A08-Field Project Report

7/31/2019 A08-Field Project Report

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A Field Project on the Young

Entrepreneur

Mr. Harsh Shah

Director-Marketing of Embee Corporation

Submitted to: Prof. Satish K. Nair

Course: MBA FB&E

Group Number: A08

Submitted By: Hardik Parmar (114119)

Jeet Parikh (114126)

Jyoti Chhaparwal (114127)

Mishal Jain (114136)

Satyam Patel (114148)


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Acknowledgement

It is our great pleasure to present this case report. We thank all those people who helped us to make

this case study, by providing necessary inputs.

We would like to express our gratitude towards Mr. Harsh Shah of Embee Corporation who spent

his most valuable time and shared his experience and views about his organization with us and

motivating and encouraging us to take up the entrepreneurial journey with the best of our abilities.

We also express our sincere thanks to Prof. Satish K.Nair for giving us opportunity to take this

informative task and guiding us throughout the project and providing us with his valuable

suggestions and encouragement.

Executive Summary


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This case report mainly focuses on young entrepreneur, Mr. Harsh Shahs views and managing

experience in running Embee Corporation which is into making of trolley wheels, textile machines

and chemicals.

The report also enlists the observations and actions taken by Mr. Harsh Shah for managing his

organization more effectively. It tries to highlight the difference between traditional management

practices and modern management practices.

It includes the details of how they manufacture and market their products in an effective manner.

The case report discusses Embee Corporation as a manufacturing firm and how they deal with their

customers.

This case include the future plans of the entrepreneur for the goodwill of his company.


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Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the recognition of an opportunity to create value, and the process of acting on

this opportunity, whether or not it involves the formation of a new entity. While concepts such as

innovation and risk taking in particular are usually associated with entrepreneurship, they are

not necessary to define the term.

Who is an entrepreneur?

According to Nandini Vaidyanathan (expert on entrepreneurship and visiting faculty at many biz

schools around the world)

Well, an entrepreneur is someone who is his own boss. Is that right? A plumber who works for

himself, is he an entrepreneur? No! Well, an entrepreneur takes risks. Participants on Fear Factor,

the reality show on AXN, also take many risks. Are they entrepreneurs? No! An entrepreneur is the

owner of his business. Steve Ballmer does not own Microsoft. Would you say he is not an

entrepreneur? No! An entrepreneur cannot be fired from his job. Steve Jobs was fired from Apple,

no? An entrepreneur becomes a millionaire. Anand Kumar, who runs the highly successful Super

30 in Patna, is nowhere near being a millionaire. Is he not an entrepreneur?

This brings us back to my question. Who is an entrepreneur? Well, an entrepreneur is a new

species. Wait, maybe not. Darwin spoke of him when he said the fittest survive. Entrepreneurs are

the fittest. They survive negative bank balances, peer pressure, family opposition, opportunity loss

when they give up cushy jobs, and failure. And, like the proverbial phoenix, they rise from the

ashes, dusting themselves up, smile on their lips, steely resolve in their eyes, and song in their

heart.

Being an entrepreneur is a state of mind. Which means you are a differently-abled thinker. Does

this mean Einstein was an entrepreneur? No, because he only thought. He did not do anything to

take his thoughts to the market. So, an entrepreneur is one who is a thinker-doer. A mentee of

ours figured that when people want to buy laptops, smartphones, digicams, there is no go to place

that facilitates an informed buying decision. So he not only thought a portal like his was a good

idea; he also went ahead, created the product, and took it to the market. Being an entrepreneur is an

attitude. It is an attitude that says: I dont like the way things are in my world, I have the power to


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change them, so I will change them to make my world a better place! A mentee of ours said, I

dont like the way my family treats me, just because Im illiterate. I want to see respect for me in

their eyes, so I will become an entrepreneur! In the last three years, she has built a business which

has a turnover of Rs.20 crore! Do her family members respect her now? You bet!

So, if being an entrepreneur is a state of mind, an attitude, is it necessary to be the owner of

business? Not at all. You could be working for a Microsoft or an Oracle and still think

entrepreneurially.

You may not have brought capital to the table, hence you dont own the business but if you think

and behave as if you do, in the sense that you take ownership of the road map, you can proudly

wear a dog-tag that says worlds best employee!

Now, let me answer my own question. Who is an entrepreneur? An entrepreneur is a person who

wants to leave a footprint in society. He wants to transform lives. He wants to create meaning such

that even people who dont know him will shed a tear whens hes gone. He is so focused on the

meaning that nothing fazes him, not the mundane rigor of getting the idea off the drawing board

into the marketplace. The only thing that drives him is the goa l and the goal lays the road

he makes.

