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Navigating the complexity of entrepreneurial ethics: a systematic review and future research agenda.

1. Introduction

• First, previous studies (e.g., [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]) have highlighted that entrepreneurs encounter unique ethical dilemmas, exercise distinctive ethical judgments and behaviors, and may differ in their cognitive, ethical development in comparison to non-entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, an explanatory framework to elucidate these disparities has yet to be advanced.
• Second, despite the importance of ethical deliberations in entrepreneurship, the literature on the intersection of business ethics and entrepreneurship remains inadequate [ 24 , 25 ]. Consequently, there are fundamental questions about the relationship between the two fields, the potential for theoretical advancement, and the necessity for a thorough review of the literature on entrepreneurial ethics.
• Third, a comprehensive theoretical framework that explains the factors that influence ethical perception/climate, ethical decision making, and ethical behavior in the entrepreneurial context is still nascent and fragmented [ 15 ]. However, the field of entrepreneurial ethics holds immense potential to make significant contributions to wider disciplines such as ethics, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development, especially with the emergence of disruptive technologies, ethical predicaments faced by entrepreneurs, and the close correlation between entrepreneurial activities and environmental sustainability.
• RQ1: What is the current state and direction of research on entrepreneurial ethics?
• RQ2: What are the most significant concerns and recurring themes in the field of entrepreneurial ethics research?
• RQ3: What are the potential factors that may influence ethical perception and climate in entrepreneurship? and
• RQ4: What are the potential pathways for future research that can enhance our understanding of entrepreneurial ethics?
• Comprehensive Examination: The study conducts a systematic literature review that comprehensively examines the existing academic literature on entrepreneurial ethics. By analyzing a substantial number of articles from reputable journals, the study aims to provide a thorough understanding of the current state and direction of research in the field.
• Conceptual Framework Development: The study goes beyond summarizing previous research and aims to develop a conceptual framework that explores the influence of individual, organizational, and environmental factors on ethical decision making and behavior in entrepreneurship. This framework aims to fill the gap in the literature by providing a comprehensive theoretical understanding of entrepreneurial ethics.
• Integration of Gartner’s Framework: The study incorporates Gartner’s four-part framework, which is widely recognized and used in entrepreneurship research, to analyze ethical decision making in the entrepreneurial context. By applying this framework, the study provides a practical and structured approach to understanding the ethical challenges faced by entrepreneurs.
• Identification of Research Gaps and Future Directions: The study identifies significant concerns and recurring themes in the field of entrepreneurial ethics and proposes research agendas to address knowledge gaps and promote further research in this area. This contribution is essential for advancing the understanding of ethical behavior in entrepreneurship and fostering socially responsible ventures.

2. Research Methodology

2.1. planning the review.

• Firstly, a clear definition of entrepreneurial ethics was established. This study defines entrepreneurial ethics as the careful consideration of social norms, stakeholder welfare, and value creation by entrepreneurs in the entrepreneurial process, drawing upon the rich literature on entrepreneurial ethics [ 5 , 28 ].
• Secondly, sources for the review were identified based on well-respected journals in the fields of entrepreneurship, ethics, and management. The entrepreneurship journals include Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice , Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Strategic Entrepreneurship, Small Business Economics, International Journal of Small Business, and the Journal of Small Business Management. Ethics journals include the American Journal of Bioethics, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Responsible Innovation, Science and Engineering Ethics, Business Ethics Quarterly, Nursing Ethics, BMC Medical Ethics, Journal of Law and Bioscience, Environmental Values, and Ethics and Information Technology . Management journals include the Journal of Management, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Strategic Management, Journal of Management Studies, Management Science, and Organization Science .
• Thirdly, the review commenced from the year 2003, in line with [ 5 ] prior research on entrepreneurial ethics. The Web of Science Core Collection database was utilized for this study and was searched using exact matches of titles, abstracts, and keywords. The literature search encompassed publications from 2003 to 2023.

2.2. Executing the Review

2.3. presenting the review, 3. findings, 3.1. factors influencing entrepreneurial ethical perception and climate, 3.2. factors influencing ethical decision making and behavior in entrepreneurship, 3.3. consequences of ethical entrepreneurial decisions and behaviors, 4. future research agenda, 4.1. identifying and recognizing the complexity of the entrepreneurial ethical, 4.2. analyzing the societal and environmental attributes of entrepreneurial opportunities, 4.3. advancing research on entrepreneurial ethical decisions, behaviors, and outcomes, 4.4. expanding entrepreneurial ethics research in emerging economies, 4.5. expanding research methods for entrepreneurial ethics, 5. discussion and implications.

• RQ1 assessed the current state of research on entrepreneurial ethics and identified prominent contributors who are advancing the literature. The study found an increasing trend in the number of publications, indicating a growing prevalence of the research topic in academia.
• RQ2 identified the most significant concerns and recurring themes in the field of entrepreneurial ethics research. The study identified several themes, including ethical decision making, ethical leadership, and ethical climate, which provide insights into the concerns and issues that are driving research on entrepreneurial ethics.
• RQ3 analyzed potential factors that may influence ethical perception and climate in entrepreneurship. A comprehensive framework was developed that summarizes the use of entrepreneurial ethics. The framework highlights the various dimensions of entrepreneurial ethics and how they relate to one another. This framework can serve as a guide for future research on entrepreneurial ethics.
• RQ4 identified potential pathways for future research that can enhance our understanding of entrepreneurial ethics. The study identified five directions for future research agendas based on the comprehensive framework developed in this study. These directions include exploring the role of personal values in ethical decision making, investigating the relationship between ethical leadership and firm performance, examining the impact of institutional pressures on entrepreneurial ethics, analyzing the influence of social and cultural factors on ethical perception, and exploring the use of emerging research methods to study entrepreneurial ethics.

5.1. Theoretical Implications

5.2. practical implications, 5.3. the future prospects of developing countries, 6. limitations and future research directions, 7. conclusions, supplementary materials, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Daradkeh, M. Navigating the Complexity of Entrepreneurial Ethics: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda. Sustainability 2023 , 15 , 11099. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411099

Daradkeh M. Navigating the Complexity of Entrepreneurial Ethics: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda. Sustainability . 2023; 15(14):11099. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411099

Daradkeh, Mohammad. 2023. "Navigating the Complexity of Entrepreneurial Ethics: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda" Sustainability 15, no. 14: 11099. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411099

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A manager at a prominent multinational company is ethically challenged by a thin line between opportunity for economic expansion in a deeply underserved community, awareness of child labor practices, and cultural relativism.

A volunteer providing service in the Dominican Republic discovered that the non-profit he had partnered with was exchanging his donor money on the black market, prompting him to navigate a series of complex decisions with significant ethical implications.

The CFO of a family business faces difficult decisions about how to proceed when the COVID-19 pandemic changes the business revenue models, and one family shareholder wants a full buyout.

An employee at an after-school learning institution must balance a decision to accept or decline an offered gift, while considering the cultural norms of the client, upholding the best interests of all stakeholders, and following the operational rules of his employer. 

A senior vice president for a Fortune 500 savings and loan company is tasked with the crucial responsibility of representing the buyer in a multi-million dollar loan purchase deal and faces several ethical challenges from his counterpart representing the seller.

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Entrepreneurs and the Truth

• Kyle Jensen,
• Laura Dunham,

Chicanery is common in the start-up world: With so much at stake, founders are apt to exaggerate, obfuscate, and otherwise stretch the truth when courting investors and other important stakeholders. Such deception locks up resources by prolonging the life of doomed ventures and makes it hard for VCs and employees to know where best to invest their money or labor. It also exacts a personal toll on founders themselves.

The authors take a multidisciplinary approach to the problem. They argue that common justifications for such deception—the need to protect investors and employees, and the belief that all entrepreneurs engage in it—do not stand up to scrutiny. And they offer several pieces of advice to founders, drawn from moral philosophy: Dream big, but be forthcoming and honest about the evidence and assumptions underpinning your vision. And surround yourself with virtuous people who will help you be your best self.

They often bend it. But don’t demonize them—the problem is systemic.

Idea in Brief

The problem.

Entrepreneurs are prone to exaggerate or obfuscate when trying to get their companies off the ground. That locks up resources by prolonging the lives of doomed ventures and making it difficult for VCs and employees to know where best to invest their money or labor.

Founders aren’t bad people. But when they lie, they fall back on flawed justifications, such as the need to protect investors and employees. They might tell themselves that because all entrepreneurs stretch the truth, they must do so to stay competitive.

The Solution

Moral philosophy can help founders remain truthful. They can dream big, but they must be honest about the evidence and assumptions underpinning their vision. And they should seek out partners, investors, and others who will help them be their best selves.

In the early days of Vice Media, cofounder Shane Smith sent a few copies of the Montreal-based start-up’s fledgling publication to a record store in Miami and a skate shop in Los Angeles so that the company could tell advertisers its readership was distributed across North America—an act befitting the monicker “Bullshitter Shane,” reportedly bestowed on him by a friend and colleague.

• KJ Kyle Jensen is a senior lecturer, an associate dean, and the Shanna and Eric Bass Director of Entrepreneurship at the Yale School of Management.
• TB Tom Byers is a professor and holds the endowed chair in entrepreneurship at Stanford University’s School of Engineering.
• LD Laura Dunham is an associate dean of the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship and the Best Buy chair of the entrepreneurship department at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.
• JF Jon Fjeld is a professor of strategy and philosophy and the director of Duke University’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative.

Partner Center

3.1 Ethical and Legal Issues in Entrepreneurship

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Develop the ability to identify ethical and legal issues
• Develop an approach to resolve ethical/legal dilemmas once identified

What does it mean to be both ethical and socially responsible as an entrepreneur? When Martin Shkreli decided to increase the price overnight of a lifesaving HIV drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill, the public immediately characterized his actions as unethical. However, he viewed his position as responsible behavior that served the best interests of his company and his shareholders. Although Shkreli’s decision to raise prices was within legal limits, his actions were critically judged in the court of public opinion.

As an entrepreneur, should Shkreli’s concerns be with ensuring the sustainability of his business or with providing patients with a more affordable (less profitable) lifesaving drug? This fundamental question raises a number of related questions about the ethics of the situation. Was the decision to raise the price of the HIV drug by 5,000 percent in the best interest of the business? Was Shkreli aware of all aspects (ethical, legal, financial, reputational, and political) of the decision he made? To critically examine the decisions of an individual such as Shkreli, one needs an enhanced awareness of the multitude of stakeholders to be considered, as opposed to only shareholders.

Stakeholders

A comprehensive view of business and entrepreneurial ethics requires an understanding of the difference between shareholders , a small group who are the owners (or stockholders), and stakeholders , a large group that includes all those people and organizations with a vested interest in the business. Serving the needs of the shareholders, as perhaps Shkreli thought he was doing, is based on a limited view of organizational purpose. This view, known as the “ shareholder primacy ” doctrine, stems from a famous Michigan Supreme Court case involving the Ford Motor Company and two shareholders named the Dodge brothers (who would go on to form the Dodge Motor Company ). 3 This case established a precedent that lasted for decades, built on the premise that the only thing that should matter to a CEO and their company is shareholder profits. However, this concept has gradually been replaced by a more progressive viewpoint, mandating the consideration of all stakeholders when making key business decisions that have potentially far-reaching consequences. As an example of this new awareness, the Business Roundtable , a group of CEOs from the biggest and most successful companies in the US, recently released a new statement addressing business ethics. The CEOs prefaced this statement saying, “Together with partners in the public, private and non-profit sectors, Business Roundtable CEOs are committed to driving solutions that make a meaningful difference for workers, families, communities and businesses of all sizes.” 4

Work It Out

Business roundtable official statement on the purpose of a corporation 5.

Read the following statement on the purpose of a corporation from Business Roundtable:

“Americans deserve an economy that allows each person to succeed through hard work and creativity and to lead a life of meaning and dignity. We believe the free-market system is the best means of generating good jobs, a strong and sustainable economy, innovation, a healthy environment and economic opportunity for all.

Businesses play a vital role in the economy by creating jobs, fostering innovation and providing essential goods and services. Businesses make and sell consumer products; manufacture equipment and vehicles; support the national defense; grow and produce food; provide healthcare; generate and deliver energy; and offer financial, communications and other services that underpin economic growth.

While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose, we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders. We commit to:

Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations. Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them fairly and providing important benefits. It also includes supporting them through training and education that help develop new skills for a rapidly changing world. We foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect. Dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers. We are dedicated to serving as good partners to the other companies, large and small, that help us meet our missions. Supporting the communities in which we work. We respect the people in our communities and protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses. Generating long-term value for shareholders, who provide the capital that allows companies to invest, grow and innovate. We are committed to transparency and effective engagement with shareholders.

Each of our stakeholders is essential. We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country.”

• Question: Does it appear that Shkreli, in the preceding pharmaceutical example, considered all the stakeholders as the Business Roundtable Statement recommends, or did he follow the older shareholder primacy doctrine approach?

The aim of this chapter is twofold: first, to assist entrepreneurs in understanding the significance of ethics and the role that entrepreneurs play in developing an ethical and responsible organization. This includes the ability to recognize and identify both ethical dilemmas and legal issues that might arise. Second, we want to enable entrepreneurs to develop a moral compass that allows them to lead their business organization in a manner consistent with ethical and legal principles. An example of an ethical business organization is one that follows the Statement of Purpose by the Business Roundtable . This means creating a business environment in which each member of the organization is encouraged, enabled, and supported to develop the ethical capabilities to habitually and systematically differentiate between right or wrong. This also means that the organization, as a total system, provides consistent, meaningful, and timely consequences for unethical behavior and irresponsible actions.

Link to Learning

Read this article from Forbes to see a list of companies recently deemed the most ethical in the world.

Being an Ethical Entrepreneur

Whenever you think about the behavior you expect of yourself, in both your professional and personal life, you are engaging in a philosophical dialogue with yourself to establish the standards of behavior you choose to uphold—that is, your ethics . You may decide you should always tell the truth to family, friends, customers, clients, and stakeholders, and if that is not possible, you should have very good reasons why you cannot. You may also choose never to defraud or mislead your business partners. You may decide, as well, that while you are pursuing profit in your business, you will not require that all the money earned comes your way. Instead, there might be sufficient profits to distribute a portion of them to other stakeholders in addition to yourself—for example, those who are important because they have helped you or are affected one way or another by your business. This group of stakeholders might include employees (profit sharing), shareholders (dividends), the local community (time), and social causes or charities (donations).

