Marketing women in Iceland: challenges of establishing a company

Objectives: This paper explores the experiences of nine Icelandic business women who that have their own marketing businesses. In recent years more women graduated from Icelandic universities than men (Statistic Iceland, 2012a) where business and marketing studies have proved popular. Little is known though about the experiences of Icelandic women moving into self-employment in marketing, particularly in relation to challenges of setting up and managing their own business. Iceland provides a unique context as it is a small island with only 325.000 habitants (Statistic Iceland, 2014). The country was hit badly by the economic crisis in 2008 which is likely to have affected the career and business decisions of self-employed women. Prior Work: Marketing is considered to be a female-oriented industry but experiences of women working in marketing are an under-researched area (Maclaren and Catterall, 2000). In addition, Marlow et al.,(2009) called for studies focusing on the challenges of the entrepreneurial environment for women. Some of the challenges that women owning their own business have to face have been identified as capitalisation, working hours and location (Carter et al., 2001; Roper and Scott, 2009; Harding, 2006). These experiences will be discussed in this paper. Approach: This paper builds on work from a similar study already undertaken in the UK by Foster and Brindley (2010); Foster et al., (2011) and Wheatley at al., (2011) and their investigation of marketing businesses in the UK but explores the experiences in the novel context of Iceland which is a much smaller economy and often heralded as a beacon of gender equality (Petterson 2012; Acthenhagen and Tilmar, 2013). The study takes an exploratory, qualitative approach. Convenience sampling was used for the study with nine Icelandic women who owned a marketing business. All the interviews were conducted with the owner of the company using a set of questions around a priori themes drawn from the literature. The interviews took place in August 2013. Results: Preliminary analysis indicates that Icelandic women are cautious when it comes to capitalisation. They are quite reluctant to take out a loan to finance their business. In addition the majority seemed to work long hours, often nights and weekends. Full findings will be presented at the conference. Implications: These findings give the first account of experiences of Icelandic self-employed women in marketing and answers recent calls for studies in the field of marketing and the entrepreneur environment for women (Maclaren and Catterall, 2000; Marlow et al.,2009). Value: This paper provides an insight into the experiences of the Icelandic business women working in marketing. In addition it offers comparisons with previous studies conducted in the UK.

Objectives: This paper explores the experiences of nine
Icelandic business women who that have their own marketing businesses. In recent years more women graduated from Icelandic universities than men (Statistic Iceland, 2012a) where business and marketing studies have proved popular. Little is known though about the experiences of Icelandic women moving into self-employment in marketing, particularly in relation to challenges of setting up and managing their own business. Iceland provides a unique context as it is a small island with only 325.000 habitants (Statistic Iceland, 2014). The country was hit badly by the economic crisis in 2008 which is likely to have affected the career and business decisions of self-employed women. Prior Work: Marketing is considered to be a female-oriented industry but experiences of women working in marketing are an under-researched area (Maclaren and Catterall, 2000). In addition, Marlow et al.,(2009) called for studies focusing on the challenges of the entrepreneurial environment for women. Some of the challenges that women owning their own business have to face have been identified as capitalisation, working hours and location (Carter et al., 2001; Roper and Scott, 2009; Harding, 2006). These experiences will be discussed in this paper. Approach: This paper builds on work from a similar study already undertaken in the UK by Foster and Brindley (2010); Foster et al., (2011) and Wheatley at al., (2011) and their investigation of marketing businesses in the UK but explores the experiences in the novel context of Iceland which is a much smaller economy and often heralded as a beacon of gender equality (Petterson 2012; Acthenhagen and Tilmar, 2013). The study takes an exploratory, qualitative approach. Convenience sampling was used for the study with nine Icelandic women who owned a marketing business. All the interviews were conducted with the owner of the company using a set of questions around a priori themes drawn from the literature. The interviews took place in August 2013. Results: Preliminary analysis indicates that Icelandic women are cautious when it comes to capitalisation. They are quite reluctant to take out a loan to finance their business. In addition the majority seemed to work long hours, often nights and weekends. Full findings will be presented at the conference. Implications: These findings give the first account of experiences of Icelandic self-employed women in marketing and answers recent calls for studies in the field of marketing and the entrepreneur environment for women (Maclaren and Catterall, 2000; Marlow et al.,2009). Value: This paper provides an insight into the experiences of the Icelandic business women working in marketing. In addition it offers comparisons with previous studies conducted in the UK.