Lots of movies help people comprehend this life better, learn a couple of lessons, and make everything possible to improve this life and enjoy it. There are so many topics, which directors are eager to disclose in their works, and one of them is human desire to earn more money without taking into consideration possible consequences.
To my mind, Wall Street and Boiler Room are one of the most interesting and educative films about the ways of how young people want to achieve the desirable success by means of frauds, lies, and violations. These two movies have lots in common: Wall Street, stockbrokers, violation of law; but still, it is necessary to admit certain differences between the main characters, their economic status, and the situation in the world in general.
Wall Street is the movie, starring Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, and Daryl Hannah, and directed by Oliver Stone in 1987. The events, described in the movie, are all about 1985. Boiler Room is the movie about the stockbrokers of the 1990s, directed by Ben Younger in 2000. Such wonderful actors as Giovanni Ribisi and Vin Diesel starred in this movie and presented a wonderful picture of the young men of the 1990s, who were extremely eager to improve their lives by any possible means.
Of course, the similarities of these movies are quite obvious: they both touch upon the questions of stockholders and earning easy but dirty money. Wall Street is considered to be the major place in the lives of the characters from both movies. All characters are ready to break the law in order to achieve the desirable purposes: Bud Fox and Gordon Gekko from Wall Street, and Seth Davis from Boiler Room.
The plot of these stories develops in one and the same way: one anti-character achieves certain success and tries to develop own business. However, numerous problems and personal sufferings appear with time and frustrate all the plans. As a result, the character learns something more significant for this life in order to change everything and become better.
In order to underline the similarities of these two movies, I want to consider two characters: Gordon Gekko (Wall Street) and the center of Boiler Room, Seth Davis.
Without any doubts, Gordon seems to be rather greedy person with his own ambitions. However, his attitude to different situations and reactions on unpredictable changes are quite normal: he is a child of a blue collar family; he knows which troubles this life may present; and, finally, he knows enough to comprehend everything and choose the best way out. In his turn, Seth is a young boy from a successful family, whose father is a judge.
The house, Seth lives in, is really nice, and he does not suffer from money absence. This is why the goals of the characters and the ways, they choose to achieve them may be explained and even justified. However, Seth’s desire to have more money and no ideas what to do with them are remain not quite comprehensible.
Of course, Wall Street and Boiler Room are rather interesting movies, which present a clear picture of how one game, one desire, and one mistake may change the whole life. It is better to watch such movies in order to learn, in order not make the same mistake, and in order to help some other people solve problems and not to be destroyed by own desires.
Movies Wall Street and Wizard of Oz depict different economic problems and critical life situations typical for business. Wall Street vividly portrays corporate misconduct and insider trading which threatens company’s existence and its employees. Both movies depict real life situations which influence the company and stakeholders, future growth and personal values of people.
Discussion
The main theme of Wall Street is insider trading perfumed by Bud Fox and Gordon Gekko. Insider trading refers to “the buying or selling of securities by a person who has obtained nonpublic information”, which is likely to be important to a reasonable investor and who employs that nonpublic information in breach of an obligation of confidence or trust (Bishop 72). The movie vividly portrays unethical behavior of corporate leaders and their desire to gain financial success at any price. Gekko, a corporate raider, decides to sell assets of Bluestar and dismiss employees. Bud manipulates with the assets which is prohibited by law. The movie shows that the alleged abuses parallel insider trading techniques: a commodities broker who receives a large order for soybeans from a customer might then buy some soybeans futures himself.
He could then sell at a higher price to fill the customer’s order or sell to others when the price rises as a result of the large purchase order. in spite of positive outcomes of Fox’s actions, he is arrested by the Securities Exchange Commission because of law violation and illegal actions. Despite vigorous enforcement of antifraud laws brawny with sanctions that include huge financial penalties and prison terms for offenders, those who abuse the insider trading, short-swing profits laws have not been deterred. Under the short-swing rule, an officer or director may complete as many purchases as he or she wishes without regard to any time constraints provided he or she does not sell the equity-security (Bishop 76). The movie underlines that recovery by the firm is automatic, it still is a crime (Reuters Glossary 236).
The main problem is that both Bud Fox and Gordon Gekko use nonpublic information and manipulate assets and the stock prices. According ot law, this confidential business information belongs to the corporation, to its shareholders. securities laws dictate the time and method that certain important information can be released to the public (Bishop 79). The disclosure of information lies within the discretion of a firm’s executive management. Nonetheless, the firm’s executives must exercise that discretion in conformity with the obligations prescribed by reason of their fiduciary relationship with the firm and its shareholders (Reuters Glossary 236). The firm’s employees are also prohibited from selling or giving away inside information to someone who is likely to use it.
Moreover, if the person to whom the employee sold or gave the information knew, or should have known, that the firm’s employee was breaching a fiduciary duty in disclosing the nonpublic information, that person, the “tippee,” is also liable for illegal insider trading. Only if the tipper is without sin, is the tippee as well. The profitable use or disclosure of nonpublic information in the foregoing material areas will violate the federal securities laws and result in civil and criminal penalties for the user or discloser as well as the firm (Bishop 82). The movie portrays that regulation of insider trading has received strong support among those who consider noneconomic values as the basis on which government should establish the ideal content of laws in our society. It has, on the contrary, had much weaker support among those who wish to base securities regulations on a purely economic basis.
