Abstrakt
The aim of my dissertation research is to analyze the dynamics of copreneur entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic and its unique character due to the economic transition of our country from a socialist to market economy. The term copreneur refers to romantic partners who own and operate small businesses together.
Copreneurs are the most basic unit of family-owned businesses, and such firms comprise a significant component of the small business sector in nations’ economies around the world [Lituchy, Bryer, Reavley 2003; Kessler 2007]. Yet, the role of women and the gender relations in these businesses are severely under-researched, especially in the Czech Republic where business ownership was prohibited between the 1950s and 1990.
My dissertation will focus on gender dynamics in the business and family lives of these couples while also locating them in their broader socio-historical context.