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A new brand of entrepreneurs has arrived on the business scene, carrying with them a whole new set of values. They possess a sense of mission – to be socially responsible, protect the planet, and do the right thing for all of their stakeholders. Rather than focus exclusively on financial gain, they aim to achieve a balance between profits and one or more causes of their choosing. In fact, they view for-profit entrepreneurship as a vehicle for social change. The authors call these pioneers \"values-centered\" entrepreneurs. Some of the values-centered entrepreneurs have been around a few decades. In recent years, however, the numbers have proliferated and the nascent movement has started to make a true impact. These entrepreneurs’ approach to management questions our basic assumptions about how businesses should be run and what their role should be in society. Several of these entrepreneurs have attained high visibility. Yvon Chouinard of sportswear manufacturer Patagoina has been a role model for integrating environmental protection to every aspect of Patagonia’s business operation. Howard Schultz of Starbucks has been able to build one of the strongest brands in the world while being the first retailer to offer comprehensive health benefits and stock options to its part-time employees. Paul Newman, legendary actor and racecar driver as well as a leading maker of salad dressings, gives 100% of Newman’s Own brand’s profits to charity. This book explores how these highly unorthodox leaders have built their profitable and socially responsible business enterprises, and what lessons can be learned for the next generation of entrepreneurs. The authors examine a group of over 40 entrepreneurial companies and how each balanced the profit objective with social responsibility in key aspects of their business operation – from their initial company formation, through growth, to exit – to build successful triple bottom-line companies. Choi and Gray particularly focus on how these firms’ commitment to values affected their company missions, hiring and organizational policies, marketing strategies, financial practices, exit options, and giving programs, and vice versa. In some cases, the authors find that the entrepreneurs’ social objectives have actually strengthened, not weakened, their business enterprises. Based on their extensive studies of these companies, he authors have distilled a set of commonalities. The book presents ten of the most dominant and interesting of these commonalities with a focus on those policies and decisions that appeared to depart from conventional business practice. In addition to devoting chapters to each of the core principles learned from these companies, the authors also include in-depth case studies of four of the ventures featured in their study. Preface Introduction PART I: The Values Centered Entrepreneur 1. Toward a New Model of Entrepreneurship PART II: Lessons/Guidelines 2. Commit to a Purpose 3. Be Circumspect about Raising Institutional Capital 4. Hire Employees with Shared Values 5. Promote Your Company’s Values 6. Build a Strong (Value-Centered) Organizational Culture 7. Make Money, But Then Also Make Exceptions 8. Do No Harm 9. Stay With It For The Long Haul 10. Give Back a Lot (Commit to a Giving Program) 11. Be a Role Model for Others 12. Conclusion Part III: Case Studies 13. Timothy Haahs Engineering 14. Stoneyfield Farm 15. Migros 16. Chris King Precision Equipment Part IV: Appendix: Table of Socially Responsible Companies David Y Choi , Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship and an Associate Director of the Hilton Center for Entrepreneurship at Loyola Marymount University. Edmund R. Gray is Professor of Management at Loyola Marymount University.