Wizard of Oz (1937) portrays money reform and its impact on citizens and the community. The events tool place at the end of the 19th century and depict the 1890s Midwestern political movement. The government was to lend money to workingmen to finance their co-operative undertakings. It differed only in that the money was to come from inflation of greenbacks rather than taxes (Black 367). The greenback theory was also on a par with all anarchistic and socialistic theories, since it held that interest was robbery to the extent that it exceeded the labour-cost of conducting the loan transactions. Its confusion was parallel with the double meaning of the term “value of money.” The movie portrays the times when the American Federation of Labor was once more almost drawn into the whirlpool of partisan politics during the presidential campaign of 1896 (Black 368).
The Money reform was proposed by William Jennings Bryan who proposed to break bankers’ monopoly and prevent further manipulations with gold currency. the movie portrays that three successive conventions had declared in favor of the free coinage of silver; and now the Democratic party had come out for free coinage. In this situation very many prominent trade union leaders declared publicly for Bryan (Bishop155). It declared that the law creating the so-called national banking system was a delegation by Congress of the sovereign power to make money and to regulate its value to a class of irresponsible banking associations, and “that this money monopoly is the parent of all monopolies — the very root and essence of slavery — railroad, warehouse and all other monopolies of whatever kind or nature are the outgrowth of and subservient to this power” (Bishop156). Also, as a remedy against this money monopoly, the platform set forth at great length the scheme of interconvertible bonds and legal tender paper money and, as auxiliary to the latter, the repeal of the exemption from taxation of bank capital and government bonds.
The question of the taxation of government bonds was again considered by a special committee composed of A. Campbell, R. Trevellick, and A. J. Kuykendall, and they found the question “one of very grave importance,” and the exemption a “burden imposed on labor for the benefit of capital” (Bishop159). Bryan proposed to coin silver mosey at a fixed ratio with gold. Thus, this proposition was declined as inappropriate and impossible for the majority of the states. As the most important this movie portrays that money reform is not an economic issue by a political one influenced by political interests of the parties and their preferences. Nobody took into account financial or economic benefits of the reform, but relied on personal and political outcomes and financial gains. The movie expressed sympathy with the working women and recommended to the unemployed that they “proceed to the public lands and become actual settlers” (Bishop160). Through the characters of Dorothy, Tin Woodsman and Scarecrow movie depicts impact of common citizens on political and economic reforms. In real life, Euro can be seen as a money reform aimed to improve stability in Europe and introduce a unified currency. This money reform changed economic relations and economies of the European states and has a great impact in the global economy. Similar to the movie theme, Euro currency is a political decision.
Conclusion
In sum, values, morality, and ethics are used in a variety of loosely connected contexts. Business and economy is philosophical thinking about issues of morality in business, including moral problems and judgments. Business ethics necessarily addresses ethical issues that arise in a competitive, economic environment, and these issues are similar to those raised by any human activity.
Works Cited
Bishop, M. Essential Economics. Bloomberg Press, 2004.
Black, J. A Dictionary of Economics. Oxford University Press, USA, 2003.
Reuters Glossary of International Financial and Economic Terms. Cartermill International; 2Rev Ed edition, 1995.
The theory of ‘in place’ and ‘out of place’ tends to stratify the society on the basis of the correct placement of each social stratum. These strata could rely on economic affluence, ideologies, gender, race or religion. This phenomenon is an interesting focal point, when examining the instances when geography intersects with social ideologies of a particular setting (Cresswell, 1996).
Therefore, the societal expectations make individuals behave in a certain manner when he/she occurs in a particular setting, and any consequence that may accompany their defiance is blamed more on the correctness of the place rather than on the explicit nature of the occurrence (Hubbard, Kitchin, & Valentine, 2010).
This research proposal is designed to look at a situation in the social setting that depicts the society’s correctness in relation to place and how this correctness or incorrectness affects them or the surrounding society in that particular place both explicitly and implicitly. The real time study of Occupy Wall Street Movement was chosen as a phenomenon worth analyzing.
It is important to note that the movement can be regarded as an illustration of the power of specific space over specific groups of people. The instance of St. Paul’s Cathedral (London) verifies the assumption that place (or space) can play a very important role in the development of societies. For instance, London protestors decided to express their ideas in immediate proximity to London Stock Exchange (“St Paul’s Protest”, 2011).
Therefore, people’s choice was rather predictable, as they wanted to be heard by their opponents, “financial sharks”. It is also important to note that they people could not simply occupy areas near the Exchange as the areas were privately owned. Therefore, protestors had an opportunity to find an ideal public place to express their concerns.
Remarkably, the protestors were heard as authorities tried to come to certain agreement. More so, dean of the cathedral had to resign which can be regarded as a manifestation of power of such social movements (Walker, 2011). Admittedly, the fact that the protestors were heard is due to the place they occupied. In that case space (or rather specific place) influenced choices different groups of people made.
