Canada's Identity A Blend of American and European Cultures

Note that information and cultural services encompass real estate and rental (NAICS 53), administrative and support services (NAICS 56), health care and social assistance (NAICS 62), and arts, entertainment, and leisure (NAICS 71). Natural resources include agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (NAICS 11), as well as mining and oil and gas exploitation (NAICS 21). The "Other services" category is NAICS 81 (which shares the same name). Source: Statistics Canada, SME Financing and Growth Survey, 2020 (custom data order). Calculate the OCE. E-commerce usage varies significantly per export market. In 2020, women-owned SMEs that export to Europe were the most likely to offer e-commerce (56.7%), while men-owned and equally-owned SMEs that exported to Europe were just half as likely to offer it (24.7%). Asia was the second most preferred destination for women-owned SMEs, with 52.9% exporting via e-commerce, compared to only 19.0% for men-owned and equally-owned SMEs. Latin America was the only export region with fewer women-owned SMEs using e-commerce. The COVID-19 epidemic presented numerous new obstacles for SMEs, particularly those run by women. As stores, borders, restaurants, and offices disappeared, people' purchasing habits changed substantially. Many women-owned SMEs were particularly hard hit because they are smaller and concentrated in the services industry (which faced some of the most stringent public health restrictions). Furthermore, many women experienced greater duties outside of work, such as caring for children and elderly parents.

In 2020, "financing or cash flow" was the top stated export difficulty for women-owned

SME exporters (Figure 2.22). In previous rounds of Statistics Canada's Survey of Financing and Growth of SMEs, financing or cash flow was far lower on the list of obstacles, with men-owned and equally-owned enterprises reporting it as an export challenge (Sekkel, 2020). Access to funding is a major barrier for female entrepreneurs worldwide (Korinek, Moïsé, and Tange, 2021; World Bank and World Trade Organization, 2020), making Canada a notable exception. While 2020 was an especially difficult year, policymakers will need to closely monitor how finance challenges evolve in the post-pandemic future. Market awareness was the only other export barrier reported more frequently by women-owned than men-owned and equally-owned SMEs in 2020. Market knowledge, like financing or cash flow, has historically ranked lower on the list of export barriers, and has been noted more frequently by men-owned and equally-owned enterprises. The proportion of women-owned SME exporters claiming this problem more than doubled in 2020 when compared to the preceding survey in 2017 (Figure 2.23).

This challenge was likely compounded throughout the pandemic by continually

shifting public health policies around the world, making the business landscape more difficult to negotiate. Border obstacles (e.g. import quotas, customs duties, tariffs, non-tariff barriers, border security issues), logistical obstacles (e.g. distance to customers, transportation costs, brokerage fees), and foreign administrative obstacles (e.g. foreign customer requirements, product standards, technology requirements) have consistently been some of the top export challenges reported by women-owned SME exporters over the past decade, as revealed by Statistics Canada's success. While many of these barriers cannot be eradicated, collaborative government-private sector programs geared at assisting women-owned enterprises in navigating the international economic landscape can play an important role. Policymakers can also address or remove some of these hurdles through trade policies like free trade agreements (FTAs). Furthermore, firms can use trade promotion programs such as those provided by the Trade Commissioner Service to address or overcome many of these challenges.Enablers for Export and Business Success If women-owned SMEs are smaller and primarily concentrated in less export-intensive service industries,

how did they export at almost the same pace as men-owned and equally-owned SMEs?

The Office of the Chief Economist and Statistics Canada conducted a joint study to determine which characteristics are statistically more strongly connected with the likelihood of exporting for women-owned SMEs versus men-owned and equally-owned SMEs (Sekkel and Wang, 2023). E-Commerce and Innovations The authors initially highlight e-commerce as a particularly powerful enabler for women-owned SMEs to export. Having an online payment function on their website was related with a 38% predicted chance of exporting for women-owned SMEs, as opposed to only 20% for men-owned and equally-owned SMEs (Figure 2.24). Furthermore, women-owned SMEs that do not participate in e-commerce are substantially less likely to export (8%) than men-owned or equally-owned SMEs (13%). Second, the authors uncover statistical evidence of the significance of company innovation in women's export activities. Marketing and organizational innovations were related with a 25% and 31% estimated chance of exporting for women-owned SMEs, compared to 18% and 22% for men-owned and equally-owned SMEs (Figure 2.25). Women-owned SMEs without innovation, on the other hand, were statistically half as likely to export (5%) as their male-owned and equally-owned counterparts (10%).