The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics

Volume 3, 2002

Ethics and Entrepreneurship

Time To Discovery
The Role of Time In the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process

Venkataraman’s essay in this volume argues that the “fourth” force of control of the modern corporation, the entrepreneurial discovery process, can limit the ability of firms to exploit stakeholders. In this essay I explicitly examine the role of time in the entrepreneurial discovery process. First, the role of time in the individual stakeholder’s decisions is examined. Second, at an organizational level, I examine some historical evidence in order to empirically consider how swiftly the discovery process may work. Implications for both theory and empirical testing are discussed.