2013

BY-

VIDHI CHAUHAN–JL13PGDM123

TULIKA CHOPRA-JL13PGDM120

VASVEE GUPTA-JL13PGDM122

SONIA JASWANI-JL13PGDM117

SOUMEN AICH-JL13PGDM118

TASHEEN SHEIKH-JL13PGDM119

VARSHA DEBNATH-JL13PGDM121

JAIPURIA INSTITUTE OF

MANAGEMENT LUCKNOW

Book Review: Dhandha-How Guajarati’s Do Business

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction of the Author: ...................................................................................... 2

Summary: ................................................................................................................... 3

Review: ........................................................................................................................ 4

Diamonds Are Forever: ............................................................................................... 4

Motelier Becomes Mayor: ........................................................................................... 5

The Circle of Life: ....................................................................................................... 6

Life of a Salesman: ...................................................................................................... 7

Not only potels:............................................................................................................ 8

Conclusion: .................................................................................................................. 9

INTRODUCTION OF THE AUTHOR:

Shobha Bondre is a celebrated and much published Marathi writer. She has been writing for

the last 25 years and has published 13 books, many of them bestsellers that have gone into

over 25 editions. The non-Marathi reading world is now keen to read her works and her

books are being translated into English, Hindi, and Gujarati. She has written articles, short

stories, and columns for prestigious publications like the Maharashtra Times, Loksatta,

Lokprabha, Maher, Kirloskar, etc. She has also written dialogues for many popular Marathi

TV serials like Abhalmaya, Manasi, Oon Paaus, and Ardhangini. In the last few years,

personality profiles of people from various walks of life have become Shobhas forte. For this,

she interacts closely with her subjects, understanding them in their social, familial, emotional,

and economic settings. She has won many literary awards for her work, including the

Maharashtra State Award for Best Novel in 1997, for Saata Samudrapar.

SUMMARY:

Dhandha, meaning business, is a term often used in common trade

parlance in India. But there is no other community that fully embodies

what the term stands for than the Gujaratis.

Shobha Bondre‟s Dhandha is the story of a few such Gujaratis: Jaydev

Patel—the New York Life Insurance agent credited with having sold

policies worth $2.5 billion so far; Bhimjibhai Patel—one of the

country‟s biggest diamond merchants and co-founder of the ambitious

„Diamond Nagar‟ in Surat; Dalpatbhai Patel—the motelier who went

on to become the mayor of Mansfield County; Mohanbhai Patel—a

former Sheriff of Mumbai and the leading manufacturer of aluminium

collapsible tubes; and Hersha and Hasu Shah—owners of over a

hundred hotels in the US.

Travelling across continents—from Mumbai to the United States—in

search of their story and the common values that bond them, Dhandha

showcases the powerful ambition, incredible capacity for hard work,

and the inherent business sense of the Gujaratis.

These are definitely not fairy tales. The essence of the book is to

highlight the differentiating factor, the thing that distinguishes

Guajarati‟s from the rest of the world when it comes to business and

the book beautifully portrays it. The stories are not just about how their

businesses grew, but also about the whole family of the businessman

and how they helped, the unforeseen events, the troubles and obstacles

they faced, the failures, but the best thing in all these stories was the

amazing attitude for success and persistence these people showed.

REVIEW:

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER:

This is the story of Bhimjibhai Patel, a diamond merchant who started

from scratch. Literally. He didn‟t know languages apart from Gujarati,

but he proved that language is no barrier. Bhimjibhai was confident. „I

know diamonds and that is the most important language in the

business. „It‟s only the hard work, intense dedication, practical

approach, readiness to learn and the inborn enthusiasm to see

themselves as successful businessmen that matters. Bhimjibhai has

always wanted to learn and adopt, his initial days he spent learning the

art of cutting Diamonds and along with that hard work to sustain in the

world, he when started the journey got the support of his Wife. It‟s not

just Bhimjibhai want to pursue his dream he helped his brother‟s to

get a proper sustainable life and move ahead and Bhimjibhai got the

immense support from his family this leads to the Base of the

Bhimjibhai Patel which is now known as one of the country's

biggest diamond merchants, It shows the whole understanding of their

business sense is how they are still so humble and modest, how

Bhimjibhai have been working hard all the time, leaving little time for

family, but still he always helped others in many different ways and

shared ideas and information.

MOTELIER BECOMES MAYOR:

This is a story about a Gujarati Dalpatbhai Patel, who studied in US

and took a leap into what Guajarati‟s do the best. He gradually became

the first indian Motelier in the region.

Like many others Dalpatbhai Patel came to US with a better life style

and a reputed job.

He went through lots of up‟s and downs emotionally and mentally, but

time healed up every difficulties. Dalphatbhai had a friend cum

motivator named Mangan Bhai.