Purpose of the research
The purpose of this research paper is to critically examine the situation upon which the aspects of social expectations with regard to the society’s way of life are related to space. It will cast light on different facets of place away from just the spatial implications. Various instances in which an individual taking a particular social place is expected to behave in a certain way will be analyzed looking at the real life occurrences that made the phenomenon explicitly reveal itself in a social setting in a real time.
In attempt to bring out the situation in a more realistic manner and in a way that people can relate with, this research paper focuses on the Occupy Wall Street Movement, a kind of uprising that began in September 2011. Inspired by the uprisings in the Arab world that have been associated with ushering in revolutionary changes in favor of the oppressed majority (Gelder, 2011), the movement was on the forefront in demand for a fair share of equality in economic, social and political arenas.
Hence, the argument will be based on whether there is a relationship between the ways in which the protesting behave in airing their demands and places where they gather with reference to the social structure.
It is important to note that the present movement provides important insights into the assumption that privatization of public places minimizes people’s control over the development of the societies (Mitchell, 1995). The idea of the movement is that a small group of people accumulates all resources depriving the majority of the citizens from those resources.
Ironically, the movement was an illustration of the basic idea. People occupied public places and tried to make their ideas heard. Importantly, authorities tried to make the protestors go even from the public areas (Burns, 2011). Therefore, Mitchell’s concerns about minimization of public control can be rather relevant. Apart from this, the protests in London show that the place does shape people’s behavior.
Thus, being in immediate proximity to the cathedral made people more preserved and tolerant. In fact, both sides had to consider their actions thoroughly because of the place chosen by the protestors. Hence, the argument will be based on whether there is a relationship between the ways in which the protesting behave in airing their demands and places where they gather with reference to the social structure.
Background Information
Occupy Wall Street abbreviated as OWS is a movement that began in Zuccoti Park in New York on September 17th 2011 after being contrived by Adbuster, an activists group based in Canada. The aim of the protest was to disapprove the prevalence economic disparity among the Americans which led to the emergence of social alienation among the middle class and the poor by the few economically affluent people who were perceived to be in control of the Wall Street Business District.
In addition, they strongly opposed the participation of the corporate and financial institutions in the political arena, among other basic social wrongs, such as a high rate of unemployment and corruption that have been associated with difficulties of survival among the majority (Apps, 2011).
According to Apps (2011), the strikers considered themselves as the representatives of the majority that were unemployed, homeless and did not enjoy medical and social benefits, while the political elite and their corporate cronies seemed to benefit from the system.
Lower Manhattan has not been spared from the rampant riots and uprisings due to its connection with financial system and the economy (History.com Staff). The overall intent of Occupy Wall Street was connected with those receiving end crossing and wanting to cross barriers, occupy places meant for public use or even to air their dissatisfaction.
This approach could be accompanied by possible violence and severe ramifications. The use of social media was seen as a breakthrough on gathering the crowd and circumventing the administration as well spreading their blueprint.
Literature Review
Ideological values are a product of social expectations with regard to the conduct in a particular spatial setting (Therborn, 1980). Scholars, such as Goren Therborn (1980), have argued that an ideology could only be considered to be good or bad with regard to the place in which it was taking place rather than time.
Hence, it becomes justifiable for someone to judge on the validity of an action basing his argument on the spatial setting upon which the action is taking place. While it is usually unnoticeable when individuals behave normally being “in place”, it becomes obvious when a person acts “out of place” because it does not correspond to the expectations of the surrounding society, which may expose the actor to prejudice.
Kitchin (1999) also argues that people often see if some individuals or groups do not fit the space occupied. Though the researcher focuses on specific characteristics, the assumption can be applied to various groups characterized by different features. Thus, socio-economic features make people find themselves in different camps. The researcher also dwells upon some issues concerning social justice (Kitchin, 1999).
Studies have shown that social injustices are characterized by distinct spatial settings which are exhibited through the control and domination of space by one group of people. When the word ‘injustice’ is used, unfair treatment comes in mind and is more inclined to the issue of social morality (Smith, 1994).
This implies that people who are oppressed by an economic or political system are more likely to be found in a certain locality away from their oppressors. In order for them to have their outcry given attention, they tend to move to the localities in which they believe they will catch the attention of the oppressors. Such was the case of Occupy Wall Street Movement.
Problem statement
The problem statement for the research paper is to critically analyze the Occupy Wall Street Movement and determine whether there is(are) any instance(s) the behavior and actions of the protestors intersect with place. The research will examine the interaction between the actions of the protestors and the place in which they decided to camp; whether they were in place to do so or they were out of place.
Significance of the problem
Zuccoti Park is a privately owned park that is accessible to the public. It was designed for recreational purpose, but on September 17th, 2011, people with absolutely different agenda started trickling in the park to protest against the Wall Street system. Thus, these people did not behave with respect to the expectations of the general public and the owners, too.
Hence, they were viewed to have taken their motives out of place. The NYPD was not in the capacity to install a curfew in the park to avert the strikers from being there though it seemed to be an appropriate intervention. If the park was not privately owned, the police could have used every means at their disposal to avert the entry into the park.
This is because the strikers were not intending to use it in the way prescribed by the common law. If the protesters had decided to air their protests at their homes, possibly, nobody could have noticed it.
