Disadvantaged and Embedded: Arab Women Entrepreneurs in Israel
Sibylle Heilbrunn, Khaled Mohammed Abu –Asbah

Abstract
The aim of this article is to contribute to the endeavor of operationalizing and assessing the research of small firm's embeddedness. We hope to contribute to the existing literature by investigating form and degree of embeddedness of women entrepreneurs belonging to a marginal minority group in the periphery. A comprehensive questionnaire was administered in 2006 to a sample of 372 Arab-Muslim women entrepreneurs in the Northern and Southern "Triangle" of Israel, using a snowball convenient method. The data reveal that the vast majority of Arab women entrepreneurs are "over-embedded" within their minority ethnic milieu in the periphery. Highly embedded businesses are owned by women with an average of nearly 3 young children, with many of their businesses located at home and not registered. The women also reported on many difficulties and complain about lack of counseling opportunities.

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