Narrow Results

To date, relatively few studies have examined information and communication technologies (ICT) use in the subset of SMEs known as micro-enterprises. Even fewer have looked at agricultural micro firms. The study presented here compares ICT use among micro-enterprises and SMEs in the agricultural sector. Results indicate extensive use of computers and the Internet, especially for basic ICT functions like email, online purchasing and online business-related research, regardless of firm size. Website ownership is less widespread; larger SMEs are more likely than micro-enterprises to have a website. A number of other ICTs are used similarly by both groups. Among different sized micro-enterprise firms, larger micro-enterprises are more likely than smaller ones to have a website and to conduct financial activities online. However, growth does not result in different adoption rates among micro-enterprises for most internet ICTs. The study also investigates micro-enterprise use of emerging social technologies such as instant messaging, chat, blogging, etc. Perceptions of ICT benefits are also discussed.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically the gender variations in informal sector entrepreneurship. Until now, a widely-held belief has been that entrepreneurs operating in the informal sector in developing nations are lowly paid, poorly educated, marginalized populations doing so out of necessity as a survival strategy in the absence of alternatives. Reporting an extensive 2003 survey conducted in urban Brazil of informal sector entrepreneurs operating micro-enterprises with five or less employees, the finding is that although less than half of these entrepreneurs are driven out of necessity into entrepreneurial endeavor in the informal economy, women are more commonly necessity-driven entrepreneurs and receive lower incomes from their entrepreneurial endeavor than men despite being better educated. The outcome is a call to recognize how the gender disparities in the wider labor market are mirrored and reinforced by the participation of men and women in the realm of informal sector entrepreneurship.

This study aims to identify the key determinants of the level of informalization of micro-enterprises in Nigeria. We seek to understand the motives of entrepreneurs doing business in different segments of the informal sector and to clarify further the relationship between formal and informal economic activity. To fill the research gap, we developed a theoretical framework that focuses on a decision matrix regarding the level of informality. The quantitative approach involved a sample of 120 entrepreneurs operating in the Nigerian informal economy. Our results show that institutional constraints significantly affect the decision to engage in the informal sector. The institutional constraint is related to ambiguity in tax assessment and business registration policies and procedures, including the mismanagement of those in power. We conclude that the presence of informal firms is not always as harmful as it sometimes is considered to be.