Bud Fox Ethical Analysis

Towards the middle of the film Bud Fox finally gets a chance to meet up with Gordon Gekko after telling Gordon’s receptionist that he is just here to deliver some cigars. Gordon likes Buds persistence and says that he will give Bud a few seconds of his time. Bud tries to convince Gordon about a potential trade in Blue Star Airlines and after Gordon does not like Bud’s original pitch, Bud says he knows about a favorable ruling about a crash that happened a year before. Gordon says he hears multiple deals in one day and he only picks one. The conversation then concludes and Bud Fox walks out of the office depressed but he later finds out that Gordon likes his deal and he wants Bud Fox to get more insider information.

As the relationship starts

to build Gordon tries to convince Bud to do more unethical acts, His excuse is “The SEC can’t go after you” and Gordon is trying to use aggressive behavior. Later in the conversation, Gordon says that he will make Bud rich enough to own his own jet and “You are either a player or nothing” which is a mix of a snow job and the intimidation hardball tactic. Bud Fox eventually concedes and Gordon is the winner in this negotiation.
The way Bud Fox handled this situation was appalling on an ethical and moral standpoint.

As we have learned in this class unethical tactics are frowned upon in the business world and once these accusations are proven true, it is very hard to do another deal in the future. Bud Fox should have stuck to the principles that his father taught him and walked out of the room immediately. He should have created a BATNA because in his line of work there are many other large clients that do not act like Gordon Gekko. Bud Fox was too honest and too trusting with Gordon Gekko, a man who he just met and it ultimately ruined his life later in the

film.
If we were in this situation we would come back at Gordon with our own hardball distributive approach.

We would inform Gordon how illegal his actions are and that we would want no part in his illegal plans. We would also apply the duty and social contract ethics that were talked about in Chapter 5 of the textbook. As a stock broker, you are required to uphold the federal laws and statutes that the governing body creates in order to have a fair and transparent market. Bud Fox in this film broke the most important law and lost his license to practice because of this. Sometimes the winner of a negotiation is the person who sticks to his BATNA and moral principles and we believe that would have been the best decision for Bud Fox when he was negotiating with Gordon

Gekko.