In addition, there were reported cases of theft of mobile phones and laptops among the protesters who claimed to receive police protection. In some instances, cases of sexual harassment started leaking into the press that led to setting up of tents exclusively meant for female protesters.
Some cases of violence went unreported with the police blaming the strikers of infusing “three strikes policy” which discouraged the victims from reporting any physical violence inflicted upon them until the offender performed the same violence in three different occasions. The protesters claimed the police tell them to deal with their own tribulations or go back to their homes.
Thus, this case presents a credible illustration of people acting out of place which draws attention from various actions. These people were denied some basic rights by the police on the claims that they were not supposed to use the park for that purpose. Various evils were inflicted upon them, which looked justifiable in the eyes of the offenders; after all they were not supposed to have camped there.
Thus, it is important to take a closer look at the movement in the context of space. It is important to reveal the correlation between the exact place and people’s actions. Crang and Thrift (2000) point out that space cannot be separated from social context and vice versa. Therefore, the movement can be analyzed in terms of socio-spatial context.
It can be important to understand the choices people made, and how the places chosen affected the way people acted. Apart from this, it is essential to analyze the outcomes of the protests. It is important to understand whether the place chosen helped protestors to achieve their aims or not. It is also necessary to trace the development of the protestors’ ideas and the development of the movement itself.
This analysis can help to more deeply understand the role of place in the development of societies. The precise movement can provide insights into socio-spatial processes that take place in the societies.
Cresswell, T. (1996). In Place/Out of Place: Geography, Ideology, and Transgression. Minneapolis, MN, USA: University of Minnesota Press.
Gelder, S.V. (2011). How occupy Wall Street changes everything. In S.V. Gelder &Staff of Yes! Magazine (Eds.), This changes everything: occupy wall street and 99% movement (pp. 1-13). New York, NY: Beret-Koehler Publishers.
Crang, M. & Thrift, N.J. (2000). Thinking Space. New York, NY: Routledge.
History.com Staff. (2011). Wall Street: 300 Years of Protests. Web.
Hubbard, P., Kitchin, R. & Valentine G. (Eds.) (2010). Key Thinkers on Space and Place (2nd edn.). London: Sage.
Kitchin, R. (1999). Creating and awareness of others: Highlighting the role of space and place. Geography, 84(1), 45-54.
Mitchell, D. (1995). The end of public space? People’s Park, definitions of the public, and democracy. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 85(1), 108-133.
Smith, D. J. (1994). Geography and Social Justice. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Special Education: When Should Taxes Pay Private Tuition?
Descriptive Summary
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to perceive sound arguments to make your mind up the central query of the case: Must parents of special-education scholars give community schools a chance previous to having taxpayers give money back them for school tuition? How the justices react will have broad implication for school financial plan and the movement toward “mainstreaming,” or humanizing disabled children in usual classrooms. Mr. Freston, promises to donate any profits, has said the brawl is about standard, not cash.
What are the major summits of dream in this article?
If we analyzed then we come to know that Under a marker 1975 special teaching law, now recognized as the Individuals by means of Disabilities Education Act, school schemes must provide a “free suitable” public education to disable students. Congress, alarmed that school were warehousing kids with particular needs in poorly equipped classrooms, supposed that, where on earth possible, the brood should be located in the “least restrictive environment” often the similar classrooms as their nondisabled peers. In 2005, about 54% of special teaching students exhausted 80% or additional of the school day in a usual classroom, up from 33% in 1990.
Why is this piece of writing important to organization?
Nonetheless, the do something permits parents to look for public financing for confidential schools if they can set up that the community schools can’t meet their children’s needs. About 88,000 of the nation more than six million special-education scholars are cultured in confidential schools or in confidential residential amenities at public expenditure.
General Analysis
According to the expert analysis the events most important to today’s case day to the 1990s, when Mr. Freston’s son, who undergoes from attention shortfall hyperactivity chaos and other knowledge disabilities, began his teaching at the confidential Stephen Gaynor School. In 1997 and 1998, the relations sought special-education assessments from the New York City Department of Education, which came up with tactics to educate him in a community school. Each time, the relations rejected the diagram as inadequate and sued for an managerial hearing. And together times the city established, agreeing to disburse the Gaynor School’s instruction.
What present organization trends are supported in this portion of writing?
In recent months, organizations, counting the National School Boards Association and the U.S. Meeting of Mayors, have urged the courtyard to side with New York, proverb the costs of increased confidential placements would use up school budgets. In the 2005-2006 train year, New York City exhausted about $300 million on confidential school placements. The metropolis itself recommended that 8,000 of the most harshly disabled be sent to confidential facilities. About 3,700 other parents asked the metropolis to pay for confidential school in excess of the system’s objections; in about half the luggage the children by no means enrolled in community schools before creation the needs. The city couldn’t provide data on the results of these luggage.
What is the the majority significant in order in this article?
This article also highlights the tuition business arrangements should center not on individual modify but on collaboration and educational goals. Such educational methods of inclusivity and way of work style can support companies as they get ready for the increasingly varied students.
