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INTRODUCTION
The review is based on the academic research literature published to date, supplemented by an overview of some recent popular or 'grey' literature and web-based information sources for women entrepreneurs. Although a number of studies have been undertaken examining women owned businesses both in the UK and in other developed economies, this work has rarely been collected to form a comprehensive overview of the current position of women in business. Thus, there is a clear need to review the existing literature to inform, inter alia:
* The business advice, training and support services offered to women starting in business and women already in business who wish to grow their firms.
* Training for the business support sector involved in counselling women entrepreneurs.
* The direction of future research studies
This paper is organised in discrete sections, each profiling the various forms of published information. Following this introduction, there is an overview of the numbers and trends of women in business. This section has been compiled using the main statistical sources. Thereafter, the academic research literature is reviewed. This section has been organised into the main thematic research areas, such as Characteristics and Motivations! Start-up Resources; Finance and Related Issues! Marketing and Networks, etc.
In the next section, the popular or 'grey' literature is reviewed. The popular literature is differentiated from academic literature in two ways. Firstly, whereas academic research is characterised by the need to satisfy a critical process of peer-review prior to publication, the popular literature is not subject to this demand. secondly, where academic research is concerned with developing an accumulative body of knowledge, popular articles tend to standalone. As a consequence, the popular or 'grey' literature generally reflects issues of topicality and current debate. As an area of popular interest, much has been written about women business owners In order to ensure topical and up-to-date coverage, only recent articles have been included and these have been selected to represent a range of typical articles.
In the final section, web-based information sites are reviewed. Because of the large number of web-sites that either specialise in providing information for women entrepreneurs or relate in some way to women in business, the review only covers the main UK and international sites. Of the...