Being successful as an entrepreneur may therefore consist of much more than simply making money and growing a venture. Success may also mean treating employees, customers, and the community at large with honesty and respect. Success may come from the sense of pride felt when engaging in honest transactions—not just because the law demands it, but because we demand it of ourselves. Success may lie in knowing the profit we make does not come from shortchanging others. Thus, business ethics guides the conduct by which entrepreneurs and their companies abide by the law and respect the rights of their stakeholders, particularly their customers, clients, employees, and the surrounding community and environment.

Read the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact that urges corporations to develop a “principled approach to doing business.” The principles cover human rights, labor, the environment, and corruption.

Nearly all systems of moral, ethical, spiritual, and/or religious beliefs stress the building blocks of engaging others with respect, empathy, and honesty. These foundational beliefs, in turn, prepare us for the codes of ethical behavior that serve as ideal guides for business. Still, we need not subscribe to any particular faith to hold that ethical behavior in business is necessary. Just by virtue of being human, we all share obligations to one another, and principal among these is the requirement that we treat others with fairness and dignity, including in our commercial transactions.

For this reason, we use the words ethics and morals interchangeably in our discussion. We hold that “an ethical person” conveys the same sense as “a moral person.” Ethical conduct by entrepreneurs/business owners is not only the right way to behave, but it also burnishes our own professional reputation as business leaders of integrity.

Integrity—that is, unity between what we say and what we do—is a highly valued trait. But it is more than just consistency of character. Acting with integrity means we adhere strongly to a system of ethical values. Such values often serve as the foundation for the creation of ethical codes, or codes of conduct . A code of ethics acts to guide conduct and may be derived from a variety of sources. It could be a personal, internal code of conduct, or an official code adopted by a business organization. Or it could be an external code based on one’s profession (e.g., CPAs, attorneys, CFPs, and others have professional codes of ethics), or a more broadly applicable external code such as that of the Business Roundtable or Business for Social Responsibility . Being a professional of integrity means consistently striving to be the best person and professional that you can be in all your interactions with others. Integrity in business brings many advantages, not the least of which is that it is a critical factor in allowing businesses and society to function properly. It is also a fundamental basis for developing and maintaining trust, which is vital to all contractual and informal commitments between businesses and all their key stakeholders.

Successful entrepreneurs and the companies they represent will take pride in their enterprise if they engage in business with transparency, intentionality, and integrity. To treat customers, clients, employees, and all those affected by a venture with dignity and respect is ethical. In addition, ethical business practices serve the long-term interests of businesses because customers, clients, employees, and society at large will be much more willing to patronize a business and work hard on the business’s behalf if that business is perceived as caring about the community it serves. And what type of firm has long-term customers and employees? One whose track record gives evidence of honest business practices.

Research on the performance of the World’s Most Ethical Companies (WMEC) indicates a positive association between ethical conduct and successful long-term financial performance. These businesses often outperform their market expectations, both in periods of market growth and decline. The WMEC list of companies shows an average annual excess return of more than 8 percent higher than expected profitability. This may be due to a variety of reasons, including what researchers term a positive effect on business culture, stakeholders, and reputation. 6 In other words, being ethical beneficially influences employees, investors, and customers.

Are You Ready?

Which corporate culture do you value.

Imagine that upon graduation, you have the good fortune to face two entrepreneurial opportunities. The first is with a startup known to value a hard-nosed, no-nonsense business culture in which keeping long hours and working intensely are highly valued. At the end of each year, the company plans to donate to numerous social and environmental causes. The second entrepreneurial opportunity is with a nonprofit recognized for a very different culture based on its compassionate approach to employee work-life balance. It also offers the chance to pursue your own professional interests or volunteerism during a portion of every workday. The earnings plan with the first opportunity pays 20 percent more per year.

• Which of these opportunities would you pursue and why?
• In what ways might company contributions to a cause carry more power to impact the cause? In what ways might individual contributions be more powerful? Think of examples for each scenario.
• How important an attribute is income, and at what point would a higher income override for you the nonmonetary benefits of the lower-compensated opportunity?

Many people confuse ethical and legal compliance. However, these concepts are not interchangeable and call for different standards of behavior. The law is needed to establish and maintain a functioning society. Without it, our society would be in chaos. Compliance with legal standards is mandatory. If we violate these standards, we are subject to punishment as established by the law. Therefore, compliance generally refers to the extent to which a company conducts its business operations in accordance with applicable regulations, statutes, and laws. Yet this represents only a baseline minimum. Ethical observance builds on this baseline and reveals the principles of an individual business leader or a specific organization. Ethical acts are generally considered voluntary and personal—often based on our individual perception of what is right and wrong.

Some professions, such as medicine and the law, have traditional and established codes of ethics. The Hippocratic Oath , for example, is embraced by most professionals in healthcare today as an appropriate standard always owed to patients by physicians, nurses, and others in the field. This obligation traces its lineage to ancient Greece and the physician Hippocrates . Businesses are different in not having a mutually shared standard of ethics. This is changing, however, as evidenced by the array of codes of conduct and mission statements many companies have adopted over the past century. These beliefs have many points in common, and their shared content may eventually produce a code universally claimed by business practitioners. What central point might constitute such a code? Essentially, a commitment to treat with honesty and integrity customers, clients, employees, and others affiliated with a business.

The law is typically indebted to tradition and precedent, and compelling reasons are needed to support any change. Ethical reasoning often is more topical and reflects the changes in consciousness that individuals and society undergo. Often, ethical thought precedes and sets the stage for changes in the law.

Behaving ethically requires that we meet the mandatory standards of the law, but that is not enough. For example, an action may be legal that we personally consider unacceptable (consider how many viewed Shkreli’s legal price hike). Entrepreneurs today need to focus not only on complying with the letter of the law but also on going above and beyond that basic mandatory requirement to consider their stakeholders and do what is right.

The Equifax Data Breach

In 2017, from mid-May to July, hackers gained unauthorized access to servers used by Equifax , a major credit reporting agency, and accessed the personal information of nearly one-half of the US population. 7 Equifax executives sold off nearly $2 million of company stock they owned after finding out about the hack in late July, weeks before it was publicly announced on September 7, 2017, in potential violation of insider trading rules. The company’s shares fell nearly 14 percent after the announcement, but few expect Equifax managers to be held liable for their mistakes, face any regulatory discipline, or pay any penalties for profiting from their actions. To make amends to customers and clients in the aftermath of the hack, the company offered free credit monitoring and identity-theft protection. On September 15, 2017, the company’s chief information officer and chief of security retired. On September 26, 2017, the CEO resigned, days before he was to testify before Congress about the breach. Numerous government investigations and hundreds of private lawsuits have been filed as a result of the hack. Equifax will pay at least $650 million, with the possibility of more, to resolve most claims stemming from the data breach. The settlement covers 147 million consumers, just under one-half of the population of the United States. 8

• Which elements of this case might involve issues of legal compliance? Which elements illustrate acting legally but not ethically? What would acting ethically and with personal integrity in this situation look like?

To return to the case of Martin Shkreli , let’s examine it through some foundational theoretical lenses, based on ethical theories. Normative theories of ethics are primarily concerned with establishing standards or criteria that delineate what is considered ethical behavior. Common examples of normative ethical theories are utilitarianism , duty-based ethics (also known as Kantian ethics and/or deontology ), and virtue ethics. These ethical theories, discussed in the following paragraph, provide a systematic means of examining and evaluating business conduct.

From an ethical theory perspective, Kantian or duty-based ethics emphasizes the underlying intent or reason behind a decision and whether that decision is good or bad. For example, if the decision to raise the price of a lifesaving drug by 5,000 percent is moral and if it is intended to add value, then an individual is obligated to raise the price. Utilitarian ethics focuses on the usefulness or utility of the decision. If the decision to raise the price adds value and usefulness for shareholders, then that decision should be made. The Protestant work ethic looks at the decision from the viewpoint of capitalism, free markets, and a sense of duty to ensure maximum return on investment. If the decision deals with a change that is financially sound and beneficial, if there are an adequate number of customers that need and value the HIV product and are willing to pay that price, then that decision should be made. Proponents of virtue ethics claim that ethics consists of a series of innate but latent virtues that an individual needs to develop over time. These virtues consist of trust and derivatives of trust such as truthfulness. In this perspective, if the price hike is fair and equitable, if it is responsible to behave in this way, and if it does not cause harm to the society, then the price should be raised.

While it remains with the courts to determine the underlying intent, legal implications, and consequences of Shkreli’s decision, evidence from this and other case studies shows that some corporate leaders have not developed ethical capabilities, or they have not internalized a moral compass that enables them to differentiate between right and wrong.

Developing a Moral Compass

A moral compass is a state of mind where an individual has developed the needed capabilities to differentiate between right and wrong, or between just and unjust in challenging circumstances. When individuals are able to act in an ethical manner systematically, habitually, and without struggling to decide how to act or what to do in difficult situations, they have internalized that moral compass. It can be said that these individuals possess a good character, are able to earn trust, and have qualities that are deemed necessary for leadership.

To develop and internalize a moral compass, an entrepreneur and the members of the organization need to continually exercise and develop their ethical “muscles.” These ethics-based muscles include qualities such as trust, truthfulness, respect, responsibility, commitment, care, love, and justice. However, as you will learn, an entrepreneur needs to first provide the organizational framework and foundation in which individuals and business units regularly exercise these qualities. This framework and foundation include that everyone receive the right training, be given the opportunity to identify and close gaps in their behavior, receive recognition and incentives that reinforce good ethical behavior, and receive consistent, timely, and substantial consequences when they fail to act responsibly. These and other actions begin to help individuals develop and internalize an ethical compass.

A white-collar criminal convicted of fraud, this interview with Mark Faris shows his admission that greed, arrogance, and ambition were motivating factors in his actions. He also discusses the human ability to rationalize our behavior to justify it to ourselves. Note his proposed solutions: practicing ethical leadership and developing awareness at an individual level via corporate training.

Legal Issues in Entrepreneurship

Unlike working in a large corporate environment with an established structure, entrepreneurs often create and operate a new business venture by their own rules. The pressure to create a new venture, within constraints and limitations, inspires entrepreneurs to find innovative ways to meet potential market demands. At the same time, the challenge to meet these expectations can create temptations and ethical pressures as entrepreneurs make a variety of decisions. Common areas rife with potential legal issues include contracts, torts, employment, intellectual property, conflicts of interest, full disclosure/truthfulness in product or service claims and performance, and antitrust/competition law ( Figure 3.2 ).

Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks

There are multiple reasons why an entrepreneur should be aware of intellectual property rights under the law. For example, if a new startup business comes up with a unique invention, it is important to protect that intellectual property. Without such protection, any competitor can legally, even if not ethically, copy the invention, put their own name or company brand on it, and sell it as if it were their own. That would severely curtail the entrepreneur’s ability to make money off a product that they invented. Intellectual property (IP) rights are created by federal law and protect small businesses from problems such as this. IP law also helps establish brand awareness and secure secondary revenue streams.

Intellectual property (IP) is the output or result of the creative work of one or more individuals to turn a unique idea into a practical and value-added product/service; this manifestation of original ideas is legally protected. IP applies to anything that is the exclusive right of a firm, will help differentiate that organization, and will contribute to a sustained competitive advantage. This creative work can result in a product idea, a new invention, an innovative pivot, or an improvement in an existing product or service. IP can take the form of a patent, a copyright, a trademark, or a variation thereof called a trademark secret.

To develop a sustained competitive advantage, an entrepreneur is responsible to protect, provide the needed safeguards, and continually grow a firm’s IP. These responsibilities include understanding, differentiating between, and dealing with the different types and technical aspects of a firm’s IP. It also means that the entrepreneur should be concerned with the nontechnical aspect of IP, which is to develop a culture of creativity that enables the organization to deliver a continuous stream of new IP.

From a technical aspect, there are two different types of patents: utility and design patents ( Figure 3.3 ). A utility patent protects a brand-new product idea or invention under US law for a period of twenty years (see the discussion on patents in Entrepreneurial Journey and Pathways . A few examples of utility patents would be Nikola Tesla’s electric magnetic motor, dynamo-electric machine, electrical transmission of power, and his system of electrical distribution patents. A design patent protects the ornamental aspects of a product idea. Examples include the design of a new font, a soft drink bottle, or the design features of Apple’s iPhone. In the US, design patents are typically protected for a period of fourteen years.

Copyrights and trademarks are also protected IP ( Figure 3.4 ). A copyright grants the creator of a work the exclusive right to reproduction of the work for a specified period of time (usually the life of the author plus seventy years). A trademark is a registration that provides the owner the ability to use a name, symbol, jingle, or character in conjunction with a specific product or service, and prevents others from using those same symbols to sell their products. A trademark can be protected for an unlimited number of ten-year renewable terms as long as it is still in use. Finally, there is a special category of IP known as a trade secret . This concept refers to proprietary information, processes, or other internal knowledge that contribute to an organization’s competitive advantage in a market. However, unlike patents, copyrights, and trademarks, a trade secret is not included as a protected category under federal IP law. A trade secret is dependent on being kept a secret by the business that owns it and is enforced through contract law.

Entrepreneurs should pay especially close attention to the legal implications of how patent law can affect a business. Patent laws are strictly enforced and are intended to protect inventions. This protection is afforded because a continuous stream of innovations can be a major source of revenue for a firm as well as a vehicle for developing a sustained competitive advantage. A legal patent gives an exclusive right to its patent holder or proprietor to use the invention in any shape or form they deem necessary. It also gives the patent holder the exclusive right to block or withhold access to others, or to sell the right to use the patent. This period of protection ranges from fourteen to twenty years, and is essentially a government-granted monopoly, after which, protection usually expires and competition is opened up to anyone (e.g., generic drugs).

