Georgetown Entrepreneurship Research
The power of entrepreneurs as innovators and change-makers for the common good.
Academics and business leaders have embraced the view that business is a part of society and not apart from society, and thus businesses must play a pivotal role in the betterment of society. Georgetown’s Entrepreneurship Initiative is conducting world-leading research on how to organize, grow, and scale businesses with a positive societal impact. Guided by Jesuit values of the Common Good – a belief that business can advance the material and institutional resources that are shared and beneficial for all members of society – our research is empowering and inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs as innovators and change-makers for society.
Featured Work
“A Resource Dependency View of Information Disclosure: Delegated Regulation, Information Bifurcation, and the Boeing-737 MAX Crashes”
By: Dali Ma (Drexel University) and Thomas J. Fewer (Georgetown University)
The regulatory process is central to maintaining the integrity of businesses and ensuring that they do not bring about societal harm. However, we still see instances of businesses subverting regulatory rules and procedures, largely by capitalizing on the information asymmetry between them and the regulator, and selectively disclosing information. But how does this occur? In a paper under review at a top business journal, McDonough Entrepreneurship Fellow Thomas Fewer and his colleague Professor Dali Ma explore this question through a case study of the certification of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. In a qualitative analysis, they find that, to avoid expensive and time-consuming training, Boeing engineered an information bifurcation strategy to oversupply information about the aircraft’s problematic speed trim software, yet hide information about its linkage with the overall flight control system. This paper opens the door for new studies to dive deeper into the arrangements which accompany the regulation of emerging technologies.
Previously Featured Work
“Business and the Common Good: A Moral View of Corporate Purpose” By: Gerald P George, Thomas J. Fewer (Georgetown University), and Quentin Dupont (Georgetown University)
“Birthmark Effect: Founder Status, Stigma, and Firm Survival in Late Imperial Russia” By: Dali Ma (Drexel University), Dasha Popova (Drexel University), and Thomas J. Fewer (Georgetown University)
“Working with the ‘Enemy’: Free Space in Facilitating Cold War Space Collaboration” By: Thomas J. Fewer (Georgetown University), Dali Ma (Drexel University), and Diego Coraiola (University of Victoria)
“What I’ve Learned About Teaching Entrepreneurship: Perspectives of Master Educators” in Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy By: Jeff Reid
“CEO Political Partisanship and Corporate Misconduct” By: Thomas J. Fewer (Georgetown University) and Murat Tarakci (Erasmus University)
“Partnering for Grand Challenges: A Review of Organizational Design Considerations in Public-Private Collaborations”. By: Gerard George (Georgetown University), Thomas J. Fewer (Georgetown University), Sergio Lazzarini (Western University), Anita M. McGahan (University of Toronto), Phanish Puranam (INSEAD)
“Digital Sustainability and Entrepreneurship: How Digital Innovations Are Helping Tackle Climate Change and Sustainable Development”. By Gerard George (Georgetown University), Ryan Merrill (Singapore Management University), & Simon Schillebeeckx (Singapore Management University)