An entrepreneur is someone who invented the phrase: I can.

Young Entrepreneur

The definition of the young entrepreneur (Male and Female) means - business owners between the

age group of 21 and 45 years, youth-owned Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or

independently owned businesses as Partnership or Proprietorship and entrepreneurs involved in

business as Director, Chairman, MD in Corporate or Multinational.

Types of Young Entrepreneurship

Economic, social and public entrepreneurship

Intrapreneurship (Corporate entrepreneurship) and co-operatives


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Categorization of young entrepreneurs

Pre-entrepreneurs (15-19 years)

Budding entrepreneurs (20-25 years)

Emergent entrepreneurs (25-29 years)

Challenges of Young Entrepreneurship:

Social and cultural attitude towards young entrepreneurship

Not being seriously by colleagues or business contacts

Age discrimination by suppliers or customers

Difficulties in attracting funding to the business

Age discrimination by institution or the government

Lack of support from family or friends

Entrepreneurship education

General lack of introduction and adoption of enterprise education

Inadequate curricula and study programs

Wrong learning methods

Negligence of students personal environment

Lack of trained / educated teachers

Lack of career information and business possibilities

Lack of business and education linkages

Lack of ICT infrastructure / capability

Access to finance / start-up financing


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Lack of personal saving and resources

Lack of security and credibility

Lack of business experience and skills

Strict credit scoring methodologies and regulations

Long waiting periods

Lack of knowledge, understanding, awareness of start up financing possibilities

Unfavorable firm characteristics and industry

Lack of status / form of enterprise

Lack of micro lending / -finance and seed funding

Administrative and regulatory framework

Unsupportive tax regimes

Business registration procedures and costs

Bankruptcy laws: Time and costs involved in insolvency proceedings

Ineffective competition law

Regulatory framework changes and lack of transparency

Property right, copyright, patent and trademark regulations

Business assistance and support

Lack of business connections: contacts, suppliers, suitable partners and networks

Lack of knowledge of available business support services

Lack of tailor made business training and advice for young start-ups

Lack of trained counselors, development workers and adequate support agencies

Lack of mentoring capacities

Lack of exchange networks forums and meeting places

Lack of other business development services


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Introduction to the Entrepreneur:

This case study analyzes the background of young entrepreneur Mr. Harsh Shah & his role in

managing & operating his organization Embee Corporation.

The case study focuses on the challenges faced and steps taken by him to ensure smooth & easy

functioning of his organization.

Right from childhood, Mr. Harsh Shah wanted to follow his fathers footsteps. The dream of

setting an innovative and dynamic company has always driven him. He comes from a reform joint

family; his father, Mr. Ashvinbhai B. Shah is a MSC Chemistry graduate. His father believed that

education is a crucial component in making a successful enterprise. He is the role model and main

source of inspiration for Mr. Harsh Shah.

Mr. Harsh completed his graduation in Chemical Engineering from Nirma University in 2002.

Then he went to University of Manchester, UK, in 2003 to do Masters in Polymer Technology. He

completed his MBA in Family Business & Entrepreneurship from Nirma University in 2006. Soon

after the completion of MBA he joined his family business. His main aim to join the business was

to help his father and his uncles who had served the organization since a long time. He has sheer

interest in area of chemical engineering, and he wanted to do something new and innovative for his

company in the same field.

Introduction to Embee Corporation:

Embee Corporation was started in the year 1956 by Mr. Babubhai M. Shah grandfather of Mr.

Harsh Shah. Mr. Babubhai M. Shah and his friends started the business on partnership basis with a

small capital. Later, due to some conflicts between Mr. Babubhai Shah and his partners, thepartnership was resolved and business was taken solely over by his grandfather.

Initially they manufactured small spare parts of textile printing machineries and provided

maintenance services to the rapidly growing sector of textile industries in Ahmedabad region.


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Later they started making trolleys and other simple machines and equipments used in textile

industries.

After completing graduation in MSC Chemistry, Mr. Ashvinbhai B. Shah, father of Mr. Harsh

Shah joined the organization and he expanded the business by starting manufacturing of chemicals

used in textile industries.

Later they were joined by his uncle, who is Mechanical Engineer, and they expanded their business

in manufacturing of complex and advanced textile machineries and equipments, such as pneumatic

pumps, steam traps, color pumps, screen engraving machines, tanks, screens etc. They mainly

catered to the need of local market. After succeeding in this area they planned to expand their

business to other areas.