Regardless of its type, a firm has the exclusive rights to the ownership of its IP. To protect those rights, it is important that a firm meticulously and immediately document each IP, the process and timeline by which each IP was developed, the resources used to develop the IP, the details of who owns and has access to the IP, and how others can obtain and use the IP.

An entrepreneur should consider these questions when growing and protecting a firm’s IP.

• Is IP law relevant to my business, and if so, how can it help me?
• How do we identify what IP to protect?
• What are the steps we need to take to get protection?

Less formally, the development of a culture of creativity and innovation is one of the most important responsibilities of an entrepreneur. This responsibility will enable the entrepreneur to develop a sustained competitive advantage. This means you should not be satisfied with an occasional spark of creativity from a designated individual, department, or functional area within your organization (such as research and development). You need to nurture an environment in which every member of your organization is able to be creative, add value, and be engaged in the continuous improvement of the firm. One example of this dynamic is the culture of continuous improvement at Toyota ( Kaizen ) (see Launch for Growth to Success ). In this culture, every member of the organization is expected to be creative and continually improve the processes they are engaged with on a daily basis.

The story of Nikola Tesla —a Serbian-American inventor, engineer, and physicist—offers a cautionary tale for why entrepreneurs need to be attuned to both the technical aspects of a venture’s IP and its culture of creativity. Having filed 300 patents, Tesla is considered by many to be one of the fathers of modern electricity. After immigrating to the United States, Tesla was employed by the Continental Edison Company and began to develop AC technology. However, Edison preferred DC technology and was not supportive of Tesla’s ideas. Tesla had to quit, teaming up with Westinghouse to open the Tesla Electric Light company, bringing his valuable creativity and ideas with him to his new venture. 9 Eventually, Tesla’s AC became the American standard, not Edison’s DC.

Contracts and Torts

Every entrepreneur enters into contracts, usually on a regular basis, and thus should have an understanding of basic contract concepts. Likewise, most businesses are likely to have some involvement with tort law: that area of law that protects the rights of people not to be harmed physically, financially, or in any other way, such as a breach of privacy. Some areas of the business world involve a combination of tort law and contract law, such as litigation involving the wrongful termination of an employee.

Contracts can be formal or informal agreements. Ideally, you should use written contracts whenever you enter into a substantial transaction with another party. Oral agreements are enforceable in most situations; however, proving their terms can be difficult. If you are in the midst of a startup, chances are you are moving quickly. Perhaps you don’t have the time, or the money, to hire a lawyer to prepare a formal written contract. In that event, you should at least follow-up with all parties via traditional mail or email to document the key terms of your agreement. That way, if a dispute arises, you’ll have documentation to fall back on.

Torts are a potential area of risk for entrepreneurs. Financial liability often results from the assumption of and exposure to risk; therefore, this is an important issue for entrepreneurs to manage. This is especially true for the concept of vicarious liability , which is the area of the law that imposes responsibility upon one person for the failure of another, with whom the person has a special relationship (e.g., employer and employee) to exercise reasonable care. Most employers understand they run a risk that their employees may commit a tort, and that they are responsible when employees cause harm to others (customers or coworkers) while on duty, working on company property, and using company equipment. However, many employers are not aware that employers can actually be liable for harm caused by an employee if that employee caused harm within the scope of their job duties. For example, if an employer asks an employee to drop something off at FedEx or UPS after work hours, and that employee negligently causes an auto accident, even if the employee is driving their personal vehicle and not a company car, the employer could be liable for damages. It is an all-too-common situation that could have serious liability consequences for an entrepreneurial business if adequate insurance is not procured.

Antitrust laws (or competition laws ) were developed to ensure that one competitor does not abuse its position and power in the market to exclude or limit competitor access to the market. A few examples of antitrust laws are the Sherman Act , the Clayton Act , the Federal Trade Commission Act , and the Bayh-Dole Act . These acts were created to encourage competition and provide options for consumers. In effect, these laws make it illegal for a competitor to make agreements that would limit competition in the market.

The antitrust concept is important to the entrepreneur’s ability of entrepreneurs to form new startup businesses that are able to compete with larger, more established corporations (which may try to discourage competition). Table 3.1 summarizes the contributions of these acts to supporting antitrust efforts. It is important to note that any deviation from these laws may result in long and costly legal problems.

An example of illegal competition would be the competition and patent war between Intel Corporation and American Micro Devices (AMD). In 2009, AMD filed a suit against Intel claiming that the company had used “leveraging dominance” to exclude AMD from effectively competing in the marketplace through exclusionary pricing, discounts, and similar practices. This claim was later settled by the two firms and resulted in Intel paying AMD $1.25 billion in damages.

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual (or company) has interests in multiple areas (financial investments, work obligations, personal relationships), and the interests may conflict with each other. Employees, for example, have an interest in producing expected work for their employer. A conscious or deliberate attempt to avoid, ignore, or marginalize that which is rightfully due an employer by addressing other interests would be a conflict of interest. This could be as simple as using company time or resources to work on a personal project that has not been sanctioned and will not add value to the company. It could also mean using the tangible and intellectual resources of a company on something that will benefit your private interests instead of your employer’s. This action is unethical since you are not giving the employer what they are due, which are your time, talents, and services in exchange for agreed-upon compensation. Consider the example of Mike Arrington , a Silicon Valley lawyer and entrepreneur who created a blog called TechCrunch . Arrington became the go-to source for tech enthusiasts and investors. His coverage of Silicon Valley-based startup companies could help ensure the successful launch of a new business or product. However, he was criticized for routinely covering stories about the companies he invested in and consulted for. Although he provided full disclosures of his interests, rival critics challenged his conflicts of interest. How could he simultaneously be both an investor and an independent journalist blogging about the very companies in which he had a financial interest? He was in a classic conflict of interest position. 10 Similar cases involving business reporters and potential conflicts of interest include The Wall Street Journal , Business Week , Time magazine, and the L.A. Herald Examiner .

Another situation in which potential conflicts arise is in the area of professional services, which attracts many young potential business owners. Perhaps you want to start your own CPA accounting firm, or CFP financial advisory firm, or IT consulting firm. A professional must be very cautious about conflicts of interest, especially in areas in which you owe a fiduciary duty to your clients. This requires a very high duty of conduct and full disclosure, one that prohibits being involved in both sides of a transaction. For example, as an IT consultant, do you recommend to a client that they buy a software product, when unknown to them, you own stock in that company? Or as a financial advisor, are you getting commissions on both ends of a transaction?

Fraud: Truthfulness and Full Disclosure

Ethical entrepreneurs consistently strive to apply ethics-based concepts in practice, including truthfulness and full disclosure. These two concepts are not only part of an ethical approach to doing business but are also underlying requirements of several areas of law including fraud. A business that makes/sells a product or service has responsibility for fully disclosing the truth about its products/services.

The underlying facts, reality, and evidence behind something are the truthfulness of a matter. An individual who is being truthful is exercising the capability of being factual about a subject matter, dealing with reality, and aware of evidence. Truthful individuals earn a level of credibility and reliability over time because what they say and what they do are in alignment. A corollary of truthfulness is fairness, which means to be impartial, unbiased, and in compliance with rules and standards of right and wrong behavior. Fairness deals with doing what is right, just, and equitable. From the standpoint of application, the quality of being truthful forms the foundation for fairness.

Disclosure describes sharing the needed facts and details about a subject in a transparent and truthful way. This information should be adequate, timely, and relevant to allow the recipient to understand the purpose and intent behind a product/service and to make a good decision about the value of that product/service. Any deliberate attempt to hide, change, or bend the truth is an unethical and irresponsible action subject to criminal investigation.

One example of a firm that has repeatedly run into several serious, embarrassing, and costly legal issues is Eli Lilly . In one instance, this company admitted in court that they had illegally marketed Zyprexa, which was primarily intended and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration office (FDA) to treat depression, to be used for off-label (not cleared by FDA to market and advertise) ailments such as sleep disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia. As a result, in 2009, Eli Lilly was fined $1.4 billion by the office of criminal investigation of the US Department of Justice. 11

• 3 Dodge v. Ford Motor Company, 204 Mich. 459, 170 N.W. 668 (1919).
• 4 “Leadership in Action.” Business Roundtable . https://www.businessroundtable.org/
• 5 “Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote ‘An Economy That Serves All Americans.’” Business Roundtable . August 19, 2019. https://www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans
• 6 Nelson Areal and Ana Carvalho. “The World’s Most Ethical Companies: Does the Fame Translate into Gain?” Presented to the European Financial Management Association (EMFA). n.d. https://efmaefm.org/0efmameetings/efma%20annual%20meetings/2012-Barcelona/papers/EFMA2012_0401_fullpaper.pdf
• 7 Tyler Durden. “Massive Data Breach at Equifax: As Many As 143 Million Social Security Numbers Hacked.” Zero Hedge . September 7, 2017. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-07/massive-data-breach-equifax-many-143-million-social-security-numbers-hacked
• 8 Stacy Cowley. “Equifax to Pay at Least $650 Million in Largest-Ever Data Breach Settlement.” New York Times . July 22, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/business/equifax-settlement.html
• 9 Nikola Tesla. My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla . (Austin: Hart Brothers, 1982).
• 10 Ira Basen. “Why Transparency Is Not Enough: The Case of Mr. Mike.” Center for Journalism Ethics . University of Wisconsin–Madison. June 21, 2011. https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/2011/06/21/why-transparency-is-not-enough-the-case-of-mr-mike/
• 11 Food and Drug Administration. Office of Criminal Investigations of the US Department of Justice. www.usdoj.gov/usao/pae

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You can publish an open access article in this platinum partnership journal. Authors in this journal are not required to pay an article processing charge (APC)

Journal of Ethics in Entrepreneurship and Technology

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Before you start

For queries relating to the status of your paper pre decision, please contact the Editor or Journal Editorial Office. For queries post acceptance, please contact the Supplier Project Manager. These details can be found in the Editorial Team section.

Author responsibilities

Our goal is to provide you with a professional and courteous experience at each stage of the review and publication process. There are also some responsibilities that sit with you as the author. Our expectation is that you will:

• Respond swiftly to any queries during the publication process.
• Be accountable for all aspects of your work. This includes investigating and resolving any questions about accuracy or research integrity .
• Treat communications between you and the journal editor as confidential until an editorial decision has been made.
• Include anyone who has made a substantial and meaningful contribution to the submission (anyone else involved in the paper should be listed in the acknowledgements).
• Exclude anyone who hasn’t contributed to the paper, or who has chosen not to be associated with the research.
• In accordance with COPE’s position statement on AI tools , Large Language Models cannot be credited with authorship as they are incapable of conceptualising a research design without human direction and cannot be accountable for the integrity, originality, and validity of the published work. The author(s) must describe the content created or modified as well as appropriately cite the name and version of the AI tool used; any additional works drawn on by the AI tool should also be appropriately cited and referenced. Standard tools that are used to improve spelling and grammar are not included within the parameters of this guidance. The Editor and Publisher reserve the right to determine whether the use of an AI tool is permissible.
• If your article involves human participants, you must ensure you have considered whether or not you require ethical approval for your research, and include this information as part of your submission. Find out more about informed consent .

Generative AI usage key principles

• Copywriting any part of an article using a generative AI tool/LLM would not be permissible, including the generation of the abstract or the literature review, for as per Emerald’s authorship criteria, the author(s) must be responsible for the work and accountable for its accuracy, integrity, and validity.
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• Copy-editing an article using a generative AI tool/LLM in order to improve its language and readability would be permissible as this mirrors standard tools already employed to improve spelling and grammar, and uses existing author-created material, rather than generating wholly new content, while the author(s) remains responsible for the original work.
• The submission and publication of images created by AI tools or large-scale generative models is not permitted.

Research and publishing ethics

Our editors and employees work hard to ensure the content we publish is ethically sound. To help us achieve that goal, we closely follow the advice laid out in the guidelines and flowcharts on the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) website .

We have also developed our research and publishing ethics guidelines . If you haven’t already read these, we urge you to do so – they will help you avoid the most common publishing ethics issues.

A few key points:

• Any manuscript you submit to this journal should be original. That means it should not have been published before in its current, or similar, form. Exceptions to this rule are outlined in our pre-print and conference paper policies .  If any substantial element of your paper has been previously published, you need to declare this to the journal editor upon submission. Please note, the journal editor may use  Crossref Similarity Check  to check on the originality of submissions received. This service compares submissions against a database of 49 million works from 800 scholarly publishers.
• Your work should not have been submitted elsewhere and should not be under consideration by any other publication.
• If you have a conflict of interest, you must declare it upon submission; this allows the editor to decide how they would like to proceed. Read about conflict of interest in our research and publishing ethics guidelines .
• By submitting your work to Emerald, you are guaranteeing that the work is not in infringement of any existing copyright.
• If you have written about a company/individual/organisation in detail using information that is not publicly available, have spent time within that company/organisation, or the work features named/interviewed employees, you will need to clear permission by using the  consent to publish form ; please also see our permissions guidance for full details. If you have to clear permission with the company/individual/organisation, consent must be given either by the named individual in question or their representative, a board member of the company/organisation, or a HR department representative of the company/organisation.
• You have an ethical obligation and responsibility to conduct your research in adherence to national and international research ethics guidelines, as well as the ethical principles outlined by your discipline and any relevant authorities, and to be transparent about your research methods in such a way that all involved in the publication process may fairly and appropriately evaluate your work. For all research involving human participants, you must ensure that you have obtained informed consent, meaning that you must inform all participants in your work (or their legal representative) as to why the research is being conducted, whether their anonymity is protected, how their data will be stored and used, and whether there are any associated risks from participation in the study; the submitted work must confirm that informed consent was obtained and detail how this was addressed in accordance with our policy on informed consent .  
• Where appropriate, you must provide an ethical statement within the submitted work confirming that your research received institutional and national (or international) ethical approval, and that it complies with all relevant guidelines and regulations for studies involving humans, whether that be data, individuals, or samples. Specifically, the statement should contain the name and location of the institutional ethics reviewing committee or review board, the approval number, the date of approval, and the details of the national or international guidelines that were followed, as well as any other relevant information. You should also include details of how the work adheres to relevant consent guidelines along with confirming that informed consent was secured for all participants. The details of these statements should ensure that author and participant anonymity is not compromised. Any work submitted without a suitable ethical statement and details of informed consent for all participants, where required, will be returned to the authors and will not be considered further until appropriate and clear documentation is provided. Emerald reserves the right to reject work without sufficient evidence of informed consent from human participants and ethical approval where required.

