Research and Analysis of a successful entrepreneur: The case of Bill Gates - Essay Example

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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS OF THE BIOGRAPHY OF A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR – THE CASE OF BILL GATES Table of Content Executive Summary....................................................................................3 Introduction.................................................................................................4 Early Life Experiences & Preparation for Leadership................................4 Early Childhood Abilities of Bill gates.......................................................6 High School Days & Early Contacts with Computers................................6 Studies at Harvard.......................................................................................7 Situations that Contributed to the Development of Microsoft....................7 Growth of Microsoft...................................................................................9 Traits of Bill Gates that Contributed to his Success...................................10 References...................................................................................................12 Executive Summary This paper examines the life and biography of the billionaire, Bill Gates. It examines the early life of Bill through to the various stages of his life that influenced his interest in computer programming. It examines the actual events in the life of Bill Gates that enabled him to become a successful entrepreneur. The paper also examines the reason why Microsoft was formed and how it managed to grow to become a major international computer company. The conclusions of the paper shows that Bill Gates' success is connected with his early learnings and development of important aspects of Bill's life like public speaking, strategy, law and computer science. His contract with MITS gave Bill Gates important abilities to build an international brand and grow it globally. Finally, the innovation and ability to provide offerings for consumers around the world gave him all the necessary footings he needed to become a successful entrepreneur. Introduction Bill Gates is a 56 year old American entrepreneur and philanthropist who has consistently ranked as the world's richest man between 1995 and 2007 (Lesinski, 2008). Bill Gates and his partner, Paul Allen set up Microsoft, a software developing company in 1976 which sold numerous computer programs to third party companies for three decades. For a long time, Bill Gates worked as the chief software architect, CEO and major shareholder of Microsoft with 6.4% of shares. He is currently the Chairman of Microsoft and he divides his time doing this as well as running his charitable organisation which seeks to promote humanitarian services to less fortunate members of the society. Over the past 35 years of the existence of Microsoft, it has been the main brain behind the development of computer programs and systems. With strong legal basis, Microsoft has successfully monopolized numerous aspects of the development, sale and marketing of software. This has kept the company extremely wealthy and has prevented other competitors from developing independent systems and structures. The background of Bill Gates, which is steeped in Computer Science and Law has been very critical in the expansion and growth of Microsoft. Also, the family background of Bill Gates had a strong impression on building Bill Gates and shaping him into an investment magnate and successful entrepreneur. Bill Gates' understanding of the world of business and management was also very instrumental in moving Microsoft to its current status. This paper examines the background, personality and critical business systems and structures that are responsible for Bill Gates' success as an entrepreneur. It attempts to diagnose his business background and psychology to determine the main reasons for Bill Gates' success. Early Life Experiences in Preparation for Leadership Bill Gates was an intelligent child and he was fortunate to have been born into a family where there was a lot of intellectual stimulation and opportunities for the development of a top-class career. These opportunities formed the foundation for an academic system within which Gates built his career. Bill Gates was born William Henry Gates III and was the fourth person in his family's lineage to carry the name (Lowe, 2001). Gates' parents were of a blend of English, German and Scotish-Irish origins (Lowe, 2001). His parents were upper middle class people in Seattle, Washington. His father was a partner in a major law firm whilst his mother was a school teacher who later became a philathropist and volunteer (Lesinski, 2008). Bill Gates' parents had various levels of influence on him. His father gave him a lot of guidance on law and how to draft legal documents whilst his mother gave him ideas on how to maintain human relations and provide philanthropist services to the society (Lowe, 2001). According to Bill Gates' parents, he spent a lot of his time thinking in solitude (Lesinski, 2008). His mother stated in an interview that Bill was always late for social events because he was always busy thinking in solitude (Lesinki, 2008). This shows that he was a self-motivated individual who always sought to find solutions to problems by figuring out the best choice that could be taken from a set of possible options. At age 8, Bill Gates spent time to read through the 1960 World Book Encyclopedia until he got to the letter 'P' (Lesiniski, 2008). Clearly, this indicated that Bill Gates was of a global orientation, because he spent time reading about things from different parts of the world. With this effort, Gates was likely to get an idea of people around the world wanted and expected. He could find out what mattered to people what did not really matter. This formed the blueprint for him to develop a company that enabled him to provide services to customers all over the world. This is because the software offering of Microsoft became popular and high income earning because it provided services for different people from different parts of the world Due to the fact that Bill