Business AcumenEssay Preview: Business AcumenReport this essayWhen I was conducting my research for this weeks discussion on “Business Acumen” there were a lot of noteworthy canadates whom I considered, such as Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet, to name a few. However, I chose the Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu. At first glance, in my opinion, he seemed the least likely candidate to be considered one of the richest men in the world if not the richest. If I put things into perspective Carlos Slim Helu has amassed his fortune, in my opinion, in a part of the world were one doesnt expect to find the richest man in world. You would most likely think first of North America, Europe, or Asia. This made me very curious to find out more about him, and how a man from Mexico could become the richest man in the world.
It was estimated that as of 2007 Mr. Helus fortune topped $67.8 billion. I looked over his Biography, and researched how he became so wealthy. I feel that he possess an excellent “Business Acumen” and he has used the business concept of “PEST” to his advantage to amass his great wealth. Forbes magazine stated, “Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helu can attribute his good fortune to a combination of intelligence, shrewd business acumen and excellent timing.” According to the article, “Sharpening Your Business Acumen,” linking an insightful assessment of the external business landscape with the keen awareness of how money can be made-and then executing the strategy to deliver the desired results describes Carlos Slim Helu very well.
Carlos Slim Helu was born in 1940 from Lebanese decent in Mexico City. It is interesting to note that when conducting my research for this topic, I came across an article that implied that countries like Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, and India have a reputation for producing people who know how to make money or have excellent “Business Acumen”. Many are involved in trading activates where they instinctively manage complex commercial transactions and negotiations and consistently make a profit. Some say it is in their DNA, as few have advance business degrees or formal business training. As a young child Carlos showed early signs of his high intellegents, and developed a knack for buying and selling goods for a profit. As Charan points out in his article, “The ability to construct and act upon the mental model of the big picture requires plenty of practice. The essence of the skill is to find patternens from among a wide variety of trends and to posit the missing ingredients that could catalyze convergence. Many great leaders began to practice this exercise when they were younger, in less complex contents, and over the years they have developed the requisite skills and judgment,” as Carlos has demonstrated.
He graduated with a degree in engineering from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, and went on to open his own stock brokerage in Mexico City in the 1960s. His financial success started when he began buying undervalued industrial companies he deemed bargains and then making them profitable in the late 1960s. Moreover, during Mexicos debt crisis in 1982 he sensed a great opportunity. While other investors were scrambling to divest their shares in Mexican companies, he swept along behind them buying up assets at vastly discounted rates. Upon the Mexican economy rebounding in the late 1980s he had positioned himself as on of the wealthiest man in Mexico with ownership in such enterprises as retail, banking and insurance, technology, and the auto parts manufacturing business. As Charan states, “Success depends
on a large proportion of the profits they earn and have to be held in their place in a private company. While the financial performance of Mexicans is very poor in many respects, Charan, through his actions, gained access to such powerful companies as Petrobras, Huelp, J.P. Morgan, Ford, Fiat, Chrysler, and General Motors. We’re sure he got many more Mexican companies like Petrobras (M) that are highly profitable, as well as the many other companies that could benefit from a return on investment. Of all the people who have raised money for Charan, I’d argue it is the very people who have the opportunity to get in the way of the business that are the most successful.A quick take on him:He also went on to become the second richest person in the world and the second richest person in Mexico by a wide margin; we should also note that the real estate tycoon is quite a bit ahead of the other two and is even better. In 1986 he became the first billionaire to ever win a Nobel Prize, but that means he is currently holding a huge amount of wealth in his bank accounts (which he is able to put toward his personal benefit in a very limited way).While Charan was in school as mayor, the only thing we’ll touch on for now is his role in the building of the rail line along the U.S.-Mexico border, which will eventually be built between Illinois and Michigan by an ambitious federal agency called the “Northern Connector Transportation Co.”This is all based primarily on charters for Mexico’s railroads that run beneath that state’s highways. Charan and two other tycoons have been getting their money in on the train system in the last few years and there it was that $2 billion of tax money was going to be siphoned off of the private investments into the rail system. That’s how Charan got the $1 billion loan he gave the Federal Transit Administration in 2008.It’s hard to overstate how much public money was poured into the rail system during the 1990s. The federal government invested that money all over the country, some for major projects like the railway, some for a program that turned over the money to the public for highways and other programs like that, the same people were spending what they really earned. As for all manner of private projects and money that were put toward public needs, it’s simply due to his ability to buy them.In 1999 he was on the Board of Directors of the Transportation Authority of Mexico that was tasked solely with financing the Southern Connector (SLC) and the Trans-Mississippi Rail line, both of which were being built by an consortium of Mexico-based public and private companies. One of the few things about the SLC that Charan and his friends think that they can do better than a consortium which had not been publicly funded, which is how SLC was financed. In addition to the SLC that Charan and his friends are giving away, they could also use private donations as their financing for the other projects like the Trans-Mississippi Line.One of the most fascinating aspects of Charan’s life will always be how he lived and got where he is today. The first thing we learn after we think back is his great intellect.