Business Movie Review – The Boss (2016)

THE BOSS (2016)

Business Movie Review

Directed by
Ben Falcone
Starring
Mellisa McCarthy
Kristen Bell
Ella Anderson

BUSINESS STUDIES
SOUTHDOWNS COLLEGE
By Isha Kalyan

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 Business Movie Review – The Boss (2016)

Summary of the movie

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts” – Winston
Churchill.
“The Boss” is all about second chances and despite mistakes made in the past, it is always
possible to find your way and rebuild into a better version of yourself.
"The Boss" is a 2016 comedy film starring Melissa McCarthy as Michelle Darnell, a former
business mogul who becomes a mentor to a group of young girls after being released from prison
for insider trading. The film, directed by Ben Falcone, also stars Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, and
Kathy Bates.
The film begins with Michelle Darnell at the peak of her career, as a successful businesswoman,
motivational speaker and CEO of three Fortune 500 companies. However, her world comes
crashing down when she is caught for insider trading and sent to federal prison for 5 months and
all her assets have been seized by the government. After her release, Michelle finds herself broke
and homeless, and seeks the help of her former assistant, Claire (Kristen Bell). As she has
nowhere to go, her only option is to bunk with Claire.
She helps Claire by becoming involved in Claire’s daughter Rachel's (Ella Anderson) life by taking
her to her weekly Girl Scouts troop meeting. This sparks an idea for Michelle to start a new
business and pursue her dream of being a successful entrepreneur. She comes up with a plan to
sell brownies to rival the Girl Scouts troop.
Michelle convinces Claire to join forces with her and start a new business selling brownies called
Darnell’s Darlings. They recruit a group of girls from Rachel's scout troop - the Dandelions, to help
bake, and sell the brownies. Michelle's aggressive business tactics and ruthless personality initially
rub the girls the wrong way, but they eventually warm up to her and become a close-knit team. As
the business takes of Claire takes the risk of leaving her job to contribute more time to the
business.
However, as their brownie empire grows Michelle's past comes back to haunt her. Her former
business rival, Renault (Peter Dinklage), seeks revenge and tries to sabotage her new business.
Michelle and her team must work together to overcome Renault's schemes and save their
business.
In a moment of weakness, Darnell sells off their rights in the business to Renault. However, in their
darkest hour, Darnell and Michelle make amends and are able to save their business by working
together and not giving up.
The film is a classic underdog story, as Michelle and her team of misfit girls work together to
overcome obstacles and succeed against all odds. Along the way, Michelle also learns important
lessons about friendship, loyalty, leadership and the true meaning of success.
Overall, "The Boss" is fun and entertaining with a great storyline that showcases Melissa
McCarthy's comedic talent.

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 Business Movie Review – The Boss (2016)
General Management and Corporate Governance
Entrepreneurship
Surbhi (2017) states that an entrepreneur is the person who recognizes a markets potential and
decides to take a considerable amount of risk to start a new company by investing funds in the
hopes of making a profit.
Michelle is a natural entrepreneur, after being released from jail, she found an opportunity to start
a new business venture by starting Darnell’s Darlings.
Entrepreneurial qualities, characteristics and skills
According to Maryville University (undated), it is frequently necessary to be innovative and creative
in order to launch a new business. A successful company may result from differentiating from a
rival (differentiation strategy).
Michelle based Darnell’s Darlings on her competitor the Dandelions, but uses her innovativeness
to create a competitive advantage by differentiating herself from them. The opportunity she found
was to give the girls a commission of their sales and help them save up for college.
The entrepreneur must be able to efficiently secure and organize the necessary resources in order
to carry out the plan.
When Michelle realizes that Claire cannot bake all the brownies by herself in a small kitchen, she
rents out a commercial size kitchen and enlists the girls to help bake the cookies.
Motivation factors: Monetary vs non-monetary factors
Monetary Incentives
Financial incentives are used to financially commend employees for doing a great job. Salary
increases, bonuses and stock options are a few examples of financial incentives.
If employees are not given a monetary incentive, they may feel negatively about the business and
resign, increasing the business’s staff turnover.
When Claire was not given a salary increase for over three years, she threatened to resign,
because she no longer felt appreciated.
Non-monetary Incentives
Non-monetary rewards are given to employees for doing a great job by providing them with
opportunities. Job enrichment is an examples of non-cash rewards (Kalpana, undated).
Job enrichment is when the employee receives increased authority and responsibility. Thus, the
employee feels trustworthy and may feel that he or she may fulfil his or her potential on a personal
level.
When Claire told Michelle she wanted a title change to executive assistant; Michelle did not
acknowledge her request, making Claire feel unappreciated and demotivated. This was an ideal
opportunity for Michelle to practice job enrichment.
Management competencies
Global awareness
Understanding how local, national, international, and cross-cultural challenges, trends, and
systems are interconnected is known as global awareness (Meyers and Strydom, 2018, p. 73-74).
The manager must comprehend that even if the company does not conduct business with other
nations directly, the corporate world is interconnected, and that suppliers may come from a variety
of nations.
At the Dandelions meeting Michelle stated that she knew a guy in Shanghai who will make the
cookies for 90c. This shows that she has a supply chain across the world and knows where to
source goods to get her money’s worth.

