Entrepreneurial Behavior of Donald Trump - Case Study Example

Assessment of Entrepreneurial Behavior: Donald Trump Name Institution Assessment of Entrepreneurial Behavior: Donald Trump Donald Trump John a world renowned entrepreneur made his name in the real estate development. His desire in this area of business is passion driven as he confesses. Largely he seems to fulfill the dream his father, Trump senior had of making an impact in real estates. He is an icon in the industry with his numerous accomplishments and still counting. Donald Trump was born in Queen, New Yolk on fourteenth June 1946. He was born of Fredrick Trump, a real estate developer in Staten Island and Brooklyn. Early in his life Donald identified himself as an assertive child. His parents sought to nature his potential by sending him to a military school at a tender age of 13. Their reasoning was that the high standards of discipline in the school would assist him to exploit his capabilities in the right way and that paid. Donald excelled not only in class but also off it. He successfully participated in field events further demonstrating his desire to be ahead of everyone. While in the school he took interest in leadership where he became a student leader with immense capabilities. After graduation in 1964, Donald proceeded to Fordham University for further studies. He later joined Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated with economics degree in 1968. That was enough for Donald to establish himself in the business arena in the post world-war era. Real estate development was the family domain with the Trumps. He got the inspiration initially from his father but his determination and passion for the undertaking seemed to far surpass those of his senior. Trump junior became exposed to the basics of real estate development in his schooling years (Myers 1998). He assisted his father in running the family businesses during vacations. Upon graduation he fully joined the service of Trump Organization, which was a company owned by his father. His goals were much broader and his creativity more clinical. He was aggressive and sought to see the business grow irrespective of the family. He found no basis to believe that the venture should remain sizable to allow its management to be restricted by the family members (Kahneman 2003). Based on these values Donald was able to convince his father to expand the company’s holdings. This was to be financed by loans which were backed up by the equity venture of the company. Unlike his father, Donald was ready and willing to exploit bank loans as a means of realizing expansion strategies. By 1971, Donald had been convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Manhattan city had lots of untapped potential that he would exploit. He responded to the new discovered by relocating to the city the same year. He established networks with powerful people in the city and it was to pay as he managed to set up many storey buildings in the town. The narrow profits of their company were now replaced by huge asset base a plight that won public recognition. Donald’s relocation and success in the city demonstrated two clear attributes of a successful entrepreneur. One of those is having an eye for opportunities. By shifting his investment base Donald managed to transform their company by a full cycle. This is a trait akin to any prudent investor – being able to identify opportunities and acting on them. The courage he also demonstrated cannot be slighted. Loan financing at that time and age was a risky undertaking given that he had to tie the business apartments as security. All in all he believed in risk taking according to him hesitation to take risk is a risky option in business. Another character trait exemplified by his move was the ability to create networks and new line of business friends. His undertaking would not have been fruitful in a new environment without influential people in the locality. Donald knew this from the onset and knew too how to establish the links. This was a great complement since gaining acceptance in any new market involves understanding the dynamics of the market and their underlying fundamental beliefs. For this Donald understood and executed what was necessary with the required zeal. According to Donald trying something new is the way to grow. He always sought to think big with his famous assertion that “if you have to think then think big.” He was to do this in 1974 when he identified the Penn Central hotels as an opportunity worth taking. At the time the organization was unprofitable. However, he was able to see the potential owing to the strategic location of the hotel. He obtained an option in one of the hotels. The following year he made complete his strategic plan by entering into partnership deal with Hyatt Hotel Corporation, which was desperate to own a hotel of its own at the downtown. The deal could not have been better. And Donald was not to stop at this, he wanted to renovate the building and direly needed a viable tax planning to advance his mission in a more business oriented way. He managed to negotiate a lucrative deal with the city government that saw him win a tax abatement of record 40 years. With this big win he was able to renovate the building to reach modern standards. After this undertaking Donald was set for his next major assignment in life. Donald had the gut to seek an option on the railroad’s yards when it entered bankruptcy, which he obtained. This was despite the poor economic situation that subsisted at the time. Owing to this, the apartments were unprofitable. But Donald always gets an alternative; he was able to promote it as the location of the city convention center. In 1978 the city government ranked first ahead of two others and this was a big win for Donald. Another trait is again identifiable in this scenario. An entrepreneur must be able to turn threats into opportunities. This is done by not limiting the level of thinking and being flexible to ideas. Having some persistence in times of challenges is strength worth its status in the world of business. As mentioned earlier Donald never shy away from taking risks. He observes that risk taking is what typifies every successful entrepreneur. In 1985 Donald purchased seventy six acres of land on the Western part of his coveted Manhattan city. He had to part with $88 for the acquisition. But the grand plan was even bigger, and the associated risk massive. He was poised to building a complex to be named Television City. The complex was to consist of dozed skyscrapers, a riverfront park and a mall. According to Donald’s plan the site was to host the world’s tallest building. However, there were hurdles that were to frustrate his efforts and great vision for the project. The surrounding population offered much opposition. The city authorities also pegged so many procedures and bureaucracies something he had not envisioned. The turn of events is a clear indication that taking risk is about winning or losing. But winning cannot come without playing the game and playing it is what taking risk means. The failure is not the issue the issue is the reaction pattern and response from the frustration. According to Donald that is what distinguishes a winner from the losers. Gaining mileage in entrepreneurship does not entail winning always – losing is definitely the other side of the coin. The never say die attitude was to keep Donald going. The set back of the seventy six acre land acquisition was not to stop his quests to expand his empire. Three