Third party copyright permissions

Prior to article submission, you need to ensure you’ve applied for, and received, written permission to use any material in your manuscript that has been created by a third party. Please note, we are unable to publish any article that still has permissions pending. The rights we require are:

• Non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material in the article or book chapter.
• Print and electronic rights.
• Worldwide English-language rights.
• To use the material for the life of the work. That means there should be no time restrictions on its re-use e.g. a one-year licence.

We are a member of the International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers (STM) and participate in the STM permissions guidelines , a reciprocal free exchange of material with other STM publishers.  In some cases, this may mean that you don’t need permission to re-use content. If so, please highlight this at the submission stage.

Please take a few moments to read our guide to publishing permissions  to ensure you have met all the requirements, so that we can process your submission without delay.

Open access information

This is a sponsored open access journal, also referred to as platinum open access. Because it is published in partnership with an organisation, your article will be published open access, but you will not have to pay an APC (article processing charge) - publication is free. Your article will be published with a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 user licence , which outlines how readers can reuse your work.

You can find out more about our open access routes and read our FAQs on our open research page. 

Find out about open

Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines

We are a signatory of the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines , a framework that supports the reproducibility of research through the adoption of transparent research practices. That means we encourage you to:

• Cite and fully reference all data, program code, and other methods in your article.
• Include persistent identifiers, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), in references for datasets and program codes. Persistent identifiers ensure future access to unique published digital objects, such as a piece of text or datasets. Persistent identifiers are assigned to datasets by digital archives, such as institutional repositories and partners in the Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences (Data-PASS).
• Follow appropriate international and national procedures with respect to data protection, rights to privacy and other ethical considerations, whenever you cite data. For further guidance please refer to our  research and publishing ethics guidelines . For an example on how to cite datasets, please refer to the references section below.

Prepare your submission

Manuscript support services.

We are pleased to partner with Editage, a platform that connects you with relevant experts in language support, translation, editing, visuals, consulting, and more. After you’ve agreed a fee, they will work with you to enhance your manuscript and get it submission-ready.

This is an optional service for authors who feel they need a little extra support. It does not guarantee your work will be accepted for review or publication.

Visit Editage

Manuscript requirements

Before you submit your manuscript, it’s important you read and follow the guidelines below. You will also find some useful tips in our structure your journal submission how-to guide.

Submit your manuscript

There are a number of key steps you should follow to ensure a smooth and trouble-free submission.

Double check your manuscript

Before submitting your work, it is your responsibility to check that the manuscript is complete, grammatically correct, and without spelling or typographical errors. A few other important points:

• Give the journal aims and scope a final read. Is your manuscript definitely a good fit? If it isn’t, the editor may decline it without peer review.
• Does your manuscript comply with our research and publishing ethics guidelines ?
• Have you cleared any necessary publishing permissions ?
• Have you followed all the formatting requirements laid out in these author guidelines?
• If you need to refer to your own work, use wording such as ‘previous research has demonstrated’ not ‘our previous research has demonstrated’.
• If you need to refer to your own, currently unpublished work, don’t include this work in the reference list.
• Any acknowledgments or author biographies should be uploaded as separate files.
• Carry out a final check to ensure that no author names appear anywhere in the manuscript. This includes in figures or captions.

You will find a helpful submission checklist on the website Think.Check.Submit .

The submission process

All manuscripts should be submitted through our editorial system by the corresponding author.

The only way to submit to the journal is through the journal’s ScholarOne site as accessed via the Emerald website, and not by email or through any third-party agent/company, journal representative, or website. Submissions should be done directly by the author(s) through the ScholarOne site and not via a third-party proxy on their behalf.

A separate author account is required for each journal you submit to. If this is your first time submitting to this journal, please choose the Create an account or Register now option in the editorial system. If you already have an Emerald login, you are welcome to reuse the existing username and password here.

Please note, the next time you log into the system, you will be asked for your username. This will be the email address you entered when you set up your account.

Don't forget to add your  ORCiD ID during the submission process. It will be embedded in your published article, along with a link to the ORCiD registry allowing others to easily match you with your work.

Don’t have one yet? It only takes a few moments to register for a free ORCiD identifier .

Visit the ScholarOne support centre  for further help and guidance.

What you can expect next

You will receive an automated email from the journal editor, confirming your successful submission. It will provide you with a manuscript number, which will be used in all future correspondence about your submission. If you have any reason to suspect the confirmation email you receive might be fraudulent, please contact the journal editor in the first instance.

Post submission

Review and decision process.

Each submission is checked by the editor. At this stage, they may choose to decline or unsubmit your manuscript if it doesn’t fit the journal aims and scope, or they feel the language/manuscript quality is too low.

If they think it might be suitable for the publication, they will send it to at least two independent referees for double anonymous peer review.  Once these reviewers have provided their feedback, the editor may decide to accept your manuscript, request minor or major revisions, or decline your work.

While all journals work to different timescales, the goal is that the editor will inform you of their first decision within 60 days.

During this period, we will send you automated updates on the progress of your manuscript via our submission system, or you can log in to check on the current status of your paper.  Each time we contact you, we will quote the manuscript number you were given at the point of submission. If you receive an email that does not match these criteria, it could be fraudulent and we recommend you contact the journal editor in the first instance.

Manuscript transfer service

Emerald’s manuscript transfer service takes the pain out of the submission process if your manuscript doesn’t fit your initial journal choice. Our team of expert Editors from participating journals work together to identify alternative journals that better align with your research, ensuring your work finds the ideal publication home it deserves. Our dedicated team is committed to supporting authors like you in finding the right home for your research.

If a journal is participating in the manuscript transfer program, the Editor has the option to recommend your paper for transfer. If a transfer decision is made by the Editor, you will receive an email with the details of the recommended journal and the option to accept or reject the transfer. It’s always down to you as the author to decide if you’d like to accept. If you do accept, your paper and any reviewer reports will automatically be transferred to the recommended journals. Authors will then confirm resubmissions in the new journal’s ScholarOne system.

Our Manuscript Transfer Service page has more information on the process.

If your submission is accepted

All accepted authors are sent an email with a link to a licence form.  This should be checked for accuracy, for example whether contact and affiliation details are up to date and your name is spelled correctly, and then returned to us electronically. If there is a reason why you can’t assign copyright to us, you should discuss this with your journal content editor. You will find their contact details on the editorial team section above.

Proofing and typesetting

Once we have received your completed licence form, the article will pass directly into the production process. We will carry out editorial checks, copyediting, and typesetting and then return proofs to you (if you are the corresponding author) for your review. This is your opportunity to correct any typographical errors, grammatical errors or incorrect author details. We can’t accept requests to rewrite texts at this stage.

When the page proofs are finalised, the fully typeset and proofed version of record is published online. This is referred to as the EarlyCite version. While an EarlyCite article has yet to be assigned to a volume or issue, it does have a digital object identifier (DOI) and is fully citable. It will be compiled into an issue according to the journal’s issue schedule, with papers being added by chronological date of publication.

How to share your paper

Visit our author rights page  to find out how you can reuse and share your work.

To find tips on increasing the visibility of your published paper, read about  how to promote your work .

Correcting inaccuracies in your published paper

Sometimes errors are made during the research, writing and publishing processes. When these issues arise, we have the option of withdrawing the paper or introducing a correction notice. Find out more about our  article withdrawal and correction policies .

Need to make a change to the author list? See our frequently asked questions (FAQs) below.

Frequently asked questions

Editor-in-Chief

• Sebastian Vaduva Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania [email protected]
• Emanuel Tundrea Associate Professor of IT, Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania [email protected]

Editorial Advisory Board

• John A. Parnell Professor of Management, Eminent Scholar of Business, University of North Alabama, USA
• Kenneth Barns Mockler-Phillips Professor of Workplace Theology and Business Ethics, USA
• Lance Brouthers International Business Professor at Kennesaw State University, USA
• Jason Butler Dr. of Organizational Leadership, Huntington University, US - USA
• Dan - Christian Dabija Marketing Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
• Sam Echeveria Dean of Liberal Arts, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Austin Community College, USA
• Silvia Fotea Executive Director of JEET, Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania
• David Glass Senior Lecturer, School of Computing, Ulster University, Ireland, UK
• Thomas A. Hemphill David M. French Distinguished Professor of Strategy, Innovation and Public Policy School of Management University of Michigan-Flint, USA
• Robert Hisrich Bridgestone Chair of International Marketing & Associate Dean of Graduate and International Programs, Kent State University, USA
• Paul Jones Swansea University
• Peter Klein Department Chair of Entrepreneurship, Baylor University, Texas, USA
• Ryan LaBrie Professor of Management and Information Systems, Seattle Pacific University, USA
• Aurel Mihail Titu Professor of Engineering and Management, Faculty of Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Management Department, "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu, Romania
• Jeremy Peckman Director Strategis Consulting Limited, Chairman The Fraser Peckham Trust, UK
• Gerhard Steinke Professor of Management and Information Systems, Seattle Pacific University, USA
• Madarász Tamás Head of Institute of Environmental Management and Associate Professor, University of Miskolc, Hungary
• Mats Tunehag Chairman of BAM Global, Sweden
• Tim Wilkinson Dean at Whitworth University School of Business, USA
• Randolph Wilt Lecturer, McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, USA
• Chris Tutill Emerald Publishing [email protected]

Journal Editorial Office (For queries related to pre-acceptance)

• Rehan Ismail Emerald Publishing [email protected]

Supplier Project Manager (For queries related to post-acceptance)

• Uday Bhan Emerald Publishing [email protected]

Editorial Review Board

• Daniel Badulescu Professor of Finance at University of Oradea, Romania
• Constantin Bratianu Professor Emeritus, UNESCO Department for Business Administration, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
• Daniel Burtic Lecturer on Economics, Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania
• Alex Capatana Professor of Entrepreneurship at Dunarea de Jos University in Galat, Romania
• Ioan Fotea Associate Professor of Marketing, Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania
• Adriana Tiron Tudor Professor of Accounting, Audit and Control at Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
• Thomas Vandrunen Associate Professor of Computer Science, Wheaton College, USA
• Chuck White Professor of Christian Thought and History, Spring Arbor University, USA

Citation metrics

Publication timeline.

Time to first decision

Further information

Time to first decision , expressed in days, the "first decision" occurs when the journal’s editorial team reviews the peer reviewers’ comments and recommendations. Based on this feedback, they decide whether to accept, reject, or request revisions for the manuscript.

Data is taken from submissions between 1st June 2023 and 31st May 2024

Acceptance to publication

Acceptance to publication , expressed in days, is the average time between when the journal’s editorial team decide whether to accept, reject, or request revisions for the manuscript and the date of publication in the journal. 

Data is taken from the previous 12 months (Last updated July 2024)

Acceptance rate

The acceptance rate is a measurement of how many manuscripts a journal accepts for publication compared to the total number of manuscripts submitted expressed as a percentage %

Data is taken from submissions between 1st June 2023 and 31st May 2024 .

This figure is the total amount of downloads for all articles published early cite in the last 12 months

(Last updated: July 2024)

This journal is included in the following abstract and indexing services:

• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• EBSCO Discovery Service
• Google Scholar
• Summons (ProQuest)

Reviewer information

Peer review process.

This journal engages in a double-anonymous peer review process, which strives to match the expertise of a reviewer with the submitted manuscript. Reviews are completed with evidence of thoughtful engagement with the manuscript, provide constructive feedback, and add value to the overall knowledge and information presented in the manuscript.

The mission of the peer review process is to achieve excellence and rigour in scholarly publications and research.

Our vision is to give voice to professionals in the subject area who contribute unique and diverse scholarly perspectives to the field.

The journal values diverse perspectives from the field and reviewers who provide critical, constructive, and respectful feedback to authors. Reviewers come from a variety of organizations, careers, and backgrounds from around the world.

All invitations to review, abstracts, manuscripts, and reviews should be kept confidential. Reviewers must not share their review or information about the review process with anyone without the agreement of the editors and authors involved, even after publication. This also applies to other reviewers’ “comments to author” which are shared with you on decision.

Resources to guide you through the review process

Discover practical tips and guidance on all aspects of peer review in our reviewers' section. See how being a reviewer could benefit your career, and discover what's involved in shaping a review.

More reviewer information

Thank you to our 2021 Reviewers

The publishing and editorial teams would like to thank the following for their invaluable service as 2021 reviewers for Journal of Ethics in Entrepreneurship and Technology. We are very grateful for all the contributions made. It is with their hel...

The Journal of Ethics in Entrepreneurship and Technology is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that publishes works which investigate the underlying principles of entrepreneurship in the digital era with an applied ethical perspective that seeks to answer both the technological challenges and developing world realities.

Aims and scope

The aims and scope of the Journal of Ethics in Entrepreneurship and Technology (JEET) are the analyses, discussion and dissemination of ethical issues in entrepreneurship and technology in both developed and developing parts of the world. We aim to understand the context of technology and entrepreneurship along with local challenges, cultures and traditions. 

We invite thoughtful consideration on public policy, public administration, cognitive science, social and anthropological studies in technology, mass-communication, and legal studies. In addition, the journal features research that deals with the history of ideas and provides intellectual resources for moral reflection on entrepreneurship and technology.

JEET  is open to a wide range of research methodologies including trend analytics, case studies, surveys, experiments, literature reviews, design and critical thinking and both theoretical and methodological papers.

The topics covered but not limited to are:

• Ethics and technology assessment
• Entrepreneurship
• Information systems
• Data Science
• Data Privacy and Artificial Intelligence
• Autonomous Reasoning
• Big Data Analytics
• Organizational Culture
• Entrepreneurial Environment and Cross-Cultural Management
• Entrepreneurship and Economic Development
• Technological Advances Whilst Avoiding the Social and Ethical Risks
• Ethical and Social Impacts of Technology
• Social Media Analysis
• Ethics of Intelligent Systems and Applications
• Behavioural Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction.

