Other People's Money (1991) is an excellent representation of what it takes to succeed as a modern-day entrepreneur, and the impact those standards have on society. In the movie, Lawrence is attempting a hostile takeover of the company New England Wire and Cable, which is operated by the chairman and majority shareholder, Jorgy. The method by which he plans to do this is by buying up stock and overthrowing Jorgy as the majority shareholder.
At one point in the movie, Lawrence promises Kate (attorney for NEWC) that he will stop buying stock for two weeks, but instead, he buys more stock under the company name "OPM Holdings" (Other People's Money). This, along with a few other calculated moves, allows Lawrence to take control of the company. Jorgy on the other hand refused to take part in devious schemes and morally questionable behavior, which led to him losing control of his company.
At the end of the day, the main reason that Lawrence was able to beat Jorgy was that he was willing to cross lines that Jorgy wasn't and make morally questionable decisions that furthered his agenda to take over the company. Such is the case with most modern-day entrepreneurs, the people that are willing to go the farthest usually come out on top. In the case of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg basically ousted his best friend from the company when his presence became redundant, which was brilliantly depicted in the film "The Social Network." Countless stories have come out about Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos as well, arguably the three most successful entrepreneurs of our time.
And yet, even with this reality, society is still better off. Because at the end of the day, all this does is raise competition between companies and indivituals, pushing people to work harder and harder to produce more and more for society. Ultimately, society benefits more from the morally questionable guy who is willing to do anything to get to the top than the laid-back guy who is stuck in his old ways and isn't willing to do anything to improve his position or his company's position.
Jorgy might have been a good guy, but he was not hungry in the way that Lawrence was. Entrepreneurs must be hungry in order to succeed. Lawrence now takes over the company, and because of his competition, the share price goes up and the company's production will go up. So not only did the shareholders make more money but also the average consumer will have more produced for them.
Lawrence will also be more profit-focused, meaning that the market for materials will become more competitive as well. Employee salaries will become more competitive, etc. Other companies in the same field as NEWC will now be threatened, so they will have to improve their product as well, which benefits the consumer once again.
Everything is better with increased competition, which is driven by ambitious entrepreneurs, who are sometimes morally grey. This is not only a reality of life but also in the movie Other People's Money.
Works Cited
BYLUND, PER L. Seen, the Unseen, and the Unrealized: How Regulations Affect Our Everyday Lives. LEXINGTON Books, 2018.
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