Society For Business Ethics

What Society For Business Ethics does

Society for Business Ethics (SBE) is a non-profit professional academic association founded in 1980 and headquartered in the United States. Its mission is to provide an open forum in which the moral, legal, empirical, and philosophical issues of business ethics may be discussed and analyzed. Members include scholars, students, and practitioners from multiple countries with a shared interest in the research, teaching, or application of ethical principles to business management. The society operates without corporate sponsorship and is governed by a Board of Directors, an Executive Director, and elected officers; both Executive Director and Treasurer positions are filled on five-year volunteer terms.

The society's core product is Business Ethics Quarterly (BEQ), a peer-reviewed academic journal published through a long-standing partnership with Cambridge University Press. BEQ covers research in business ethics across moral, legal, empirical, and philosophical perspectives; under Editor-in-Chief Denis Arnold (2011–2016), the journal transitioned from the Philosophy Documentation Center to Cambridge, its 5-year impact factor rose from 2.000 to 3.881, and submissions grew from 167 (2011) to 307 (2016), with SBE leadership projecting nearly 400 submissions by 2020. SBE's annual conference is held in rotating cities (e.g., 2022 Seattle, 2026 Philadelphia, July 29–August 1) and attracts presenters from five continents. Supporting programs include the Emerging Scholars initiative, Junior Scholars Network, Best 'Practical Solutions' Award, Best Dissertation Award, Presidential Awards for Service and Scholarly Achievement, the Pioneers in Business Ethics archival project, and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

The business model is a diversified academic non-profit model. Revenue is generated from three streams: recurring membership dues (collected via the Cambridge University Press membership portal), transaction-based conference registration fees, and licensing/royalty revenue from BEQ through Cambridge University Press. Acquisition channels are primarily community-led — the society's website, newsletters, listserv, and social media presence drive top-of-funnel awareness, while the annual conference and Cambridge-hosted membership portal serve as bottom-of-funnel conversion. The society distributes no proprietary technology and has no public API, SDK, or app; its underlying 'technology' is institutional — editorial workflows, peer review, and an academic community network — rather than software.

Name

Society For Business Ethics

Legal name

Society for Business Ethics

Website

https://sbeonline.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Society for Business Ethics is a non-profit academic association founded in 1980 that promotes research, teaching, and discussion of business ethics. It serves scholars, students, and practitioners worldwide through its flagship journal Business Ethics Quarterly, an annual conference, awards, and professional development programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Academic Association Services

NAICS

Professional Organizations (813920), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Compliance, Ethics & Regulatory Training (EDAGANAD)

Keywords

• Academic association
• Business ethics scholarship
• Peer-reviewed journal
• Professional membership
• Annual conference

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: The society operates on membership fees. Members join through Cambridge University Press membership portal, gaining access to publications, conferences, and networking resources within the business ethics academic community.
2. Conference Registration Fees: Annual conferences generate revenue through registration fees. The society hosts conferences in cities across North America and internationally (e.g., 2020 virtual conference, 2021 in Philadelphia, 2022 in Seattle). Conference revenue supports society operations.
3. Business Ethics Quarterly Journal: Business Ethics Quarterly (BEQ) is published by Cambridge University Press. The journal generates licensing/royalty revenue for the society. BEQ submissions grew from 167 in 2011 to 307 in 2016 under Editor-in-Chief Denis Arnold, with impact factor rising from 2.000 to 3.881.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Society for Business Ethics is a nonprofit academic membership association that advances scholarship, teaching, and practice of business ethics. Its core offerings are the Business Ethics Quarterly (BEQ) peer-reviewed journal, an annual conference, professional development programs for emerging and junior scholars, and various awards recognizing scholarship and service.

Product overview

The Society for Business Ethics is an academic membership organization, not a technology product company. Its offerings consist of the Business Ethics Quarterly (BEQ) peer-reviewed journal, annual conferences, professional development programs (Emerging Scholars, Junior Scholars Network), awards (Best 'Practical Solutions' Award, Presidential Awards), communication services (Newsletter, Listserv), and research archives (Pioneers in Business Ethics Project). These are organizational services for the academic business ethics community, not commercial technology products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Business Ethics Quarterly: The official peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Society for Business Ethics through Cambridge University Press.
• Emerging Scholars Program
• Junior Scholars Network
• Best 'Practical Solutions' Award

Products and services

• Business Ethics Quarterly (BEQ) The official peer-reviewed academic journal of the Society for Business Ethics, published through Cambridge University Press, covering research in business ethics from moral, legal, empirical, and philosophical perspectives for academic scholars and institutional libraries.
• Annual Conference Annual meetings bringing together scholars, students, and professionals to discuss business ethics topics through paper presentations, awards, and networking, with the 2026 Conference scheduled in Philadelphia (July 29–August 1).
• Emerging Scholars Program

Quantifiable outcome

• Business Ethics Quarterly submissions grew from 167 (2011) to 307 (2016), on pace for nearly 400 submissions (2020)
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Cambridge University PresscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCambridge University Press serves as the publisher and distribution partner for Business Ethics Quarterly (BEQ), the society's flagship peer-reviewed journal. The partnership was formalized during Denis Arnold's tenure as Editor-in-Chief (2011-2016), transitioning the journal from the Philosophy Documentation Center to Cambridge. Cambridge handles journal distribution, subscriptions, and accessibility for academic institutions and individual scholars worldwide.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Cambridge University Press: CUP is SBE's strategic publishing and distribution partner for Business Ethics Quarterly and the membership portal. It is an enabling ecosystem participant rather than a competitor, but critical to SBE's revenue and reach.
• Philosophy Documentation Center: Philosophy Documentation Center was BEQ's former publishing and distribution partner before the transition to Cambridge University Press under Denis Arnold's editorship (2011-2016). It is an adjacent ecosystem provider in academic ethics publishing.

Direct peers

• European Business Ethics Network (EBEN): EBEN is a Europe-based academic network for business ethics research and teaching, operating annual conferences and member programs similar to SBE. It is a direct peer addressing the same scholarly community but with primarily European geographic focus.
• Journal of Business Ethics (Springer): Journal of Business Ethics is a leading peer-reviewed academic journal published by Springer that directly competes with BEQ for ethics research submissions, citations, and institutional subscriptions. It is the most prominent journal peer to BEQ.
• International Society of Business, Economics, and Ethics (ISBEE): ISBEE is a global academic society dedicated to business, economics, and ethics, with a member structure and quadrennial world congress that parallel SBE's offerings. It is a direct peer addressing the same interdisciplinary ethics scholar community on a global scale.
• Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI): ECI is a membership organization focused on advancing ethics and compliance practice in organizations, similar in structure to SBE but serving practitioner rather than academic members. It competes for overlap with SBE's secondary practitioner segment.
• International Association for Business and Society (IABS): IABS is an academic association for scholars researching the intersection of business and society, including business ethics, CSR, and sustainability. It is the closest direct peer to SBE in mission and membership model, hosting its own annual conference and affiliated journal.

Broad incumbents

• Academy of Management: Academy of Management is a much larger academic association with thousands of members across multiple divisions, including an Ethics and CSR-focused interest group that overlaps with SBE's domain. It is a broad incumbent operating in the same scholarly ecosystem but serving a far wider disciplinary scope.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/sbeonline
• Facebookfacebook.com/societyforbusinessethics
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/society-for-business-ethics

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Society For Business Ethics