This research focused on this truth that separately from the monetary debate, New York and other school officials speak that the Freston families ask for flies in the countenance of the 1975 education law. Parents who look for private schools that educate kids with disabilities are stingy them of the communal and academic reimbursement of being built-in in the universal inhabitants.
Critical/Comparative Analysis
In 1999, after another assessment, the city optional that Mr. Freston’s son be located in the New York City Lower Lab School for Gifted Education. The boy was to be located in a fourth-grade special-education group of students with 15 students and one educator. For nonacademic topics like gym and art, he would be by means of nondisabled peers. He was performing at score level in math, and a educator testified that one more student with alike skills attended a normal class. But the relations thought the math group of students wouldn’t be suitable, sent the boy to Gaynor and ask for an administrative trial to get repay for instruction, which was $21,819.
Management Application
No doubt, this article shows how educational re-conceptualization parallels and how manufacturing has refigured associations through team management theories, which dismantles hierarchical arrangement in good turn of participatory ones and suggest ways of, dissolve barriers to create strategies for this business. Working as teacher to arrive at a common objective underlies together collaborative/cooperative knowledge and squad management theory.
How ‘chief beer taster’ blended Molson, Coors
Descriptive Summary
This article shows that with wine, liquid and small-batch “craft” beers grasps U.S. market share from normal brewers, Leo Kiely is in a rough spot. Yet the chief decision-making of Molson Coors Brewing Co. has managed to increase sales and income by deploying easy advertising strategies and slash costs.
Molson Coors, the third-largest U.S. brewer by sales, positions its flagship make, Coors Light, as “the world’s the majority stimulating beer,” and touts the “smooth” taste of Keystone Light, its major discount brand. It also boasts a fast-growing craft-style beer of its own, azure Moon. Now, the corporation is making a new supplementary, AC Golden Brewing Co., to develop other fashionable beers, but at an on purpose pace so it can reduce risk.
General Analysis
Every move counts, since with only concerning 11 percent of the U.S. beer advertise, Molson Coors has smaller amount dollars to spend headfirst its brands than better rivals Anheuser-Busch Cos. with Miller Brewing Co.
Mr. Kiely, 60 years old, has boosted Molson Coors’s share cost by 36 percent because the company was shaped by the 2005 amalgamation of Colorado’s Adolph Coors Co. and Canada’s Molson Inc. In difference, shares of Anheuser-Busch, which wheel nearly half the U.S. beer market, are up 3 percent in excess of the era. Mr. Kiely is on pace to squeeze concerning $180 million in cost investments from the amalgamation. Still, Molson Coors faces confronts. It first and foremost operates in three grown-up beer markets, the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.
Critical/Comparative Analysis
On the additional hand, a marketing leaning strategy states that achieving managerial goals depends on formative the wants and wants of customers and delivers the desired approval more effectively and professionally than competitors. Since of the huge competition and defeat of advertise share that Coors started to face throughout 1976, Coors was forced to alter its production plan to a marketing oriented plan. This was obvious by the foreword of a new product, the growth of new manufactured goods, the promotional expenditures, and the growth efforts of Coors to become accustomed to a novel environment where customer’s favorites were the major focus.
Since the beer manufacturing was only rising at a 3% a year and this enlargement was pending from two crop light beer and superpremium beer and not any of these beers were obtainable by Coors, Coors introduce Coors glow in 1978. They also in progress raising a superpremium beer in 1980 and promotional expenditures greater than before to a total of $200M in 1987 anywhere in 1976 Coors had only exhausted $2.2M. Despite all labors of Coors to remain spirited in an manufacturing where main competitors have better resources, it has only achieved a far-away third in the manufacturing with a home market share of merely 11%.
Management Application
What’s almost certainly changed the most in an age group is the variety-seeking natural globe of today’s beer drinker. I sort of grow up as a beer drinker in the not on time 1960s, near the beginning ’70s, and my make set was and bring in, Heineken, and a home brand, Schlitz. Today I timepiece a beer drinker in his not on time 20s, and he’ll have a transport in brand, perhaps two, he enjoys. He’ll have a craft-brew brand. And the size of his beer eating will motionless is a brightness lager.
If we analyze then we come to know that it goes back to customers. If customers are interested in cocktail, we’ll find our way to obtain our fair share. I believe the craft brews transport a really significant interest in the middle of beer drinkers in how beers complete, why beer’s special. I am thunderstruck with how inquisitive consumers are concerning beer, the procedure of beer. And lots of guys similar to to try to create their own cocktail.
Reference
Special Education: When Should Taxes Pay Private Tuition? By John Hechinger. 2007. Web.
The purpose of this report is to assess the Wall Street Journal article “Ancestry Taps AI to Sift Millions of Obituaries” and how the company’s decisions impact its strategy and development. As it is stated in the article, the company implemented a hi-edge technological solution to a task that would have taken years otherwise (Council, 2019). Due to this decision, Ancestry.com has managed to boost its database that now includes more than six times as many names as it did two years ago. The Ancestry’s data science team managed to teach algorithms to conduct sophisticated research in the trove of the old newspapers and obituaries in particular. The company reported that the accuracy rate of the search rose to more than 90 %. According to corporate management, expanded obituary collection and new search functionality are expected to be financially beneficial, “including by encouraging free-trial users to pay for a subscription” (Council, 2019), which is supposed to bring substantial profit.
