims that the radial structure of the Bourbon roads was designed ex-novo with political or ideological objectives rather than economic ones. Our methodology paves the way to further studies of path-dependent, long-term processes of network design as the key to understanding the true origin of many currently existing situations.

Transportation networks are one of the fundamental tools for human society to work, more so in our globalized world. The importance of a correct, efficient design of a transportation network for a given region or country cannot be overstated. We here study how network design is affected by the geography of the towns or nuclei to be connected, and also by the decision process necessary to choose which connections should be improved (in a generic sense) first. We begin by establishing that Delaunay networks provide an efficient starting point for the network design and at the same time allow us to introduce a computationally amenable model. Subsequent improvements lead to decentralized designs in geographies where towns are more or less homogeneously distributed, whereas radial designs arise when there is a core-periphery distribution of nodes. We also show that optimization of Delaunay networks outperforms that of complete networks at a lower cost, by allowing for a proper selection of the links to improve. In closing, we draw conclusions relevant to policy making applied to designing transportation networks and point our how our study can be useful to identify mechanisms relevant to the historical development of a region.

No abstract

This chapter aims to highlight how the processes of trade and supranational integration through its requirements have a remarkable influence in improving the industrial competitiveness of MENA countries. First, there is a brief overview of the industrial structure of the MENA countries, paying particular attention to the aspects linked to its industrial competitiveness. Second, the industrial policies aimed to promo the competitiveness of the industry are analysed for each country. In the conclusions, we can see that many countries show a diversity of industrial development and industrial strategies and state that the countries that have opted for supranational integration and international trade are showing a faster and more competitive industrial development.