The Man in the White Suit - Movie Review Example

Problem One The man in the white Suit (1952) is a satirical comedy film and a house production of Earling studios. The film cast includes Sidney Stratton, (Alec Guinness), a maverick scientist working in a textile mill. Alan Birnley (Cecil Parker) as the liberal mill owner and Daphne Birnley (Joan Greenwood) as mill owner’s daughter, and wittily sensual Sidney’s confidante. Sir John (Ernest Thesiger) as the evil old godfather of the industry. The plot revolves around the main character, Sidney, who falls foul of both trade unions and the wealthy mill owners. They attempt to suppress his invention, an incredibly strong textile fiber which repels dirt and never wears out, plus the suit made out of it is brilliantly white. Professional and personal traits: Sidney Stratton is seen as a genius, brilliant but very eccentric scientist. He is an entrepreneurial, visionary research chemist. He is a former Cambridge Scholarship recipient, who has been dismissed from jobs at several textile mills because of his demands for expensive facilities and his obsession with inventing an everlasting fabric. He is a People’s man, who dreams of a common man’s ease of buying a suit that will never wear out, repel dirt and is extremely luminous giving it a new look no matter how many times it is worn. Sidney also sees this invention as his ticket to fame and wants the world to know about it. He is heroic and does not get disappointed in the failure of his fabric but is shown working instantly to correct the error. He is a continuous innovator and a diligent researcher. He possesses traits of creative people like attraction to complexity, high levels of energy, independence, strong self-confidence. Type of engineering and technology used: The engineering material used in his textile fiber is a mixture of natural, synthetic fiber, polymer fiber and silicon fiber. His methods also emphasize on automation of the whole textile process. Since natural fibers are biodegradable over time, Sidney uses other fibers to increase its lifetime and give the fiber interesting properties such as being stain-free, dirt free and does not wear out. Polymer fibers are a subset of man-made fibers, which are based on synthetic chemicals rather than arising from natural materials by a purely physical process. These are long chain molecules which undergo a chemical reaction with synthetic materials and silica. The researcher also mixes radioactive materials which gives striking properties to the fiber. Creativity: Sidney’s ability to generate new ideas in an existing fabric is displayed vividly in his innovation of the textile fabric. The final outcome of Sidney’s research is unbelievable dirt-free fiber, fabric of which gives off everlasting cleanliness because the fiber does not become dirty. It is not degradable over time which keeps it stain free and stays new every time it is worn. Due to radioactive materials used in the fiber, the fabric cannot absorb any dye and is also slightly luminous, thus, a suit made out of it is brilliantly white. Success of outcomes: Sidney’s research blooms fruitful and give him success in creation of a fabric that will make consumers life very happy. This innovation is Sidney’s ticket to fame, money and recognition in the textile world. It will also open up new ventures as the fiber might be used in other manufacturing materials. This will increase Sidney’s success in not only textile industry but other sectors as well. The common man will highly appreciate the outcome of this research and Sidney’s real success lies in decreasing the need to purchase a new fabric each time the old one wears out. Acquisition and use of knowledge: Sidney is sabotaged by labor unions and mill owners when they find out about his invention of the fabric. The lunch mob of bosses and workers hunt Sidney down through dark, narrow streets to acquire his invention or the formula. The company through hostile take-over tries to force Guinness to sign over the invention to them so that they can suppress it forever, as its fame can ruin the whole industry. This acquisition involves chases, bribery, kidnapping and other lunacies but all these fail to acquire Guinness’s knowledge and invention. If acquisition had been successful, the knowledge would have been useful in exploring new opportunities for the mill owners and suppress their competitors. Professional image conveyed: Guinness, is portrayed as a laborer in the textile mill although he is a research chemist by profession who is determined to invent a strong fabric. Motivation and contribution to society: Guinness is a very self-motivated research chemist who does not take no for an answer. His constant struggle, rather obsession towards inventing an everlasting fabric shows how dedicated and motivated he is to the research. Even though He has been thrown out of many textile mills in the past but he did not let this depress him or let go of his research. He strongly believed in his chemical formula and motivated himself constantly to prove his foes wrong. Thus, through dedicated research he finally succeeded in inventing an incredibly strong fiber. This invention would be the biggest revolutionary contribution to the society where the common man was living a lifestyle of restricted means. Entrepreneurship: Guinness was not just an entrepreneur who invented a new idea but was also an intrepreneur i.e. one who develops new businesses in the context of a large organization. By using creativity and constant innovation companies grow. Intrapreneurship involves some roles, such as inventor, and product champion. Similarly, here Guinness displays all 3 roles of an intrapreneur. He is an inventor who through creativity develops a new product, a strong fabric. He holds a product champion, Daphne, who although has little understanding of the technological aspects but nevertheless supports the innovation. Value proposition: Value proposition details the benefits of a company’s product so much so that it compels the consumer to buy it. Guinness invention has a very impressive value proposition. A miraculously indestructible fiber, out of which a fabric is made which is stain free, dirt free and will not wear out. It is also dye free so it’s brilliantly white and luminous due to presence of radioactive elements. This means that consumers will not have to purchase cloth again and again. This product will give them confidence, protection against dirt and stain. New product lines can also be introduced through utilization of this revolutionary fiber. Impact: There are 3 types of impact of this product which are discussed below. 