It has long had yet to see American Gangster , and finally yesterday I paid for the account, and with a great result by the way, because it is an awesome movie, and quite long, 2 hours 30 minutes, with a wide lineup of familiar faces like Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe (With a magnificent role both), Cuba Gooding Jr, etc..
But I will not talk about the movie, but as Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), happens to be the driver and assistant to one of the biggest gangsters of Harlem, to become, after his death, in whom take his place, building their great empire.
Or what is the same, using the simile to the business world, how an entrepreneur gets up your own business, becoming an industry benchmark.
Note: What I write here from perhaps contain some spoilers , I tried to write the least possible detail from the movie, but maybe I have missed something, so I've seen the movie perfect, but just wanted to read something that does not read .
In the film, we can see it somehow four distinct roles in the way of acting:
- The group formed by "The shebang mounted around the distribution of heroin in New York back in 1968, dominated by mafias, distributors minor consumer junkies, etc."
- "The corrupt polícias group instead of fighting this scourge, dedicated to collecting bribes"
and finally the modus operandi of the protagonists, one on each side and can be considered lonely and marginalized people for not following the "rules marked" by many of his peers:
- Himself Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a course of action that breaks everything set up then for the rest of mafia groups, with an ethic and way of acting very marked in the way of doing business, mainly because all lived with his former boss
- The polícia Inspector Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), known to be the police "stupid" and honored that he has never taken a bribe (There is a key event in the film for this, but will leave it for when you see the film if it have done,
).
So, after this brief introduction let's move to the modus operandi of Frank Lucas equating it with a more entrepreneurial and business:
A first aspect that draws attention is the modus operandi of Frank throughout the film, very stiff and straight, taking control over almost everything and not hesitating to use violence when necessary, but never free, and trying to be fair to all those around him during the film repeatedly referred to such behavior is very different from the rest of mobsters, often recalling his late boss Bumpy Johnson.
And there it is one of the first key, to have learned from one of the best, your boss, allowing you to know the intricacies of the market in which to be introduced, competition, customers, the general functioning.
Now time to catch the void left by his own boss, he realizes that the market is structured, and mafia networks leave no room for the imagination, so its profit is zero, so our protagonist has two options:
O conforms to survive day to day, or try to break everything. And the answer comes watching the news.
It should say at this point, that the film is set during the war in Vietnam, talking about the news that many young soldiers killed or returned or pure heroin addicts Asian country, and here comes the business opportunity and competitive advantage for our protagonist: Go get heroin directly to Asia.
So here we have two other important points of business strategy, skip the middlemen, especially when in addition the product you get is better than the offer, then the second question arises, how?, Which in this case is achieved The second important aspect, have contacts in the film turns out to be a cousin of Frank's army, leaving the U.S. as the pending matter when you see the film.
So that the union of all the above is achieved a better product than the competition (in this case a much purer heroin), with a certain level of vertical integration , since the mat having mounted Frank handles the import, cut, distribution and sale of its own hero, and also applying a cost differentiation strategy allows you to offer it at a lower price than the competition. And it already says the detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe):
How is it possible?
Who can sell a horse, twice as good at half price?.
And here's another differentiator of our entrepreneur: Mark.
Frank Lucas draws much of its prestige in the brand that has managed to create, maintain and position: "Blue Magic", if I remember correctly, and as seen in the movie, and desvelaré not personally fix handles situations that may disparage your brand.
And through this process of personal acquisition of heroin in Asia, introduced in New York, and his own brand production process and begins to build his empire by combining it with other typical aspects of business, is that Frank Lucas has ethics and firm conviction that what he does, and as he does is perfect, is surrounded by people you can trust (Putting on the strengths of the business to family members, brothers, nephews, etc.), does not hesitate to get rid of who fails, and certainly one of the key aspects of its rise, is discretion and little evidence of power in their way of life, something that had allowed him to go unnoticed before the competition, and the inspector of police uncorrupted Richie Roberts (Several scenes from the movie highlights this aspect in a more than outright) in fact be a small detail, but very expensive to start to suspect the inspector ......
Another aspect that shows the film is the relationship with the competition, and how to come out of the market to this new power, admitting defeat and offering his services as support forces and distribution, where we get another good tip: No forget about the competition and take advantage of synergies that can occur with it. Indeed, in one of these conversations with the mobsters of competition, comes out one of the best tips throughout the film, and is that a withdrawal time when you're on top is not a defeat.
And it finally comes to our hero fall, because although it seemed to have everything under control, it was not enough to have the import process, processing, distribution and sale of heroin controlled small bribes to whom appropriate, keep competition at bay , care brand, taking care of the family. Rather, it had to try to keep under control also, the unexpected, and not to neglect never the macro, and wait for things to start happening and fix it, so the war Vietnam comes to an end, and with it the possibilities of further introducing heroin into the country.
So here is a downside to our entrepreneurial, focused as it was on its rise in the market, had neglected the changes that may take place abroad, which together with changes and errors in the strict manner in which he had led until then business, make all his empire crumble suddenly.
Broadly speaking, and sure I have left some other things, can be seen as if from nowhere, a gangster in this case, manages to become an empire, but also as little details as well as a lack of planning and an outcast soul inspector honored police do it all disappear suddenly.
Comment too, though this no longer fall within the proper business ethics, since it really is not ethical, , Highlighting the film's strong network of bribes, payments, commissions, etc., created between different social groups:
- Mobsters at different levels of power (heads, distributors, suppliers, etc.)
- With the corrupt Mafia police
- Personal bribes to Inspector Richie Roberts are always rejected by the owner, and his irreproachable conduct in this regard
- The curious way of understanding bribes Frank Lucas himself along every film
Finally, the film in relation to everything said about the plot, has a more developed end, but I will not reveal much more, in case anyone has not seen it, so without further recommend your viewing if you have not been, and if it was so safe you have been reflected many of the things discussed here, and some that may have been me.
Be happy
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