All articles are published Open Access, so are made freely available at no charge to the author.

JEET  is published by Emerald Publishing on behalf of Cityside Education, who owns the title.  JEET  is published under a platinum OA arrangement, in that all charges for publishing an OA article in the Journal are funded by Cityside Education. Therefore, there is no charge to the author.

Latest articles

These are the latest articles published in this journal (Last updated: July 2024 )

Buffering the adverse effects of social nonmarket strategy on corporate financial performance

Asymmetric modelling predicting migrants versus refugees starting new ventures, strengthening ethical guardrails for emerging technology businesses, top downloaded articles.

These are the most downloaded articles over the last 12 months for this journal (Last updated: July 2024 )

Ethical consideration dilemma: systematic review of ethics in qualitative data collection through interviews

Transparency statement, transparency statement for  journal of ethics, entrepreneurship and technology .

• Journal Ownership: Journal of Ethics, Entrepreneurship and Technology is published by Emerald Publishing on behalf of the Cityside Education, Bihor. 
• Governing Body: The editorial team is appointed and managed by the Cityside Education, Bihor. The journal is governed by the editorial team in collaboration with Emerald Publishing.
• Peer Review Process: The journal operates a double blind peer review model. All articles undergo an initial assessment by the journal editor. If they are considered suitable for consideration, articles will then be a reviewed by a minimum of two external reviewers to assess suitability for publication. Final responsibility for editorial decisions rests with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.  
• Editorial team/contact information: Contact details for the editorial team can be found on the journal homepage. Queries may also be directed to Emerald’s Publishing team as follows: Chris Tutill –  [email protected]   
• Copyright: All articles in the journal are published Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY-4.0). This allows authors to retain copyright of their work whilst others can share, use and build upon this work created as long as appropriate attribution is given.  
• Author Fees: The journal is published under a Platinum Open Access arrangement, in that all costs associated with publishing an Open Access article in the journal are funded by the Cityside Education, Bihor. There are currently no Article Processing Charges to the author(s).
• Allegations of Misconduct: All journals published by Emerald are members of and subscribe to the principles of the  Committee on Publication Ethics . In the event of any allegation of research or publication misconduct the publisher and editor will adhere to COPE guidelines in dealing with such allegations.  
• Conflicts of interest: Authors are asked to declare any financial or ethical conflicts of interest upon submitting their work to the journal. Difficult cases will be referred to the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE) for advice.
• Frequency: The journal currently publishes 2 issues per annum
• Access: All journal articles are published Open Access on EmeraldInsight.com -  http://www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/jeet  under a CCBY 4.0 licence (please see section 5). 
• Revenue sources: The journal is published under a platinum Open Access arrangement, in that all costs associated with publishing an Open Access article in the journal are funded by the Cityside Education, Bihor.
• Advertising: The journal does not accept direct advertising 
• Archiving: Emerald provides perpetual access for all e-journal content by working with digital preservation schemes Portico, LOCKSS and CLOCKSS. 
• Direct marketing: On occasion the journal will use direct marketing activities (primarily email campaigns) to raise awareness of the journal and to invite authors to submit articles.   Marketing activities are conducted by the Cityside Education, Bihor unless otherwise agreed with Emerald.  

This statement was updated by Chris Tutill (Emerald Publishing) on 16th Feb 2020.

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Ethics in Entrepreneurship: Learning from Elizabeth Holmes' Lies How the failed startup Theranos can teach us valuable lessons.

By Jason Hennessey Edited by Bill Schulz May 11, 2022

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Have you watched The Dropout on Hulu? It's a true story that documents the dramatic rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her biotech start-up, Theranos. The limited series follows Holmes from her time at Stanford University, to her decision to drop out of college and use her tuition money to fund her start-up. From there she rises to a stunning apex, becoming "the world's youngest self-made female billionaire" and, just as quickly as she rises to the top, she dramatically falls from grace.

Related: The Career Rise and Fall of Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes

After an investigative report in the Wall Street Journal , things begin to fall apart. The article brings the attention of regulators to potential fraudulent actions at the company and Holmes is hit with a two-year ban from owning or operating a certified clinical laboratory. Subsequently, Homes is charged in a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud investors. Earlier this year, Holmes was found guilty of one count of conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud. She now faces a maximum sentence of twenty 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and restitution.

Potential pitfalls

I followed the story with particular interest as an entrepreneur. "Doing what is right, always" is one of my company's core values. But start-ups have potential pitfalls that may differ from well-established companies.

For example, as you grow from one employee to perhaps hundreds, you need systems in place to manage accountability. You need to learn to delegate, but also keep in mind that you have ultimate responsibility for your company's actions. This means hiring workers with proven integrity is essential. You need people who align with your company's values and who have proven themselves trustworthy of adhering to those standards. If they believe expectations are unachievable, they may be inclined to cut corners.

Defining a company's culture early on is essential. Develop a core value statement and live it everyday. Your staff will look to you for guidance; how you deal with vendors, co-workers or customers will set the standard.

Related: Seven Elements of a strong work ethic

The downfall of Theranos was triggered in part by two whistleblowers, Erika Cheung and Tyler Schultz. They both worked in the lab and grew concerned about what they believed was faulty technology. When they attempted to convey their concerns to Holmes and the management team, they were shut down. Creating a culture where employees feel empowered and listened to goes a long way to heading off problems like this one. Your employees are your first line of defense. They deal with things daily that you may be further removed from. A quick response to issues shows that you are listening and responsive. It's not just what you say, it's how you react.

Accepting responsibility versus assigning blame

When Holmes took the stand at her trial, the media was quick to say that she refused to accept full responsibility for her actions and tried to place the blame on others. This signals a weakness in her leadership style and portrays her in a negative light. To be a CEO of a small start-up, or a large Fortune 500 company, bestows tremendous responsibility. Accept it, make corrective action and move forward in a no-blame environment. If employees make a mistake in this type of environment, they'll be less likely to try to conceal or cover up their error.

And it is worth noting that a recent survey conducted by Herbalife Nutrition for National Small Business Week found that 84% of small business owners and employees viewed "making mistakes" as an opportunity for growth.

How a whistleblower created a good outcome from a bad situation

Erika Cheung took the challenges she faced at Theranos and channeled them into a non-profit organization called Ethics in Entrepreneurship . The core values of EIE are beliefs in service and community, innovation, integrity, transparency, diversity and inclusion. Cheung recognized the need for support and education for entrepreneurs to navigate the waters of starting a business with a focus on ethics each step of the way. EIE believes that addressing ethical issues early in the business cycle is the most cost-effective approach and avoids larger problems down the road.

Tyler Schultz is an advisor for Ethics in Entrepreneurship, and CEO and co-founder of medical diagnostic company Flux Biosciences, Inc. I was encouraged to see evidence that it's possible to have a good outcome from a bad situation.

Do what's right, always

While doing what is right should be a no-brainer, there may be hurdles that start-ups need to address as they begin their entrepreneurial journey. It's crucial to start things on the right foot.

• Create core values that convey your principles.
• Live those values in all your interactions.
• Watch for potential conflicts of interest.
• Hire people who are aligned with your values

When you start out, your reputation as an entrepreneur may be the only thing you have to gain a client's trust. Create a culture and system that cultivates an environment of trust amongst your employees. The long term impact will be immeasurable. How will you instill ethics in your company based on the lessons learned from The Dropout ?

Related: Your Startup's Core Philosophy Is The Secret Weapon For Long-Term Success

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The Student Role in Shaping Entrepreneurial Ethics

When I arrived at Stanford as a first-year student in 2015, the mythos of Stanford dropout-turned-CEO Elizabeth Holmes pervaded campus. With over $400 million raised from names like Rupert Murdoch and Betsy DeVos, and with a valuation of over $9 billion, her company Theranos seemed indestructible. They were revolutionizing blood diagnostics. However, just one month into my freshman year, John Carreyrou’s iconic exposé dropped, ultimately leading to the dissolution of Theranos.

Stories of Silicon Valley’s ethical lapses continued to pile up during my years as an undergraduate. There were the controversies at Uber during former CEO Travis Kalanick’s tenure, and serious privacy lapses at Facebook under Mark Zuckerberg’s watch. Just this September, uBiome – a microbiome-focused startup I’d been following – filed for bankruptcy amid a federal investigation of its insurance billing practices. That news has further reinforced my sense that the problem doesn’t revolve around a few bad actors. Rather, it is something more systemic, stemming from the lack of attention tech company founders are giving to questions of principles and values.

Stories of Silicon Valley’s ethical lapses continued to pile up during my years as an undergraduate.

Over the past two years, as the president of ASES – a Stanford-led global student entrepreneurship organization – it also became clear to me that ethical dilemmas don’t end with the Silicon Valley elite. When teaching how to pitch investors, for example, many entrepreneurship groups emphasize providing a polished vision of a product that may not in fact be ready. This “fake it till you make it” approach that student entrepreneurship organizations teach has its advantages, allowing you to get a feel for user and investor interest, but it also raises questions. When pitching investors, for example, when does optimism cross the line into misrepresentation? And how can startups hold onto core values while being open to investor and market feedback?

These and other observations forced me to ask how my own generation of entrepreneurial leaders might be better prepared to brave ethical dilemmas. This year, while working as the Teaching Assistant for the Mayfield Fellows Program with professor Tom Byers and Management Science and Engineering lecturer Ann Miura-Ko , I discovered that they, too, were asking similar questions about the role of ethics in entrepreneurship. I soon joined Byers’s Principled Entrepreneurial Action and Knowledge (PEAK) initiative , which aims to embed applied ethics into the core of entrepreneurship education.

Given that much entrepreneurship education takes place outside of the classroom…I wanted to find out if students were interested in learning about principled decision-making in their groups and initiatives.

As the PEAK team explored what could be done, we first looked at the current landscape. We identified some great movement within the individual technology disciplines themselves towards ethics education. On the Stanford campus, classes like Data Privacy and Ethics and Ethics in Bioengineering are providing crucial resources for students. However, technology-specific discussions will inevitably miss many ethical questions related to the process of funding, scaling and managing a rapidly growing company, questions that cut across all technologies and disciplines. In response, Byers has been exploring how principled decision making can be integrated into the entrepreneurship classroom . Courses like Management Science and Engineering lecturer Jack Fuchs ’s Principled Entrepreneurial Decisions , meanwhile, have begun modeling what a more introspective, principles-driven approach to entrepreneurship education might look like.

Given that much entrepreneurship education takes place outside of the classroom, though, I wanted to find out if students were interested in learning about principled decision-making in their groups and initiatives. To answer that question, I interviewed dozens of students and student leaders around the world, connecting with local ASES-affiliated groups in places like the Philippines, Australia, Greece and India, as well as other entrepreneurship organizations on the Stanford campus.

The Status Quo

As I spoke with fellow student entrepreneurship leaders at Stanford and around the world, their responses brought two points into focus.

• Ethics has been a back-burner issue.

When asked if our ASES programming integrated an appropriate amount of values-based education, the global ASES-affiliated leaders I spoke with indicated that we did so poorly, rating our efforts 5.2 on a scale of 10. One of our former directors put it bluntly, stating that “ethics are not something that we focus on in our organization.” The general sentiment was that we were doing a “below average” job at catalyzing conversations about principles in entrepreneurship – despite many of our members indicating that they often “think about ethical tensions” in their work.

From the Young Entrepreneurs Society in Sydney to the Entrepreneurship Cell in Delhi, the international student group leaders we surveyed indicated that teaching principles and values in entrepreneurship was crucial.

• Students recognize the need for engaging with ethical questions.

Despite admitting that the current efforts were inadequate, our ASES members at Stanford indicated, when polled on a 1-10 scale, that values were important to them in entrepreneurship (9.3/10). Leaders of other major entrepreneurship organizations at Stanford responded similarly: The Stanford Social Entrepreneurial Students Association, the Stanford Pre-Business Association, the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students, and Stanford Women in Business all indicated that they’d like to, among other things, “place a greater focus on educating their members,” “focus on ethics programming,” “engage in discussion about ethics,” and “set an example for best practices.” The feeling is not limited to the United States, either. From the Young Entrepreneurs Society in Sydney to the Entrepreneurship Cell in Delhi, the international student group leaders we surveyed indicated that teaching principles and values in entrepreneurship was crucial, giving it an average score of 8.5 out of 10 in terms of importance.

Filling the Gap

Our initial outreach indicates that there’s an obvious gap between student interest in the ethical aspects of entrepreneurship, and actual programming to address that demand. How might student groups and initiatives fill that gap? So far, I’m particularly optimistic about five strategies that seem likely to make an impact.

• Develop or adopt plug-and-play tools for applied ethics education

Imagine teaching calculus without a textbook – it’s possible, but without clear, structured course content, it would be a lot more difficult. That’s the situation student leaders are facing today. Almost all student groups I spoke with indicated they didn’t have “formal” ethics programming. I would like to see students work with educators to create tools and frameworks that enable student leaders to more easily catalyze these conversations.

There are tools that educators have created in the past – Mary Gentile’s “Giving Voice to Values” being one of the more prominent – but none that I know of have successfully implemented a unifying framework for principled entrepreneurship.

Almost all student groups I spoke with indicated they didn’t have “formal” ethics programming.

Such a framework (whether taking the form of a book, manual or digital resource) would guide students through the process of formulating and executing an entrepreneurial venture, raising questions at each juncture about how values and principles should play a role. These tools could leverage the power of engaging case studies to stimulate interactive discussions and focus debate on real-world problems. Student entrepreneurship groups might even co-create these tools with educators, ensuring that they serve as versatile, teachable, contextually flexible “how to” guides.

• Emphasize the strategic advantages of ethical entrepreneurship

To disrupt the way things are currently done, students must have a strong reason to adopt new paradigms. One strategy to encourage adoption would be to reframe values-based entrepreneurship as a competitive advantage.

Although nascent, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that non-monetary values and principles can provide a competitive edge. In 2015, for example, research by Yung-Ming Shiu and Shou-Lin Yang published in the Strategic Management Journal indicated that a legacy of corporate social responsibility activities can provide “insurance-like effects” when a firm faces a negative event.

One strategy to encourage adoption would be to reframe values-based entrepreneurship as a competitive advantage.

