Title: Entrepreneurship in organised crime: career stages in gangs

Authors: Petter Gottschalk, JanTerje Karlsen

Addresses: Norwegian School of Management, Nydalsveien 37, N-0442 Oslo, Norway. ' Norwegian School of Management, Nydalsveien 37, N-0442 Oslo, Norway

Abstract: Most of the entrepreneurship literature seems to engage in a positive enthusiasm about the role of the entrepreneur. There is a need to take a neutral look at how some entrepreneurs engage in illegal business and how entrepreneurship is not always a wholesome and clean endeavour. This is a conceptual research paper presenting a stage model for the criminal career in gangs. Theories of organised crime provide evidence of similarities based on the enterprise paradigm. This paper makes a contribution by linking entrepreneurship to organised crime and by revealing criminal aspects of entrepreneurial endeavour.

Keywords: organised crime; growth stages; theory; innovation; learning; criminal gangs; criminal entrepreneurs; organisational analysis; criminal organisations; entrepreneurship; illegal business; criminal careers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2009.024139

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2009 Vol.6 No.4, pp.448 - 460

Published online: 27 Mar 2009 *

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