Threats, Opportunities and Attitudes of the Women Entrepreneurs in Costal Andhra

Abstract

Women constitute almost half of the total population of world. Similarly in India also women constitute fifty percent of the total population. Till the turn of the century, man has enjoyed a dominant position. Women entrepreneurs have been making a significant impact in all segments of the economy in India. The areas choosen by women are retail trade, restaurants, hotels, education, cultural, cleaning insurance and manufacturing. It is the group of women or single women running an enterprise or company in order to earn profit. Now days because of women empowerment women are stepping-stone into the industries and are taking the place of men. Now a day's women's are running several business like beauty parlours, switching shops, boutiques, etc. Women entrepreneurs may be defined as a woman or a group of women who initiate, organize and run a business enterprise. In terms of Schumpeterian concept of innovative entrepreneurs, women who innovate, initiate or adopt a business activity are called business entrepreneur. Though the economic slowdown has given nightmares to the auto industry and reduced offtake down the line, these entrepreneurs take the downturn for what it is. Business has risks and we should face all difficulties is the bold answer that comes. Of course, entrepreneurship has lent to these women more confidence and independence. Factories, they say, have helped them become better home-makers, turning them more rational in decisions, more patient and less prone to ego clashes. The main objective of the paper is to analyse the problem and threats of the women entrepreneurs in the costal Andhra region of Andhra pradsh. A size of the sample is 300 women entrepreneurs. The sample has taken from three districts of Coastal Andhra. The selection of sample is from each category of line activity by using simple random sampling technique (Beauty Parlors, Fancy/Bangle stores, Hardware/Electronics, Readymade/Cloth Stores/ Tailoring Shops, Food Processing/Paper Products and Others like Medical stores, Kirana/Departmental stores, Books & Stationary shops etc.,)