Firm resources, opportunity recognition, entrepreneurial orientation and performance: the case of Russian women-led family businesses

This paper proposes a framework for studying the roles of entrepreneurial orientation, financial and social capital acquisition and opportunity recognition and their influence on performance expectations on a large sample of women-led family and non-family owned businesses in Russia. Based on our findings, it is possible to conclude that the ability of women entrepreneurs to identify opportunities and thereby determine and exploit the richness of resources in their environment that are aligned with their entrepreneurial strategy is crucial to the subsequent performance of their firms. The impact of being a family business, however, was not shown to be a critical factor in the performance of women-led firms. While much work remains, these findings give scholars and policy makers a better understanding of the critical resources, opportunities and strategies that can influence the growth and performance of female led family firms within transitional economies. Study limitations and future research opportunities are discussed.