The performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), measured by
employment growth, and hence their ability to job creation and a remedy for
unemployment has been an important area of economic debate since the last three
recent decades. However recent studies, mostly in developing countries, have found
evidence that gender has significant effect on SME performance. Utilizing probit
regression technique, this paper examines the effect of employee's gender
composition in co-operative sector on SME growth using data obtain from General
Census of Manufacturing and Mines in Iran (GCMM). This includes 12,000
manufacturing SMEs, with 1 to 99 employees. The results suggest that employee's
Gender composition in co-operative sector has no significant effect on SME growth.
Using Heckman’s two-step procedure, we find that sample selection bias is not a
problem in the study of manufacturing SME growth in co-operative sector during the
years of the Second Development Plan in Iran.
کلید واژگان :
SMEs, Gender Composition, IRAN, Firm Growth, Second Development Plan.
