Changing Business Environment

Todays business are seems to be completely different than they used to be in the last century and early this century. let us look at a history of public attitude towards American business and their reflection in popular culture.

attitudes towards American business through the years: Capitalism is a cornerstone of American society. For better or worse, it has shaped the cultural, economic, political, and social milieu of American life for nearly 500 years. But what is the attitude of the "average American" toward this cornerstone as we enter the final decade of the century? Is this attitude stable or changing? If changing, is it becoming more positive or negative?

At the end of 1980 the American public was looking forward to a Reagan revolution--less government regulation of business, lower income taxes, and a higher standard of living for everyone through the magic of supply--side economics. But the decade was tumultuous, both economically and politically. Indeed, the 1980s witnessed the virtual restructuring of American industry and unprecedented global competition. The use of so-called junk bonds to finance highly leveraged mergers and acquisitions--both friendly and hostile--became rampant. Japanese and Korean firms made major competitive inroads into American industrial domains previously considered sacrosanct. Simultaneously, scandals in the financial and commodities markets, the exploits of Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken, the savings and loan debacle, and the behaviors of well-known firms such as E.F. Hutton (financial transactions), Union Carbide (Bhopal tragedy), and Manville (asbestos) led to public questioning of both the ethical standards and the ethical conduct of business.

By the end of the decade the political infrastructures of several communist nations literally imploded. Pressures for democratic principles and capitalism-based economies resounded throughout the USSR, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany. Established governments were replaced, with the new governments embracing capitalism, often without thought of the consequences.

REFERENCE.
www.1000ventures.com/business_

www.ncmahq.org/presentations/wc05/Federal_Contract_Law/1009