ENTREPRENEURSHIP

How a scientific approach to decision making can find new markets

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2025

Study of female entrepreneurs finds those who undergo training are more likely to find new use-cases and audiences for a product or service.

New research by two European universities suggests that women entrepreneurs who take a scientific approach to decision-making are more likely to find new uses and target markets for their product or service, making them more likely to translate into viable ventures. 

 

The study, titled ‘Female entrepreneurs targeting women: Strategic redirection under scientific decision-making’ is published in the academic journal Organization Science and is authored by Elena Novelli, Professor of Strategy at City University London and Luisa Gagliardi from Bocconi University in Italy. 

 

According to the authors, it is common for entrepreneurs, particularly less experienced ones, to develop value propositions for audiences they are familiar with or, indeed, part of.

Photo by Olia Danilevich from Pexels

These so-called ‘user’ entrepreneurs generate ideas based on specialist knowledge of a market need. For example, a parent developing products or services to fulfil parental needs. 

 

The advantages of doing this lie in a deep understanding of the target market. However, such ‘expert knowledge’ can also lead to inertia and incorrect assumptions about a target audience. This may result in overlooking the best way to integrate an idea into a value proposition, or reluctance to accept that a product may also satisfy the needs of broader audiences than the one originally intended. 

 

The research by Novelli and Gagliardi explored the impact of strategic decision-making training on female entrepreneurs with female-targeted value propositions. The training encouraged the participants to clearly articulate the logic underlying their business proposition and validate it with evidence. 

 

Training encourages a radical change in direction 

 

Findings showed that those who underwent the training were far more likely to make a radical change (a ‘pivot’) to their value proposition or targeted customer segments. 

 

“Our study shows the real difference training on scientific decision-making can make in improving entrepreneurial performance,” Novelli says. 

 

“User entrepreneurs possess deep knowledge of a very particular audience segment, but learning to articulate and validate the logic behind their business proposition can help them identify blind spots and open up other avenues for business ideas. This might include new use-cases and audiences for a product or service. 

 

“Our study also contributes to research on the importance of supporting entrepreneurs from under-represented demographic groups, such as females.  

 

“Whereas prior research has talked about how they can effectively present their ideas to receive more favourable evaluations, in our study we show a mechanism that can help them address potential limitations and enhance the commercial value of their propositions.” 

 

You can find out more about the study here.

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