A True Story of an Entrepreneur

Author: John A. Bern
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-01-01
Features: This book tells the rise and fall of Donlop in the business world. His rise, the creation of the Donlop myth, made him a household name in America during the peak of his career, becoming a hero to American investors and an idol to managers. However, as problems with Sunbeam Corporation continued to emerge, the dark side of the Donlop myth also surfaced. Was his sales strategy designed to chase short-term gains? Did closing down production factories help the company's long-term development, or was it just to win the favor of Wall Street analysts? Was his large-scale corporate restructuring an improvement in the company's competitiveness, or just a means to increase shareholder value and his personal wealth? Was his ruthless treatment of employees a suitable management strategy, or just an expression of selfish obsession? However, in the end due to the collapse of Sunbeam Corporation, Donlop was brought down. But Donlop's relentless, and ruthless pursuit of profit became the epitome of the greed of this era and of Wall Street.