 Evil
corporate types are pop culture staples. Think of The Matrix’s
menacing Mr. Smith, or Wall Street’s conniving Gordon Gecko. The
current TV season has given us a CEO who attempted to murder a
subordinate (Ugly Betty) as well as a company president who
embezzled from the pension plan (Brothers and Sisters), and on the
Law and Order programs more than half of all felonies — mainly
murders — are committed by business people. Lawyers, cops and
doctors get to be heroes as well as villains, but corporate types
seem to show up on TV and in the movies only when they’ve got a
flunky to humiliate, an illicit scheme to perpetrate, or a waterway
to pollute.
At least that’s the way it looks to Dan Gainor, MBA ’01, director
of the Media Research Center’s Business and Media Institute. Gainor
is lead author of a three-part study that examines the way business
people are portrayed in movies and television. The first part of the
study examined the top 12 TV dramas shown during the sweeps periods
of May 2005 and November 2005. Out of 39 episodes featuring
business-related plots, 77 percent reflected a negative view of
business practitioners. The second part of the study, which examined
Oscar-nominated movies, found that half of those movies portrayed
people involved in commercial enterprises committing crimes ranging
from simple fraud to international conspiracy to mass murder. Out of
the 70 major characters presented, only one was depicted as ethical
and successful while actively engaged in business.
“According to TV and the movies, you are 21 times more likely to
be kidnapped by a businessman than by the mob,” says Gainor. “Maybe
that’s what it takes to get ahead in Hollywood, but that’s not how
the vast majority of business people really act.”
Gainor feels this overwhelming negativity about the business
world does a disservice to young people thinking about careers in
business and to America’s image around the world. “It makes everyone
cynical, thinking business is inherently corrupt,” says Gainor.
“This isn’t even vaguely reasonable. Most of the business people
I’ve met are generous and ethical, and business people give billions
to charity each year.” For more information, visit
www.businessandmedia.org. |
|
Students, Recruiters
Mingle at Industry Day
 Smith
School students got a chance to connect with more than 100
recruiters at the October 27, 2006, Industry Day, sponsored by the
Smith School’s student-run Logistics, Transportation and Supply
Chain Management (LTSCM) Society and the Supply Chain Club (SCC).
The Smith School’s supply chain program is recognized as one of the
best in the country, and was ranked No. 6 by U.S. News and World
Report in a fall 2006 feature on undergraduate education.
Undergraduate students and MBA candidates had the chance interact
with recruiters at a lunch and career fair, which followed an awards
ceremony presenting Jeffrey N. Shane, under secretary for policy at
the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Ron Widdows, chief
executive of global transportation company APL Ltd., with a joint
2006 “Person of the Year Award.” Shane and Widdows were honored for
boosting the visibility of freight transportation in the
public-sector transportation community, which has historically
focused on commuter and traveler issues. “Both leaders are committed
to creating awareness and understanding of the significance of
freight transportation in United States’ logistics and supply
chains—a significant departure from the past and a critical initial
step to building the capabilities needed in the future to maintain
our country’s global competitiveness,” said William DeWitt,
Professor of the Practice, Logistics, Transportation, and Supply
Chain Management. |
