The Efficiency Expert (1992) is a socially-conscious comedy movie set in 1960s Australia. Anthony Hopkins plays Errol Wallace, an efficiency expert who is in the business of helping companies become more efficient. His preferred route towards better efficiency is downsizing and layoffs. The central plot of the movie is about Wallace’s experience with a small shoe factory (Ball Moccassin Factory) that has become a small shadow of what it once was. The company is family-run and all employees are treated like family. The company is in such a bad shape that it has made no money in many years and management has been running the company by selling off assets. Just when Wallace things he has figured out how the company can become profitable again, he learns new lessons from the workers that change his life, his outlook towards business, and the future of the company.
The movie is interesting. In an era of globalization and corporate restructuring, it reminds us of the human side of doing business. At the same time, it also raises important questions about how to manage workers, and the kind of work environment management should strive for. It would be a good movie for students to watch, except that it is slow and drags at places.
Categories: Movies
Tagged: Australia, business, downsizing, Hollywood movies
Roger & Me (1989) is a movie about small-town Michigan, and some may even say small-town America. General Motors (the company that was once so important they used to say ‘what’s good for GM is good for the U.S.’) is closing its factories in Flint (MI) and moving production to Mexico. The closing of GM, accompanies with the inevitable closing of the local factories of its suppliers, has a big impact on the community- loss of jobs, loss of homes, decrease in quality of life etc. Michael Moore, arguably the most controversial documentary film-maker in the U.S., tries to get General Motors chairman Roger Smith to come to Flint and see the devastation his decision has caused in the town. Michael Moore fails in persuading Roger Smith to visit Flint, but succeeds in making a good movie.
Many critics argue that Roger & Me is Michael Moore’s best movie. Regardless of whether it is or it is not, Michael Moore effectively highlights the pain caused by relocating factories or outsourcing jobs. Though the movie was made in 1989, the issues Michael Moore discusses in the movie continue to be valid to this day in Michigan. Anyone who heard Governor Romney and Senator McCain battle it out in Michigan last month knows that the people of Michigan would really like to get back those jobs they lost to other countries. The economy being what it is and corporate downsizing refusing to slow down, the movie is a great teaching tool for issues related to globalization, the impact of layoffs, role of big business, automobile industry, competition, top management decision-making, business leadership, public policy, and many others.
Categories: Movies
Tagged: Automobile industry, downsizing, General Motors, Michigan, outsourcing, regional economy, relocation
The Efficiency Expert (1992) is a socially-conscious comedy movie set in 1960s Australia. Anthony Hopkins plays Errol Wallace, an efficiency expert who is in the business of helping companies become more efficient. His preferred route towards better efficiency is downsizing and layoffs. The central plot of the movie is about Wallace’s experience with a small shoe factory (Ball Moccassin Factory) that has become a small shadow of what it once was. The company is family-run and all employees are treated like family. The company is in such a bad shape that it has made no money in many years and management has been running the company by selling off assets. Just when Wallace things he has figured out how the company can become profitable again, he learns new lessons from the workers that change his life, his outlook towards business, and the future of the company. 
