Abstract:
Despite women`s enormous involvement in economic activities through Small and Mediumscale
Enterprises (SMEs), their progress has been relativelyslow and the macro
environmental influences impeding women-led SMEs have been numerous. These
impediments vary at different life cycle stages of the women-led business. As informed by life
cycle stage theories of organizations, the formation, establishment, continuation and growth
stage of businesses each have their own characteristics and needs, and thus entail specific
resource requirements to be fulfilled for proceed to the next stage and/or for ensuring
survival. This knowledge builds reasonable certainty that the issues undergone by womenled
SMEs may vary and be distinctive at diverse life cycle stages of their businesses. The
institutional environment of a country can impose restrictions or facilitate growth of
entrepreneurship and small businesses. Even though evidence on issues related to formation,
establishment, continuity and growth of women-led SMEs are not rare in the existing
literature, the impact of the institutional environment at various business life cycle stages
have not been well investigated. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the institutional
forces that affect the businesses at diverse life cycle stages of women-led SMEs in developing
economies. Drawing from the institutional theory, the present study examines the
institutional environmental forces influencing women-led SMEs at different stages of the
business life cycles. It develops several propositions, building relationships among three
institutional forces and different life cycles stages passed by women-led SMEs. It examines
the effects of regulatory, normative and cognitive dimensions of the institutional environment
at developing economy contexts. Based on the previous research findings, it encapsulates
how apex level environmental conditions of under-developed institutional environments
affect the life course of grass-root level women-led SMEs. Concurrently, the findings shed
light on which dimension(s) of the institutional environment are most significant at a
distinctive stage of women-led SME.
