On April 23, Robert Salvino will speak on the topic of “Entrepreneurship and Public Policy.” Dr. Salvino received his Ph.D. from Georgia State University in 2007 and currently teaches in the Department of Economics at Coastal Carolina University, South Carolina.

All of the campus community is welcome to attend. Scarborough Hall, Rm 212 from 11:00am – 12:15pm.

On March 28, Dr. Terry Noel will speak on “The Virtuous Entrepreneur.” Noel is Associate Professor of Management and Quantitative Methods at Illinois State University where he teaches classes in Entrepreneurship and Management. Dr. Noel’s research has been published in journals including the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Entrepreneurship Education.

All of the campus community is welcome to attend. Scarborough Hall, Rm 212 from 11:00am – 12:15pm.

Kaizen Weekly Review highlights activities of The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship and recent business ethics and entrepreneurship news.
Editor: Virginia Murr

The Last Mile May Be First Step for Inmate Entrepreneurs

At California’s San Quentin prison, inmates have the opportunity to participate in the Last Mile, an entrepreneurship course modeled on start-up incubators that take in batches of young companies and provide them with courses, informal advice, and seed investments. Start-up ideas from inmates include a cardiovascular health organization and an e-commerce site for artists in prison. Read the full article here.

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The Open Letter that Stopped a Lucrative Marketing Campaign

On September 19, 2012, Thor Halvorssen, Founder of the Human Rights Foundation, published this open letter to Urban Outfitters in The Huffington Post about its Che Guevara marketing campaign and line of fashion merchandise. The letter is useful as a case study for Business Ethics courses in discussions of marketing using popular political figures, especially those with a record like Guevara’s. Urban Outfitters subsequently decided to drop its Che campaign and fashion line.

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The Morality of Capitalism

Stephen Hicks gave a talk to the Bastiat Society in Panama on the debates over the morality of capitalism, contrasting the positions of Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, and others. Here is the abstract from his lecture.

Note: The Bastiat Society is named for Frédéric Bastiat, the great nineteenth-century liberal public intellectual.

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.A Quirky Interview

In a recent interview with Dan Schneider for Cosmoetica, Hicks covered such themes as the nature of values, art, religion, corporations, and the meaning of life. Other interviewees in the series include Daniel Dennett, Larry Sanger, and Steven Pinker.

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Would More Regulations Curb NCAA Violations?

Shawn Klein is quoted in this article from Coach and Athletic Director magazine examining the use of more regulations to curb NCAA violations. In the article, Klein states: “I don’t know that stricter policies or punishment would be that much more effective, because part of the problem is that there are so many rules and a lot of them are opaque.” Read the full article.

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CEE Guest Speaker Series

Marta Podemska-Mikluch, a visiting professor of Economics at Beloit College and recent Ph.D. graduate from George Mason University, was CEE’s guest speaker for February. She gave a talk to students and professors on “Succession, Elections, and Self-Governance,” focusing on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s “nobles’ democracy” of the 16th century.

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See you next week!

Previous Issues of Kaizen Weekly Review.

The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship welcomes Marta Podemska-Mikluch to Rockford College on Tuesday, February 26. Professor Podemska-Mikluch will give a talk on Succession, Elections, and Self-Governance from 11 am to 12:15 pm in SCAR 212.

Professor Podemska-Mikluch is a visiting assistant professor of Economics at Beloit College. She recently finished her dissertation at George Mason University on the democratic decline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

All members of the campus community are welcome to attend.

Questions or further information: CEE[at]rockford.edu

Professor Stephen Hicks, CEE’s Executive Director, interviewed guest speaker Arielle John (Beloit College) about the influence of culture on entrepreneurship. Watch the interview below.

On January 31, Professor Arielle John will speak on “How culture influences entrepreneurial decision-making.” Professor John is a native of Trinidad and a Ph.D. candidate in economics from George Mason University. She currently teaches in the Department of Economics at Beloit College, Wisconsin.

Professor John’s talk will be held in Scarborough Hall, room 212, from 11 am-12:15 pm. All members of the campus community are welcome to attend.

Douglas B. Rasmussen, CEE guest speaker and subject of an installment of our Profiles in Liberty series, gave a talk at the Icelandic Research Centre for Innovation and Economic Growth (RNH, Rannsoknarsetur um nyskopun og hagvoxt). RNH is “a think tank which seeks to explore how innovation and economic growth are either encouraged or stifled.” Rasmussen’s lecture on the philosophy of Ayn Rand can be seen in its entirety below:

On November 3, a group of Rockford College students, accompanied by CEE Professor Shawn Klein, took a trip to the Students for Liberty Chicago Regional Conference. The day-long event featured tremendous speakers (including two-time CEE guest speaker Alexei Marcoux), panels, and breakout sessions on the ideas behind a free society and the actions necessary to implement them.

Dr. Stephen Hicks, CEE’s Executive Director, talks with Fall 2012 CEE Guest Speaker Dr. William Kline of the University of Illinois Springfield about four major thinkers — Hobbes, Locke, Hume, and Smith — who in large part established the intellectual framework for our modern business world.:

Also, watch Dr. Kline’s interviews on business ethics and David Hume from his last visit to Rockford College.

In our latest issue of Kaizen we feature an interview with Jeff Sandefer, a founder of the Acton School of Business, an innovative MBA program in Austin, Texas focusing on entrepreneurship.

Also featured in Kaizen are: student essay contest winners Megan Hopwood and Carly Stokstad; and guest speaker Dr. Tara Smith, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin, and author of “Money Can Buy Happiness.”

A PDF version of Kaizen is available here. We will soon post separately the full interview with Mr. Sandefer.

If you would like to receive a complimentary issue of the print version of Kaizen, please email your name and postal address to CEE [at] Rockford.edu.