New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

Christopher Berkompas January 28, 2008

This is an interesting question. Most non-Christians, regardless of what economic camp they fall into, would agree that business needs to be regulated and balanced by concerns other than raw profit.

I have heard some argue that the free market, made up as it is of individuals concerned about more than mere profit, is a sufficient, and even the only appropriate, mechanism for regulating business. Corporations are forced to be ethical, they reason, lest they lose their reputation with conscientious consumers and face the economic implications of public disapproval. It is true that the market has occasionally forced companies to amend their ways, but if this system worked well in the economy, wouldn't we also expect all of our politicians to be honest?

Others would argue that the state should have a role in governing how business is conducted, to ensure that it is done justly and fairly (and to give a helping hand, here and there).

These are legitimate and important questions for us as Christians to consider, but they are questions of jurisdiction and perogative. The deeper issue which you bring up here is that regardless of who is responsible for governing business, there first has to be a governing standard. The non-Christian worldview cannot provide this standard, so they are forced to get creative, but to no avail.

As Christians, we know that we are not autonomous, but are responsible to bring every area of our lives into conformity with the revealed will and commands of God. Since the world does not understand this, we cannot afford to rely on our culture and the marketplace to hold us to biblical standards of obedience. In fact, we can expect to face pressure to do otherwise. We need to be conscious that we do business by a different standard.

Paul Ramsek October 6, 2008

What might be worse than greed is corporate espionage. What can a start-up do to prevent this? In particular if their plans might cause disruption in a certain sector of the economy/industry? How about a physical location where intellectual property both physical and plans are unable to be retrieved physically nor electronically. Any such place exist in USA? Would like Mr.Wade Myers to respond if possible. Thank You.

Wade Myers October 7, 2008

I am not aware of any such place. I understand that espionage is a real concern, but I tend to think that value is not in the idea, design, the intellectual property or the business plan as much as it is in the execution of the business plan.

There are many examples of how an inferior design won out in the marketplace compared to a superior design because the management team with the inferior design did a better job of executing their business plan. Betamax was a superior video tape product design compared to the VHS design, but lost out during the design standards meetings and negotiations due to the fact that the companies with the VHS format out-marketed the others with the Betamax format. Netscape was a superior browswer, but lost out to Microsoft due to their marketing muscle and ability to bundle products.

In many cases, by sharing an idea or design, an entrepreneur can get his idea to market much faster and much more successfully by collaborating with trusted partners rather than try to lock away his idea which may never see the light of day.