In Other People’s Money (1991) the aspect of entrepreneurship in the movie that is very interesting is the way that Mr. Garfield recognizes that the New England Wire and Cable company is inevitably going to be replaced by new innovations. He foresees this coming, unlike Mr. Jorgenson, the presiding CEO of the company, and partakes in an act of creative destruction that ends up largely affecting the company in the long run. This battle of ownership and value in the company takes place between the two men with Kate, the lawyer, acting as a middleman between the presiding CEO and the Wall Street raider.
The interest in this aspect of entrepreneurship in Other People’s Money (1991) stems from the mindset and reasoning of the two men. On the one hand, Mr. Jorgenson holds a large interest in keeping the mature company running, even though it was not making money and was probably going to be overtaken by new innovations within the near future. Jorgenson valued that the company had been running for years, had been through hardship, and was supplying its workers with steady income. These values that he held clouded his judgement about the reality of the company. The reality that Mr. Garfield saw coming and hoped to take advantage of. Garfield did not have emotions involved in the company. Although he was written in the movie to be a comedic take on a ruthless raider that did not care about the workers or the presiding owners, he saw the reality of the market situation that New England Wire and Cable was facing. He wanted to make the decision that provided the most success in the market for the longest possible amount of time.
All these aspects are ideas we have discussed generously in class. The way to survive in the economy is to make decisions that will inevitably have the most success financially. As harsh as it sounds, if an entrepreneur can come up with an invention or an innovation that will overtake its competition in use and value, it will be the one that survives for the long run. The market does not hinge on time in the market or well-being of company employees, but it is a harsh environment that bases success on the amount of value consumers are getting out of the product—thus how much money they are spending on it.
In Mr. Jorgenson’s speech to the shareholders at the meeting, he talks about the destruction of the company and points to Mr. Garfield as the “entrepreneur of post-industrial America,” that is destroying the company. From content in class, we know that destruction is often the outcome of innovation. Garfield is channeling the basis of entrepreneurship in the market, even if it does seem inconsiderate to the already existing company. This creative destruction is not a negative thing, but it is a necessary aspect alluding to how the market has always worked and will always work.
Although it is easy to feel bad for Jorgenson and his family and employees, Garfield made the best decision to gain the most success out of the company. He knew that fiber optics were the future of communication, and he fought his hardest to creatively destroy New England Wire and Cable. At the end of the movie, we know that these entrepreneurial aspects paid off for him and the company. Instead of having to send his workforce home, he and Kate were able to effectively find a way to innovate and stay afloat, in the form of airbags, which are now in every car that is manufactured. The creative destruction that Garfield displayed is a great example of how the market works, and how entrepreneurs often must operate if they truly want to be successful.
