Opportunism describes the behavior of someone that seems to take advantage of the current set of circumstances for the advancement of their own interests. People are faced with these decisions everyday and there are many driving forces, such as ethics, strategy, and expectations, that influence whether one will chose to behave opportunistically. While behaving opportunistically seems to offer people a chance to maximize their happiness, it is interesting to consider the decisions we make and opportunities we are willing to sacrifice for a seemingly non-quantifiable outcome.
A personal example of a time when I decided to not act opportunistically happened when a few friends and I had purchased tickets to a concert. The concert was in Chicago for 3 days and would eventually sell out. When the day of the concert came around, we went to retrieve our tickets from the front door at will-call. It was there we found out that one of my friends had accidentally purchased a ticket for the next night and they would not let him in to the concert because it had sold out. My friend, who felt bad, offered to take a taxi home so my other friend and I could go in and still enjoy the concert without him. Although seeing the concert sounded very attractive and my friend was willing to leave without making us feel bad, we decided that we did not want to go unless all of us were able to attend the concert.
After leaving the concert, my other friend and I decided that we were going to sell our tickets to the people on the street looking to get into the concert. Because the concert was sold out, demand for tickets was particularly high. On many sights like Craigslist tickets were going for as much as twice their original value. At that point, we really weren't sure how to price the tickets. We eventually came across a couple looking to buy tickets to the event. They immediately were interested in buying tickets for the event and politely asked how much we wanted for our tickets. Although this couple seemed willing to pay more than the original value for the tickets, I decided not to charge them more because they seemed very polite and desperate to get into the concert. Furthermore, because we did not want to go to the concert because our other friend could not get in, I felt as though it was just best to not take advantage of other people and just spend time with my other friends. While I did not get any profit from selling my tickets, I felt good about the transaction because I was able to help someone else out while still being able to spend time with my friends at a place where we could all hang out.
This seems a popular example. I just commented on another post that talked about selling at face price for a sold-out concert.
ReplyDeleteI am a little curious about the information flow in this story. Since you mentioned Craigslist, would you expect people who wanted to purchase tickets to be aware of these online listings?
You may recall something I wrote about earlier on the class blog - about acts of kindness as a way to build community. Selling the tickets definitely was an act of kindness. What's not clear to me is if you had instead sold the tickets at a slightly higher price, but still below market, whether that would be considered opportunistic.
I think the last sentence of your first paragraph is spot on. When we really consider the choice of not behaving opportunistically, it is what you say: sacrifice for non quantifiable outcomes. I was in a similar situation over the summer. I had tickets to a very popular festival and based on how high the demand was for tickets once they were sold out, I realized I had the opportunity to make quite the profit for myself. I ultimately decided not to capitalize on the opportunity, because I really did want to go to the show and that was the reason I had bought the tickets in the first place. Your last sentence makes me think of the idea of karma, do good things and you will be rewarded with good things, or something along those lines. Did that sort of thing play any role in your decision to sell the tickets to the couple for face value?
ReplyDeleteI think lots of people have common experience in this case. I went to a concert in Taiwan during the summer and have very limited tickets. Only 150 tickets are sold in a small venue so it was absolutely sold out and many people wanted to go. My friend have some problems with her visa so she couldn't come with me. I know I can double, even triple the price of the ticket, but I finally choose to sell it in the original price. I don't want other to feel bad about a tourist and consider people from this place as opportunist. And I want to make friends in an unfamiliar environment because I went to the concert alone.
ReplyDeleteThere are many opportunism cases related to concert tickets resell. I went to a concert in Chicago last semester and bought ticket more expensive than the original price for the ground level because it already sold out at the point I knew there is a concert. However, I found that people who could not make it in the last minute will sell tickets in a very low price. So for shows I can choose either go or not, I might take the last minute strategy to lower my cost, which is also a opportunism. However, we can also see it as mutual benefit in the game.
I think it is very interesting to think about if I had sold the ticket at a higher price than what I had bought but below the prices listed on Craigslist -would I still be acting opportunistic? While sites like Craigslist do show that there was a lot of room between the market price of the concert ticket when I bought it compared to the market price the night of the concert, I do believe that intentions do play a key role in defining opportunistic behavior. What I mean by this is I perhaps didn't value the ticket as much as these people. To me, the ticket was only worth the amount I paid for it. To them, it was worth more, but my intentions I suppose were not to get more out of something I didn't value as much.
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