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Entrepreneurial Stewardship: Why Some Profits Should Be Used to Benefit Others

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2020

Jooho Lee
Jooho Lee*
Affiliation:
Pepperdine University
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Abstract

Entrepreneurs should act as stewards of entrepreneurial rent. Entrepreneurial rent is the difference between the ex post value of a venture and its ex ante costs. It is the result of competition among buyers and sellers within the market process rather than the sole efforts of the entrepreneur. As a result, entrepreneurs should allocate entrepreneurial rent for the benefit of other market participants rather than consuming it for themselves. The moral obligation to steward entrepreneurial rent is consistent with traditional bases of property rights and the norm of social welfare maximization, and it applies to corporations and their shareholders, as well as individual entrepreneurs.

Keywords

entrepreneurshipstewardshiprentprofitsproperty
Type
Article
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , October 2020 , pp. 525 - 551
Copyright
© 2020 Business Ethics Quarterly

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