sábado, 16 de diciembre de 2006

El valor de estar bien informado

En la actualidad no hay nada que supere el valor de la información. Desde el punto de vista económico, esto permite a las empresas y personas relacionadas con el mundillo (los típicos intermediarios chupasangre que encarecen todo lo que tocan) hacer negocios redondos, ya que cuentan con información privilegiada. Hace menos de un año mucha gente se enriqueció invirtiendo en bolsa, a costa de conocer los movimientos que iban a hacer las grandes multinacionales (ese ritmo frenético de OPAs que vivimos ultimamente). Un claro ejemplo de esto que digo, es una anécdota que leí en un libro titulado “What they don´t teach you at Harvard Business School” escrito por Mark H. McCormack (ejecutivo de una conocida multinacional). A continuación escribo el artículo tal cual esta, en inglés para que no pierda nada de detalles al traducirlo.

Size Up the Situation

Several years ago I met a Venezuelan oil and shipping businessman by the name Raphael Tudela. As I have come to know, respect, and admire him, he has impressed me as the quintessential street-smart executive. He has built a billion-dollar business from scratch in less than twenty years. He seldom deals in written contracts because his word is his bond. He has always made his own breaks. And his principal business, which is oil speculation, relies on his constant process of seeing opportunities where no one else does and taking advantage of them.

In other words, Raphael Tudela is a genius at taking the edge. One of the best illustrations of this –of how he has the facts, knows what people want, and figures out a way to give it to them- is the story of how he got in the oil business in the fist place.

In the mid 1960s, Tudela owned a glass manufacturing company in Caracas, but, a petroleum engineer by training, he longe to be in the oil business. When he learned from a business associate that Argentina was about to be in the market for a $20 million dollar supply of butane gas, he went there to see if he could secure the contract. “If I could get the contract,” he told me, “then I`d start to worry about whre I`d get the butane.”

When he –a glass manufacturer operating alone with no previous connections or experience in the oil business- got to Argentina, he discovered his competition was formidable: British Petroleum and Shell Oil.

But feeling aroud a little bit he also discovered something else: Argentina had an oversupply of beef which they were desperately trying to sell. By knowing this one fact –his first “edge,” so to speak- he became at least an equal to Shell and BP. “If you will buy $20 million of butane from me,” he told the Argentine government, “I will buy $20 million of beef from you.” Argentina gave him the contract contingent upon his buying the beef.

Tudela then flew to Spain, where a major shipyard was about to close down from lack of work. It was a political hot potato and an extremely sensitive issue for the Spanish government. “If you will buy $20 million of beef from me,” he told them, “I will build a $20 milliong supertanker in your shipyard.” The Spanish were ecstatic and delivered a message to Argentina through their ambassador there that Raphael Tudela`s $20 million of beef should be sent directly to Spain. Once again he had found the edge and taken it.

Tudela`s final stop was in Philadelphia at the Sun Oil Company. “If you will charter my $20 million supertanker, which is being built in Spain,” he told them, “I will buy $20 million of butane gas from you.”

Sun Oil agreed, and Raphael Tudela fulfilled his desire to get in the gas and oil business.

4 comentarios:

Hari dijo...

Thanks a lot for the information on Venezuelan oil and shipping businessman name Raphael Tudela. I had read it elsewhere , I think in the book "What they don't teach you at HBS", and I was looking for this online,
Good to find it here,
Thanks
Hari

Hari dijo...

Thanks a lot for the information on Venezuelan oil and shipping businessman name Raphael Tudela. I had read it elsewhere , I think in the book "What they don't teach you at HBS", and I was looking for this online,
Good to find it here,
Thanks
Hari

H18 dijo...

felicitaciones me hizo de mucha utilidad

H18 dijo...

felicitaciones me hizo de mucha utilidad