Female-Owned Innovative Startups in Italy: Status Quo and Implications

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the current literature of this business phenomenon with regard to gender studies and to point out what is substantially happening and what has happened in the Italian economic context. The main research questions were RQ1: How is the phenomenon of female Startups treated from a scientific point of view? RQ2: Which is the Italian situation of this phenomenon? The methodology used is both qualitative and explorative. A bidirectional analysis has been carried out for this purpose. In order to expand the first research question (RQ1), an analysis was carried out of the articles in the EBSCO database on the topic of female startups. In order to expand the second question (RQ2), an analysis was carried out on the data concerning the phenomenon of female startups, using the register of companies held at the Chambers of Commerce which were territorially competent. Our research, carried out within the Italian economic context, demonstrates how the phenomenon of Woman Startups (WSU), even if it is widely expanding, is inherent in all the typical elements of female entrepreneurship, as reported in the literature by gender scholars. The main factors that emerge for the WSU are the small size and the undercapitalization in the startup phase. This work contributes to the expansion of studies on the topic of startups in the context of gender and can be useful to the social context, new entrepreneurs, and practitioners of the sector.

Intellectual capital's contribution to innovative female agri-start-ups: a multiple case study

“…The Italian legislature's intention of regulating this new form of entrepreneurship was to stimulate the innovation process of Italian SMEs. In recent past, with the regulatory interventions included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the “innovative start-up” discipline represents an ad hoc measure to reduce the entrepreneurial gap between SMEs and bigger companies (Paoloni and Modaffari, 2018) and restore competitiveness in some strategic sectors that still maintain a low level of research and innovation (Scuotto et al., 2020), such as agri-food (Cosentino et al., 2020; Paoloni et al. , 2020).…”

“…In addition, despite the integration process implemented in recent decades, women's businesses still represent a residual portion compared to men's (Paoloni and Modaffari, 2018;Dal Mas and Paoloni, 2020). Over the years, the interest in women's studies has generated research, returning patterns of business development and reaction related to the female world's peculiarities (Paoloni et al, 2022a).…”

An Insight to the World of Female Entrepreneurship: Systematic Literature Review of the Phenomenon using the Mckinsey 7S Model

“…The combination of workload and different levels of family care can also be a factor affecting women's preferences toward entrepreneurship (Paoloni and Modaffari, 2018). Running her own business can help a woman to make money while staying at home and taking care of her children (Robinson and Finley, 2007).…”

“…Therefore, there is a need for a better understanding of the overall complexity of the management of companies owned by women. Following the results of various studies, research into the female business area should be focused, for instance, on leadership style (Kephart and Schumacher, 2005), entrepreneurship (Stanford, Oates and Flores, 1995), strategies (Yadav and Unni, 2016), systems (Paoloni and Modaffari, 2018), skills (James, 2012), and innovation (Kemppainen, 2019). For future research, there is a need to leave national boundaries (Yadav and Unni, 2016;Jennings and Brush, 2013) and avoid gender bias in the research approach (Ahl and Marlow, 2012;Ahl and Nelson, 2010).…”

Business incubators vs start-ups: a sustainable way of sharing knowledge

“…New innovation-oriented firms can be identified as “start-ups”. An innovative start-up can be defined as an SME that offers innovative products and/or services with high technological value and has been established for no more than 60 months, has a turnover of fewer than 5m Euros, has not distributed profits and is not the result of any extraordinary operation such as mergers or demergers (Paoloni and Modaffari, 2018).…”