Gates' parents were very busy, he was raised by his grandmother, Adele Maxwell who cared for him and his siblings. In the Gates family home, there was no TV for the children during the week. In its stead, the children read and played board games which enhanced their critical thinking abilities. Early Childhood Abilities of Bill Gates Bill Gates was a very smart and intelligent child. He was an ambidexterous child and could use both of his hands (Lowe, 2001). According to Bill, whenever he got bored, he used to spend time trying to write with his weaker hand. This shows that Bill Gates always wanted to solve problems around him. The problem solving potentials and desires of Bill Gates moved him on and kept him going. He always trying to solve real-life problems to the detriment of his school life. Due to the fact that Bill Gates used to behave not like a 'normal child', his parents took him to a psychologist to study him and recommend the best ways of dealing with him when he was in the sixth grade (Lowe, 2001). The psychologist gave him books on psychoanalysis theory by Freud to read. Gates read all these and came up with different views of analysing psychology. After a year, the psychologist told Bill's parents that “it was useless to force Bill to conform to traditional behaviour...” (Lowe, 2001 p2). So in return, the psychologist advised Gates' parents to try to adjust to Bill Gates. High School Days & His First Experiences with Computers In high school, Bill developed a strong interest in programming the newly acquired school computer in BASIC, the dominant computer program in that era. He stated that the ability of the computer to be programmed and produce results accurately fascinated him (McNamee & Miller, 2004). Due to this, he got more interested in the computer and spent most of his time in high school programming (Lockwood, 2009). Bill stated that he gained supreme happiness from successful programming and seeing the results on the screens (Lockwood, 2009). It can therefore be said that the desire of Bill to solve problems was actualized when he got into programming. This gave him a sense of accomplishment and made him spend more of his time working on the computer. In spite of the fact that he spent most of his time in high school programming computers, he scored 1590 out of a possible 1600 in the American high school examinations, SAT. His close friend and future partner, Paul Allen scored a perfect 1600. Studies at Harvard Bill Gates gained admission to Harvard university in 1973 (Lockwood, 2007). In Harvard, he majored in Computer Science and Law (Lockwood, 2007). Prior to that, he worked as a congressional page in Washington DC and overcame shyness and took part in school plays (Lesinski, 2008). Gates also continued to play chess and Japanese strategy game, ;'go'. This gave him the ability to learn more about strategy and how to work with other people. At Harvard, Bill Gates spent most of his time at the postgraduate computer laboratory where he spent a lot of time programming and studying more about the computer (Strother, 2007). He also took permission to study in some graduate courses to build his skills in computer programming. Situations that Contributed to his Development of Microsoft With his transition from high school to Harvard, Bill Gates had set the main foundations of his life. He was excellent at computer science and had good knowledge and control over strategy, law and public speaking. With these, he was aware of what he needed to put his skills and abilities to commercial use. At that time, the computer company, MITS was manufacturing software for companies. At 19, Bill Gates and Paul Allen approached MITS in Albuquerque in New Mexico and informed them that they could help to develop BASIC software for the use in computers (Wallace & Erikson, 1992). Bill and Paul met the management of MITS and gave them a demonstration. MITS gave Bill and Paul a $3,000 contract for the worldwide rights for programming of BASIC for computers. Aside the fee paid, they were also entitled to earn royalties from the sale of the software. Paul immediately started as a Software Director at MITS (HWM, 2003). Bill Gates discussed his plans of developing software with his family who gave him the necessary support. Bill's father encouraged him to set up an independent company, negotiate a contract MITS and begin operations. So Bill Gates abandoned his studies at Harvard university and began working with MITS. Bill and Paul formed Microsoft which sought to develop software for MITS as an outsourcing partner. Whilst Bill ran affairs at Microsoft, Paul maintained their interest with MITS by working as a software director at MITS. Microsoft grew further and moved its operations from Albuquerque to Bellevue, Washington where they could appear to be more independent and also target new clients in 1979 (Lesinski, 2008). This therefore means that Bill and Allen sought to separate themselves from MITS and aim at getting new contracts and promoting their partnerships with other companies around America. In 1980, Microsoft entered a partnership with IBM (Rich, 2003). The partnership required Microsoft to produce operating systems for IBM computers. This arrangement ensured that Microsoft could provide its first major set of software for an independent company. In 1981, Microsoft realized it could provide a software that could be used to power a universal generation of computers that would be able to provide solutions to many categories of customers (Haven & Clark, 1999). At this point, the focus of Microsoft shifted from just writing bespoke programs for their customers. Rather Microsoft focused on the mass production of its licenses for a group of possible hardware providers. Bill Gates stated that the success of Microsoft and every business depends fully on the IQ of the people who run it (Subotnik, 2005). This shows that the expertise in providing solutions and the ability to sell the solutions in the best and most optimal settings gives success to a business. Growth of Microsoft Microsoft has been accused of monopoly. This accusation stems from the fact that Bill Gates is said to have a firm system of creating licensing agreements that makes it difficult for other competitors to enter the market and produce