It's hardly news that women are a potent force in the U.S. economy, starting new businesses at twice the rate of their male counterparts. But a new study by Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute indicates that women-owned companies will account for as many as 5.5 million new U.S. jobs by the year 2018.

What's more, the institute believes that women business owners will transform the workplace of tomorrow into what it says will be a "far more inclusive, horizontally managed environment."

The Guardian Life Index: What Matters Most to America's Small Business Owners compiles information from more than 1,100 businesses in 13 small-business industry sectors spread across nine geographic regions.

Key findings:

• Small businesses will lead the U.S. economic recovery, emerging from the recession intact and well-positioned for growth over the next two years.
   
• "Small business owners across all sectors share a fundamental business philosophy that can be simply and succinctly expressed as follows: my customers, my employees and me," the survey reports. "Customers are the No. 1 concern of small business owners, ranking highest in intensity on The Index of What Matters Most scale."

The study goes on to say, "We have come to appreciate that small business owners in America represent a definable group we characterize as Self-Directed Diligent Optimists."

Mark Wolf is the director of the newly established institute, now in its inaugural year. He says the finding that most surprised him is the small-business owner's focus on turning customers into friends. "That's not part of the conversation when large companies talk about customers," he says. Large companies talk about customer service, he says. Small businesses know their customers' names and create personal relationships with them. "That [finding] was striking," Wolf says.

Although the study focused on small-business owners of both genders, Wolf says women comprise a large enough segment "that we were able to analyze the differences" between them and their male counterparts.

Wolf noted the women-owned firms account for 16 percent of U.S. employment now. But he says research by various organizations predicts that women-owned non-employer firms--firms that are now sole proprietors--will add employees as the economy rebounds.

"I think the fundamental DNA of women business owners and how they approach business is somewhat different from men," says Wolf. "The fact is that they tend to want to work more collaboratively and seek out many more sources of advice--key managers inside as well as outside experts.

"The woman owner is more engaged because the aspects or owning a business are more intensely valued by women," he says. They are more interested in maintaining a positive working environment and their focus is caring for others--both customers and employees.

Wolf says women business owners are more intense about creating opportunities for other people. "They're more intense about paying employees well and providing better health care," he says.

Wolf says the institute is a logical outgrowth of the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, which has a deep commitment to the small-business market. Guardian Life's intent is to share the insights it has gained from the research study with small-business owners to help them be more successful. Plans are already on the drawing board for an update in 2010, he says.