Ricerc@Sapienza

Starting from the assumption that women entrepreneurs are relevant developers of the corporate business in small and microenterprises, the main purpose of this chapter is to propose a literature analysis discovering how relational capital influences to the first stage of women enterprises. Thus, a literature searches on Scopus has been conducted to expand the international literature on the connection between gender studies and relational capital as significant intangible assets. In this way, evidence proposed are directed to understand the debate on gender and relational capital.

Relational capital is a critical asset in the Knowledge Economy. It refers to the sum of relations an entrepreneur establishes with the external environment and stakeholders aimed to generate business value. Relational capital is particularly relevant for start-ups and for women entrepreneurs. This chapter analyzes the role of relational capital in women in entrepreneurship based on a start-up case associated with a regional Imprendero program to support entrepreneurs during 2011-2012 that coincide with the financial crisis.