Babson Faculty Featured in “We the People: The Market Basket Effect”
Peter Cohan, lecturer of business strategy and entrepreneurship at Babson, appears in the film, “We the People: The Market Basket Effect.” The film is the story of the employees of a local grocery chain, Market Basket, who went on strike in 2014 after CEO Arthur T Demoulas was fired by his cousin Arthur S Demoulas. The customer boycott story broke national news and the customers and employees of Market Basket were victorious when Arthur T was reinstated.
In November of 2014, the director of the film, Tommy Reid, reached out to Cohan for an interview after seeing an interview he did on WGBH Greater Boston in July 2014. Cohan is the author of the book, “Value Leadership,” which outlines how a company can benefit stakeholders, employees, and customers by acting according to seven principles.
After seeing a prescreening of the film last year, Cohan explains in his article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, that the way Arthur T ran Market Basket is in line with how he discusses business practices in his book. Arthur T put his employees before his profit, which resulted in a better business model.
“The result is that customers keep coming back – which means that the company does not have to market as heavily to bring in new customers,” says Cohan.
Cohan appears in the film eight times and is credited as an actor. Beginning April 14, 2016 the film will be shown in theatres across New England with additional showings in Manhattan and California.