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The American Fur Company

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The American Fur Company was one of the most prosperous company establish in America. The company was started by John Jacob Astor an immigrant from Germany. His ambitions were immense and sometime overshadow his judgment, which lead to many questionable ethical decisions. Astor’s company was based on supplying fur product to consumer mainly in Europe where the fashion trend was all about fur. The company main source of resources were from Native American whom were expect at hunting and harvesting the fur from different animal specially beaver. Astor exploits the cultural differences of the native by trading simple western trinket for fur as well as alcohol.
Alcohol however was prohibit which gave him advantage over the government fur trading business which he let trade freely during transaction which also lead to inebriated native as well as making some addicted to the product. All of this was to give him leverage and advantage in the trade, which create an ethical dilemma of breaking the law as well as taking advantage of cultural differences. Then native wasn’t the only one exploited, even his trader and trapper fared no better. He would mark up trade goods heavily before selling them to traders, which lead to many being in debt and mortgaging their trading post to him. Trapper worked unlimited hours and in harsh condition with little pay. He basically created a system that amplified his fortune by diminishing those whom are caught in its working.
Fur was the big commodity then and Astor wasn’t the only one in the game. As mention before the government try to join the business, but fell due to Astor using alcohol as well as convincing native tribe to trade using credit which made them in debt in order to create an environment of eliminating trades with the competitions. His method was crude and cut throat which removed other competitor, his main goal was to weaken and lowering their profit marginal for a corporate take over which were mainly hostile. Using the Native American as the only resource of fur created a distinct problem for Astor. Native were infected with smallpox killing over 17,000 which were most of the work force. Instead Astor could have diversified his work force by employing some Native American themselves and have them train more trapper, in this case English/American personnel. This would increase operating cost but in turn create a long term workforce for the future. The company main focus and goal was to maximize profit to the fullest extend so the idea never exist. Diversity of the company workforce was not the only issue they only had one marketable product which was fur. The fashion trend soon ended and replaced by silk as well as the spread of the cholera epidemic that many believe was passed by beaver fur. The company didn’t have a variety of product which led to its down fall. The consumer market is always changing, people taste and dislike change easily and the company didn’t have a way to adapt to the changing market. If they produce a variety of goods this wouldn’t be an issue especially when it comes to fashion as trends and fad in that field change rapidly.

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