The relationship between rural retailing, women agropreneurs innovativeness and firm performance: a conceptual review and avenues for future research

Abstract

Now is the time for women agropreneurs to accept this challenge for mutual benefits. Inadequate rural marketing network will be a major bottleneck in women agropreneurship. The women agropreneurs should be oriented to make a swift forecast of the demand for various commodities and exploit the opportunities. There is good scope for setting up market outlets to reach the customers without involving too many middlemen. Business houses can establish a direct link with women agropreneurs' firms for procuring raw materials. Such agencies can support women agropreneurs with seeds of improved varieties, finance and other critical inputs for optimising their crop yield. In this context, the Make in India initiative, which aims at job creation, should focus on rural India to ensure impact. This work will help to understand critical success factors (CSFs), Critical Failure Factors (CFFs), characteristics of Indian rural retailing, barriers, risk, prospects, constraints & consequences of rural retailing with special reference to Indian women agropreneurs' innovativeness and firm performance.