Machiavelli To Modern Business Analysis

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Recommended: Machiavelli the prince key principles

Aliyah Brown
Section 28
T.A Nick
3/15/2015
The Relevance of Machiavelli to Modern Corporations
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the text from Machiavelli’s’ The Prince and discuss the relevance to modern businesses. The different tactics Machiavelli suggests a prince use is compared with how they may be applied towards modern corporations. The book informs the reader of effective tactics that Machiavelli suggests prince’s use. These tactics are referred to as principalities. Machieveli desperately wanted to be involved in politics and believed this book would assist in achieving his goal. He wrote The Prince with the intention of gaining office. The book; however, received little to no recognition until it was printed. The Prince is …show more content…

His tactics solely pursue the goal of a Prince succeeding in his rule. This view tends to neglect the more common views of what it means to act virtuously. Machiavelli seeks to have readers recognize that in order to succeed in ruling one must sometimes forgo what is deemed as virtuous, and look towards what is necessary. Essentially, what is right and what is needed is not the same in most situations. This applies to Corporations as well. For example, it would be a virtuous decision for a corporation, such as Sony, to not exaggerate the effectiveness of a product during their marketing; however, this will not assist in maximizing profit and would ultimately be a poor marketing decision. Machiavelli proposes, “If a prince wants to maintain his rule he must be prepared not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to need” (pg 50). This quote suggests that one must act virtuously only when it is convenient and serves a profitable purpose. Corporations can easily abide by this if their only goal is to maximize profit. Today, acting on virtue alone could bring down profit; however, should the corporation start to lose money because they present an image that lacks virtue, then Machiavelli would suggest making decisions based off of virtue simply because it will cause profits to rise. This tactic is relevant in the market today. It teaches us that decisions must be based on need rather …show more content…

Sony Incorporated Evaluation Essay. Print.
"Central New York." Syracuse.com. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. <http://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/12/interview_box_office_theaters_franco_rogen_reviews.html)>.
"Corporation." TheFreeDictionary.com. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. <http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/corporation>.
"Do You Recycle? Of Course You Do! Does Sony Recycle? You Betcha, We Do!" Do You Recycle? Of Course You Do! Does Sony Recycl... 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
Machiavelli, Niccolo, and Jean Barricelli. Machiaveli's The Prince. Woodbury, N.Y.: Barron's Educational Series, 1975. Print.
"MWPartners." MWPartners. 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Weisman, Aly. "A Timeline Of The Crazy Events In The Sony Hacking Scandal." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 9 Dec. 2014. Web. 31 Jan.

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