Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Gender matters: Startups with women more likely to succeed

Here’s another one in the gender matters series.

Startups with Female Directors Have Better Chance of Survival. Newly incorporated companies with one female director have a 27% lower risk of becoming insolvent than comparable firms with all-male boards, says a team led by Nick Wilson of Leeds University Business School in the UK. The effect decreases as the number of female directors rises, suggesting that what matters is diversity rather than the specific number of women on the board. Past research shows that groups with greater gender diversity generate more-innovative thinking in problem solving.

Source – this piece of research in International Small Business Journal.

For more on gender matters

Posted by steve at 08:49 AM

4 Comments

  1. women also have less car accidents as insurance premiums show.

    Comment by andrew hogarth — April 24, 2013 @ 8:42 pm

  2. Female friends who’ve shared in our UK.Greenbelt trips in the mid to end 2000s almost always noted the obvious male prevalence in fresh expressions/new forms we encountered Steve… and the stories of the female leaders we met who often spoke of that as a challenge…

    Comment by Rob Hanks — April 25, 2013 @ 9:14 am

  3. In regards, to the research of representation v diversity. I’ve been on boards, leadership teams etc., where I’m on by default more than my particular contribution and insight. Have felt stifled to think/participate as my individual representation of an under-represented group seems to be the overarching reason I’m there. This creates an issue when my purpose and contribution is shaped differently, even if only subtly, than other members of the team. We’re not all playing for the same goals, either I &others form our contributions into the pre-exisisting dominant culture, which is allowed to continue because of the “diversity” of members….or as a group with diverse ideas and backgrounds we reform our culture and values together. Perhaps the stats of start up groups reflect the latter? As every member is a part of contributing to the purpose of the oversight from scratch? Every member matters. Every member is resposible. Every member truly listens. Every member is there not purely because of what they bring but because of what they can create with others. I hope the stats change for Fresh Expressions, not because of what women bring to fresh expressions ministry but what can be created through them simply because they’re there, waiting, listening.

    Comment by Danica — April 25, 2013 @ 10:26 am

  4. Great point Danika. What I found interesting re the research was the need for diversity, not representation. Diversity can be more freeing cf speaking for an elected role

    Comment by Steve — April 26, 2013 @ 8:00 am

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