Management Practices of SMEs Owners in Emerging Economies: A Gender Comparative Study

The literature on management practices indicates that the company's performance depends largely on the skills of its leader, when the intuition of the latter is based on the instruments and rational management methods. The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between the gender and management practices in terms of current operations (Production, marketing, finance, ...), identify the characteristics of the owner-manager of SMEs (male and female specific), and detect the points of divergence and convergence between women's and men's management. To do so, we conducted a theoretical analysis of the main concepts and indicators that allowed us to develop a research model. The analysis of the answers was based on a survey adressed to a sample of owner-managers. Our findings confirm that the personal characteristics of the owner-manager influence the management practices. The results of the comparison between the Moroccan ruling woman and man, show that there are no real differences in management style, but rather some shared values between them. This paper provides a theorical contribution on the link between the profile of owner-managers and management practices including the gender parameter. In terms of pratical contribution, it contribute to understand behavior of Moroccan SMEs owners and to show the importance of this two dimensions, the profil of owner managers and gender approach, it can be also considered as a recent study of the typical profile of owner-managers in an emerging country such as Morocco. We try, through this work, to contribute to this field of research which remains very fertile.