software that is similar to them. Tremblay & Tremblay (2008) identify that Microsoft grew because they were able to provide very tight licensing agreements. These agreements were really specific and required Microsoft's partners to focus on putting in the optimum efforts to help in the commercialization of Microsoft's license. Also, Microsoft has always maintained an incremental system of improving its old systems and software. This is done through the fact that Microsoft invested heavily in writing many programs that serves genuine needs of people in society 30 years ago. And over the past 30 years, they have spent quality time to take concerns of stakeholders and perfect the available software infrastructure that they have. Due to this, Microsoft has remained a preferred brand. This is because most customers know Microsoft as the pioneering brand. And with their efforts to diagnose and guess consumers' needs and expectations and making efforts to meet those needs, Microsoft remains the most preferred brand amongst customers around the world. Also, the maintenance of global networks and strong partnerships and alliances makes Microsoft a formidable force in the world of international business. These networks have made Microsoft a popular brand that enables Microsoft to work and expand its scope and offerings. Due to this, competitors have not been able to match up the competition that Microsoft presents to the various consumers. Traits of Bill Gates that Contributed to his Success In summary, there are some personality traits and entrepreneurial psychological traits that have supported Bill Gates to remain the richest man on the planet for a long period of time. Most of these traits are connected to the childhood, discipline and ability to identify opportunities and commercialize them. First of all, Bill Gates built a positive culture of critical thinking. He spent a lot of his time trying to find solution to real problems as a child. This was quite abnormal for people within his age brackets. However, with a strong effort and a good concentration, Bill Gates was able to build a nature that was able to enhance critical thinking and problem solving. Secondly, Bill Gates did a lot of wide reading at a very young age of his life. He was able to read a lot of materials that had a global worldview. This enabled him to understand the different desires and expectations of the most dominant groups of people in our society. This was able to enable Bill Gates to know the best way of making the most in the commercialization of a global business at an early age in life. Thirdly, Bill Gates was really fortunate to be born into a family that cherished hard work and discipline. The Gates family was disciplined and they provided guidance for their children in different ways and systems. The safeguards in the Gates home was one that provided the children enough guidance and a motivation to learn and apply the mind to solving real-life problems. Also, Bill Gates synthesised the various skills he had by building a strong desire to solving problems in his life. He actualized this potential by using the computer to provide solutions through programming at high school. This is because he noticed that the computer was a valid system through which problems could be solved so he found ways of getting to control them. Through this, he was able to realize his desire of solving real-life problems around him. As he entered his adulthood, Bill developed areas of his life that were relevant for the creation of a career. The areas that mattered to him included public speaking, law, strategy and more importantly computer science. Bill found informal ways to personally learn all the most important things in these four crucial areas that could determine his future. In the early years of his contract with MITS, Bill learnt all what he needed to learn on the job by doing as much as he could to perfect his programmings. Also, when the contract with MITS existed, Bill learnt a lot about management and the ability to run a business. As Bill and his partner learnt more and acquired skills that were not readily available on the market, they sought to gain more autonomy and seek to expand their autonomy. They therefore ended up moving away from MITS and sought to enter new partnerships with bigger and different companies which gave them better opportunities and business partnerships. With time, Microsoft could nurture its rare skills and abilities and they decided to provide outsourced software packages for ordinary members of the society through working with a wide range of hardware manufacturers. The plan of Microsoft to provide a simple system to reach the ordinary customer ensured that that Microsoft could provide for a wide variety of customers. Most of these customers who could not afford bespoke software were given the ability to buy simple and easy to use and standardized software that could be sold through a wide variety of hardware. The commercialization of Microsoft's software was done through tight legal systems and structures that monopolized Microsoft's control over the markets. Also, the continuous improvement of existing Microsoft softwares on a regular basis enables them to get the best share of the market. References Haven Kendall & Clark Donna Lynn (1999) 100 Most Popular Scientists for Young Adults Libraries Unlimited. HWM (2003) The Genesis of a Giant SPL Magazines Lesinski Jeanne M. (2008) Bill Gates: Entrepreneur & Philanthropist Twenty-First Century Books. Lockwood, Brad (2007) Bill Gates: Profile of Digital Entrepreneur Rosen Publishing Lowe Janet (2001) Bill Gates Speaks: Insights from the World's Greatest Entrepreneur Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Publishing McNamee J & Miller Robert (2004) The Meritocracy Myth Rowman & Littlefield. Rich Laura (2003) The Accidental Zillionaire: Demystifying Paul Allen Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Strother Ruth (2007) Bill Gates ABDO Publishing Subotnik Dan (2005) Toxic Diversity: Race, Gender & Law Talk in America New York University Press. Tremblay Victor & Tremblay Carol Horton (2008) Industry & Firm Studies ME Sharpe Publishing. Wallace James & Erikson Jim (1992) Bill Gates & The Making of the Microsoft Empire Wiley Publishing. Read More