Alex Edmans Why Businesses Exist Summary
In A Fair Day’s Wage, James Surowiecki explains the benefits of following a fairly unexplored business management philosophy. This philosophy consists of companies paying their workers a substantial amount more than most large companies do. The idea behind this method is that the increase in pay is a compensation for the poor working conditions of the Great Recession in 2007. Bertolini, C.E.O of Aetna, says, “For the good of the social order, these are the kinds of investments we should be willing to make” (81).
These men trying to create and build these monopolies, corner markets, and increase profits the men never cared too much about who they hurt or what the effect of what their actions were. All they ever cared about is the money and the goods coming their way. For example, in the article “Captain of Industry or Robber Barons?” it states “workers were treated badly by the capitalists and their management organizations.
Alexander Keith was a famous Canadian politician and brewer from Halifax. Keith’s career began at 17, when his parents sent him to his uncle in northern England to learn the brewery business (Pryke,2010). After learning the skills of the trade Keith migrated back to Halifax at the age of 22 he became the only brewer and business manager for Charles Boggs, and he later bought out Bogg’s brewery in 1820. By 1822 Keith expanded his brewery to a larger space and in 1836 he again expanded building a new brewery on Hollis street (Pryke, 2010). In 1863 he started construction on Keith Hall which was connected to his brewery (Pryke, 2010).
Andrew Carnegie amassed his fortune by utilizing vertical integration and employing cheap labor, at the expense of the common man. This tactic proved effective when competing with other companies. However, as a result, workers were manipulated and used as pawns in a game with a predetermined winner. Working as blue collar laborers, the employees had no chance to improve their socioeconomic status and their way of life, completely contradicting Carnegie’s own theory that wealth would be rewarded to those who worked hard and proved themselves capable and competent of handling it.
Since people are starting to favor a pancake systems more, the pyramid companies must figure out if they are doing good work or not. Howard Gardner describes his definition of good work in, “Good Work, Well Done: A Psychological Study.” Throughout Gardners essay he talks about how to achieve good work, along with giving an example of a journalist urging his boss that he does not want to write an article because of the facts not correlating with how the story has to be. However, the journalist boss denies his request of not writing the story because of the contract he had signed, but luckily found a new job. Good work is something every company strives for, and because a pyramid style has been used for centuries, in today’s world it is
Fifth Business Reading Journal What is the point of view of the writer? Robertson Davies is a Canadian author, who grew up only ten years after the book was set. He also lived in a small town, Orangeville, and so the point of view of the writer is similar to that of the main character. I believe Davies’ point of view is that this story can entertain and inform his readers.
Entrepreneur Russel Kimeklis has found success in the business world again and again after more than thirty years in business, and Russel says he isn’t done yet. Russel has met exclusively with Damian Gomez to tell his story. At 63 years of age Russel has run several businesses from a small workshop to one of the largest recruiting companies in Queensland. Russel’s Entrepreneurial instincts have brought him success after success for several decades.
Many small business owners couldn’t compete with bigger owners, due to the fact that big business owners had such a grasp on their markets. In primary source H, a small oil business owner explain why he could never compete with bigger owners, forcing him to raise his prices for customers to keep his business alive. But, even though his oil was better, his competitors was cheaper, he soon learned that big businesses had deal with the railroad, to supply the oil cheaper. In document J, the pictures shows women working hard in a labor mill, typing up documents all day with little pay. Hard working Americans received little pay of benefits, compared to their bosses who took all the money for themselves.
Though, this did not stop these businessmen. No matter the reason for working to improve the economy, these men achieved the desired goal of a captain of industry. They contributed to the economy by forcing employees into poor working conditions. These poor conditions consisted of having to work many hours at a time, receiving little pay (“Captains of Industry...”, par. 5), and having to work multiple jobs alongside with family just to get by (“Captains of Industry…”,par. 6). On top of this, workers were not provided with suitable housing.
Conscious Capitalism is a book written from John Mackey’s point of view on how Conscious Capitalism helped his company become successful. The CEO shares key points on how an entrepreneur should be able to construct a business based on four tenets that will guarantee a long and successful business for years to come. It begins with the first tenet: Higher Purpose. When an entrepreneur creates a business, the reason they most likely created it is because there was a need for something. For Mackey, his purpose of creating Whole foods was to sell organic food for people who wanted to eat healthier.
Often, he made harsh business decisions that negatively impacted his employees; however, he always felt it was justified. One reason he felt it was justified was that he was serving “America by building their enterprises.” (44). He saw the creation of wealth as a noble endeavor. When Carnegie built his company, he ended up creating one of the biggest companies in the world.
Chief executive officers (CEOs) are the corporate employees that are responsible for managing an entire organization. Presently there is a controversy over their salary as to whether it is appropriate or not for one person to be paid so much, especially when the company or the economy may not be performing well. Philosopher Jeff Moriarty wrote an article, “Do CEOs Get Paid Too Much?” that tackles this controversy and he provides possible circumstances in which CEO salaries may be justified. Moriarty’s claim is that CEOs are paid too much, if their salaries are not based off one of three popular views (Moriarty 264).
On the other hand of striker’s actions that were motivated by greed, some may say companies and bosses enforced pay cuts to go towards other needs, such as charity and the poor because they needed a helping hand. John D. Rockefeller wisely invested in the oil industry which started the Standard Oil Company. He was so
The part that clarifies a great deal of this achievement can best be depicted by the decline in real money available. This point toward the money the business is building is being put into in the business in addition their usage of their purposes as well as outcomes. Their interest in themselves, straggled by lengthened benefit is a decent suggestion of where they are going later on (Wahlen, Baginski, & Bradshaw, 2014). Explanation of
In a recent article by Jiff, How Activision-Blizzard Became A Best Company to Work For, describes how their employees are working for one of the top companies to work for and why they keep doing it. Activision-Blizzard gives their employees and their significant others cash based on how well they do on their Fitbit goals. Since Activision Blizzard is a game company that promotes competition, this is a way to keep the employees still finding the urge to compete outside of their job. This year, Activision Blizzard made the list for "FORTUNE's Top 100 Companies to Work For". The article describes that 50 percent of the companies that made the list, employers were driven to that company because of the benefits and compensations they are able
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