Topic > The capitalist society in the film The Barbarians at The Gate

The Barbarians at the Gate is a film that illustrates the Leveraged Buy Out (LBO) of a tobacco company, RJR Nabisco. The film centers on F Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR Nabisco, who planned to take over the rest of the company from its shareholders. Then a bidding war began as Henry Kravis and George Roberts, the pioneers of the LBO, and other companies also wanted to participate in the acquisition. For our analysis I would like to give you a brief description of Ross Johnson's profile. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Ross Johnson started as a newspaper salesman when he was a child and worked his way up to CEO of RJR Nabisco. He is the owner of a big and huge house, always smokes his expensive cigars and has his own planes. It is he who decides how the money of others, of investors, will be distributed. Mr. Ross Johnson commands the largest tobacco company and seeks to make profits for his shareholders and himself. It lives in a capitalist society, so it generates profits by reinvesting profits. As an actor of the capitalist system, the CEO of Nabisco, a businessman who loves risk, decided to finance research into a new type of cigarette - the Premier -, research which was unsuccessful. At the same time, Nabisco shareholders were angry at the low stock price and began to pressure him. After this failure and due to the fact that the company's shares suffered a decline, he announced to his board of directors that he wanted to buy the company. The idea of ​​taking over the company was first suggested by Henry Kravis to Ross Johnson, when the latter rejected his proposal and he said he was not willing to fire people (when someone does LBO they have to reduce the number of employees) and of not being able to live with these consequences. However, when he realized that his last chance to boost the stock was gone due to the failure of the new cigarettes, he decided to take over the company himself. A key element of capitalism is that shareholders make money from money, not from selling their labor. Agents who manage investor and shareholder funds feel a lot of pressure to make and return profits to shareholders. Therefore, it is not surprising that the ethical dimension of business decisions can sometimes be an afterthought. This can be confirmed by the decisions of Nabisco CEO Ross Johnson. He knew that it was his moral responsibility not to take over the company and fire so many people who had been working in the company for too many years, but he decided to sacrifice them instead of sacrificing his life of luxury. His grill and self-interest did not allow him to accept his failure and lose his well-being. Adam Smith's theory, the invisible hand, suggests that the selfish actions of individuals lead to unintended social benefits. Adam Smith also argued that governments should have only a limited role in markets. In the case of RJR Nabisco we can say that the invisible hand has caused more damage instead of a fair and balanced society. Ross Johnson, based on his actions and promoting his self-interest, ultimately lost his job and his luxurious life, and many people also lost their jobs at the same time. They say a free market gives you back what you deserve. In this sense Ross Johnson is a man who has worked almost all his life and his business strategies have made Nabisco a wealthy company. In this sense, Johnson doesn't deserve to lose everything in one night because he made a mistake in his prediction. Likewise, not.