In the year 1982 they started exporting the machines to different countries like Bangladesh,

Pakistan, Srilanka, Kenya, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Iran, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Egypt.

Then they started manufacturing wheels of industrial trolley from HDPE plastic. Currently Embee

Corporation is the world largest manufacturer of UHMW-HDPE wheels, with production capacity

of 10 million wheels per year.

They are also engaged in manufacturing of various textile machineries, such as:

Castor, Endrings, Nickel screens, Hydraulic trolleys, Rotary screens,

Screen Engraving Machines:

Dual light film contact box

Screen unpacking device

Curing oven

Degreasing tanks

Automatic coaters

Exposing machine


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Screen washing machine

Engraving accessories

Textile Machineries:

Rotary screen printing machine

Rotary sample table

Color dispensing systems

Dew drop printing machine

Foil stamping machine

Vacuum color strainer

Cloth inspection machine

Engraving chemicals and consumables:

High quality photo emulsions

Engraving chemicals

Endring remover, sensitizer and fluffex

Thermoplast

Endring adhesives

Industrial products:

Chemical process pumps

Pellet truck

Hydraulic stacker


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Oil pump

Pneumatic pumps

Disk check valves

Steam traps

Other spares:

SS blades

Pneumatic pump spares

Magnet beam

Endrings

Ball bearing for screen heads

Why he joined his family business?

Starting up my own business would have definitely changed my life, the way I have thought, the

way I work, the way I spend money and the way I socialize. Itll be one of the most demanding

challenges I will ever be likely to take on.

But my family came first in all my priorities of life. I have to join my family business and help my

father and uncle in their work, take responsibilities from their shoulder to mine. I thought of giving

a relaxation time to my family member as they have been working from their early ages. So it

became my priority to join my family business. I have to give back what I gained from my family.There was no second thought to it.

The harsh truth of starting your own business is, youd be reducing your hours spent with your

family and not increasing them, it wouldnt disrupt your family life. But the excitement, pleasure,


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joy, satisfaction and fulfillment of starting your own business is one of its own kind, it is always

my dream desire to start my own firm.

Observations:

After finishing his MBA in Entrepreneurship, he joined his family business. He first observed and

tried to learn the functioning of the company, he didnt want to jump directly on decision making

and implementing process, making others think he is more prudent then them who are working

from many years, which would have broke their trust in the organization and hampered his image.

For first five-six months he tried to learn from his employees, how they worked and managed the

organization. He is a very keen observer.

Their organization was functioning on a traditional management method where his father and uncle

handled each and every work of the organization. There was no expert to handle different

departments.

First thing he observed there was a great burden on his dads shoulder as the work was not

distributed in the organizations, he was the person who handled every department from purchasing,

production, and marketing.

At that time his company was labor intensive. Managing workforce was a huge challenging task

for them; this caused many problems as it was time consuming with more manufacturing cost per

unit produced, less efficiency and poor quality. At times few of the workmen also influenced

others to go against the benefits of organization.

Due to limited use of technology the small decisions were also time consuming for the

organization. As the skilled labors were less, the process of manufacturing was slow and thus time

consuming. Even during small break down there was a substantial loss of time and production.

He also observed that due to less use of technology and no use of computers the billing process

was not efficient as the main authority had to sign each and every bill and during dispatch.

Sometimes when they were not available the delivery was also delayed. Coordinating and

communicating with other offices and departments was also disorganized.


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There was no effective communication between the workers and the authority so, that created

many misunderstandings and conflicts. As the authority and rights were not distributed among the

employees, even a small issue stopped the production chain. This was the major drawback and thus

they were not able to meet up their customers time commitment.

All the purchase records and stock records of raw materials and finished goods were kept on

books. There entries were recorded on daily basis. This was a time consuming process and also

many incidents of false records were observed. Once a there was an entry of one drum of chemical

in stock register but when verified actually only 1/5th of the registered quantity was found. This

caused miscalculations and delayed the production.

We must not solely depend upon one person or service provider as this creates his monopoly and

blocks our vision of searching new alternatives. We may never come know when he tries to cheat

us if we are not aware about other substitutes.

He observed there was breach in the security as he found out that many raw materials kept were

missing but he was not able to figure out who did it.

Actions:

Mr. Harsh Shah wanted that organization should work with ease and simplicity.

