ABSTRACT

In this chapter we switch emphasis from the positive to the potentially negative side of entrepreneurship. Inevitably, amongst the most notorious stories of famous entrepreneurs, we find a limited percentage who have either failed or who have destroyed capital which was important to others. Some reflect errors of strategic judgement while others reflect over-ambition – promises that were realistically always too good to be true. Some of these stories, of course, are of criminal behaviour. Some of the entrepreneurs we feature were always in the shadows; others ended up there for a variety of reasons. There is an important message underpinning this chapter – the more we relax the controls on entrepreneurs, in order to encourage more entrepreneurial behaviour, the greater the potential for the shadow side of entrepreneurship to prosper.