Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice

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• Subject Name : Entrepreneurship Theory and practice

Introduction

The study attempts to look at the ignored aspects that are put aside while measuring the success of an entrepreneur. It is said that a successful entrepreneur should take advantages of all the opportunities. Sometimes it also leads to ethical problems especially in terms of legal and moral rules. However, these acts are necessary for the success of the company. There are some stereotypes who still think that entrepreneurs always try to maximise the profit for their own interest and they are not interested in following any ethical or moral principles. The first paper will discuss the shady business dealings of the entrepreneurs acceptable in the trade-off for the success and wealth created by them. Furthermore, the study will analyse the two prosperous entrepreneurs and their shady sides – Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. 

Critique

In most cases the entrepreneurs are fired from the position and this was done for the benefit for the organisation. Travis Kalanick of uber and Jack Dorsey of Twitter are the most suitable examples of this scenario. In this scenario the saying “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs” is seen in the reality (Koller 2016). In some cases the entrepreneurs create difficulties for the organisation through their laws and rules. This is defined by one case which is related to the Andrew Carnegie. He is known as a villain by people of America. He is one of the richest men in history. He used unethical business practices to build his steel business. He always cut the wages and treats the employees in a poor manner. However, he was a dominating person but he was able to achieve his goals. He was a prodigy and wanted to achieve everything that is why he was harsh and influential. He believed in his strengths that allowed him to overcome his critics and attained a great position.

As observed in the above examples, it can be seen that the entrepreneurs possess some strong point and also weak points. They can modify their weakness into the strength but those are not considered as fair and ethical by the other people and organisation. The anger problems with employees and not permitting them to express their opinions may come from the characteristic of narcissism (Ayal et al. 2015). Narcissist entrepreneurs are extremely suspicious people who are not emotionally isolated. They are easily elicited to anger when they face any kind of threat. The achievements can easily bring magnificence in them. There are some negative aspects for entrepreneurs like an ethical dilemma. There are some of the elements that put huge pressure on entrepreneurs and they have to take some profitable decisions for the company. The decisions regarding profit divisions, legitimation and resource scarcity affect the ethical image of the entrepreneur. In order to balance everything the entrepreneur has to make decisions that are considered as ethical and may work for their primary interest. But the fact is that immoral trade-offs provide long term success to the organisation. It also provides employment to people, innovative products and helps to boost the economy of the country. These great things and accomplishments can be a justification for those immoral trade-offs by entrepreneurs.

 The unethical trade-offs also result in severe social consequences and it can also influence the band equity of the company. I believe that the entrepreneurs are efficacious when all the stakeholders like customers, society and organisation are happy with them (Gino 2015). They all are happy when they get something from the success of the entrepreneur. It recommends that the immoral trade-offs are ignored by society only when they are not causing any harm to them. Another kind of entrepreneurs is the one who is self-made. They are strongly related with the success stories of ethics and standards. The entrepreneurs like Ratan Tata, Richard Branson and warren buffet are considered are great examples of this. They also possess narcissism behaviour but they show respect towards their employees and colleagues. This demonstrates that the unethical trade-offs solution available to the entrepreneurs and it can be easily avoided by implementing other traits. Some entrepreneurs think that unethical trade-off is the easiest thing for success but the ethical behaviour also pushes them towards success. Literature that is based on ethical scantiness does not look at the entrepreneurs, but they closely look at the society, business and characters (Kalshoven et al.2016). Hence, the saying “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs” frequently becomes the reason for the entrepreneurs in adopting the unethical practices even when the ethical options are available to them. The thought that is arguing the statement, specifies that the negative traits of the entrepreneurs including disrespect, immoral stands, temper issues are not appreciated trade-offs for the success, formulate a resilient disagreement. The main purpose of the argument is that as long as the alternative is available then no injustice should conquer.  

Entrepreneurs

Bill Gates:

Bill Gates is the creator of Microsoft which makes him one of the richest men in the world. However in 2014 he announced that he was leaving as a chairman so that he can focus on his charitable work foundation known as the Bill and Melinda foundation. With the intelligence and skills he has differentiated himself as a great entrepreneur. He is extremely humble and kind, this attitude makes him a great leader (Kirzner 2015). He is an inspiration for all entrepreneurs. He enjoys the success and learns from the failure. He believes that unhappy customers are the greatest source of learning. He said that the leader should be dynamic enough to handle the changes in the organisation. He is an admirable leader and believes in helping the needy persons. He always follows the path of determination, ethics and hard work. Bill gates advice “Take care of your people” which indicates that he believes in strong ethics. He strongly focuses on providing a good environment for the employees. The saying is developed to inspire private organisation as they always try to gain much profit without understanding the value of their employees. The popular saying by Bill gates that reflects the value of time is a great example of investing in the right things. However, the employees considered him as very demanding and strong-willed. His leadership skills are considered aggressive. But this could be a strength and weakness (Kilduffet al. 2016). Unlike most entrepreneurs Bill Gates does not pay much attention to the money. Bill Gates is one of the few entrepreneurs who prove that the business can succeed with ethical trade-offs. Bill Gates has built a gigantic empire with his skills and intelligence. He has moralistic nature and this can be proved with the example. For example he always treats his employees in a good manner, however his employees believed that he is demanding but he always try to challenge them so that they can learn new things. He was not egotistic in nature and remains modest to all the people (Taylor 2018). Bill gates success clears that the success can be achieved with the help of the right path and no negative path should be chosen by the person. Bill Gates proves that the leader can become successful by following ethical trade-offs in the business.