He being a perfect Gujarati businessman, providing a strong backend

to Dalphatbhai. Their Partnership proved to be a great success. They

were quite practical and calculative about things. They were

masterminds in making the financial decisions. Neeta Patel, wife of

Dalpatbhai Patel proved her capabilities while contributing to manage

the motel. She had depicted Inspirational management Skills; this

reflects that Gujarati women are no less than what a man can be.

It is learnt that Gujarati‟s are hardworking and risk takers. This story

talks about how any opportunity can be turned into business. The only

precondition is being focussed and cautions to capture those

opportunities in time. This story also makes us understand how a single

person can be a businessman as well as a social worker, this is a

quality, a real entrepreneur possesses, i.e. being a Motelier and a

Mayor at the same time.

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE:

Mohanbhai Patel (leading producer of collapsible aluminium tubes in

the world) in his story, The Circle of Life talks about how once while

experimenting with a new machine tool for producing ophthalmic

nozzle tubes (used for packing eye ointment) with aluminium (usually

tin is used all over the world. This was the first time anyone tried using

aluminium), the machine tool broke down and he tried not three, four

or five times, but 30 times. It shows, if an idea does not work one

would abandon the idea but Mohanbhai does not give up easily. The

story Mentions, Mohanbhai working for Tata‟s at Mumbai and

establishing his business for weeks not visiting home/family. Taking

rest for only 3 hours this shows dedication of Gujarati‟s for the

business and the hard working quality with immense amount of

patience. The determination to establish be the best in the world is

Inspiring, Along with the support of the family. The entire family

works as a team and their real risk taking ability which makes them

dream high stand apart in the world.

LIFE OF A SALESMAN:

„PATIENCE , THE NAME IS JAYDEV P ATEL‟

This story describes in detail how Jaydev Patel, a Gujarati businessman

came from India to US and his journey towards success, from the

initial struggle to the recognition he has achieved today- The New york

life Insurance agent credited with having sold policies worth $2.5

billion. Jaydev Patel, who started his career as teacher, then a chemist

and finally ended up with that of an Insurance agent, mentions how he

took up the opportunity offered by New York life that made all the

difference.

He is well known as the one who take care of all the worries. Jaydev

talent to sell Insurance policies is unbelievable and worthy of praise,

His incredible marketing skills are evident when we find that he had

sold a policy even to the attendant who fills gas in his car at service

station. But it is not that he was successful immediately, at the

beginning he had faced many hardships. Sometimes he had to pursue

the client for months and years, so as to sell a policy. But his

determination and patience level didn‟t let him down.

Purnima Patel, wife of Jaydev Patel had played the role of constant

motivator and epitome of care. She didn‟t lost her patience even when

Jaydev lost his job. Her role in this Story, clearly defines the inborn

management skills a girl carries.

Jaydev Patel‟s achievement in the field of Insurance is laudable, but his

portrait would not be complete if one doesn‟t mention the other side of

him, as a social worker who had emotions attached to his school, his

family values and culture brought him to a point, where he went out of

the box to build three new schools in his town back in India.

NOT ONLY POTELS: SUCCESSFUL SUCCESSION : A TRADITION OF SUCCESS .

This story revolves around a couple Hashu and Hersha Shah from

Harrisburg. Every person has a dream to earn a reputable position in

the society. Dream continue to get bigger and bigger, most

importantly, when we talk about living on foreign lands.

Hersha and Hasu Shah are the living example of great American

dream, like thousands of others this couple came to America from

India, with aspirations and hope in there heart. Both of them worked

tirelessly to improve their life. They didn‟t have any money to begin

with, what they had was sharp intellect, tremendous will power and

incredible capacity to hard work. They started with a small motel

business; today they are the owners of over 100 Hotels with around

11,000 rooms in total. They have done a lot for the society and

country. As of today they employ 650 people they also contribute to

social service organizations. In the midst of this hectic schedule, they

didn‟t fail to instil sound values in their children Jay & Neil, who are

both highly qualified and religiously contribute to their father‟s

business. “AS YOU SOW SO SHALL YOU REAP”.

The Role of Hersha Shah, has been completely remarkable, In spite of

having led a very pampered childhood, she had worked so hard and

had not been scared to face any challenge.

Behind every Success story lays a dark face, the story of Hersha and

Hasu Shah is no different. Recession, Robberies, floods, disasters all

came there way. But a real businessman is one who overcomes all the

difficulties and hard times and converts into never ending success. And

this can be done only if entire family contributes to it.

The next generation of shah‟s i.e. Jay & Neil, further took the group to

new heights and brought about a series of innovative changes.

CONCLUSION: Dhandha is a very simple and inspiring book for the upcoming

entrepreneurs. Reading the book is quite intriguing. Every person has

some insights on how they tackled the ordeal of life, meanwhile rooted

to their values.

We would specifically like to mention about the cover page of the

book i.e. a suitcase, a symbol that glorifies business, DHANDHA.