On the one hand, the plan to profit from free-trial users might be understood as competing for customers, which indicates the business level of the company. On the other hand, the implementation of high-end technologies is likely to ensure the leading position of Ancestry.com in its market niche and make a significant competitive advantage. While other companies conduct their research manually, which takes an immense amount of time and human resources, Ancestry.com offers a quick and high-quality search to people who are interested in their genealogy. It can be concluded that the essence of their strategy is not in technologies but in doing their work differently from their rivals.
The most evident and yet the most crucial thing that should be gained from above is that it is necessary to define the company’s strategy as clear as possible. Encouraging the site visitors to buy subscriptions cannot be the primary source of income for a company that provides people with genealogy information. It indicates a lack of vision and a vague strategy statement. According to Collis and Rukstad (2008), a good strategy statement includes such critical elements as objective, scope, and advantage. So, the first thing that could be suggested to any local firm is, to begin with, the definition of the objective that the firm wants to achieve.
Secondly, the implementation of innovative technologies can skyrocket the company’s profits and ensure the leading positions within the industry, although some precautions could be made here as well. To connect innovation to a company strategy, it should be determined “how innovation will create value for potential customers, how the company will capture that value, and which types of innovation to pursue” (Pisano 2015, p. 47). So, it is necessary to keep pace with digital reality, despite the challenges the company might face in the process of transformational endeavor. Among them the change in value creation, modifications in organizational structures, processes, and skillsets of a company, the ability to finance a digital transformation endeavor (Hess et al., 2016, p. 124).
As addressed in this report, any local company, regardless of its size, should develop a sound competitive strategy that allows conducting business in a completely different way compared with the rivals. Before that, the management of the company should have a crystal-clear vision of what they want and what their objectives are. The vision will determine not only the strategy of the company but also its general level. And after that, it is necessary to interweave the latest innovations into the strategy to develop a new business model that complies with the modern digitized reality.
References
Collis, D. J., & Rukstad M. G. (2008). Can you say what your strategy is? Harvard Business Review 86(4), 1-10.
Hess, T., Matt, C., Benlian, A., & Wiesböck, F. (2016). Options for formulating a digital transformation strategy. MIS Quarterly Executive, 15(2), 123-139.
Pisano, G. P. (2015). You need an innovation strategy. Harvard Business Review, 93(6), 44-54.
Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street is a very fascinating book that gives a detailed account of different developments in quantitative analysis of the stock market. The author uses his experience in financial management to inform his readers on the origin and dynamics of modern Wall Street. The book is an appreciation of how investment management has been transformed by new models and theories.
The author explains how the marketplace methods were changed by modern theirs and models. According to the author, institutional investment is a concept of modern finance that was developed from a variety of economic theories (Bernstein 17). Capital Ideas is a historical narrative that highlights the development of modern finance and quantitative analysis of the stock market. The author reveals to his readers the origin of modern Wall Street the relationship between modern Wall Street techniques and various research findings in modern finance.
Modern finance theories are very difficult to understand but the author tries his level best to simplify them to a level where a layman can understand and analyze them. The initial chapters of this book narrate how a doctoral thesis by a French researcher known as Louis Bachellier at the beginning of the 20th century demonstrated why it is difficult to predict stock prices in a financial market (Bernstein 49).
The author highlights the various financial market theories developed by different scholars especially those that touch on the unpredictability of stock prices. Famous economists such as James Tobin and Harry Markowitz are among the scholars who made a very significant contribution to the modern analysis of financial securities (Bernstein 79). The author narrates how investors ignored the new theories and concepts because they believed that the scholars who developed the theories were failures. Bernstein reiterates the need to have systematic risk control when it comes to investment returns (149).
The author gives a brief background on how the 1973 bare market made the reluctant investors believe in investment management theories (Bernstein 184). The book demonstrates how technological advancements, diversification, and hedging have become part of investment management (Bernstein 188). According to Bernstein, restructuring investment practices and strategies is very critical when making big investments (195).
The author of this book tries his level best to ensure that both insiders and outsiders in the capital market are in a better position to understand and predict market behavior. Portfolio analysis-risk management models have been explained in this book and the author traces their origin to give his readers a very solid background in investment management. The majority of portfolio analysis-risk management models were developed after the Second World War (Bernstein 199).
The capital asset pricing model and the standard deviation model are some of the portfolio analysis-risk management models are that the author gave priority to in his book. According to Bernstein, price movements are normally assumed to be small and independent of each other (221). The author analyzes all financial markets using general assumptions. Bernstein argues that the scholars who come up with theories that shape the financial market should be regarded as heroes and not greedy Wall Street businessmen (256). The author comes to the defense of finance scholars by writing about their role in the Wall Street transformation.
The financial crisis that was witnessed in 1974 is one of the major points of discussion in Capital Ideas. The author explains why and how the stock market crashed in that year. According to Bernstein, the bear market in common stocks led to the worst financial crisis in the history of modern finance (342). The 1987 crisis that is highlighted in the final chapters of the book is the only financial crisis that can be compared to the 1974 bear market in common stocks (Bernstein 365).
