Before their sons began clashing over the direction of the Ewing empire, the battle was waged by J.R. and Bobby. Over the years, each brother had his share of victories: During the contest for control of Ewing Oil, J.R. scored big when he flooded the market with cheap gasoline, although Bobby squeaked to victory when he struck oil in Canada. Later, after the Justice Department forced the Ewings to sell their company, Bobby reclaimed the rights to the “Ewing Oil” name, while J.R. managed to reassemble the old assets.
Your #DallasChat Daily question: Who was a better businessman — J.R. or Bobby?
Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Have a great discussion!
Dallas Decoder 
Bobby, generally more scrupulous
Bobby, since he generally played fair. JR needed to cheat to win.
JR. Bobby made a great front man, face man and people manager, but jR was the better BUSINESSman. He took risks (sometimes to a fault), played down and dirty (which is required to some extent in business), and put nothing over profitability.
But it seems to me that the BEST business man was the younger JOCK. He had the best of Bobby and JR, without the worse of each.
I’d say J.R. by a nose C.B. But Bob was also excellent at business. I think though that with Bob being an all-American football star he’d be better as a Ewing Oil P.R. man while J.R. did the behind the scenes work. Oh wait: he was: “Booze, broads, & booty!” Brother Bobby: aka: “The Pimp of Ewing Oil!”
Considering the J.R. lost Ewing Oil to Cliff Barnes, I have to say Bobby.
This is a silly question as the obvious answer is Bobby. JR jeopardized the company in order to win. JR was constantly alienating people who should have been his allies because he was too ruthless and single minded to see the bigger picture.