PurposeThis study examines how transformational leadership on the part of senior attorneys in law firms may affect their subordinate attorneys' performance in an industry experiencing both distinctive leadership challenges and widespread economic upheaval. Specifically, our multilevel theoretical model attempts to capture the moderated mediation relationships between transformational leadership, innovative climate, entrepreneurial orientation, and individual performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs of a multilevel path analysis to examine the earlier described conceptual model utilizing primary data collected from 484 attorneys at 31 professional service firms.FindingsThe authors used multilevel path analysis to examine the existence and the extent of a multilevel mediation effect. They found that a firm's entrepreneurial orientation mediates the relationship between supervising attorneys' transformational leadership and individual attorneys' performances. The authors also found that the indirect effect of supervising attorneys' transformational leadership on individual attorneys' performances through entrepreneurial orientation is conditional on the degree of firm innovative climate.Originality/valueThe authors draw on theories of social learning to construct a dual-level theoretical model that connects domains within the leadership and entrepreneurship literatures. It does so by examining the relationships between the law firms' supervising attorneys' change-oriented leadership and their subordinate attorneys' billable hours during a period of severe economic disruption.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the venture development processes (or \"entrepreneurial processes\") of \"sustainable\" entrepreneurs, i.e. entrepreneurs who create and build profitable companies that also pursue environmental or social causes. The paper aims to find how these mission-oriented entrepreneurs achieve their business objectives while serving their social and environmental causes.Design methodology approach - The paper identifies 21 successful sustainable entrepreneurial companies in various industries ranging from apparel to biotechnology that were exemplary in their pursuit for sustainability. The paper examined their key decisions and activities in their \"entrepreneurial process\", collecting most of the relevant information from published or self-developed case studies.Findings - The paper finds that most of sustainable entrepreneurs are an unusual breed with limited business backgrounds. Most obtain financing from non-conventional sources and employ unorthodox, yet sound human resource management practices. They are shrewd in their marketing strategies and effective in running efficient, environmentally sound operations. Also, they find innovative methods for balancing their financial goals against their objectives of making a difference in their environment and society.Practical implications - The paper's findings help demystify and provide some insights into how values-oriented entrepreneurs and their companies can simultaneously meet economic, social and or environmental objectives.Originality value - This paper is one of the few studies that examine the business practices of for-profit, sustainability-oriented entrepreneurs. It is also one of the few formal studies that identify commonalities among a relatively large and diverse sample of companies. Most important, this research suggests practical guidelines for aspiring entrepreneurs to follow as they build their sustainable business ventures.

PurposeThis study examines how transformational leadership on the part of senior attorneys in law firms may affect their subordinate attorneys' performance in an industry experiencing both distinctive leadership challenges and widespread economic upheaval. Specifically, our multilevel theoretical model attempts to capture the moderated mediation relationships between transformational leadership, innovative climate, entrepreneurial orientation, and individual performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs of a multilevel path analysis to examine the earlier described conceptual model utilizing primary data collected from 484 attorneys at 31 professional service firms.FindingsThe authors used multilevel path analysis to examine the existence and the extent of a multilevel mediation effect. They found that a firm's entrepreneurial orientation mediates the relationship between supervising attorneys' transformational leadership and individual attorneys' performances. The authors also found that the indirect effect of supervising attorneys' transformational leadership on individual attorneys' performances through entrepreneurial orientation is conditional on the degree of firm innovative climate.Originality/valueThe authors draw on theories of social learning to construct a dual-level theoretical model that connects domains within the leadership and entrepreneurship literatures. It does so by examining the relationships between the law firms' supervising attorneys' change-oriented leadership and their subordinate attorneys' billable hours during a period of severe economic disruption.

During the process of starting and growing a company, entrepreneurs seek help from their key advisors, which include its directors, advisory board members, financiers, as well as others informally affiliated with the venture. This paper examines how the various groups add value to a venture and assesses the relative value of their contributions. Through a survey of high technology entrepreneurs, we find that directors, advisory board members and informal advisors add significant value by offering their expertise in various fields. Surprisingly, investors add relatively little value, even in such key areas as strategic planning and finance. While professional venture capitalists add more value than private investors, even the venture capitalists' contribution was perceived lower than those of the other advisors in key areas. Our results suggest that the contributions of investors may have been overestimated in conventional literature. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

This paper examines the business practices of socially responsible entrepreneurs with particular focus on activities that directly impact their companies' finances. We collect case studies of 30 recognized socially responsible entrepreneurial firms from a wide range of industries. We analyze how and to what extent the entrepreneurs and their companies balance their profit objectives with their social or environmental goals. Our results indicate that the companies pursue profits in manners comparable to those of most conventional businesses. However, we learn that our companies make certain deliberate exceptions in their business practices to exercise their beliefs, although such actions may reduce profits. We also observe the entrepreneurs making efforts to identify situations that simultaneously increase the companies' profits and serve their causes. Most companies choose to stay private and commit to building an enduring organization rather than pursue the conventional exit strategies. Finally, we find that many of the companies in our list commit themselves to and proactively manage formalized giving programs.

