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Chapter 36 - “The City is Depending on Us”

Rebecca L. Dohrman

Synopsis

Olivia, a recent college graduate, takes a sales position at BoxTech, one of the hottest companies housed in a business incubator in the downtown area of a city that has been struggling for years. BoxTech’s founder, Mark, and Olivia work together to build the company through increasing sales revenue and building a strong development team. Olivia and Mark disagree about how to handle one of Olivia’s first clients and she has to make a difficult decision that will make her question many things.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, D/discourse, Socialization, Ethics, Management

Key Takeaways and Take a Stand Form

Key Takeaways

  1. Our organizations exist within contexts such as cities, neighborhoods, and even the nation whose reputations are in part made or broken based on how our companies perform.
  2. Because of the role organizations and economics plays in the narrative of which cities are on the rise vs. on the decline, the financial stability of companies is under increasing pressure to add to a dominant narrative of rising cities.
  3. Ethics can become complicated when companies are under pressure to support an aspirational narrative of an area.
  4. Aspirational narratives and mission statements are not the same thing as the realities and day to day experience of starting or working for a small business.
  5. Startup environments are unique organizations that are actually very fragile, even though they must present stability to potential customers, stakeholders, and investors.

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