As a direct case study, we can also look to the competition between Zenefits and Gusto . Zenefits grew at all costs (in fact becoming the fastest growing company in Silicon Valley), going so far as to allow unlicensed brokers to sell health insurance to consumers. It ended up in trouble, facing regulatory investigations and angry investors and customers. In the meantime, Gusto grew more slowly, but prioritized ethics and values; when Zenefits later faced regulatory settlements and layoffs, Gusto continued on a steady path of growth, and was able to pick up former Zenefits customers.

• Experiment with various institutional supports

At Stanford, the PEAK team has worked with a student leader committee to get a pulse on how institutional changes might encourage student entrepreneurship groups to actively discuss ethics. Although we’re still in the early stages, I believe that rethinking institutional support may be a key part of the narrative. Institutional involvement could mean, for example, tying engagement with principled entrepreneurship to certain funding sources. Another approach might mimic something like the Fair Trade certification, allowing groups that adopt a set of ethics-related training practices to benefit from positive acknowledgement by a parent institution. Student committees and school administrators might also look at recruitment incentives. Could schools offer early access to new member recruitment or priority at club fairs to groups that offer ethics programming?

• Incorporate applied ethics into pre-existing programming

In many cases, the most effective way to elevate principles and values is to simply incorporate those concepts into events and programs that are already taking place. In the Mayfield Fellows Program, for example, we frequently leverage the power of student-designed, real-world case studies to teach entrepreneurial strategy, breaking the class up into two groups to debate opposing viewpoints. This year’s teaching team integrated more ethics-related questions into the case studies. It proved a remarkably efficient way to reframe business decisions as, at times, ethical dilemmas.

In many cases, the most effective way to elevate principles and values is to simply incorporate those concepts into events and programs that are already taking place.

Interactive experiences that take place in accelerators and bootcamps can also be adapted this way. A main part of the ASES Bootcamp – a program for Stanford first-years and sophomores – involves groups of students building a business and mock-pitching to real investors. Should the evaluation criteria for their businesses and pitches include some measure of principles and values? If so, members of the program would be incentivized to think carefully about those issues.

• Engage with emerging technologies

While the ethical implications of new technological innovations are already being addressed in many classrooms, student initiatives can play a complementary role. Student-run debates around emerging areas of tech venture creation, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, genetic engineering and autonomous vehicles, could frame these issues in ways that are practical rather than simply academic, directly exploring the roles and responsibilities of tech company founders. For example, how should a founder in the autonomous vehicle space think about their responsibility to drivers and pedestrians? How should they engage with government regulators? How might they establish principles that allow them to prioritize human safety, while also driving innovation and staying ahead of competitors? These sorts of debates could be as engaging as they are instructive.

Bringing Entrepreneurial Ethics Beyond the Classroom

Unlike many other disciplines, entrepreneurship is learned as much outside of the classroom as in it, and student entrepreneurship organizations and student-led initiatives play an outsized role in training the next generation of innovators. While many useful discussions can happen in the classroom, they need reinforcement from the larger student community.

Students I speak to want a different future, and some are demanding change, even if they sometimes feel ill-equipped to create it by themselves.

Given the role that student entrepreneurship groups play, institutions of higher education have an obligation to rethink how they allocate and deploy resources through these organizations. Student leaders, meanwhile, would be well served by focusing on how to ignite an engaging, action-oriented conversation around principled venture creation.

Students I speak to want a different future, and some are demanding change, even if they sometimes feel ill-equipped to create it by themselves. I expect the mandate for change to only grow stronger as PEAK and other like-minded efforts engage with students and entrepreneurship educators in the coming years.

Are you a student, educator, researcher or institution interested in learning more about PEAK? Sign up to receive updates as we share applied ethics resources with the entrepreneurship education community.

Maurice Chiang , Stanford University

Maurice Chiang received his B.S. in bioengineering at Stanford in 2019 and his M.S. in computer science in 2020. At Stanford, he participated in and was a teaching assistant for the Mayfield Fellows Program, and led Stanford ASES, a student entrepreneurship group. He is currently the founder of Prairie Health, a data-driven telemedicine platform for mental health.

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Social Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics: Does Social Equal Ethical?

• Published: 20 November 2014
• Volume 133 , pages 619–625, ( 2016 )

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• Elizabeth Chell 1 ,
• Laura J. Spence 2 ,
• Francesco Perrini 3 &
• Jared D. Harris 4  

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This editorial to the special issue addresses the often overlooked question of the ethical nature of social enterprises. The emerging social entrepreneurship literature has previously been dominated by enthusiasts who fail to critique the social enterprise, focusing instead on its distinction from economic entrepreneurship and potential in solving social problems. In this respect, we have found through the work presented herein that the relation between social entrepreneurship and ethics needs to be problematized. Further, we find that a range of conceptual lenses and methodological approaches is valuable as the social entrepreneurship field matures.

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There are practical, theoretical and profound philosophical reasons why deepening our understanding of social entrepreneurship is important (Chell 2007 ). Practically speaking, when economic systems are in or just emerging from recession, they tend to laud entrepreneurship as a vehicle to provide ready solutions to economic woes, emphasizing entrepreneurship’s concern to take products or services to market and generate value. In addition, over the past decade governments, academics and practitioners have begun to place greater emphasis on social entrepreneurship. These activities imply that the products, services and outcomes of the entrepreneurial innovative process have a social value beyond the direct effects on the transactional parties. Theoretically, there is a need to develop sound models of how such initiatives and processes might function, how they might be supported in order to work more effectively, and to identify the key constraining factors. Zahra et al. ( 2009 ) provide an excellent starting point for understanding different kinds of social ventures, their associated processes for identifying relevant opportunities and the motivations of social entrepreneurs.

In this special issue, we have attracted contributions from both the ethics and the entrepreneurship perspectives, and we would anticipate the readership to be similarly diverse. Thus, in this editorial, we cover some basic ground from each field in anticipation that this will cover known territory for some but be new for others. We begin our discussion with a summary of key concepts and, in doing so, point to some of the key works and protagonists on social entrepreneurship.

On Conceptual Clarity

Kickul et al. ( 2013 ) note that Social Entrepreneurship (SE), like its parent Entrepreneurship, has suffered the imponderable challenges of clarification, definition and differentiation. Protagonists have offered different approaches, e.g. Austin et al. ( 2006 ) have compared SE with Entrepreneurship and identified four key differences: the nature of emergent opportunities; differences in mission; differences in resource mobilisation and management and performance measurement especially of social impact. Further, Weerwardena and Mort ( 2006 ) have approached an understanding of the characteristics of Social Enterprises from a small case-based study of predominant characteristics that shape actions; environmental dynamics, innovativeness; proactiveness, risk management; sustainability; opportunity-seeking/recognition and social mission. This appears to be so like the characteristics of Economic Enterprises—EEs—with only social mission as the apparent differentiator (although some researchers have disputed that the nature of the mission is necessarily so pure). The creation of social value per se is not in dispute but the approach, means, method and outcomes are. Thus, some authors have talked of a continuum between SE (not-for-profit) and Economic Enterprises (for-profit) (Dees 1998 ; Chell 2007 ). Furthermore, if the mission and motives are “impure” then this potentially raises a number of ethical issues and questions. More recently, Dacin et al. ( 2011 ) have acknowledged social value creation, defined as the primary mission of social entrepreneurship, as the most promising approach to set the boundaries around the concept.

Focusing more closely on the social perspective, Bacq and Janssen ( 2011 ), in reviewing various definitions of social entrepreneurship, stress the ideas of a visionary or innovative approach; a strong ethical fibre; an ability to detect opportunities (to address a social need); with a social entrepreneur as change agent and a mission to make a difference. In this special issue, Sophie Bacq, Brigitte Hoogendoorn and Chantal Hartog build on this earlier work and compare the profiles of economic and social entrepreneurs highlighting from empirical research, the finding that both social and economic entrepreneurs have mixed objectives (cf. Chell 2007 ).

Clearly, social entrepreneurship is by no means a simple concept. Indeed, according to Choi and Majumdar ( 2014 ), it is complex, contested and may be conceived as a cluster of related constructs. It thus behoves us as researchers to consider this complexity before embarking upon research in social entrepreneurship and its complexity our objectives, orientation to and specific interpretation of the construct. Within social value creation, Choi & Majumdar argue that there are four sub-concepts: social innovation, social enterprise organization, market orientation and the social entrepreneur. In this special issue, we address these various aspects. While the creation of social value is a necessary condition of social entrepreneurship, it is the combination of social value creation with other elements that together constitute social entrepreneurship. Hence, to research and frame the ethical nature of social entrepreneurship, it is crucial to have a depth of understanding of the nature of the social value created and how it is assessed or measured. The cluster may then serve as a conceptual tool for advancing our shared understanding of the nature of social entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurs, social innovation, the markets they enter and how they are organised. Further, we should not presume that the social enterprise is set up to “do good” in simplistic terms, but examine critically how it is organised, with what intentions and outcomes.

Definitions of social responsibility and related topics are contested (Lockett et al. 2006 ), but in order to proceed with some clarity, broadly speaking, business ethics is understood as the everyday moral rules-in-use in organizations (Jackall 1988 ). Social responsibility is those expectations on business organizations beyond pecuniary ones (Carroll 1999 ). In this special issue, we want to show that both ethical and social lens’ should be employed to understand social enterprises. Regular readers of the Journal of Business Ethics will be familiar with different ethical perspectives, but for the sake of those who are starting from an entrepreneurship lens, it is perhaps worth identifying the key ethical frameworks that have been employed for instance in related research. Spence ( 2014a ) elaborates on these in her work on small- and medium-sized enterprises, proposing that the key ethical frameworks employed include research from the classical works of Kant (to do one’s duty according to reasoned consideration); utilitarianism (to act according to foreseen consequences and maximise utility for all); egoism (to act in one’s own self-interest); social contract theory (focusing on a socially agreed set of rules that govern society and emphasise rights and justice); virtue ethics (judging the character of the individual); to more contemporary theories, such as discourse ethics (which focuses upon decision-making, the resolution of conflicts, power differentials and empathetic understanding); postmodern ethics (in which ethics is self-determined rather than the observance of a prescribed set of ethical codes); moral intensity (an issue-dependent model of decision-making, which can be used to evaluate different ethical situations); and the ethic of care (which focuses upon the interconnectedness of people and the social dimension, and the responsibility of the ‘self’ in caring for the ‘other’). Examples of how these have been employed in small business ethics research are reviewed in Spence ( 2014a , b ), and the articles in this special issue make valuable contributions in developing some of these approaches. It is perhaps noteworthy that on the whole, they emphasise less the traditional, principle and justice based theories, and tend more towards postmodern and critical approaches. Thus, in this Special Issue, Pascal Dey and Chris Steyaert adopt a postmodern, radical humanist, approach to ethics based on the work of Foucault. Haugh and Alka Talwar assume radical humanist assumptions in their paper, and André and Pache draw on the ethic of care (see also Spence 2014b ). Taking somewhat more familiar routes for the business ethics field, Brett Smith, Geoffrey Kistruck and Benedetto Cannatelli assume an ethical framework based on moral intensity, and Begoña Gutiérrez-Nieto, Carlos Serrano-Cinea and Juan Camón-Cala draw on ethical decision-making frameworks. Sophie Bacq et al. turn to altruism, while Sandra Waddock and Erica Steckler focus on vision, values and beliefs.

Aside from their individual perspectives, our papers contribute to three overarching themes which we will elaborate here. These relate to the links between social entrepreneurship, ethics and the social; ethical aspects of scaling and measuring social capital; and ethics and social entrepreneurial outcomes.

On the Links Between Social Entrepreneurship, Ethics and the Social

The progress made in social entrepreneurship research has not been matched by a robust analysis from the ethics perspective (Cornelius et al. 2008 ). There is a presumption that because something is socially-oriented, the motivation is likely to be ethically sound; that it is principled, morally justified and ethically legitimate. We contend that this is superficial shorthand, and part of the role of the Journal of Business Ethics and similar publications must be to critique, explain and assess the ethics of social enterprises in the same way as we do other organizations. Hence, the question at the heart of this endeavour is as follows: Is the social inherently ethical? In this article and the selection of papers which make up the special issue, we conclude that there is considerable need to research further the ethical context of social entrepreneurship and enterprise.

The framing of social entrepreneurship from a disciplinary perspective raises a number of issues (Perrini 2006 ). Ridley-Duff and Bull ( 2011 ) distinguish between economic, social and ethical capital. An economic approach opens the question of a blurring of the difference between profit and not-for-profit social enterprises (Chell 2007 ); the motivations of social entrepreneurs; the impact of the market mechanism on business decision-making, weakening an ethical approach and raising concerns about the inadequacy of the neo-classical economic approach to business. The issues have tended to highlight relationships, at individual-level, within the enterprise and with the community. This suggests the need to consider the social embeddedness of social and socially innovative enterprises (Jack and Anderson 2002 ) with ethical concerns comprising trust, cooperation and commitment relations (Bull et al. 2008 ; Seanor and Meaton 2008 ).

A key common feature of the articles we present here is that they all draw from a wide range of literature sources, somewhat outside of the ‘usual suspects’ for Journal of Business Ethics article. This is something we support and have encouraged, since we think that this topic like many others suffers from somewhat of a silo mentality with research developing apace in different sub-disciplines with only limited cross-referencing and learning. For instance, some learning can be drawn from research on ethics in small business, since social enterprises are often also smaller organizations (Spence and Rutherford 2003 ; Moore and Spence 2006 ; Morsing and Perrini 2009 ). Entrepreneurship is a similarly fruitful pool from which to draw. Indeed, as long ago as 1985, Kets de Vries wrote on The Dark Side of Entrepreneurship, which has some salience here. In a special issue published by the Journal of Business Venturing , Harris et al. (2009 ) sought to map out the ethical issues and their social implications in the field of Entrepreneurship generally. A special issue of the Journal of Business Ethics (Pless 2012 ) did sterling work of bringing social enterprise into the business ethics literature, but emphasised the social enterprise side of the debate rather than the ethics. In this special issue, we go beyond these somewhat polarised approaches and lay the basis, through the papers, for a more stable foundation which integrates social enterprise and ethics.

