Book reviews their families is this how socially focused business is now defined?

? The chapter on Partners discusses the entrepreneurs concerns about developing relationships (between business owner and employees), developing business alliances and using more collaborative methods. Community concludes with the idea that the entrepreneurs create their own communities due to their deviant status in the business community. This is a very disappointing section of the book and does not offer much to sustain the authors initial arguments in Part One. The point the authors seek to make is that more businesses could be based on these values. The concluding section, Part Three, is also disappointing. This was the moment to finish on a high note as to where the research might take us, but the challenges and opportunities outlined are at worst unclear and at best limited. The challenges discussed are well known such as the problem of defining businesses and business priorities, thereby reinforcing the idea of profit above all and the limited drive to provide/deliver social good. A second challenge highlighted is the inequality of women and minority representation in successful businesses, and the age-old problem of how to change this in the face of a white maledriven culture. Finally, the authors suggest that outsiders (considered in this text as deviant women minority entrepreneurs) are responsible for driving change, but only if society recognizes and embraces their differences. There are also claims that opportunities are limited and that business should be defined as complex not complicated but what does this actually mean? Ultimately, different values can exist in business: there is therefore an opportunity to learn from these female minority entrepreneurs, but the book does not capitalize on this opportunity. Overall, Minority Women Entrepreneurs provides an excellent theoretical base, and is interesting in that it draws out many different facets of the problems and arguments concerning minority womens entrepreneurship. It illustrates these aspects with real-life narratives that will be useful for students and entrepreneurs alike. However, the conclusions drawn offer limited guidance as to the opportunities that are available to challenge the status quo.

Jacqueline Hassink, Domains of Influence: Arab Women Business Leaders in a New Economy, I.B. Tauris & Co, London, 2007, 152 pp reviewed by Amos Haniff and Khadijah Mohmmed Al Qahtani, School of Management and Languages, Department of Business Management, HeriotWatt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK. E-mail: a.haniff@hw.ac.uk.
doi: 10.5367/ijei.2012.0077

The aim of this book is to challenge the negative stereotypical image of Arab women, and to exemplify their ability to conduct a successful business in spite of the challenges they face. This is essentially a book of photography, in which the author tries to link Arab womens achievements with their life environment and personalities. The book shows their possessions in boardrooms and dining rooms, which the author has interpreted as representing power. The focus on the tables in these rooms is most pertinent and is intended as a statement and a comparison (boardroom versus dining room) of their dual roles and identities. The text accompanying the photographs highlights significant problems and challenges to which Arab women are subject, such as lack of opportunities in employment especially in the business sector. It also discusses financial issues, lack of business education, and the gap between men and women in some Arab

countries, particularly pertinent in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, this book suggests solutions that could resolve these problems and challenges without making unacceptable compromises between the womens working lives and their cultural and family responsibilities. This book aims to change Western attitudes to Arab women, showing that there are some striking examples of business leadership. It offers some interesting points, which do challenge Western stereotypical ideas about the female Arab experience. Additionally, the authors suggestions regarding the conflicts for Arab women in business are clear and reasonable, and provide a potential avenue that could improve Arab womens experience and contribute to national Arab economies. While the photographs have artistic merit and, indeed, the comparative images between the business and domestic domains convey the additional

responsibilities and challenges that Arab business women are expected to contend with, whether the book has achieved its main aims is questionable. Comments accompanying the information on each case do not discuss the challenges that Arab women entrepreneurs have faced to achieve success. Rather, the commentary typically provides a short biography and a description of the home, with particular emphasis on the dining table. Perhaps, for a photographic book, the stereotypical image of Arab women would be better corrected by depicting images of some of the entrepreneurs in a business setting. The greatest insights into the challenges of the Arab woman entrepreneur derive from the contributory articles by Nadereh Chamlou and Dr Heba Handoussa in the final section. Here Dr Handoussa expresses the need for role models to encourage more Arab women to adopt the entrepreneurial spirit. Unfortunately, the theme of the images, together with the accompanying comments, does not fully support this need. Nevertheless, the admirable achievements of these remarkable women and the obvious talent of the photographer are clearly evident. Throughout the book there is mention of a survey of Arab women and Arab business women. Very few data from this survey are reported, however, and it would have been interesting to know more, based on structured research and

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Book reviews analysis of perceived and real experiences of women within the Arab countries and within the Arab cultural framework. While this is a very glossy, attractive book, without any robust reference to objective research it provides little more for the reader. The worst interpretation is that the book and its photographs offer a biased account of the female Arab experience, suggesting that Arab women can achieve business success without compromising cultural (and legal) mores that are imposed on them. The best interpretation is that it makes for an interesting addition to coffee table decoration and in this way may raise the profile of Arab womens experiences and provide a starting point for wider discussion among many who would not necessarily consider it relevant to Western thinking. While the books usefulness in terms of teaching us more about the real situation for Arab women and Arab women in business in particular may be limited, the potential to widen the debate is, in itself, the main locus of its value.

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