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 Business Movie Review – The Boss (2016)
Ethics, Professionalism and Social Responsibility
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment in the workplace includes: Unwelcome physical interaction; sexually
suggestive remarks, crude jokes about sex, unwanted questions about someone's personal
sex life, and inappropriate body language directed at an individual.
Additionally, employees are not allowed to interact with clients, suppliers, or anybody else who
does business with the company in any of the above-mentioned ways.
Michelle telling her helicopter pilot to take off his shirt; Dana slapping Michelle’s butt at the office,
and Michelle asking Claire if she had her child through intercourse are all examples of sexual
harassment.
Insider Trading
According to the CFI Team (2022), Insider trading is a practice where someone purchases or sells
“a publicly-traded companies securities” based on confidential information that is not yet public,
such as information that only an insider (or his friends/family) in the company will know.
Michelle committed insider trading when she used confidential information about Takoro merging
with Samson International to acquire majority of the stock.
Insider trading is a white-collar crime and is prohibited. Violating it can result in jail time, as well as
civil and criminal fines.
According to CFI Team (2022), the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in the United
States, states that a conviction for insider trading may lead to a maximum fine of $5 million and up
to 20 years of imprisonment.
The SEC is responsible for protecting investors, and maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient
markets.
Michelle was sentenced to five months in federal prison for insider trading and defrauding the
Securities and Exchange Commission, which resulted in all her assets being frozen and property
seized.
The Relationship between management ethics and social responsibility
The concept of corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the ongoing commitment made by companies to act
morally by promoting the economic and social advancement of their employees and the
community.
Michelle’s previous companies did not seem to consist of any CSR programme, because it is
evident that when she hosted a seminar, the fire marshal nearly shut them down for endangering
people’s lives - but she did not care.
The implication of CSR
CSR programmes have an impact on the stakeholders of the business, such as the customers. By
implementing a CSR program, a company has the chance to set itself apart from its rivals. This
could provide the company a competitive edge since customers value businesses and people that
support their communities.
Michelle’s new business, Darnell’s Darlings, aside from making a profit focused on CSR. It
teaches young girls’ empowerment and gives them a good sense of self. They get ten percent
commission on their sales, and another ten percent goes towards their college funds. This gives
the business a big competitive advantage as it helps make a sustainable difference in people’s
lives and helps support the community.
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 Business Movie Review – The Boss (2016)
Conclusion
“The Boss”, is a great example of how NOT to run a business. From the very beginning of the
movie, the story line and main character displays all the undesirable behaviours and practices that
is associated with good business. The topic of ethics in business features strongly as we learn the
consequences of decisions based on bad ethics. Additionally, the importance of good leadership is
also highlighted through Michelle’s negative traits. She does not respect rules, treats her staff
badly and does not care about safety of others. These are not great qualities for a leader and this
behaviour eventually catches up with her as she loses all the wealth and businesses she created
and must face jail time as well.
Despite all these setbacks, she displays other great and desirable qualities as well. Her ability to
bounce back is what gets her back on track. Although she has lost all her material possessions,
she still has a tenacious attitude with a keen eye for opportunities and a healthy risk appetite. Her
never-give-up approach, together with her focus and entrepreneurial abilities allows her to see an
opportunity in Darnell’s Darlings. Her negotiation skills and strong ambitions allow her to partner
up with Claire and very quickly recruit enough of the girls to start up the company.
In the end however, she uses her management and leadership capabilities to bring the team
together in order to right the wrongs of selling off the company. Her skills of planning, organising,
delegating and leading all come into play as the team go about the rescue mission.
Ultimately, “The Boss” teaches us both sides of business – the good and the bad. By remaining
focused, recruiting the right people, following well established management, leadership and ethical
practices, it is possible to be successful!

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 Business Movie Review – The Boss (2016)
Reference List
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The Boss (2016) Directed by Falcone, B [Film]. New York, NY: Universal Pictures
The Economic Times. (2022) What is Autocratic Leadership? Available at:
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Anti-Plagiarism Report
Section 1: Summary and Corporate Governance and General Management

Section 2: Ethics and Conclusion

0 + 5 = 5/2 = 2,5 % Plagiarism

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