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

Partnering for Grand Challenges: A Review of Organizational Design Considerations in Public-Private CollaborationsBy: Gerard George (Georgetown University), Thomas J. Fewer (Georgetown University), Sergio Lazzarini (Western University), Anita M. McGahan (University of Toronto), Phanish Puranam

Accelerating climate change, widening income inequality, and depleting natural habitats prompted 193 member-countries of the United Nations to adopt 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. But worsening conditions have proven that governments alone cannot tackle these problems, and many have called for more active engagement of businesses in addressing grand societal challenges. Despite this renewed sense of optimism in how private actors can contribute to the common good in partnership with public actors, little is known about the types of public-private collaborations available to governments and the difficulties in partnering for grand challenges. In this just-published article, Professor Gerry George and Postdoctoral Fellow Thomas Fewer, along with their colleagues, identify the inherent complications in solving grand challenges, and the exemplar models of public-private partnerships that could help governments and businesses work together toward this end. Their perspective brings significant implications for policymakers, academics, and business leaders to reconsider how to create and sustain innovative collaboration structures that have a lasting impact on the world.

Previously Featured Work

“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) 

 

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Research Articles

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