Jeff Bezos:

Jeff Bezos is the founder, CEO and chairman of the Amanzon.com. In 2017, he became the wealthiest person with the net worth of $100 billion. He started his company as an online book store and expanded to the largest e-commerce platform in the world. His company is also manufacturing electronic goods and services. Jeff Bezos also founded the start-up aerospace manufacturing company Blue Origin. Despite all of the achievements, the company also brings some mortification to the people. This comes from the nature and attitude of the leader (Kuratko 2016). He managed to achieve the top position but he is not considered as the ethical leader by many people. He is not kind to his employees. One of the employees of the company stated that, He feels like working in a place where there is no use of humanity. He is not a good leader for his employees. This depicts that the unethical practices are followed by the leader in the organisation. The ethical trade-off is not promoted in the organisation. But still the society ignores this fact because of the benefits they are getting from the success of the entrepreneur. The great thing is that success brings employment opportunities and many other benefits (Mishra 2016). However, the company is engaged in tax issues. It seems like they are trying to maximising the profit by ignoring the taxes at various stages. The CEO is also criticised for not fulfilling the demand of their warehouse workers. The wages of their workers is lower than the wages of any other company. The reports found that the employees are pressurising for meeting the high targets that also involves distressing work environment (Northouse 2017). There are the majority of ethical issues with the company and CEO. Jeff Bezos is always considered as a narcissist as he always finds ways to exaggerate the riches. He has invested a lot of money in his spaceflight startup Blue Origin. People are not happy with his spending decisions and many of them believe that the money should be used in increasing the wages and other benefits for the employees.

Thus, it can be observed that while Steve Jobs is providing maximum benefits to the employees with social benefits to needy people without highlighting his contributions and wealth. Jeff Bezos is ready to break the rules to achieve success. Jeff Bezos is also adopting the unethical practices as he treats his employees in the wrong way. Steve Jobs has highlighted himself as an ethical leader. While Jeff Bezos highlighted himself as an organisation as well as individual wealth. However, there are some negative aspects of an entrepreneur but if we talk about Jeff Bezos then he has also given so much to the technology, jobs and innovation. For instance, Jeff Bezos contributes $10 million to a nonpartisan organisation who wants to increase the number of experts in politics. However, he does not formally announce his philanthropic intentions but he is contributing to the societies in the form of charity.  Amozon.com is also generating huge employment in many countries. In spite of all of this good work, he is less respected by his employees and local citizens. This is truly evident as corrupt practices are not supported by anyone (Sezer at al. 2015). This is a strong case when the saying “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs” has been adopted by the entrepreneurs and they try to implement it in the business. 

By comparing both the entrepreneurs it is obvious that Bill Gates follows a path which helps out him to reach a superior place in terms of admiration as compared to the Jeff Bozos who is engaged in unethical practices which gave him less respect and acceptance in the society because of the wealth he created for himself and the country. 

Conclusion

Entrepreneurs face many ethical and legal dilemmas when they take some decisions that are beneficial for the company. After going through various cases and literature, we can support that the negative concept of entrepreneurs thinking about their own self can be removed by understanding the importance of ethical trade-offs. The ethical trade-off is always an alternative for the entrepreneurs but they try to choose the easy way of achieving success. Many entrepreneurs face narcissism because of their success and unable to remember humbleness in the process. It is also clear that the positive factors are inherent in entrepreneurs like Bill Gates. They follow the positive and ethical paths to achieve success and respect. Moreover, unethical practices can be avoided by understanding the negative consequences in the future. However, successful entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos uses unethical trade-offs to achieve something big but they are not aware of the negative consequences. 

References

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Gino, F., 2015. Understanding ordinary unethical behavior: Why people who value morality act immorally. Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 3, 107-111.

Kalshoven, K., van Dijk, H. and Boon, C., 2016. Why and when does ethical leadership evoke unethical follower behavior?. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 31(2), 500-515.

Kilduff, G.J., Galinsky, A.D., Gallo, E. and Reade, J.J., 2016. Whatever it takes to win: Rivalry increases unethical behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 59(5), pp.1508-1534.

Kirzner, I.M., 2015. Competition and entrepreneurship. Chicago:  University of Chicago press.

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Kuratko, D.F., 2016. Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Cengage Learning.

Mishra, A.S., 2016. The Role of Corporate Leadership in Business Growth. Effective Executive, 19(2), p.5.

Northouse, P.G., 2017. Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. California: Sage Publications.

Sezer, O., Gino, F. and Bazerman, M.H., 2015. Ethical blind spots: Explaining unintentional unethical behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 6,77-81.

Storey, D.J., 2016. Entrepreneurship and new firm. London: Routledge.

Taylor, S.P., 2018. Organisational behaviour, leadership and change. International Journal of Housing and Human Settlement Planning, 4(1), 21-36.