Résumé
Currently, there is a significant number of research works about female entrepreneurship. On the whole, these studies explore aspects concerning the women's general and managerial profile. The business creation analysis is superficially mentioned in these works, since the main focus, in general, is either the women's or their business profile. When one attempts to understand the business creation and its implications, involving reasons and other factors that contributed for the decision of starting the business, such as the form and resources obtainment, there is not much information available. Considering the impact of this process on the course of the enterprise, the purpose of this study is to investigate the process of business creation by women, in different places. This is an exploratory research, carried out with women entrepreneurs in Brazil, Canada and France. In each country were selected 30 women who started their business, in a total of 90 women entrepreneurs. In the results the creation process of enterprises is discussed, from the reasons for staring the enterprises, the factors that preceded them and, finally, the forms of creation, that is, the origins of initial capital and juridical organization. The main reason to start an enterprise was personal fulfilment, followed by the market opportunity and job dissatisfaction. A previous professional experience time of 9 years, on average, was predominant, as it was the existence of parents who were entrepreneur models in 41% of the cases. Partnership was the prevalent organizational form and the initial capital came from personal savings, except for the enterprises studied in France. Reprinted by permission of the Fundação Getulio Vargas, Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo ©PGV-EAESP/RAE www.fgvsp.br.rae