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This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the impact of social institutions, and, in particular, of national culture, on business success, further considering how these institutions influence entrepreneurial decisions around partnership structure and networking strategies, for instance. It additionally examines how the female entrepreneur finds her way around these institutions to help her business succeed, evaluating whether this success is a culture-independent phenomenon that can be achieved through using similar, potentially advantageous strategies regardless of national context or whether adjustments are required before entering a foreign market.

The data were collected through a survey study from 240 established female entrepreneurs with 120 from each country. Two existing surveys were used to create the questions. The target sample group was comprised of successful female businesses within northwest England and western Turkey. These regions were selected due to their convenience and accessibility. Only successful businesses or, in other words, established entrepreneurs were accepted to this study. The business success criteria were: age of business (>5 years); stability or growth recorded on profitability; sales volume; and number of employees within the last financial year.

The findings showed significant differences between the two groups of established female entrepreneurs in their demographic characteristics, networking pattern, work pattern, business structure and perceived impediments at different stages of business venturing. The findings assert that the cultural dimensions of power distance and individualism have the most significant impact upon the established female entrepreneurs’ business strategies.

To date, limited studies have examined the country-specific factors, which may account for variance in women entrepreneurs’ behaviour and subsequent outcomes. This study attempts to close this gap through taking a closer look at the country-specific sociocultural factors creating differences in established female entrepreneurs’ business strategies within the context of Turkey and the UK. Should any female business strategy have become successful in one country, then policymakers and women support organisations can work on developing ways for benchmarking. Moreover, this study aims to guide female entrepreneurs to develop feasible international market entry strategies to ensure survival in today’s global market.

The small size of female founded and owned businesses is discussed as a weakness towards business survival and growth and also as a solid foundation for sustainable innovation (SI) through maintaining stronger ties with suppliers and customers. In smaller businesses, the closeness to the key stakeholders facilitates knowledge transfer and internalisation of knowledge which leads to faster decision making and creating SI. This paper aims to examine networking strategies of established female entrepreneurs and to develop better insights into the extent of social dialogue, collaboration and cooperation maintained between the entrepreneur and her network contacts towards SI and value generation. Successful business sustainability strategies and subsequent outcomes of established female entrepreneurs are also examined. This paper presents the findings from quantitative survey-based research conducted with 240 established female entrepreneurs from the UK and Turkey (120 from each). The respondents were selected on the basis of business survival and success. National culture is used to identify the established authoritative guidelines for social behaviour. Hofstede’s Culture Model is applied to the case countries to describe the sociocultural institutional context. From the business sustainability strategies (BSS) perspective, the findings show that the studied elements of established female entrepreneurs vary between two different cultural environments. And yet, the both group reported a high level of social dialogue, collaboration and cooperation with their network contacts although they demonstrated fundamentally different networking patterns within the context of type of contact; networking motivation; frequency of contact; and helpfulness of contact. Also established female entrepreneurs’ business sustainability strategies show significant differences between the case countries linked to the level of power distance, individualism and uncertainty avoidance culture dimensions. The paper generates valuable insights into internationalisation strategies for female entrepreneurs and possible areas for facilitation for policy makers.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Women face a litany of issues when wishing to embark on careers as entrepreneurs. The differences facing women in the UK and Turkey are used to highlight the challenges women face in entrepreneurship.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.