MODULE 3: THE WORLD OF
AMERICAN BUSINESS
01
How Business
Competition Reinforces
Other Values
&
The Dream of Getting
Rich
American business
1.1. How Business Competition
Reinforces Other Values
• Business institutions are
at the heart of American
way of life.
• Competition is the major
source of progress and
prosperity.
The effects of competition in
business
EFFECTS VALUES
• It is a value itself • Individual freedom
No monopoly of power
free enterprise
• It is the means by which
• Self-reliance
other basic American
values are reinforced. • Equality of opportunity
a race open to all
• Hard work develop
the habit of hard work
1.2. The Dream of Getting Rich
• American Dream: rise from poverty / modest
wealth to great wealth through successful
business
• Business offers the best opportunity for
ambitious people to get rich
• Tocqueville: Americans strongly prefered
business to farming – strong business spirit
get rich quickly
• Through competition, people
gain wealth & the nation
prospers
• Government-run system of
production and distribution of
goods is considered inferior
(monopoly of power &
elimination of competition)
Free enterprise system / the
free market
A debate: The role of the
government vs. business
Health care Retirement benefits
• No universal healthcare • 401K retirement plan:
• Healthcare tied to employees have access
employment while still working
• Obama Care: give • Social Security System:
Americans access to companies & individuals
affordable health insurance contribute
02
The Corporate
CEO/CFO
2.1. The Euntrepreneur as
Business Hero
Building something out of nothing
Strong dislike of submitting to
higher authority
"I am my own boss." – dream of
having their own business and
being their own boss
2.1. The Entrepreneur as Business
Hero
Entrepreneurs: established the nation's main industries
They began as
Little money CEOs of “Self-made”
Common
or power multibillion- billionaires
people
dollar
corporations
The American concept of equal opportunity in action
He succeeds because:
• He lives in a land of equality
of opportunity.
• He practices the American
virtues of self-reliance and
hard work.
Andrew Carnegie - Founding and
leading the Carnegie Steel
Company
2.2. The corporate CEO/CFO
Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer
The leaders who run
large American corporations
The corporate CEO/CFO
Great
Powerful personal
wealth
Don’t have the
hero image of Under severe
entrepreneurs attack
Why are Americans angered by
corporate CEO/CFO?
Outrageous
greed
Lies to Criminal
stakeholders mismangement
Cruel treatment
to employees
20th century
Moving
Cuting full-time
factories
employees
overseas
Downsizing to
Outsourcing
become more
work
competitive
21st century
The late
An economic 1990s
recession The value of homes
had increased
dramatically
The 2000s
A "housing A financial crisis
bubble“ burst “Too big to fail”
03
The Middle Class vs. the
One Percent
3.1. Middle-class Americans
Be discouraged Misery Index
For 25 years Took money
The same income Finding a good the highest
Out of retirement
job and paying
accounts
the mortgage
3.2. The very rich One Percent
Since the late 1980s
The gap between the
very rich and the rest
of the population has
been growing.
3.2. The very rich One Percent
During the economic
crisis
• The very rich One Percent
becoming richer
• Business institutions
making money off of money
• Investment income taxed at
lower rate than earned
income
3.2. The Middle Class vs.
the One Percent
• American respect for business institutions rise
and fall in cycles.
• Industrial Revolution 1800s: business leaders
– greedy & corrupt
• Other times: hailed as heroes
• Business scandals government impose
more rules & regulations
• Republicans: laissez-faire (hands-off policy)
• Democrats: regulations & safeguards
4.1. Many Americans truly are resilient.
Strong belief in self-
reliance & individual
freedom
Redefine the American
Dream for themselves
"Do-It-Yourself " (DIY)
4.2. Creativity is highly valued in
American society.
"In short, innovation is the
American Dream."
American innovation is
what creates new jobs.
Gary Shapiro - President and CEO
of the Consumer Electronics
Association
4.3. The compassionate nature of
Americans and their search for meaning
The DIY innovator: a force
for spreading abundance
and a positive force for
good
A number of the techno
philanthropists are DIY
social entrepreneurs.
The number of small businesses makes
up the majority of American businesses.
Creating the majority of new
jobs in US
Employing more than half of all
American workers
On the other hand:
The great majority of small
businesses have no staff at all,
only the self-employed owner.
Significant changes to keep pace with the
development of technology and the
Internet.
Using
robotics Fewer workers
Higher-level
skills
New skills
Significant changes will
be necessary
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