Women and growth in the French context: Exploratory findings

High-growth companies intensely contribute to our economies and constitute a particular area of interest for entrepreneurship scholars. Growth is also one of the major indicators of entrepreneurial success in the literature. Female entrepreneurs’ growth intentions and behaviors therefore constitute central questions for researchers in the field. Our contention is to develop a typology of female-managed businesses, differentiating between various growth patterns. We do not consider women entrepreneurs as a homogeneous group, rather taking into account the diversity of existing realities. In order to develop this typology, we rely on an existing French database, Women Equity for Growth, that has been measuring the performances of women-led businesses for five years.