BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND ETHICS

PROJECT REPORT ON

MEETING AN
ENTREPRENEUR
MR. SAJU GEORGE [MGL & SONS Ready mix Plant,
Valakom]

SUBMITTED TO, SUBMITTED BY,

ARCHANA S JITHIN R G

ASST.PROFESSOR S1 MBA [BATCH A]

TKMIM, KOLLAM TKMIM, KOLLAM

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 MBA PROJECT REPORT

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND ETHICS

Submitted by:

JITHIN R G

Under the guidance of:

Asst. Prof. ARCHANA S

TKM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

November 2018

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 DECLARATION

I JITHIN R G here by declare that this project report titled ‘MEETING AN

ENTREPRENUER’ has been prepared by me under the supervision of
Asst.Professor Archana S [Finance],TKM Institute of Management, Kollam
is a bonafied work carried by me and submitted to University of Kerala in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the Master of Business Administration.

Place: Kollam JITHIN R G

Date:

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I express my sincere gratitude towards the God, without whose
help, this project would not have been accomplished.

I express my sincere thanks to Dr. JAYARAM NAYAR, Director of TKM

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT for kind co-operation and encouragement.

I express my heartfelt and profound gratitude to my respected guide Archana S,

Assistant Professor, [Finance] TKM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT for her
relevant suggestions, guidance and inestimable leadership given for completing
this project report.

I express my soul hearted thanks to Mr.SAJU GEORGE of MGL &

SONS,Valakom , Kottarakara who helped by providing an opportunity to meet
and interview him & to visit his firm and also to obtain the required details &
informations.

I also thank all my friends and well-wishers who greatly helped me in this
endeavour.

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 CONTENT

SL. NO TITLE PAGE NO.

1 Industry Profile 6

2 Company Profile 8

3 Interview Abstract 11

4 SWOT Analysis 14

5 SWOT of MGL & SONS 15

6 Impact of PESTEL forces 17

7 PESTEL analysis on MGL & SONS 20

8 Conclusion 22

9 References 23

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INDUSTRY PROFILE

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Ready-mix concrete is concrete that is manufactured in a batch plant, according
to a set engineered mix design. Ready-mix concrete is normally delivered in two
ways.

First is the barrel truck or in–transit mixers. This type of truck delivers concrete in
a plastic state to the site.

Second is the volumetric concrete mixer. This delivers the ready mix in a dry state
and then mixes the concrete on site.

Batch plants combine a precise amount of rock, sand, water and cement together
by weight, allowing specialty concrete mixtures to be developed and implemented
on construction sites. The first ready-mix factory was built in the 1930s, but the
industry did not begin to expand significantly until the 1960s, and it has continued
to grow since then.

Ready-mix concrete is often preferred over other materials due to the cost and
wide range of uses, from bird baths to high rise buildings and bridges. It has a long
life span when compared to other products of a similar use, like road ways. It has
an average life span of 30 years under high traffic areas compared to the 10 to 12
year life of asphalt concrete with the same traffic.

Ready-mix concrete, or RMC as it's also known, refers to concrete that is

specifically batched or manufactured for customers' construction projects. It is a
mixture of Portland cement, water and aggregates: sand, gravel, or crushed stone.
All aggregates should be of a washed type material with limited amounts of fines
or dirt and clay. Ready-mix concrete is bought and sold by volume - usually
expressed in cubic meters (cubic yards in the US).

Ready-mix concrete is batched or manufactured under controlled conditions. It

can be transported and placed at site using a number of methods. In 2011, there
were 2,223 companies employing 72,924 workers that produced RMC in the
United States. Nowadays it is becoming more popular in INDIA.

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COMPANY PROFILE

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MGL & SONS is a project of manufacturing Ready mix Concrete to cater the
concrete requirements of Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alleppy, and Trivandrum
districts. They started their business in 2013. Ready-Mix Concrete(RMC) is a ready
to use concrete, with predetermined mixture of cement, aggregates, additives and
water. It is manufactured in a centrally located factory( Batching plant)located at
Valakom,10 kilometers from Kottarakara, according to a set recipe or as per
specifications of the client. It is then delivered to client’s work site, often in special
trucks(transit mixer) capable of mixing the ingredients of the concrete in route.
This results in a precise mixture, allowing speciality concrete mixtures to be
developed and implemented on customer sites.

Scope of the Business

The Ready mix concrete business in India just crossed its infancy stage; where as
in developed countries nearly 80% of the cement consumption is in the form of
ready mix concrete and the 20% in the form of precast. In India the share of ready
mix concrete is expected to go up from present levels of around 5% of the total
cement production is in the form of site mixed concrete.

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The Ready mix concrete business in Kerala started in the year of 2002 from Calicut
and 2003at cochin. RMC plants based in cochin successfully brought in the culture
of Ready mix concrete and other cities like Trichur and Trivandrum followed by the
route. By this project under consideration, we will be the pioneers in the RMC
business for the districts of Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Allepy,and Trivandrum. Their
management consists of CEO, board of Directors ,marketing heads ,supervisors
and employees.