1. Organizational impact: This invention of the fiber exerts a very negative impact on the organizations involved. These include textile mills, owners, distributors, clients, laborers and their unions. The whole textile industry depends on the consumer’s need to buy new cloth as the old one is discolored, stained or worn out. In the presence of Guinness’s fabric everyone from top to bottom of the industry will be unemployed. In short, management and laborers all will be ruined. 2. Social impact: The movie depicts the concerns of the particular period. It expressed fears of automation replacing workers in an industry and dehumanization of society in general through science and technology. Guinness also doesn’t realize that whether it is the capitalist’s overlords of the industry or the oil-stained unionists, this everlasting fiber will exert a very negative impact on them, i.e. they will all be jobless. Post-war times were already very hard on people and this technology will increase their suffering. 3. Environmental impact: The fiber innovation exerts a negative environmental impact on the industry because the textile industry in comparison to this has nothing good enough to offer. Moreover, it will encourage competition, utilization of already scarce resources and the biggest fear of closure of the whole industry if this invention sees the light of the day. Shortcomings and hazards: Guinness is seen at the end of movie running away from the mob of workers and mill owners and in this chase the fabric starts tearing apart. The fiber which was stated as indestructible proves to be a failure as it does not last very long. This nanotechnology introduced by Guinness looks promising but affects not only human but animals as well. The anti-bacterial coating releases with wear and wash and is absorbed in skin. It can also be inhaled, for example, at workplaces. It affects human organs like lung, liver, and heart. The smaller the particles, the more toxic it becomes. Unintended consequences: Guinness did not realize that these nanoparticles when introduced in fabric can exert negative impact. Unintentionally, the stain-free, dirt-free, wear-free fabric was hiding dangerous health and safety hazards. Problem Two Maria Contreras Sweet is an entrepreneur, investor and a political leader who served as cabinet secretary of the California Business, Transport and housing agency from 1999 to 2003. She realized that Latinos in California have no community banking experience. She also knew that a successful business needs easy accessibility to capital, especially for the Hispanics. Being an entrepreneurial community itself, Latinos with their growing population require an ethnic banking experience in a bilingual, bicultural setting. Promerica bank: An innovation One in two new businesses in California is started by a Hispanic descendant. This encouraged an ever-growing need for a gateway to the Latino community to connect, and compete in a large population. Sweet believed that innovation is generated in small family businesses. By saying yes and incorporating fresh ideas into corporate sector, Hispanic community will succeed and in return US economy will flourish. In 2007, Sweet introduced a business idea that eventually helped in the growth of Hispanic businesses through access to capital ("Maria Contreras-Sweet"). This was establishment of PROMERICA BANK.A bank conveying the message to Latinos that you are promise of America and this is your bank. Maria Contreraras Sweet is the executive chairwoman and founder of Proamerica Bank ("Maria Contreras-Sweet"). This publicly traded company is the first Latino-owned business bank in L.A. in 30 years that serves small to mid-sized businesses with a focus on the Latino business community in southern California. It says yes to authentic business ideas and builds a banking relationship as well. Promerica Bank Challenges: Due to cultural differences Hispanic community is not well embraced into other Californians. Even though, one in three Californians is a Hispanic, the challenge is to incorporate both communities into each other. Latinos have to be prepared to be accelerated so that they form a key part of the economy. Another challenge is the language barrier which makes it difficult for Hispanics to integrate well into corporate sector .Thus, Latinos have to start their own businesses. That requires access to capital. Promerica Bank Success Mantra: Proamerica bank’s location under a new skyscraper in LosAngeles gives it the polished look of a corporate bank. This is the success of the bank in itself, i.e. positioning itself to be a part of the corporate sector. By understanding that innovation is generated in small business community, Promerica Bank has succeeded in providing an easy cash flow for the Latino family business owner in a bicultural and bilingual setting. It has also succeeded in facilitating a connection of Latino entrepreneurs and professionals, top business leaders which gives them an opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and thus motivates them towards their own success Promerica Bank has also succeeded in empowerment and financial education of their clients. Promerica Bank succeeds in building family wealth, bringing in new growth and interesting innovative products across the border like El Alteno Foods, a food distributor, whose business success has been possible because of Promerica loan. Proamerica Bank proudly owns a client base that includes top notch Corporations, California’s most important foundations, and non-profits and small businesses. ("Maria Contreras-Sweet") Works Cited "Maria Contreras-Sweet." CNBC.com, 2013. Web. 26 Nov 2013. . Read More