Ok so my action graphic novel "LOOT" features around the idea of my protagonist being a spy for this leader of one cooperation. This leader guy wants to destroy the competition of other companies so he sends the protagonist who has crazy space warping abilities on the inside. These companies and corporations are literally at war with each other similar to the way big city mobsters work but on a giant level with more formality and much of it is secret. Essentially, they control much of the money in the entire country now. The corporations, like the mob live in "families" which have a set of rules they define for working for/against each other. But this guy starts going against the rules making everyone start to play really violently and illegally. I know next to nothing about jobs and money making powerhouses nor the Mob. So far I have researched types of LLC, corporations, LLP, Sole Proprietary etc... and also a bit on how to form a company. I also have looked a bit at how the mob works but I'm a bit confused here. My book takes place in a totally futuristic fantasy world, not the real world. All the laws and operation strategies would be made up BUT I do realize I need to know how this stuff works in the real world to be able to accurately world build a believable society. Not to mention my characters need to have things to do other than attack each other. I suppose I should also research marketing as well?
Okay. I would suggest a few things. 1) Watch a mob film like The Sopranos or The Godfather. But keep an eye out on how the power structure within the mafia works. It's a top down approach -- the boss gives out orders, but there's always conflict between the various bosses, and people want to rise the ranks, etc. Another good show to watch to see organizational dynamics of the underworld at play is The Wire. 2) Read a book on corporate malfeasence. A good one is "The Smartest Guys In The Room" about the collapse of Enron. If you read that, you'll see a lot of similarities between corporate life and criminal syndicates in terms of their structure. There's a similar top-down approach to all of them, with all sorts of competitions. 3) And be more specific about "corporation." I think you need to worry less about LLC's and sole proprietorships and how that works and more develop an economy for your world first. As in -- corporations produce and sell goods or services. What do yours do?
GREAT QUESTION! I have a very similar problem: does anyone have resource info or a general advice site on how things get done in business settings? for example: how would certain events actually happen? [in the above future i assume each company rules a company town or maybe an ‘enclave’ within a small city] So if a lawyer/diplomat from a mid-size company needs to approach a slightly larger company to arrange a meeting; [ maybe the smaller business wants to buy a minor asset the bigger co-op owns that may or may not be 'for sale' - or he doesn't know if they will even consider it. ] The writer would need to make a quick mention of how he set it up ...so where would you learn how such meetings are actually arranged? Would there be a specific branch of admin he would call? Who would arrange this level of negotiation? who would have the power to make certain decisions and at what point would they be ‘read in’ to the situation? DOES anyone know if a guide exists anywhere to things of that sort?
Hey there, Reading your OP, I noticed you never used the words "corporate espionage". Corporate espionage is literally what you are describing, and is a very real thing that costs companies billions of dollars annually. On top of the other suggestions here, I'd recommend looking into that and reading some of the wilder real life cases. A lot of it is stealing blueprints or financial statements from some Boomer middle manager who uses: Username: laptop Password: laptop But some of it is downright Bond-esque.
