Title: Value driven Asiatic entrepreneurship: South Asian way of ethical entrepreneurship and sustainability

Authors: G.D.V. RupikaSenadheera; Helan Ramya Gamage; H.D. Karunaratne

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri JayawardanaPura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka ' Faculty of Business, James Cook University Australia, Singapore Campus, 600 Upper Thomson Road, Singapore ' Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo, 94, Kumaratunga Munidasa Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

Abstract: The implication of ethics to business is becoming crucial to the shaping and reshaping of social and human systems including business, social and ecological sustainability in the South Asian context. This paper is to explore this phenomenon and its present practices within the Asian business context, with special focus on Sri Lanka. Using mixed methodology, 500 entrepreneurs were approached, out of which only 333 responded. In-depth interviews were carried out with five organisations: their entrepreneurs, workers and an external party. The outcome indicates that entrepreneurs prefer practicing business rules. On the contrary to quantitative data, the qualitative facts suggested that entrepreneurs prefer engaging in behavioural pattern, which maximises their self-interests. The study also revealed that the entrepreneurial focus is moving towards a new era of business processing, i.e., re-manufacturing, recycling and re-using. These trends are highly influential and business ethics play a key role in driving them in the future.

Keywords: values; ethical entrepreneurship; business ethics; society; egoism; utilitarianism; deontology; remanufacturing; recycling; reuse; Asiatic entrepreneurship; Sri Lanka; sustainability; sustainable development; entrepreneurial focus.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPMB.2014.063235

International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking, 2014 Vol.4 No.3, pp.277 - 291

Published online: 24 Jul 2014 *

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