And, after reading the stories, it is truly felt that Guajarati‟s do have an

innate sense of business.

The book unfolds to show us innumerable facets of human behaviour

and make us learn invaluable lessons of humanity. One thing that is

found common in all the five stories is that each of these people

believe in a single funda of business, and that is „A businessman

should always think about growing business bigger and better‟ which

holds completely true. In each of the chapters of Dhandha we will gain

many things about how hard work, patience and perseverance always

pay off. None of the genuine efforts will go waste if we have put in our

heart and soul in trying to achieve what we really wanted.

A common thread running through each of the stories is the incredible

amount of hard work, perseverance and patience each of the five

people had to build their existing business empires. Despite being from

fairly conservative backgrounds, some of these profiled individuals

have made their mark in alien lands through consistent labour, often

doing double shifts to raise enough capital and taken risks no matter

what the odds.

The contribution of their spouses cannot be underestimated and the

author must be congratulated on documenting their side of the story as

well. The ladies' version of the events in this learning curve does add a

more humane dimension to their success stories. What's also

remarkable is that the profiled gentlemen have retained their humility,

and were blessed to be surrounded with people who supported and

guided them on their path. Each of the business families written about

in this book also gave back a lot to their rural roots in Gujarat, and

their generosity and ability to remain rooted to their origins is

commendable, especially in the face of powerful ambition.

Some of the common personality traits that are being noticed in the

personalities mentioned in the book are as follows:

High risk takers: high risk-taking managers make more rapid

decisions and uses less information.

Examples from the book:

In case of Bhimjibhai Patel, he was into his father‟s farming business,

he took the risk of moving to Surat and invested a considerable amount

to learn about diamond cutting and polishing. During his entire training

period of four months, he was not even paid a single penny, which

matters a lot for a farmer who earns on a daily basis.

Initiators: These are the people who identify opportunities, show

initiative, take action and persevere until meaningful changes occur.

Guajarati‟s are known as „entrepreneurs by birth‟. So, they are most

often the initiators, who bring about the idea of latest business traits

and make innovations from time to time.

Example:

In the story of life of salesman, it was jaydev patel who took the

initiative of changing his profession from a chemist to an insurance

agent, which ultimately gained him a huge and never ending success. It

was he who introduced three schools in his school in a span of two

years, despite of the huge capital funding.

Core values: These are the values which one gains from the parents

and institutions. These types of values are deeply inherited within the

individual and are not easily changed.

Guajarati‟s have got rich core cultural values. They give strong

preference to the parental upbringing and culture to which they are

being associated.

MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

It is the most widely used personality assessment instrument in the

world. Through this model, we can judge the personality trait of an

individual.

As per the myers-briggs type indicator model, all the five persons

mentioned in the book depict the similar type of personality being

entrepreneurs and pursuers of their dreams.

Firstly, they have EXTROVERT personality. it can be seen in case of

bhimjibhai patel, who goes from a small town to a big city like Surat to

learn about the diamond cutting, without any glitch or hesitation.

Same characteristic trend we came across in dalpatbhai patel. Despite

of being on a foreign land, he established the motel business. Similarly

Neeta Patel worked out of her comfort zone to communicate with

Americans in the motel.

Second is INTUTIVE- Guajarati‟s looking everything with a bigger

perspective. They have a wider perception of making use of

opportunities at the right point of time.

If we see the example of dalpatbahi patel and maganbhai, they

purchased the motel on the highway, which was running into losses.

They took an intuitive decision to buy it and transform it into a

successful business.

THINKING: Guajarati‟s use reason and logic to handle the problems.

Being successful businessmen, the five stories show their abilities to

work worth logic and reason in different circumstances.

Like in the circle of life, mohanbhai patel came across situation where

Mr Barnett, a competitor, threatened him to quit/shutdown his

business. Inspite of lack of resources, he (mohanbhai) ran his business

and decided to manufacture his own caps.

PERCEIVING: These people are flexible and spontaneous.

Guajarati‟s are seen to be quite flexible when it comes to doing

business.

Like in the story of hersu shah, he originally bought a single portel

which became a success in a short span of time. He then bought few

more later on. But as soon as he got the opportunity to buy a restaurant,

he sold out the earlier portels, so as to arrange for the required capital.

Hence it can be said that they do not stick on single perspective of

business. Their soul aim is to maximise the business in spite of all the

odds.

Hence, the indicator that comes out to be is ENTP. This type is a

conceptualizer, innovative, individualistic, versatile and attracted to

entrepreneurial ideas. People with such personality are ready to accept

one exciting challenges after another. This is rather the personality

indicator that best indicates the typical Guajarati personalities.

With this, we wind up with a conclusion that, anyone who wants to be

in the list of upcoming entrepreneurs must read this book and capture

the ideas and strategies which Guajarati adopt to pursue their work and

chase the dreams.