Two of our papers, by Pascal Dey & Chris Steyaert and Helen Haugh & Alka Talwar, deal with our question about whether the social is inherently ethical, head-on. The first draws on sociological perspectives on power, subjectivity and freedom and problematizes the context of much of the superficial assumptions around the authentic nature of the practice of social entrepreneurship. Using the work of Michel Foucault, they conclude that a practice-based approach of ethics is a suitable way to advance our understanding of how social entrepreneurs can create conditions of freedom without pre-supposing a ‘true self’ or glibly ethical expectation. They focus on power at the micro-, individual- level in contrast to work that concentrates on hegemony at meso-/macro-levels. They argue that ethics of social entrepreneurship is emergent, realised through social actions that struggle with power, subjectivity and freedom. Social entrepreneurs are not inherently moral beings who do the right thing in contrast to the rest. This would give the social entrepreneur a persona of moral superiority: an essentialist view that is challenged. Thus, Dey and Steyaert seek to answer the question; if social entrepreneurs are not innately ethical, how do they come to enact goodness and social good that others value? Indeed one might ask whether all social entrepreneurs enact such goodness? Dey and Steyaert ask how social entrepreneurs overcome external powers and pressures to conform to a model of economic behaviour (within the strictures of capitalism) that will enable them to live an ethical life. Crucial, argues Foucault, is freedom juxtaposed against the forces of repression, preserving the ability to make choices about what to do and who to be; hence, there ensues a tussle with one’s subjectivity and the sense of freedom needed to realise one’s objectives.

Reflecting discussions well embedded in the corporate social responsibility literature around positive social change (Aguilera et al. 2007 ), the article by Helen Haugh and Alka Talwar focuses on the importance of the constructs of empowerment—in particular of women—and changing social norms to produce an innovative framework for Emancipatory Social Change. This in turn links to work on emancipatory entrepreneurship (Goss et al. 2011 ) which, similarly to the Dey and Steyaert paper, understands the sociological perspective on power through practice. As empirical basis for their work Haugh and Talwar draw on Mahaul, a rural social enterprise in North India which sells traditional handicraft products made by women in rural villages. They argue that emancipatory social entrepreneurship can be a vehicle for social change by empowering women in socio-cultural milieu where the role of women is circumscribed by cultural norms of patriarchy, limiting their education and scope to develop themselves, and allowing them the freedom to support their families by working outside the home. The article demonstrates how emancipatory social entrepreneurship business models and processes are designed to enable women to overcome the barriers that constrain their freedom, by such means as the development of the women’s networks, their skills, and their literacy. The ethical dimension is specifically based on the premise that empowerment—economic and cultural freedom—is good for the women concerned. However, critical reflection suggests that this may be gained at a price. Some women faced resistance from within the family although some husbands were supportive; this resistance could also be felt in the wider community. Hence, there were personal risks if the venture failed. This market-based system of emancipation is clearly embedded in the capitalist system, and these authors raise the fundamental question as to whether, in rural communities, capitalism is in the interests of developing countries and the poor. Haugh & Talwar stress in their conclusion that empowerment is not a purely female construct, and that there is a considerable work not least across a range of gendered social enterprises (e.g. rehabilitation of male offenders) which will further our understanding of social entrepreneurship, ethics and social change.

On Ethical Aspects of Scaling and Measuring Social Entrepreneurship

There has been a considerable gap in our understanding of ethical implications in relation to opportunity recognition, scaling social entrepreneurship, measuring social contribution and the market mechanism. Three of the articles in this special issue address these problems. Papers by Kevin André & Anne-Claire Pache and Brett Smith et al. address scaling from intriguingly different ethical perspectives.

Andre & Pache draw on the ethic of care. They take a view of social entrepreneurs as caring entrepreneurs, and extend this through the entrepreneurial process to encompass opportunity recognition and filtration, creation and exchange in terms of caring about, taking care of, care giving and care receiving. Within the process of scaling up, social entrepreneurs turn their attention to resource providers and other stakeholders, and run the risk of diluting the care offered to beneficiaries. Moreover, with the growth of the enterprise comes greater bureaucratisation, including rationalisation and standardisation to ensure the efficient use of scarce resources. This development poses further ethical challenges on the shoulders of the social entrepreneurs. It presents the complex risk of ceasing to care. Moreover, in assessing impact, the social entrepreneur may no longer focus on the disposition of caring in the need to establish measurable results, and what is at stake is their ethical integrity. The authors put forward a five-point plan to help maintain the ethic of care in the scaled-up organization and by that token avoid mission drift. The article by André and Pache chimes with research around small business social responsibility and the care perspective (Spence 2014b ; von Weltzien Høivik and Melé 2009 ), suggesting some wider application too.

Smith, Cannatelli & Kistruck, in contrast, take a more conventional ethical decision-making lens to understand the influence of moral intensity in scaling social impact. This also complements work in the ethics and small business field, which draws out the aspect of proximity in moral intensity as especially important (Lähdesmäki and Suutari 2012 ). Smith, Cannatelli & Kistruck develop a model of scaling social impact which suggests that the entrepreneurs desire for control, moral intensity and the organizational mode of scaling positively influence the scaling of social impact. The argument revolves around the moral intensity of the situation; the greater the moral intensity, the greater the imperative to take action. Moral intensity concerns the magnitude of consequences, the degree of social agreement about the moral content of the issue, the likelihood that the issue will result in bad or good, the relative immediacy of the consequences, proximity to the consequences and the magnitude of the impact (number of people affected). Implicit (but unknown) according to these authors is the ethical characteristics of the social entrepreneur and the decision not only to start a particular social venture but also to scale it up. In this regard, it begs the question posed by Waddock and Steckler of what is the vision and how did it arise. Further, the mode by which social entrepreneurs choose to scale their enterprise has ethical implications. The different modes suggest different degrees of control exerted by the founding social entrepreneur. This need for power suggests an egotistical ‘dark side’ to both economic and social entrepreneurs (de Vries 1985 ).

The article by Begoña Gutiérrez-Nieto, Carlos Serrano-Cinca & Juan Camón-Cala presents a further useful contribution to the debate around measurement, identifying a credit scores system of socially responsible lending. The paper moves beyond traditional approaches around socially responsible lending to incorporate a focus on social impact which is just as complex as the mechanisms commonly used for financial impact. They propose a model for social credit score based on applicant credit history, the present situation of the company and financial and social viewpoints of the specific project. One of the five sets of criteria includes a social impact assessment, a history of the enterprise and intangibles that include human, internal and external capital. The upshot is a balanced score card which reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the application. This demonstrates how a socially responsible lender can quantify both financial and social impact criteria to assess an applicant according to the lender’s own values whether that be impact on employment, equality, community outreach or other socially valued criteria. There is considerable room for further work on measuring social impact not least in the sphere of social entrepreneurship but also more generally for government and business initiatives too.

On Ethics and Social Entrepreneurial Outcome

In our final section of papers, the person of the entrepreneur herself is more directly focused upon especially in terms of the social entrepreneur’s position in relation to social entrepreneurial outcome. Both papers presented here robustly challenge the binary assumptions of cause and effect in research on social entrepreneurs.

Sophie Bacq, Chantal Hartog & Brigitte Hoogendoorn take a critical approach to the assumptions made about social entrepreneurs using quantitative data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. They proffer a series of questions concerning the nature of empathy and moral judgement of social entrepreneurs and the observation that it would appear that social entrepreneurs project a fragile entrepreneurial profile and as such may be less likely to achieve their mission. Finally, they speculate as we have mentioned above that social entrepreneurs’ motives could be “impurely altruistic”. Thus, the article by Bacq et al. seeks to go beyond the taken-for-granted moral portrayal of social entrepreneurs which we started this article with, that is, that social entrepreneurs are ethical. Indeed, they give an intriguing and counter-intuitive answer to the question of the link between ethics and the social entrepreneur. They find that in contrast to the dominant idea that a strong entrepreneurial orientation is a source of ethical approach, they find that the reverse is true. In short, Bacq, Hartog & Hoogendoorn have evidence that ethical issues are also likely to emanate from a frail entrepreneurial profile. This startling re-buff to the rose-tinted way in which much of the media portray social entrepreneurship is an important and timely intervention.

Our special issue ends by coming back to a broad view of an element of the social entrepreneur’s life and the literature and media buzz around social entrepreneurship: the much-maligned concept of ‘vision’. Sandra Waddock and Erica Steckler present qualitative work on the narrative life stories of social entrepreneurs, which highlights the interactive nature of vision, linking it in different ways to action. They theorise three possible courses taken by social entrepreneurs: (a) deliberate or purposive , where vision is an outgrowth of intention which precedes action; (b) vision arises from action either inadvertently where there is an aspiration but no clear pathway, and it is gradually through immersion in their work that a vision, though not necessarily a coherent vision, emerges, or (c) vision is emergent or developmental , arising through actions based on their values and beliefs to make a difference in the world, a vision gradually emerges in an evolutionary fashion. Hence, we may conclude from this article that some social entrepreneurs’ work may be imbued by a moral set of values from the outset but that this does not apply to all. In short, Waddock and Steckler find that it is not necessarily the case that vision precedes action in entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship has been bedevilled with myths—the heroic male who goes it alone against the odds; the entrepreneur who happens to be in the right place at the right time; the notion that anyone can be an entrepreneur—and now we can add potentially the myth concerning the ethical social entrepreneur. Our stated aim in our call for contributions to this Special Issue was to garner evidence to explode what appeared to be a misapprehension about the nature of social entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurship. Certainly there is room for social entrepreneurs to identify a social need as a problem that their enterprise might address (though the social need might simply be construed as a business opportunity and the motives might be mixed); and whilst it may be possible to develop an ethical framework around that enterprise going forward there is no inevitability about this, as several of our papers clearly demonstrate. Further, the notion that the ethical pursuit of a social issue might simply continue when there are numerous pressures pulling the enterprise in other directions is unrealistic. What we have found is that whatever the social entrepreneur’s original motives the obstacles to be overcome, the developmental issues arising, the need for different capitals, especially financial, and the relationships engendered; all may contribute to mission drift.

We have also found that the pursuit of social enterprise solutions tends to be intertwined with social innovations within their processes and practices. The work raises some fascinating questions: What does it mean to be a social entrepreneur? Why are women more likely to be social entrepreneurs and what is it about empathetic understanding that facilitates the pursuit of social entrepreneurship and does this same quality assure successful outcomes? What are the different ways in which scaling-up social enterprises can be successfully achieved and how can social enterprises maintain an ethical stance in a capitalist environment where there may be pressures to compromise in order to pursue a sustainable course? What are the different ways in which social enterprises can deal with intangible aspects of the environment, in particular power and cultural norms, and how can this be carried out ethically? Further how, in a capitalist system, can social enterprises be funded ethically such that the greater good and social outcomes are shown to be achieved and are achievable? The articles in this special issue begin to address all these questions, but there is still more work to be done.

The research methods in evidence in respect of social entrepreneurship tend to be conceptual, theory-building, qualitative and exploratory around single case studies. We are pleased to be contributing to a broadening of methodological approaches, but much more work should be done on this.

The scholarship drawn upon in this volume tends to be Western, in particular European and North American. There is thus a need for research from Asia, Africa and South America to give a broader picture of social entrepreneurship in other geographical locations and internationally and locally embedded situations.

Finally, we hope to have contributed to the maturing of the social entrepreneurship field by adding a range of critical scholarly perspectives which demonstrate at the very least that we need to continually investigate the links and fissures between the social and the ethical and better understand the implications of the assumptions which underpin policy, practice and scholarship around social entrepreneurship.

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Small Business Research Centre, Kingston University, London, UK

Elizabeth Chell

Centre for Research into Sustainability, Royal Holloway University of London, London, UK

Laura J. Spence

SIF Chair of Social Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy, SDA Bocconi School of Management, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy

Francesco Perrini

Olsson Center for Applied Ethics, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA

Jared D. Harris

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Correspondence to Laura J. Spence .

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Chell, E., Spence, L.J., Perrini, F. et al. Social Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics: Does Social Equal Ethical?. J Bus Ethics 133 , 619–625 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2439-6

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Allison Mishkin and A.J. Wasserstein  

Entrepreneurship, Investor/Finance  

Lia Majid had spent nearly a year and a half searching for a business to acquire and thought she’d finally found a deal worth pursuing. She spent months negotiating with the firm’s sellers and believed she was on the verge of a purchase. However, at the last minute, her backers and mentors at the Search Fund Accelerator (SFA) wanted her to completely restructure the deal.

Majid was part of the first cohort of SFA. SFA was the brainchild of Timothy Bovard who founded the accelerator to help search fund entrepreneurs vet deals, review proposals, and provide emotional support during the search. Through SFA’s leads, Majid had identified a target company that was willing to sell one of its divisions, but she still needed Bovard’s input before drafting a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the seller. Bovard, however, was concerned about the proposed carve-out acquisition, a complex task for even a seasoned CEO, let alone a first time CEO.

Faced with Bovard’s concerns and SFA’s new deal structure, Majid had to decide whether to reengage the target firm with this new deal or to move on to investigate other prospects.

Jean Rosenthal, Kate Cooney, and Jaan Elias

Arts Management, Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance, Social Enterprise

Titus Kaphar was a highly successful artist. One dominant theme of his work was creative reuse  of classical images to expose hidden relationships of race and subjugation. When he moved back to New Haven, Connecticut, he began a project that required creative reuse and reframing on a much grander scale. He co-founded an organization, NXTHVN, to take an old factory building in a rundown neighborhood and reconfigure the space into an art incubator, artists’ studios, and a community center.

I Said, You Said: He's the Entrepreneur

A.J. Wasserstein

Employee/HR, Entrepreneurship, Leadership & Teamwork

The case consists of written responses from Justin Schulte and his wife Samantha, who agreed to answer a set of identical questions on their views and perspectives about Justin’s choice of becoming an entrepreneur after graduating Yale SOM. These are the types of questions likely to come up for other entrepreneurs making a choice about their next steps, and how their decisions will play out with their own families. Some entrepreneurial couples have the foresight to explore these interesting, and potentially raw, conversations, and some do not. Aligning expectations and aspirations between partners in an entrepreneurial marriage can attenuate ambiguity and stress in an inherently nebulous and anxiety filled path. For Justin and Samantha, it is interesting to see where their thoughts align and where they veer apart, what concerns they have about Justin’s career decision, how it will impact various family members, and how they each perceive risk and uncertainty.

