MCA
Modus operandi
Strict rules
The atmosphere within the company was unlike in any other business in Hollywood. No employer was allowed to engage in romances and anyone caught doing so was instantly fired. There was a simple dress code that everyone had to follow. People were played against each other to increase their competitiveness - this was seen as a desirable driving force. Just like their boss Lew Wasserman, employees were ruthless in their business practices and were encouraged to be so.
Secrecy
Lew could scream his lungs out of his chest during verbal destructions of employees who leaked company data to outsiders. There was a logical reason for it - MCA was extremely secretive. They saw advantage in working from the shadows, and even more importantly: many of their practices were illegal to say the least. Keeping tabs on all the information that was coming out made it a lot harder for the Justice Department to construct antitrust cases and for competition to create working counter-strategies.
Exclusives
It was a common tactic for MCA to seek exclusive agreements with big networks. This way, they would get access to a huge market, and as an extra bonus also have more bargaining power with their partners. As they provided a lot of talent, suddenly denying studios, networks etc. access to that pool would screw their recipients big time. This position the company took advantage of often, sometimes plain blackmailing to let everyone know that it's either their way, or no way. Those kinds of deals were agreed on with a handshake - nothing was written on paper due to potential legal problems related to such practices, but everyone in the business knew that it is how MCA operates.
Loyalty
MCA was like an elite club, and getting into it obliged. Despite competitiveness among employees, bosses also promoted team spirit. Everything changed drastically once people resigned from work though. And God forbid someone did that to join the competition! Wasserman was known to completely stop talking to someone once that person had made the move. Some of those departures were trivial, but it wasn't like that for him. He felt betrayed and was very consistent - no forgiveness! There were only few exceptions, all close people to him. To hell with all the rest!
Squeezing some clients
Important people were surrounded with special care and many small-timers enjoyed MCA because it provided them a lot more gigs than they could get on their own, but there were some horror stories as well and MCA was known to squeeze as much money as they could from some employees. Harry Sosnik was such case. One time, the composer complained that despite regularly paying MCA their dues and being honest and transparent about every gig he had taken, he was invited for a meeting where it was suggested that he pay $100 weekly on top of that. He said no. As a result, the company screwed him so hard that he couldn't get a gig anywhere. Even though he knew some very powerful people, nobody was able to lift a curse, nor even apply for milder treatment in his name. Sosnik went to the head of MCA Jules Stein himself (whom he knew personally too) and managed to convince him to lift the ban and terminate his troublesome contract. In exchange, he wrote a check for what amounted to his life savings.
Pseudo-competition
Probably to avoid government retribution for monopolizing the agency market (which was always MCA's final goal), loose competition was allowed in to create an illusion of a free market. Even those unknowingly (or knowingly) contributing figureheads were pressed by MCA to have some control over them. Associated Booking was one company started using money lent by Stein and focused on clientele which MCA considered not profitable enough to worry about and so were not interested. About another company General Artists Corporation there was a rumor that it was bailed out by Stein - their presence made his firm look better. People said that unofficially all other agencies were at least partially funded by MCA, which in exchange got full access to their activities and final say in some matters.
Agency tax evasion
When MCA was still an agency, to avoid paying extra taxes, they convinced their clients to start their own firms. To validate their existence, other sources of income outside MCA were also planted. The actors didn't have to think of those by themselves, their agents were very helpful with supplying them MCA content, from which the company was of course taking a cut. Most shows suggested to actors were small time thing. From time to time, a new one turned out to be a golden goose, in which case the company was usually quick to try and rebuy it.
Gift giving
As another way of keeping workers loyal and motivated, enormous amounts of money were spent on bonuses, Christmas gifts and on other occasions. MCA was a very rich company during most of their existence, so this wasn't a big sacrifice, and it certainly improved on the feeling of eliteness that Stein wanted MCA employers to have since he made his way into Hollywood and over-decorated the Beverly Hills office to impress. Valuable people for whom MCA was the agency of choice were also splashed with extra cash and gifts to keep them happy and stay with the company.
MCA trust
Jules Stein established a trust, which absorbed 15% of annual compensation of everyone that worked for the company. It quickly gathered a large pool of money, which Stein mostly invested in stock. To sort of trick some of them out of that money and keep the company employees loyal, a special system was established that granted them more percent of access to that money the longer they stayed with them.
