Women-Owned Business Study provides unique profile
SRP and ASU have released the 2007 study of Arizona women-owned businesses. The information contained in this report provides valuable insight to help business people, opinion leaders and the community at large to understand the issues and concerns influencing women-owned businesses in Arizona.
This report provides a unique profile compiled to address outreach and communication issues for this vital business segment of the market.
The research was conducted by WestGroup Research during the summer of 2007. It included a random sampling of women-owned businesses through telephone interviews with 495 business owners across the state between March 29 and May 8, 2007. Interviews were conducted primarily with the owner, CEO and/or president of the company. 
Below are some highlights of the study. You can also view the comprehensive study results (1.5 MB) in PDF format.*
- Motivating factors in starting a business. Women cited varied reasons for starting their own business, with the most common being control/be your own boss/be in charge (37%), followed by financial gain (16%) and pursuing their dream (15%).
- Who they are. Women who own their business are a median age of 43 years old and may or may not (about half) have a college degree. Their median household income is $74,000 for those who started their business and $59,200 for those who took over an existing business.
- Gender-related challenges still exist. Discrimination is the issue women mentioned facing most often. One out of three could recall specific instances or overall impressions of feeling discrimination because of being a women-owned business.
- How women-owned businesses handle discrimination issues. When it comes to fighting discrimination, 21% of women say they address the issue by working harder. Another 14% said they build a good reputation, and 10% cited persistence as their method of choice for overcoming the challenge.
- Business challenges are varied. Women-owned businesses say they face challenges in a variety of areas, including cash flow/not enough money (20%), finding and retaining qualified employees (17%) and finding customers (11%).
- Promoting their women-owned status is not a priority. Leveraging their women-owned status does not appear to be a widespread practice among these businesses. Most do not see a significant advantage from this status. One-quarter indicated that they try to promote their position as a women-owned business; in most of these businesses, promoting this status is part of targeting their women clientele.
- There are several ways women-owned businesses are different from other businesses. They tend to be smaller, newer businesses that are more likely to be home based. They seem to have a greater need in knowing how to run a company and less of a need for finding/retaining employees. And compared to other companies, women-owned businesses are more open to learning from others, especially industry experts and those who have experience in their field.
- Women look to experts for advice. If they could have anyone give them advice, women business owners would most want to meet with industry experts in their field. The second most often mentioned group of advisors would be either specific business leaders (e.g. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett) or business advisors (e.g. accountants, lawyers, tax advisors). The individuals most frequently named were Oprah Winfrey (9%), Bill Gates (7%), Donald Trump (5%), Janet Napolitano (5%) and President Bush (4%).
- What women-owned businesses look like. The typical women-owned business is a sole proprietorship with annual revenues of $119,900. They have three employees and have been in business for about 11 years. Six in ten are family owned. And while almost all conduct business in Arizona, half also conduct business nationwide and 20% conduct business internationally.
- Making themselves known. Two-thirds of women-owned businesses spent money on marketing/advertising in 2006, with a median spending amount of $3,000. Half of them also have Web sites.
Note: An important distinction of women-owned businesses participating in this research is that virtually all of these organizations have at least one full-time employee. Definitions of what is considered "a business" vary widely between research studies and makes finding directly comparable data challenging.
The study has been endorsed by the Arizona Department of Commerce, Grand Canyon Minority Supplier Diversity Council, Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC), Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Phoenix Metro Chapter, Women's Business Enterprise and Women's Business Enterprise Council West (WBEC-West).
For more information about the SRP Arizona Business Study Focus on Women-Owned Business, please send an e-mail to abs@srpnet.com.
*To view the PDF files, you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader.