In the movie “Joy,” the aspect of entrepreneurship that I found particularly interesting was the legal woes that Joy had to face, and how those contributed so much to her financing. Before she was even able to create the first version of the mop she had the idea of, Joy had to find financing from somewhere. After she had found the financing from Trudy, so much money was expended for the patent and for the other fees she had to pay to the manufacturers. This spending became an issue later when Joy was going to lose her house and file for bankruptcy. Luckily, Joy discovered the truth about what was going on behind the scenes of her business and regained a lot of the money that she lost. Thus, going on to be a successful inventor of products that many of us recognize today.
This aspect of the biographical movie is entrepreneurial because all start-up entrepreneurs must gain funding from somewhere, and a lot of times, they are not well versed in the legalities of business and manufacturing. Most entrepreneurs do not have excess money for them to do it on their own. This becomes an issue when another’s money is at stake. It was an issue for Joy because, in her case, she was unfamiliar with her contracts and did not have proper advisors, so Trudy’s money was going out faster than it was coming in from the sale of the mops. Especially with the fraud that was undenounced to Joy and her family.
All of this is interesting because it is a very plausible thing that happens to many entrepreneurs. This is not just a portrayal in a fiction movie, but it happens all the time. In Joy’s case, it worked out, and we know about her journey because she went on to be very successful in the long run. However, in many cases, it does not work out this way and start up entrepreneurs are left with nothing but debt and wasted time. Knowing about contracts and having lawyers and advisors that can accurately inform the entrepreneur of their standing in the industry is of high importance for a start-up product or company. This movie also shows how unpredictable entrepreneurship can be in a way that is entertaining, but it is not to be taken lightly. Entrepreneurs can learn, from this movie, that introducing and selling a new product or service can be a very uncertain process that involves a lot of personal risk in the short-term that might not always pay off.
The topic of financial and legal troubles amid creating a start-up business or product can affect society in a lot of ways. First, actions such as fraud and embezzlement are very serious actions in business. As discussed in class, value matters more than price, but if one person or firm is controlling an industry because their fraudulent actions are keeping them in control, they can take advantage of consumers by charging whatever price they want if their good is valuable enough. Secondly, financial troubles can sometimes lead to innovative, valuable products going unnoticed in society. As it was in the movie; Joy was almost unable to get her mop into the public eye because she lacked funding for the platform to do so. Her situation with the fraud could have caused a lot of trouble for the television channel she was partnered with, thus affecting every business and product that was associated with them.
Society can affect the financing and legal aspect of entrepreneurship. As a start-up, one is relying on society to find value in the product or service in order to make money off of it. Without society’s involvement with new products, there would be no innovation because there would be no funding for it, nor would there be a need for it in a society that did not care. Society can also affect the legal side of a business. Basing my example on “Joy” for this discussion, without societal acknowledgement about illegal happening in the industry, frauds and embezzlers would be able to freely continue these actions without the accountability standard that society provides.
On the other hand, society can also stifle these aspects too. Most everyday consumers do not think about the behind-the-scenes of businesses that sell their favorite products. They are sometimes ignorant of the fact that their purchasing of the goods provides a living for anyone associated with the production of the goods. Oftentimes, consumers only think of the value that they are exchanging, only for themselves. Not for anyone involved in the production or sale of the goods that need the financing society provides. Legally, just as society can act as an accountability factor for the legal side of a business, it can also be a catalyst to illegal activity due to the ignorance that most of society has about legal policies in a business. If consumers value a product more than the ethics of the business it comes from, sometimes there can be an issue of the business operating in an illegal way that consumers either do not know about or do not care about. Oftentimes, this overlooking just stems from not being educated on business law, which the everyday consumer is usually not. It is not purposeful that society gives bad business practices the go-ahead, but it happens more than one might think.
Overall, the financials and legalities of entrepreneurship are not always outright in their interaction with society, but they are very important to each other. Without funding for new and innovative ideas, society could look a lot different. Without society valuing new products or ideas, there would be no funding for them, and entrepreneurship and innovation would dry up. Society does not always think about how they are affecting entrepreneurs, but without society, there would be no such thing. While the financial effects of this relationship are not always thought of by the consumer, the legal side is even less of a topic that is paid attention to. The interaction between society and the legality of entrepreneurs and business is not an outright connection, but the actions and mindsets of society greatly impact the entrepreneurs, the producers of the products they need, and the manufacturers of their product.
