American Fur Company

1. How would you evaluate Astor in terms of his motive, his managerial ability, and his ethics? What lesson does his career teach about the relationship between virtue and success?

John Jacob Astor was an industrious individual with tremendous drive. Astor at 15 was a very motivated and determined boy. His goal was to voyage to the new world and exceed on a massive scale. By achieving his goal, he learned a new trade which gave him the skills for the occupation which made him one of the richest men in America. He was a risk-taker and had a keen mind for enterprise. He was very frugal and managed his earnings wisely.

Although he was really skilled in fur trading, he used devious and illegal means in his dealings. His success was not attributed to luck but rather hard work with a bit of mischief especially with the Indians. He let success get to his head and disregarded good values. Profits motivated him, so he wanted to become the largest and only American Fur company, owning 99.9% of the stock and going out of his way to crush rivals, monopolizing the industry. His managerial abilities were great, allowing him to expand and get furs essentially for nearly nothing, making profits on all parts of the labor including transportation and wages. He did not have ethics, creating a company on what sounded like ethics promising to deal with Indians honestly and issue stocks to other, neither of which happened. He still employed giving them trinkets and using alcohol as a means of negotiation.

Virtue and success are not proportionate, especially in business and government. He has high success but poor virtue. Even to the end of his career he gave very little and never helped. For people like Astor, success is a virtue and failure is not an option.

2. How did the environment of the American Fur Company change in the 1830s? What deep historical forces are implicated in these changes?