The two incidences in the stock market tainted the image of financial innovators but this was not their fault. According to Bernstein, it was wrong for investors and the general public to blame financial specialists because of what happened to the stock market during those two incidences (365). The author insists that more innovations in the finance discipline are the solution to the problems facing the financial market (Bernstein 368). The 1974 crisis challenged financial practitioners to come up with risk management theories. Portfolio selection was the other aspect of financial management that attracted the attention of economists and other financial scholars after the 1974 crisis (Bernstein 390).
Portfolio insurance was blamed for the 1987 crisis but this was just an excuse to portray financial experts as failures (Bernstein 396). The author laments how many business schools across the world are yet to appreciate finance as a very important academic discipline. The stock market was never given any attention by very prominent economists before the finance discipline was created (Bernstein 399). The book provides adequate personal and professional information about the pioneers of modern finance. Readers of Capital Ideas must have some knowledge regarding theoretical finance for them to understand the complex financial models and theorems that have been highlighted in the book (Bernstein 402).
The author responds to the various financial models and theorems in a nonscientific way to help his readers in understanding the most complex models. The most contentious question in this book is whether the stock market is predictable or not. The author dwells on the history of finance and other related disciplines. The author categorically points out his heroes when it comes to modern Wall Street reforms and innovations. Examples of the author’s heroes include Markowitz, Scholes, Modigliani, and Sharpe. The author demonstrates his support for synthetic portfolio insurance. The author focuses on the positive aspects of the finance theory by ignoring some of the perceived errors.
Financial analysts believe that the assumptions used to build the financial models in Capital Ideas had some errors. The CAPM is the most notable model with flawed assumptions. The author does not in any way point out the errors in some of the theories even though some of them are quite obvious. The author uses very interesting stories to communicate his message effectively. The book dismisses Dodd and Graham’s methods of value investing which is not a good idea (Bernstein 405).
The theories and ideas in this book are very useful to both investors and finance students. Bernstein insists that the ideas in the models discussed in the book are very sound despite the flaws in the assumptions used to build the models (474). The author argues that the models used in the book should not be dismissed because they have some errors but should only be seen as the basis for future advancement in modern finance (Bernstein 481). The author acknowledges that lack of data and processing power is the reason why it is difficult to understand some of the most complex theories (Bernstein 408). Investors should not in any way ignore this book unless they want to fail.
The history of quantitative analysis of the stock market has been tackled in detail by the author. Godman Sachs and Wells Fargo are some of the new generation scholars mentioned in the book. The author gives a historical explanation of the 1987 financial crisis by giving a detailed analysis of portfolio insurance and systematic risk (Bernstein 410). Although the majority of the theories and models in the book are very complex, the author does his level best to hide the complexities.
Complex models such as the options pricing model and the capital asset market pricing theory have been simplified by the author. The author was aware of the fact that presenting them in their original form would make it difficult for him to pass his message to scholars and investors (Bernstein 412). Capital ideas is a very interesting book to read because the author uses very simple and persuasive language that can be understood by his readers. It is important to note that the book covers theories and models that were formulated before 1992. Modern quantitative technologies such as Stochastic Calculus were not ready by the time the author was publishing this book.
Capital Ideas is a must-read for finance students and investors because it analyzes the stock market by highlighting some of the most important investment management developments. The author highlights some of the most important theories and models by famous scholars which have been instrumental in shaping the stock market. The author highlights the evolution of the stock market from a historical perspective. The book explains how quantitative analysis of the stock market has developed over the years in a very simple and understandable language.
Works Cited
Bernstein, Peter. Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street, New York, NY: John Wiley, 2012. Print.
The movie Wall Street is about the untrammeled greed and unscrupulous business practices that dominate the world of high finance. The movie tracks the meteoric rise of a young stockbroker under the mentorship of an unscrupulous corporate honcho. There are references to the unethical behavior of the stockbrokers and the subsequent fall from grace of the main character engineered by the protagonist.
The movie offers several threads of thought that debate the themes of regulation of the stock markets and how the system allows itself to be manipulated by individuals with a crooked bent of mind. Though the movie ends on an optimistic note with the arrest and conviction of the main character, the parallels to the current economic crisis are striking and it is instructive to study the movie for these to help us make up our minds about the issues at stake.
The most important message from the movie is the depiction of the fine distinctions between ethical and unethical behavior and also how the stock markets are regularly manipulated. The plot of the movie is about a young stockbroker Bud Fox who desperately wants to get to the top and thus tries to get the attention of a legendary corporate raider, Gordon Gekko. The movie develops in the way in which Bud wins over Gekko by revealing insider information about a small airline in which his father, Carl works and is the union representative.
This is the beginning of their relationship that makes Bud very rich and also gets him a girlfriend. In the mad scramble to the top, Bud coaxes more information from his dad much against the latter’s wishes. The story reaches a point where Bud begins to plot the takeover of the airline by Gekko and uses the savings from the union to restructure it. However, once he realizes that Gekko is out to sell the airline that would make his father and everyone else out of work, he has a traumatizing experience where he wrestles with himself and finally decides to derail the plan. However, once the stock plummets due to Bud’s machinations, Gekko sells his stake and finds out that Bud was behind the fall.