His First action was to learn how his father and uncle worked and later it was his responsibility to

reduce the burden from their shoulder. So, he believed delegation of work and working in neutral

manner at organization. He took the decision that distribution of work should be done equally and

organization should follow lateral communication, where nobody feels inferior while working. So

this way company would achieve more productivity and everybody can give their most effective

output.

He even distributed works between workers, and different rights were passed so that they can

enjoy their work, which would motivate to work them differently and easily.


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He introduced use of new technology in the manufacturing unit and management department. Due

to use of such technology work was done easily and effectively without much dependence on

expertise. Also catching up deadlines was now possible.

He made many small but significant changes in the existing plant and machineries which were in

line with current technologies. He laid importance on atomization of plant. Also machines they

manufactured were improved by use of PLCs and other instruments. This helped them to face

global competition more strongly. He also changed their boiler fuel from Liquid Diesel Oil to

Natural Gas which was more eco-friendly and cheap. Now they have continuous supply of boiler

fuel and the trouble of managing the boiler fuel inventory was avoided.

To overcome the problem of maintaining daily stock registers manually, inventory management

software and ERP softwares were introduced. This required training the existing staff about the

new programs used and hiring few others with technical skills about it.

To overcome the stealing of products, he installed CCTV cameras in the factory which helped him

a lot. So he can know who is working regularly effectively or wasting time and also helped to

notice the people who were working against the organization and motivating others not to work.

He fired his most trustworthy employee because of their changed behavior and egoistic attitude

with other workers.

He introduced and replaced the Solid Wheel manufacturing process from HDPE with Ultra High

Molecular Weight High Density Poly-Ethylene (UHMW HDPE). This development added a very

distinctive feature of unbreakability to their product. As a result their market share increased and

today they are the worlds largest producer of such wheels with production capacity of 10 million

wheels per year.

Marketing and Customer Services:

On the subject of customer servicing and marketing, Mr. Harsh Shah claims to have a very positive

approach. According to him, problems are to be faced anywhere in the world. One has to be very

patient while developing a market as it is not an easy task. One has to be very tactful and deal with

each customer in a diplomatic and friendly manner.


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He tries to understand the psychology of his customers; he understands the requirement of his

customers and works accordingly. He goes to different countries for marketing of his products. He

has tied up with marketing agencies in different states of India and abroad. They have regional

sales office in Surat, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Erode and also in countries like Bangladesh and

Pakistan. He introduced company emails for his employees for easy and better communication

with the customers and to retain the information of the organization.

There chief marketing tactic to attract customers was to participated in different exhibitions like

ITME Mumbai, ITMA Euorpe, America and China.

They are also the member of FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organization) and other such

trading bodies. They help them in exporting their products by getting necessary clearances and

paper work done. They also help them in getting finances through foreign nations keeping banks as

guarantee or mediator.

Their production capacity is of making 20-25 machines a year. Currently they are able to sell 15-18

machines a year. They also make customized machines based on customers needs. They also

provide their customers with the necessary after sales services for proper maintenance of the

machines.

They are more interested in increasing their exports as there is larger profit margin than compared

to local sales.

Vision and Future plans:

He wants to make his firm more eco friendly by replacing the boilers with the solar heaters.

He is successful in developing a textile chemical product which is currently in the early

stage of completion. He wants to patent this product.

He wants to reach out to more number of countries and explore the regions which are

untouched.

Complete color kitchen


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Effluent treatment plant

Caustic recovery plant

Conclusion:

Mr. Harsh Shah is an ethical person. He says any business can be carried by ethical means. His

father and his uncles has drived the business ethically. Following his fathers footsteps has taught

him to work ethically and helped him in becoming a good and a successful entrepreneur.

He is a good observer and has ability to take up actions whenever required. His friendly nature and

soft skills has created a very trustworthy and friendly environment in his organization. He is a

good visionary and is innovative in his work. Being a young entrepreneur he has a great ability to

handle any situation with confidence. He is ready to face any challenges and according to him

challenges are part of entrepreneurs life. According to him mistakes are important part of life, as it

helps us learn many things. He is good in marketing and travels to different countries for

marketing his products. We can define him even as a growth entrepreneur, as growing in business

and growing his business is one of his priority.

Thus, Mr. Harsh Shah, as a young entrepreneur is very efficient and active in growing his business.

References:

1) Intelligent Entrepreneur - July 2011-Volume 2-Issue 11- Page 20.

2) CR1 Entrepreneurship - Text and Cases.

3) Embee corporation - embeeindia.com

4) Youngentrepreneur.com

Documents

A08-Field Project Report