What happens, with whom, and why is it entrepreneurial?
In this movie, Wall Street 1987, Bud Fox is a young stockbroker who is doing everything he can to be as successful as possible. Despite what his father and others say, nothing stops him from chasing his dreams. He gets an interview with the corporate raider, Gordon Gekko, and gives him information about Bluestar, the airline company his dad works for, and scores him as a client. Fox ends up doing many jobs for Gekko, even illegal actions such as spying and breaking and entering. Eventually, Fox persuades Gekko to buy Bluestar to expand it, however he ended up deciding to sell it in parts. Although Fox would make a lot of money this way he went against Gekko, teaming with his rival, Sir Laurence Wildman, to get the company back. This led Gekko to dislike Fox and turn him in for the illegal acts that would put him in prison but Bluestar and it's staff was worth it to Fox.
Why is it interesting?
This movie was interesting to me because Fox went out of his way so many times and put in so much effort to get to the top. However, when he was finally getting there he ran into issues that came down caring more about money or friendships. No matter the hard work he had put into his career and the amount of income he could receive, he still chose the ones he cared about. He risked losing the girl loved, the job he had earned, a huge income and possible prison time to stay true to his friends. This shows that not all entrepreneurs are always only focused on their own success.
How does this aspect of entrepreneurship affect society?
As a corporate raider, Gekko and Fox weren't focused on benefitting society, they were just focused on the income. They were actually hurting society and the small businesses they were taking over just to sell them for profit or to gain rights to increase their share values for their own good. These actions often times led to them replacing top executives or making other changes that hurt the staff at that business. In result of changing the company or possibly selling it, this hurts consumers as well who rely on the business. If they were doing this job to help companies and save jobs they would be benefitting society, however they are just focused on income no matter who gets hurt in the process.
How does society affect this aspect of entrepreneurship?
It can be hard sometimes, but society and businesses can fight back to protect their company. There are techniques businesses will use to defend their company such as, staggered board of directors, greenmail, etc. Therefore, some attempts to purchase stakes will fall through. This greatly affects corporate raiders and their finances. In this case it would greatly affect Fox as well, because he would not be gaining income from a failed attempt.
What is the interaction between this aspect of entrepreneurship and society like?
This aspect of entrepreneurship greatly affects businesses, normally small businesses. Corporate Raiders would often buy a large stake in companies that could potentially have more value. They would then use that to gain voting rights to potentially increase the share values or to liquidate the company. It is rare that both the entrepreneur and society benefits in this case unless the raider is doing it to help the company. Not all form of entrepreneurship are beneficial for society.
