Winning Formula
... l’Automobile (FIA), but also from the founding-president of Ferrari (Knutson 2001). · Informational Roles Actually, Ecclestone is not a manager who readily provides information to the general public. An American author, Russell Horton, claimed that: Ecclestone’s success was based on his secrecy in his financial dealings. As a mysterious czar in his ‘Kremlin’, Ecclestone makes decisions on his own and acts as a disseminator to filter various messages (Naylor, 1999). Moreover, Ecclestone is distinguished from other nerve centers for his unconventional methods on getting feedback, such as using a helicopter to count gate receipts. · Decisional Roles While employees have primary responsibility for managing the affairs, the entrepreneur must have some obligation to provide them with the means of doing so. First, Ecclestone was innovative in helping Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) manage the races while enabling FOCA to focus on the financial aspects. Next he took a chance to adopt new digital television technology to increase audience ratings. After that, he gave up standing relationship with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and then formed an agreement with Independent Television (I T V) in order to gain more benefits (Eason, 2004). Accordingly, no one can deny the fact that Ecclestone did well in making innovations. When running his business, Ecclestone behaves as a disturbance handler. He made a prompt decision to change the rules to make racing more exciting when the percentage of TV revenues suddenly decreased (Naylor 1999). Additionally, he is decisive in dealing with emergencies. For instance, he fired Silverstone from the list of F1’s host for their lack of funds and poor facilities (Economist 2000). Meanwhile, he is not only dealing with disturbance but also he is negotiating strongly with rivals. “He would argue that two plus two equals five”, appraised by Niki Lauda. For example, for many years, European Economic Community (EEC) has questioned Ecclestone’s intent to monopolize the industry, even until the year 2001, there were still no definite results after their negotiations (Knutson, 2001). It is well known that Ecclestone wants to hit Chinese market and solve the financial problems caused by the tobacco advertisements ban in most European countries. So it should be easy for Shanghai to bargain with Ecclestone because he waited this chance for a long time. On the contrary, Shanghai was charged three times more than other circuits to obtain the right to hold Formula One. Indeed, Ecclestone’s negotiation skills played a vital part in this agreement (AFP, 2004). · Managerial Style On the other side, Ecclestone’...