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 INTERVIEW ABSTRACT

 What ignited the spark in you to start a new business venture to make
significant changes in an existing business?
The main reason is that before starting this plant we are doing business on
construction field. Our initial venture was hollow bricks company and earth
movers. So thinking of a variety business in our locality, we moved to ready
mix plant.

 How important have good employees been to your success?

Good employees are always a main factor in the success of every
organization. In our success employees are a vital part. They work with
coordination and full morale.

 What are the three pieces of advice would you give to college students who
want to become entrepreneurs?
Basic requirement for every entrepreneur is good innovative idea.
Investments ,financial feasibility ,market study etc. are other factors.

 What are top three skills required for a successful entrepreneur?

Ability to face uncertainties ,failures ,possess practical ideas ,gain work
experience.

 How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?

During the initial stage of this I don’t have any time to enquire about my
family. My only dream is this business. So an entrepreneur has to sacrifice
and adjust many things in his life.

 What motivates you?

The young entrepreneurs always motivate me. Because they are coming
with fresh and innovative ideas.

 How do you define your success?

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 As an entrepreneur I am a developing person. My venture got success
because we follow the core value of quality and customer satisfaction.

 What is the best way to achieve long-term success?

Adopt proper planning and make the ideas practical and give full focus
towards its success.

 Is your company profitable?

Yes, for past 4 years we are gaining profit.

 Where did your organization’s funding/capital come from and how did you
go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
We mainly raise our capital through banks and from our family properties.
Basically our investors are relatives . Till now we don’t have any investment
from outside.

 How did you build a good customer base?

We always focuses on quality and customer satisfaction. In our plant all
customers can come and check the quality of the mixing, check the
standard of raw materials, and also we provide sample of every mixing to
the respective customers then they can check in the labs authorized by the
government of India.

 Where you see yourself and your business in 10 years? 20 years?

Unpredictable. Competitors are arising. But for sure I don’t give up. Will go
the maximum. After ten years come further to see .

 How can you prevent mistakes or do damage control?

Through proper follow up action ,preventive measures, deeply analyse
every situation.

 What are some of the biggest mistakes you have made?

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 Until now by god’s grace we don’t have any big mistakes. One big mistake is
the changes we made infrastructure of our factory . It lead to a land slide
and we incurred some what high loss.

 How did you decide on the location for your business?

Our factory is located in the sloppy hill side of Valakom. The sloppy
structure is the main reason for building plant in this area. The mixing
process involves several process and need to pass through several pipes etc.
so this sloppy structure is very useful. We didn’t make any geographical
changes in our factory premises.

 How far are you willing to go to success?

For success we are willing to go to any extent. Profit and quality are our
main aim.

 How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your
successful form of marketing?
There main stratergy for marketing is canvassing and maintain good
relationship between contractors and go for public works contracts. They do
their advertisement through newspapers, conducting programmes like
sports tournaments,charity works etc. Also their marketing wing is so active
in attracting contractors.

 What are the challenges did you encounter on your first day? What
challenges do you encounter now?
In beginning time the main challenge is the financial crises. Our expenditure
go beyond our expectations. But now the main challenge the competition
increasing in the market.

SWOT ANALYSIS

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SWOT analysis is a process that identifies an organization's strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. Specifically, SWOT is a basic, analytical framework that
assesses what an entity (usually a business, though it can be used for a place,
industry or product) can and cannot do, for factors both internal (the strengths and
weaknesses) as well as external (the potential opportunities and threats). Using
environmental data to evaluate the position of a company, a SWOT analysis
determines what assists the firm in accomplishing its objectives, and what
obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve desired results: where the
organization is today, and where it may be positioned in the future.

Elements of a SWOT Analysis

Analysis needs to be kept specific by avoiding gray areas and analyzing in relation
to real-life contexts. When using SWOT analysis, an organization needs to be
realistic about its good and bad points. For example, how do the organization’s
products and services compare to those of competing firms? SWOT analysis
should be short and simple, and should avoid complexity and over-analysis, as
much of the information is subjective.

1. Strengths describe what an organization excels at and separates it

from the competition: things like a strong brand, loyal customer base,
strong balance sheet, unique technology and so on.

2. Weaknesses stop an organization from performing at its optimum

level. They are areas where the business needs to improve to remain
competitive: things like higher-than-industry average turnover, high
levels of debt, an inadequate supply chain or lack of capital

3. Opportunities refer to favorable external factors that an organization

can use to give it a competitive advantage.

4. Threats refers to the factors that have the potential to harm an

organization.

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Advantages of SWOT Analysis
1. SWOT analysis is no cost or little-anyone can do and understand it.
2. Helps in improving the business.
3. No need of an external consultant. Can do personally.
4. Capitalize on various factors of SWOT
5. Develop business goals and strategies for achieving them.

SWOT OF MGL & SONS

Strength :

 Strong customer relationships

 High quality product

 Knowledgeable employees

 Good management team

 Face any challenge

 Eco friendly.

Weakness :

 Pays a bit high cost to transportation.

 Miscellaneous expenses by means of donations etc. tend to be paid always.