Smith Brothers Insurance: Managing Successions at a Growing Insurance Agency

Jason Pananos and A.J. Wasserstein

Employee/HR, Entrepreneurship, Investor/Finance, Leadership & TeamworkSourcing/Managing Funds

In October 2014, Joe Smith, the CEO of Smith Brothers Insurance, reflected on the fact his business was caught in the midst of three separate succession challenges. Smith Brothers was an insurance agency owned by Joe and his sister, Kim, in Connecticut that had achieved strong growth over the previous decade.

FARM: An Impact Investing Collaborative

Patrick Sissman and AJ Wasserstein

Asset Management, Entrepreneurship, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork, Social Enterprise, Sustainability

Tom Bird, founder of the early-stage impact investment nonprofit The FARM Fund, settled into his seat for a flight from Boston to Amsterdam in February 2016. The seven-hour transoceanic flight would give him plenty of time to mull over two dilemmas – one a long-term question of the future of FARM and the other an investment opportunity FARM had recently been presented.

Mike Erwin: An Accidental Social Entrepreneur

A. J. Wasserstein

Employee/HR, Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Design, Leadership & Teamwork, Social Enterprise

Mike Erwin, a decorated army veteran from West Point, never envisioned himself as a social entrepreneur or activist. Yet in 2012, he found himself the CEO of an organization with 15,000 members and 34 chapters reaching from Syracuse, NY to Houston, TX. Though Erwin was proud of his organization’s growth and had excelled in leadership positions, he questioned whether he was the right person to scale Team Red, White and Blue. Would someone else with more experience be more appropriate? If he indeed moved on, how could he ensure the organization would continue to thrive amid a change in leadership and potential restructuring?

What is Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

Entrepreneurship, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork

During his time at the Yale School of Management, Matt Dittrich (Yale SOM ‘18) became interested in how recent MBA students gathered search funds, structured small acquisitions, propelled themselves into being a CEO, and then participated in a liquidity event only a few years after acquisition and graduation.  He appreciated the case studies about entrepreneurs facing acquisition, strategy, and financing issues.  But what did entrepreneurs do after their exits?  At the urging of his teacher, A.J. Wasserstein, he interviewed former search fund entrepreneurs who had experienced an exit to learn what exactly they chose to do, and why. Overcome by curiosity, Dittrich was excited to begin his informational interviews (summaries included here). 

Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

Employee/HR, Entrepreneurship

Before entering the Yale School of Management, James Guba (SOM’18) had thought about becoming an entrepreneur. He did not have a specific idea to build a business around, but he did aspire to take charge of an organization and grow it. At Yale, Guba discovered an entrepreneurial niche called “search funds” that would allow him to acquire and lead a company that he had not built from scratch. Inspired, Guba met with search fund entrepreneurs to learn about their different paths to building their funds.

Kalil Diaz: A DR-based search firm considers its first acquisition

Customer/Marketing, Entrepreneurship

After nearly two years of searching, Kalil Diaz (SOM '14) wondered if he had finally found the company for which he had been looking. The decision he was facing would have a big impact on his investors as well as his own life. He was somewhat confident he could access funds from his current investors to purchase the company despite several investors being slow in their response to commit. However, Diaz still wondered if making the investment was the right move. How would he transition from the search to being CEO and running a company? Would the acquisition provide suitable financial returns for his investors and himself?

Clorox, Inc

Elise Rindfleisch and Allison Mitkowski

Customer/Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability

In October 2007, Clorox announced that it would buy Burt’s Bees for $925 million – more than five times Burt’s Bees’ annual sales. Clorox’s move caught many in the industry by surprise - Burt’s Bees had a folksy image and natural appeal for customers. Could such a brand find a home within a company best known for a toxic cleanser? Would Clorox’s push into “green” cleaners satisfy Burt’s Bees’ faithful customers? Had Clorox paid too much for its acquisition? Or, were there potential synergies that justified the purchase? What was the future of this market?

Project Samaan

Rodrigo Canales, Jean Rosenthal, Jaan Elias, Ashley Pandya and Samuel Sturm

Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Innovation & Design, Social Enterprise, State & Society, Sustainability

In a unique partnership, governments, designers, architects, academics, and NGOs had come together to create new sanitation solutions for India's urban slums. Specifically, the group set about tackling one of the developing world's leading problems – open defecation in crowded urban settings. But by fall 2013, not a single community toilet had been approved. What had gone wrong? And what could this experience teach others about an overall solution to the problem?

Project Masiluleke: Texting and Testing to Fight HIV/AIDS in South Africa

Rodrigo Canales, Jean Rosenthal, Jaan Elias, and William Drenttel

Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Innovation & Design, Social Enterprise

The traditional Zulu greeting, "Sawubona," literally translates as "I see you." The major challenge faced by Project Masiluleke could be captured in this local greeting – could Project M see the lives of the individuals they hoped to help? Could they find ways to understand each other and the individuals threatened by HIV/AIDS well enough to design effective solutions to a major health crisis? PopTech, frog design, and the Praekelt Foundation joined with iTeach, an HIV/AIDS and TB prevention and treatment program, to look for new approaches to address South Africa's health issues. Access to this case has been made freely available to the public.

Haiti Mangoes

Andrea Nagy Smith and Douglas Rae

Entrepreneurship, Operations, Social Enterprise, State & Society

JMB S.A. had been in the mango processing business since 1998, and CEO Jean-Maurice Buteau had built up a profitable business that exported around 2,000 tons of mangoes per year.  The January 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti, but JMB appeared to survive intact, and the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) was eager to move forward. In spring 2010 SEDF proceeded with a $1.3 million loan and a $1 million equity investment in JMB. But by spring 2012, after pouring $2.55 million into JMB, SEDF realized that it had to make a decision: invest another $2 million and reorganize the company under new management; sell the company, or shut down JMB S.A. altogether.

Allison Mitkowski, Alexandra Barton-Sweeney, Tony Sheldon, Arthur Janik, and Jaan Elias

Customer/Marketing, Innovation & Design, Social Enterprise, State & Society, Sustainability

In 2009, SELCO was considering its plans for how the company might expand. The company decided to institutionalize its design process by building an innovation center. SELCO also added products that provided energy solutions beyond solar. Some within the company were hoping the company would go “deeper” and look at designing solutions for even poorer members of the Indian population. Others were hoping that the company would go “wider” and expand beyond its current geographical areas in Karnataka and Gujarat. Whatever its direction, the strategic choices the company made at this point in its evolution would be crucial to determining its continued success.

360 State Street: Real Options

Andrea Nagy Smith and Mathew Spiegel

Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Metrics & Data, Sourcing/Managing Funds

In 2010 developer Bruce Becker completed 360 State Street, a major new construction project in downtown New Haven. The building was a 32-story high-rise with 500 apartments, a parking garage, and a grocery store on the street level. In the summer of 2013, Becker had a number of alternatives to consider in regards to the open lot adjacent to his recent construction. He also had no obligation to build. He could bide his time. But Becker also worried about losing out on rents should he wait too long. Under what set of circumstances and at what time would it be most advantageous to proceed?

Achievement First

Fawzia Ahmed, Jaan Elias, and Sharon Oster

Social Enterprise, State & Society

On the edges of a warehouse district in New Haven, Connecticut, an intrepid group of educational pioneers were turning conventional theory on its head. Amistad Academy, a charter school founded by two Yale Law School graduates, was not only getting students on par with their grade levels in reading and math, but was pushing them to perform as well as the best suburban school districts too.  Five years after opening Amistad, McCurry and Toll opened an additional school in New Haven and four schools in Brooklyn, New York – all of which showed the same promise as Amistad. They dubbed their network of schools Achievement First (AF), and garnered national attention and funding from “venture philanthropists” interested in educational reform. However, in the summer of 2006, AF was facing critical questions about its future direction.

Carry Trade ETF

K. Geert Rouwenhorst, Jean W. Rosenthal, and Jaan Elias

Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance, Macroeconomics, Sourcing/Managing Funds

In 2006 Deutsche Bank (DB) brought a new product to market – an exchange traded fund (ETF) based on the carry trade, a strategy of buying and selling currency futures. The offering received the William F. Sharpe Indexing Achievement Award for “Most Innovative Index Fund or ETF” at the 2006 Sharpe Awards. These awards are presented annually by IndexUniverse.com and Information Management Network for innovative advances in the indexing industry. The carry trade ETF shared the award with another DB/PowerShares offering, a Commodity Index Tracking Fund. Jim Wiandt, publisher of IndexUniverse.com, said, "These innovators are shaping the course of the index industry, creating new tools and providing new insights for the benefit of all investors." What was it that made this financial innovation successful?

Governors Island

Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Design, Social Enterprise, State & Society

The political players had changed since President Clinton and Senator Moynihan’s helicopter ride. Clinton was no longer President, his wife had taken Moynihan’s seat in the Senate and Michael Bloomberg had replaced Rudolph Giuliani as New York’s Mayor. What remained the same was that the city, state, and federal government had yet to reach a deal. The question of what to do with Governors Island and who should do it remained very much open. Indeed, there were those within the new Bush administration and the Congress who believed in scrapping Clinton and Moynihan’s deal and selling the island to the highest bidder be that the local government or a private developer.

Ant Financial: Flourishing Farmer Loans at MYbank

Jingyue Xu, Jean Rosenthal, K. Sudhir, Hua Song, Xia Zhang, Yuanfang Song, Xiaoxi Liu, and Jaan Elias

Competitor/Strategy, Customer/Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork, Operations, State & Society

In 2015, Ant Financial’s MYbank (an offshoot of Jack Ma’s Alibaba company) was looking to extend services to rural areas in China through its Flourishing Farmer Loan program. MYbank relied on the internet to communicate with loan applicants and judge their credit worthiness. Initial tests of the program had proved promising, but could MYbank operate the program at scale? Would its big data and technical analysis provide an accurate measure of credit risk for loans to small customers? Could MYbank rely on its new credit-scoring system to reduce operating costs to make the program sustainable?

View All Yale School of Management Entreprenuership Case Studies

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Social Workers’ Use of Moral Entrepreneurship to Enact Professional Ethics in the Field: Case Studies from the Social Justice Profession

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Corey S Shdaimah, Bethan McGarry, Social Workers’ Use of Moral Entrepreneurship to Enact Professional Ethics in the Field: Case Studies from the Social Justice Profession, The British Journal of Social Work , Volume 48, Issue 1, January 2018, Pages 21–36, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcx013

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Social workers must manoeuvre within the challenging landscape of service delivery to achieve better outcomes for clients. We apply the concepts of moral entrepreneurship and street-level bureaucracy to three case studies to illustrate how social workers meet organisational mandates while maintaining personal and professional integrity. Dolores, a child-protective services worker, refuses to separate a family rendered homeless due to intimate partner violence despite the difficulty of finding appropriate housing. The Women’s Community Revitalization Project, a Philadelphia non-profit, works collaboratively with constituents and researchers to leverage power, hold city agencies accountable and garner resources for the low-income communities it serves. Brigit works in a court-affiliated prostitution diversion programme; she is critical of existing social systems and resources that limit her clients’ choices, and strives to deliver non-judgemental and practical assistance while desiring broader change. These case studies demonstrate how social workers can and should utilise discretion to further the interests of clients, to resist structures that undercut these interests when necessary and to act in accordance with their professional ethics.

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Making the Case: Promoting Good Work Through The Ethics Project

Maria Camila Gutierrez

December 12, 2022

Jason Brennan, Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor, created the Ethics Project as a way for students to tackle real-world issues. To bring their ideas to life, student groups receive $1,000 in funding from private foundations and alumni, as well as what Brennan calls “radical freedom and radical responsibility for their actions.” There are few rules, but one must-do? Create something that provides good to whatever community they’re trying to serve. Here’s how three students (along with their group participants) interpreted that idea: 

Kenan Dogan (B’23) 

The Problem : It is quite costly for international students to return home for winter break, especially during COVID-19 when travel restrictions and travel requirements that made it practically impossible for them to return home. We realized that it would be convenient for international students to remain on campus. After surveying more than 100 international students, we found that 69% planned to stay in the United States instead of returning home, and 76% would prefer to remain on campus. However, Georgetown did not allow students to remain on campus. 

The Solution : After crafting a data-driven whitepaper for the university administration and popularizing our efforts among the student body, we successfully influenced the university to allow international students to remain on campus in the Georgetown University hotel for $1,560. We estimated that roughly 30% of international students would like to remain on campus at this price point, and we estimated that we saved students more than $80,000 in aggregate without transferring costs to the university.

Reid Blynn (B’16) 

The Problem : iPhone screen replacement from Apple can be costly at $120 a repair. Students commonly couldn’t afford to get their phone fixed. 

The Solution : We wanted to provide students a quality, convenient, and affordable iPhone screen replacement alternative. We repaired about 25–30 phones at a price point that was half of Apple’s fee. During my junior and senior years, I created a team of 10 students from six college campuses promoting Campus Screen Repair. It ran until 2017 when waterproofing and OLED screens came out, which disrupted the business and provided some hefty hurdles. No one wanted to keep it going, so I shut the doors. I don’t regret it—the experience in itself was invaluable. 

Molly Evanko (B’25) 

The Problem : Students often left loads of laundry well past when the cycle was over, leading to people taking others’ laundry and dumping it either on the floor or on top of the machines. 

The Solution : We wanted to clean up the laundry rooms by introducing racks and communal baskets, so if you had to take someone else’s laundry out, you could put it in the basket rather than on the machines or floor. We hoped this would make the laundry rooms more efficient for users and prevent people from having to rewash clothes that ended up on the ground. Today, clothes are cleaner, are no longer thrown on top of washing machines or onto the floor, and so far, none of the baskets have been stolen. To improve this project, we would love to track racks and baskets by asking students to scan their GOCards.

This story was originally featured in the  Georgetown Business Fall 2022 Magazine .