There is a growing concern over the scientist-practitioner gap which some have referred to as a war between two different cultures. The territory being fought over is the question of what constitutes good psychotherapy and who gets to decide. In one corner, hailing from the tradition of the Enlightenment, Scott O. Lilienfeld argues that scientific research should be the basis for validating therapy with the use of empirically-supported treatments (ESTs) and evidence-based practice in psychology (EBPP). In the other corner, hailing from the tradition of the Interpretive Turn, Irwin Z. Hoffman argues that science should not be the final arbiter of therapy because human experience is fundamentally ambiguous and constructed. I argue that the two must be put in dialectical relationship with each other in order to move beyond the potential risks of scientism and relativism. I explore three aspects of this relationship: (a) similarities that provide a starting point for conversation (dialogue as friends), (b) differences that should be accepted as philosophically incommensurable (independence as strangers), and (c) differences that must be reconciled in the public arena (conflict as enemies). Finally, I argue that the danger posed by a universal and untranslated language of science is greater than that of the uncertainty of interpretation.

A new brand of entrepreneurs has arrived on the business scene, carrying with them a whole new set of values. They possess a sense of mission - to be socially responsible, protect the planet, and do the right thing for all of their stakeholders. Rather than focus exclusively on financial gain, they aim to achieve a balance between profits and one or more causes of their choosing. In fact, they view for-profit entrepreneurship as a vehicle for social change. The authors call these pioneers \"values-centered\" entrepreneurs.Some of the values-centered entrepreneurs have been around a few decades. In recent years, however, the numbers have proliferated and the nascent movement has started to make a true impact. These entrepreneurs' approach to management questions our basic assumptions about how businesses should be run and what their role should be in society.Several of these entrepreneurs have attained high visibility. Yvon Chouinard of sportswear manufacturer Patagoina has been a role model for integrating environmental protection to every aspect of Patagonia's business operation. Howard Schultz of Starbucks has been able to build one of the strongest brands in the world while being the first retailer to offer comprehensive health benefits and stock options to its part-time employees. Paul Newman, legendary actor and racecar driver as well as a leading maker of salad dressings, gives 100% of Newman's Own brand's profits to charity. This book explores how these highly unorthodox leaders have built their profitable and socially responsible business enterprises, and what lessons can be learned for the next generation of entrepreneurs. The authors examine a group of over 40 entrepreneurial companies and how each balanced the profit objective with social responsibility in key aspects of their business operation - from their initial company formation, through growth, to exit - to build successful triple bottom-line companies. Choi and Gray particularly focus on how these firms' commitment to values affected their company missions, hiring and organizational policies, marketing strategies, financial practices, exit options, and giving programs, and vice versa. In some cases, the authors find that the entrepreneurs' social objectives have actually strengthened, not weakened, their business enterprises. Based on their extensive studies of these companies, he authors have distilled a set of commonalities. The book presents ten of the most dominant and interesting of these commonalities with a focus on those policies and decisions that appeared to depart from conventional business practice.In addition to devoting chapters to each of the core principles learned from these companies, the authors also include in-depth case studies of four of the ventures featured in their study.

The so-called \"social\" ventures or \"socially responsible\" ventures have grown in number and popularity in recent years. Yet they still remain a mystery for most investors as to what their objectives are and whether they are worth the consideration for investment. The article examines some of the key questions financiers have about social ventures, e.g., extent of their profit-orientation, inclination toward raising capital, and preferred strategies for exits. In addition, we analyze several key management practices of social ventures, with particular attention to those activities that impact the companies' financial performance.