The Post Graduate Department of Commerce at VVM’s Shree Damodar College of Commerce and Economics in Margao, Goa, through its PG Club, organized a movie screening activity for the students of M.Com Part-I and Part-II on 20th July 2024, from 11:30 am to 12:45 pm in Classroom No. T-304. The session conducted by Assistant Professors Twinkle Fernandes, Valencia Baptista and Edrea Picardo, aimed to help students understand the importance of Team work and decision making in all stages of life, and not just in the corporate world.
The selected movie was based on Oakland Athletics baseball team’s 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane’s attempts to assemble a competitive team. The film depicts Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) and Assistant General Manager Peter Brand facing difficulty with the franchise’s limited budget in order to improve the quality of players. He decided to build a team of undervalued talent by taking certain steps such as gathering information about opponent’s players and analyzing them.
Billy was devastated by the team’s loss to the New York Yankees in the 2001 American League Division Series and was worried with the departure of star players Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, and Jason Isringhausen. He needed to assemble a competitive team for 2002 with Oakland’s limited budget of $ 41 million.
During a visit to the Cleveland Indians, Beane met Peter Brand, a young Yale economics graduated with radical ideas about how to evaluate players. Beane asked whether Brand would have drafted him out of high school. Brand said he would not have drafted him until the ninth round which impressed him and also hired him. Their strategy was to sign undervalued players such as Chad Bradford, Jeremy Giambi, and Scott Hatteberg.
The Athletics were already 10 games behind, which lead critics to dismiss the new method as a failure. Brand argued that their sample size is too small for the method not to work. Before the trade deadline, Beane acquired the pitcher Ricardo from the Indians and the Athletics won streak. Beane refused to watch the games in progress, but when the Athletics tie the American League record of 19 consecutive wins, his daughter persuaded him to attend the next game against the Kansas City Royals. Oakland was leading 11–0 when Beane arrived in the fourth inning. It was because of the walk-off home run by Hatteberg, the Athletics achieve a then record-breaking 20th consecutive win. Beane told Brand that he would not be satisfied until they had changed baseball by winning the World Series.
The Athletics won the American League West but lost to the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series, with an unseen baseball analyst explaining that some other intangibles of a player, such as drive and clutch performance could not be measured. The owner of the Boston Red Sox, John Henry, realized that sabermetrics is the future of baseball. He offered Beane to become the Red Sox general manager for a $12.5 million salary but Beane rejected the offer because the strategy failed. Brand shows a video of a heavyset batter, Jeremy Brown, who hits a home run but did not realize it. Beane understood what Brand was trying to say and thanked him. In his car, an emotional Beane listened to a cover of “The Show” recorded by his daughter in which she told him to just enjoy the show.
Key learning outcomes from the movie are as follows:
- One should focus on the real problem and try to find out the solution to it in the most economic manner wherever possible.
- We should work with the right people who have substantial knowledge about the respective field, which would help in achieving the goals.
- There should be a proper plan towards achieving goals which should be followed strictly no matter whether other people have belief in it or not.
- Have belief that one can win over larger competitors despite of having less funds, by deploying a thoughtful and proper analytic approach.
- It’s important to surround oneself with who motivates them and shows them the way rather than with people who don’t appreciate the hard work and efforts put into the process
- Listen to those who have a better understanding about the subjects even of he isn’t qualified for it which at times can open new possibilities.
- It’s always good to take Feedback and make the necessary improvements so as to achieve the desired goal
The movie screening was a great success, providing 33 M.Com Part-1 and Part-II students with valuable insights into the importance of teamwork, strategic decision-making, and perseverance. The students left the session motivated and equipped with practical lessons applicable to both their academic and personal lives.