In the meantime, Bud is arrested by the SEC for securities violations. This scene is brilliant with a great quote from Bud’s manager to the effect that “when one stares at the abyss, it is one’s character that pulls him out”. The other famous dialogue from the movie that has been immortalized is Gekko’s assertion that “Greed is Good”. Ultimately, Bud confronts Gekko and tapes the conversation that leads to Gekko’s arrest. The final scene in the movie is where Bud is outside the courtroom with his dad advising him to come clean of his offenses.
Legal regulations
The movie underscores the fact that we need regulation over the market if we are to prevent people like Gekko’s from manipulating the system. Strict anti-insider laws and enforcing them as well are the need of the hours. If we consider greed to be the demon, we need relevant and applicable restraints. In the context of the current crisis, it’s been noted that many of the new financial instruments are so complex that only a few people in the system actually understand them.
Regulation seeks to prevent the inexplicable from being marketed to the gullible. The movie underscores this with the initially gullible Bud trying out the system to suit his mentor Gekko and paying a price for not knowing some relevant laws. We must require financial institutions to demonstrate the ability to present an easy and ethical simplicity in their products.
It has always been believed that self-regulation is the best form of enforcement and that it would work. And given the degree of market deregulation of recent years, the premise was that self-regulation would be enough to govern the market. However, it proved otherwise as a financial community that was still stuck in ethical relativism was never really going to go down the path of self-regulation. And this became a predictable behavior over the years.
Thus, what we need are new forms of punishment and the establishment of a cadre of honest and well-paid law enforcement officers who can demand and impose tough penalties that would not be written off simply as the costs of doing business.
Self regulation
The scene from the movie when Brad Fox is unable to sleep is particularly telling. He looks across from his balcony across the lights of New York City. In the midst of his new found opulence and its trappings..designer decorated apartment, swish blonde live-in girlfriend –seven figure salary, Italian suits; Brad allows himself the question “Who am I” in the midst of the feeling that his new found wealth has all been possible because he has thrown off not just his sense of values , but the values of his upbringing and those of his father and the community he came from.
In other words, there is an attempt to introspect in relation to what had happened to him. The movie shows that ultimately, Brad rejects philosophy of Gordon Gekko and tries to save the firm which he has helped to degrade and in which his father is employed. But the realization is driven more by a sense of loyalty that his father would be out of a job and that the livelihoods of others have been threatened. Thus this is partial and superficial and the moral aspect is slightly vague here.
When Bud turns on Gekko, it is from a mixture of self-regulation and ethical duty towards his father. The Loyalty that is shown here is superficial and one that is partly self-centered and self-serving. However, there are enough indications of the influence of the community in which Brad has been raised on his sense of morals and the values that still inhere in his character.
Of course, in the movie, it is always possible to have a conversion and atone for one’s sins. However, most of this would not matter unless the regulations also require that, within our organizations, we take steps to create organizations built on integrity and fair values. Thus as Rushworth says, “unless we can build into the corporate DNA a commitment to honesty, responsibility, respect, fairness, and compassion — in other words, to doing what’s right — all the regulation and enforcement in the world will create only more high-stakes efforts to game the system” (Rushworth,2008).
Ethics in the mind
In 1987 it was still fashionable for that time to assert that ethics were relative, situational, negotiable, and wholly subjective. With the release of the movie Wall Street and the Gordon Gekko character whose signature line was “Greed is Good”, there was a sense of moral relativism that preached subjugation to the profits before people. In the intervening years, there’s been a remarkable divergence of thought. In many ways, philosophy and public thought — and parts of the corporate world — increasingly have rejected moral relativism, recognizing that humanity shares a core of ethical values centered on honesty and responsibility and that adherence to these values alone would bring in the kind of transparency and accountability that is needed. On the other hand, the financial community —or the parts which have become notorious— have gone along with the Gekko credo of profits and scant regard to ethical norms clinging to a moral relativism that dismisses ethics as the softer side that impedes innovation and risk-taking.
The first of these points emphasize the destructive nature of competition, pointing out that it makes for selfish behavior in those who engage in it. This is the portrait of Gordon Gekko as the selfish profit seeker and the person who puts the concept of the behavior of the “market” above everything else. However, it is pertinent to note that unless we develop a sense of ethics in the mind and not let ourselves be dragged down by the pursuit of mammon over everything else, we would be languishing without real progress and at each other’s throats.
Conclusion
Thus, the movie underscores the point that ethics are relative to the situation and that Bud though unethical with Gekko when he tries to win over his respect, converts himself to the side of the law. If these grey areas of the human psyche are to be dealt with, more than self-regulation we need regulation by the laws and the creation of a corps of people who would enforce them.
We cannot just rely on individual honesty since as the movie shows it can be bent to suit one’s needs and discarded in the face of conflicting loyalties. Self-regulation works over a longer period of time when the values are inculcated from the beginning. The systemic regulation by law enforcement agencies is a much better antidote to the prevailing sense of unethical behavior that we are witnessing all around us.
Sources
Kidder, Rushworth. “Ethics in a time of crisis”. Ethics News line. 2008.