Articles on Power: Ratan Tata, Zhang Yin and Carlos Slim

Ratan Tata
**Excerpt from article (see full article here)
Tata keeps away from Mumbai's party circuit, dresses conservatively, and gets to work early in either his black Mercedes or Tata Indigo, sitting beside his driver. Who would have thought this understated man of impeccable manners, who readily sacrificed an airline venture at the altar of government policy, would upset the global corporate order to such an extent? And so often?
It's tempting to forget that Tata is the same man who had been written off after he supervised the wind-up of Nelco, the radio making company of the group. He was not given a chance in hell when he took over as the chairman of Tata Sons in 1991, when the likes of Russi Mody and Ajit B Kerkar ran their own fiefdoms. And was nearly ridiculed when he invested over Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) in a passenger car foray.
When he took charge of the group, 5 per cent of its turnover came from overseas. This rose to 20 per cent in 2002-03, mainly due to TCS emerging as a global force.
In 2005-06, the figure grew to 30 per cent. The acquisition of Corus will take the total group revenue to $41.87 billion, 63 per cent of which - $26.54 billion - will come from overseas.
The overseas drive of the group has been accompanied by a change in Tata, the person, too. The man has admitted in print to "issues" of "self consciousness" and "self confidence" early on. Some say the "issues" began to get resolved with the turnaround of Tata Motors in the new millennium.

The above artical shows how one man can grow to be so economically powerful within a relatively short time.

Zhang Yin
**Excerpt from article (see full article here)
China's wealthist person is Zhang Yin - 49 year old founder of the Nine Dragons Paper Co.
She created her company by recycling paper from the U.S. and turning it into packing material.
It gives real meaning to "One man's trash is another's treasure."
Zhang Yin is worth $3.4 billion - 50% more than the richest fellow, Shi Zhengrong, CEO of Suntech at $2.2 billion.
Seven of the top 10 richest individuals in China deal in some way with property development and are listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The next richest woman in China is Chen Ningning, a metal trader partnering with her mother - worth $813 million, according to Hoogewert's list.
But for now...a woman sits on top.
I wonder what the men's club has to say about that.
What do you think?

This article shows how female dominance is very feasible, with some persistence.

Carlos Slim
**Excerpt from article (see full article here)
After acquiring Telmex, Slim's net worth increased dramatically. He integrated his companies so they did as much business as possible with each other. At the Carso Group, the holding company for many of Slim's investments, Rule No. 6 on the list of 10 corporate principles is: "Money that leaves the company evaporates."The domination of large Mexican conglomerates such as Slim's chokes off growth of smaller companies, says Celso Garrido, an economist at Mexico City's Autonomous Metropolitan University who studies Mexico's business dynasties. The resulting shortage of good jobs drives many Mexicans to seek better lives in the United States, says Roderic Ai Camp, author of Mexico's Mandarins, a book about the country's power elite.Even Slim compares his business model with that of another company often accused of monopolistic practices: Wal-Mart."If Wal-Mart invests a billion dollars and others invest $100 million, Wal-Mart is going to grow more. So if we invest $2 billion a year over many years and others invest $500 (million) or $100 million, it's illogical for them to have the same size as us," Slim said.Along with Telmex, Slim controls América Móvil, the world's fifth-largest cellphone company with 124 million customers in 15 countries. In the United States, he controls Tracfone, a pre-paid cellphone company that claims 8 million customers.Slim's holdings, in business and beyond, are now so vast that he sometimes loses track of what he owns. Yet, the small boy with the ledger notebook still surfaces from time to time. While speaking in his office, Slim impulsively decides he needs to know the value of his necktie, which was lying on a chair nearby.

Finally, this article shows how one man can control such large and powerful businesses, that his economic income grows exponentially until an inevitable settling.