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  Strong strategical intervention of competitors.

 Availability of quality raw materials.

Opportunities :

 There is a good response from contractors that they are withdrawing

traditional method of concrete mixing.

 New proposals from government for PWD works.

 Construction of houses and flats are increasing.

Threats :.

 Increasing Costs of raw materials.

 Transportation cost

 Competitors provide canvass customers by low quality with low

prices.

 Maintenance of machineries.

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 IMPACT OF PESTEL FORCES
A PESTEL analysis is a framework or tool used by marketers to analyse and
monitor the macro-environmental (external marketing environment) factors that
have an impact on an organization. The result of which is used to identify threats
and weaknesses which is used in a SWOT analysis.

PESTEL stands for:

P – Political

E – Economic

S – Social

T – Technological

E – Environmental

L – Legal

Let’s look at each of these macro-environmental factors in turn.

All the external environmental factors (PESTEL factors)

Political Factors

These are all about how and to what degree a government intervenes in the
economy. This can include – government policy, political stability or instability in

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overseas markets, foreign trade policy, tax policy, labour law, environmental law,
trade restrictions and so on.

It is clear from the list above that political factors often have an impact on
organizations and how they do business. Organizations need to be able to respond
to the current and anticipated future legislation, and adjust their marketing policy
accordingly.

Economic Factors

Economic factors have a significant impact on how an organisation does business

and also how profitable they are. Factors include – economic growth, interest rates,
exchange rates, inflation, disposable income of consumers and businesses and so
on.

These factors can be further broken down into macro-economical and micro-
economical factors. Macro-economical factors deal with the management of
demand in any given economy. Governments use interest rate control, taxation
policy and government expenditure as their main mechanisms they use for this.

Micro-economic factors are all about the way people spend their incomes. This has
a large impact on B2C organizations in particular.

Social Factors

Also known as socio-cultural factors, are the areas that involve the shared belief
and attitudes of the population. These factors include – population growth, age
distribution, health consciousness, career attitudes and so on. These factors are of
particular interest as they have a direct effect on how marketers understand
customers and what drives them.

Technological Factors

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We all know how fast the technological landscape changes and how this impacts
the way we market our products. Technological factors affect marketing and the
management thereof in three distinct ways:

New ways of producing goods and services.

New ways of distributing goods and services.
New ways of communicating with target markets.

Environmental Factors

These factors have only really come to the forefront in the last fifteen years or so.
They have become important due to the increasing scarcity of raw materials,
pollution targets, doing business 5as an ethical and sustainable company, carbon
footprint targets set by governments (this is a good example were one factor could
be classes as political and environmental at the same time). These are just some of
the issues marketers are facing within this factor. More and more consumers are
demanding that the products they buy are sourced ethically, and if possible from a
sustainable source.

Legal Factors

Legal factors include - health and safety, equal opportunities, advertising standards,
consumer rights and laws, product labelling and product safety. It is clear that
companies need to know what is and what is not legal in order to trade
successfully. If an organization trades globally this becomes a very tricky area to
get right as each country has its own set of rules and regulations

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 PESTEL Analysis on MGL & SONS

Political :

 Government policies has an impact- Filing of returns, tax reforms etc.

 Employees are covered with their own claims.

 Some donations forced by political parties.

Economical :

 Demonetization and GST implementation has a great impact on the

economy like others.

 Sales was in the depleting stage long back due seasonal changes, but now
changed.

 People have a belief that it is more expensive than traditional method.

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Social :

 Now society get awareness and they are forcing others to use this type
concrete mix.

Technological :

 Newer and advanced technological adoptions was occurred in the firm.

 Newer technology for automatic mixing and cleaning.

Environmental :

Environmental and such like impacts was very less or nil, as the firm is green
category plant.

Legal :

 GST was the most impacted legal reform as it 60% benefited for the whole
industry.

 Legal aspects made on constructive not much changing periodically.

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 CONCLUSION
Meeting an entrepreneur, the project work intended to get a chance of an
interview and gaining knowledge about the particular ready mix industry was very
effective throughout this project work. Mr. Saju George , CEO and founder of
MGL & SONS, Valakom , Kottarakara was interviewed as part of this project work
and an opportunity to saw the customer dealing in the firm at least for a certain
time period was also received.

The entrepreneur Mr.Saju George is an business man in construction field for

20 years . As per him the knowledge he gained as part of his construction business
and experience in the same field was also very helpful in his success. Meeting him

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with the objective to gain some knowledge and to seek some answers related to the
entrepreneurship was an ultimate success.

MGL & SONS is one of the efficient and big ready mix plant in Kerala.
The plant is included in the list of Green category plants and have certificate from
Pollution Control Board of India. Apart from its initial stage this business is
gaining good profit for past 4 years.

Various questions asked to the entrepreneur was answered 100%

satisfactorily and also certain factors related to the business like impact of various
forces, competitors, business strategies etc. were also explained. As per the
entrepreneur he suggests ‘Be a job creator not a job seeker’.

REFERENCES

 www.mglandsons@gmail.com
 www.mglandsons.com
 www.wikipedia.com

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