years later in 1988, he purchased and renovated the plaza hotel. The total acquisition cost was $407 and the refurbishing cost amounted to $50. Donald was relentless no set back was to stop him from exploiting the world of real estate. According to Donald money is not the motivation is his ventures and he advises that to aspiring entrepreneurs. In fact if it was he would not have arranged his investment strategies the way did. He was always on the fore front purchasing unprofitable ventures. Had he been money oriented investor he would have sought for the well performing estates since he had the financial ability to do that. But he puts it as a caution to new investors that going too fast for the cash will break the limb. Donald never blinked when it came to exploring new ventures that man has not attempted. Innovation is what lingers in his mind. He never subscribes into the stereotype that if something has never been done then it is simply impossible (George 2005). For him it is the opposite, what has not been done has simply not been tried. So Donald demonstrated that he has the gut to taste the waters in every venture that he set his foot on. 1990 was another year to underline his already established authority in real estate development. He was determined to be the pioneer of new realities of the human race and being second in the game has always remained a foreign term. It was January of 1990 when he unveiled the strategic plan to construct a residential building, 125 storey tall worth $billion. The turn of events in the economic climate at the time was not supportive. The real estate market hit a record low. Donald’s value and income from his empire declined from $1.7 billion to $500 million. This twist compelled the Trump organization to acquire huge loans to prevent it from collapsing that seemed almost eminent. Experts observed that the corporation could not survive bankruptcy. Pundits analyzed that the extensive ventures of 1980s by Donald was the result of his probable collapse. They accused him of excesses in many spheres of life. This was probably the most technical test of character and capability for Donald. But he was to come out of it in a spectacular fashion. He struggled to rediscover his fortunes over the years of 1990s. By 1997 his worth had reached an unprecedented high at $2 billion. This further exemplified the strength of character in the person of Donald. Probably it was a lesson learnt by all entrepreneurs that hurdles just come to make winners stronger. One would say that everything he touches turns gold. Donald’s personal life has been a subject of bad publicity. Largely this has been due to the divorce to his first wife, Ivana. But all these never diverted his attention from his ventures. Probably this is what makes a typical entrepreneur. Private life must be lived in separation to business life. He loves his work and enjoys what he does. He asserts that there is no meaning in trying to find a balance between work and pleasure. By way to go id to make work more pleasurable and he lives for that. Donald has attributed his success to a number of factors which can be used as lesson for students of entrepreneurship. He largely talks of his ability to think in larger than life terms. He has ranked this as the most stringent strength behind his strength. He cautions people against fear of taking decision citing small thinking to the sole cause of the allergy. People should be bold enough to make tough choices and stand firm for the consequences attaching. Doing things differently is another aspect behind his success. He holds that investor should not follow their competitors as that limits creativity. Doing things in a new unique way is the spear that gains mileage in business. He recounts for example the scenario of the real estate slump when other developers were reducing their prices and Donald was raising his. Everybody at the time thought that the market would not recover but for Donald the situation represented a whole ocean of opportunities (Fiet, Van & Norton 2004). Donald once said “What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each twist of fate.” He refers to ownership of the largest privately owned business in New Yolk employing over 22000 workers. According to him this was not possible because nature favoured him or because he never trends in the path of difficulties. He says that fate should not determine destiny. Setbacks come only as a lesson for tomorrow and as a chance for today to uncover other problem solving capabilities that has never been exploited. Donald has stressed to the difference between thinking big and seizing every opportunity that presents itself. He says it never pays to leave oneself exposed too much. He rather advises that he on many occasions settled for a much reduced deal just to remain cautious. He confessed to be conservative on many occasions where the risk factor seemed too expensive to bear even if the rewards attaching seemed lucrative. He explains the strategy of diversification as a technique he applied to reduce exposure to risk. He mentions his engagement in wide range of ventures as being deliberate not only to make his name but also to minimize risks (Forlani & Mullins 2000). For Donald passion supersedes money. He openly declares that he has more than he would ever want to spend but that never stops him from striving for more achievements. He highlights a number of issues that would have made him quit real estate were it not for passion. He quotes his troubled marriage that ended in divorce, not once but twice and admits that it was particularly difficult for him to take. He has also noted the bankruptcy charges as something which could almost precipitate his desires. Finally he recounts of many failed deals many of which that robbed him massively. In the final end he needed something to keep him in the game and remain relevant in the real estate development. That thing is passion. Donald expresses his dissatisfaction with settling for a good thing when there is a better one up for grabs. People should go for idealism as far as possible. For this reason he says he specialized in ventures of luxury, class, lavishness and extravagance. Life should reach perfection, or almost there and people should make themselves the agents of that. Trusting in his instincts paid for him. When advisors say one thing there is another consideration to make before reaching at the final decision and that is one guts. One ought to have confidence in what he/she believes and have the courage to act on the same. Being an entrepreneur entails among other things making difficult and risky decisions and self belief is unquestionably vital to that (Allinson, Chell & Hayes 2000). In absence of that one give in to pressure and that is the recipe for disaster. Perception has been a crucial ingredient in the success story of Donald Trump. “Watch, listen, and learn” is what he believes in. his success came as a result of being able to keenly observe and analyze the situation of others. From that it is possible to manipulate their actions so as they can act in one’s own favour (Headd 2001). He was able to convince others in the game that they could not make it without him and through that he managed to craft interesting business deals that eventually put him at the top of everybody. References Allinson, W.C., Chell, E. & Hayes, J., 2000. Intuition and Entrepreneurial Behaviour. European Journal of work and Organizational Psychology, 9(1), 31-43. Baron, R.E., 2004. 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