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Agri-business of the Best Cold Storage - a case study

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DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2016.080004

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418 Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Vol. 20, Nos. 5/6, 2016

Agri-business of the best cold storage – a case study

H.M. Jha Bidyarthi*, M.A. Dande,

P.M. Kuchar, S.M. Mishra and
A.K. Shrivastava
Department of Business Administration and Research,
Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering,
Shegaon – 444 203 Maharashtra, India
Email: hmjhabidyarthi@ssgmce.ac.in
Email: hmjhabidyarthi@rediffmail.com
Email: mayurd8@gmail.com
Email: pmkuchar@gmail.com
Email: satyamohan84@gmail.com
Email: ashish_1@rediffmail.com
*Corresponding author

Abstract: Agri-business of the best cold storage (BCS) is the story of an

entrepreneurial journey of Mr. Vishal Mihani since 1998 – the year of
establishment of BCS – till date. These 18 years have seen moments of
struggles and depression and those of smiles and boom through the eyes of
Mr. Mihani. He tried as many as nine products/businesses under the umbrella
of BCS – all belonging to agri-business sector – during this period in which
five products/businesses had to be discontinued, three are surviving by hooks
and crooks and the recently launched pre-mature orange business is yet to take
off on which hinges all hopes of the entrepreneur. He achieved BEP in the year
2006 and secured 100% occupancy of his cold storage through oranges during
2002 to 2012. The case strengthens the conviction in commitment,
perseverance, meticulousness, and innovation, changing strategy and approach
and a sound philosophical foundation as being the essentials of a successful
entrepreneur.

Keywords: agri-business management; entrepreneurship; creativity; innovation

management.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Bidyarthi, H.M.J.,

Dande, M.A., Kuchar, P.M., Mishra, S.M. and Shrivastava, A.K. (2016)
‘Agri-business of the best cold storage – a case study’, Int. J. Entrepreneurship
and Innovation Management, Vol. 20, Nos. 5/6, pp.418–429.

Biographical notes: H.M. Jha Bidyarthi is a Professor and the Head in the
Department of Business Administration and Research, Shri Sant Gajanan
Maharaj College of Engineering, Shegaon, Maharashtra, India. His area of
research is strategic management, e-governance, Indian management,
technology and innovation management, etc. A number of sponsored research
projects and doctoral researches have been successfully completed under his
guidance. He is also a program committee member of International Congress
on E-Government (ICEG), Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India.

Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Agri-business of the best cold storage 419

M.A. Dande is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Business

Administration and Research, Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of
Engineering, Shegaon, Maharashtra, India. He holds an MBA from the SGB
Amravati University, Amravati, Maharashtra, India.

P.M. Kuchar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Business

Administration and Research, Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of
Engineering, Shegaon, Maharashtra, India. He holds a BPharm and MBA from
the SGB Amravati University, Amravati, Maharashtra, India.

S.M. Mishra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Business

Administration and Research, Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of
Engineering, Shegaon, Maharashtra, India. He holds an MBA from the
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, India.

A.K. Shrivastava is a Professor and the Director of the Institute of

Management, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, Chattisgarh, India.
He is also the procter of his university. A number of doctoral researches have
been successfully completed under his guidance.

This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘Drunk tank
pink effect of Nagpur Mandarin – an agri-business case study of best cold
storage’ presented at International Conference on Management Cases 2015,
jointly organised by Birla Institute of Management Technology, Greater Noida,
India and School of Public Policy, George Mason University, Arlington,
Virginia, USA, 3–4 December 2015.

1 Introduction

Turbulence, complexity and increasingly intense competition characterises business

context today. Organisations have to face the challenges of change continuously. They
have to effectively demonstrate their sustained capability to thrive amidst chaos. The
present agro-business case of the best cold storage (BCS) is a fit and live example of
thriving amidst chaos. The BCS was setup for chilli storage which did not see even a year
of its operation and then it went on to innovating pathways for its survival and sustenance
changing from one product to another and from one market to another. The creative skills
of its entrepreneur Mr. Vishal Mihani led the organisation to success amidst many odds
but it is concurrently again faced with another challenging situation which invites
managerial analyses.

2 Creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and bootstrapping:

Entrepreneurship is the process by which individuals, teams or organisations identify and

pursue entrepreneurial opportunities without being immediately constrained by the
resources they currently control (Hali, 2006). Discovery or production of something that
is novel and also useful or relevant or economical or superior or valuable is called as
creativity. It is concerned with producing unique ideas, concepts and ways of doing
things that would not have occurred normally or evolved routinely. One who mingles,
420 H.M.J. Bidyarthi et al.

combines, differentiates and expands his/her past experience and learning in order to
generate non-obvious and new concepts, approaches, methods, themes or variations or
extensions of knowledge is regarded as a creative individual. It is a non-price competitive
resource of high value for organisations. Creativity enables organisation to excel not only
in innovation, technology development, production, new products and markets but also in
converting challenges into opportunities (Rastogi, 1996). Entrepreneurs who have not
been able to demonstrate characteristics like strong team, concise game plan, clearly
defined market, achievable milestones, intellectual property for protection and leverage,
engaged and experienced advisory board, customers willing and capable of payment,
durable and reliable revenue streams, and timing, luck, great smile, passion, etc. are
forced to survive via the tried and true technique of bootstrapping. Bootstrapping is the
art of learning to do more with less. This is exactly witnessed from the entrepreneurial
journey of Mr. Vishal Mihani of BCS (http://entrepreneurship.org/resource-center/
raising-money-in-tough-times-an-entrepreneurs-guide-to-bootstrapping.aspx).

3 Methodology of study

This case paper is a consequence of the dialogue between the authors and the
entrepreneur of the BCS over a period of last five years. Each time they met and
interacted during this long period, they gathered more and more conviction that there
could be a strong case study on the organisation under question and a number of
management lessons might be drawn. Accordingly, this case is based mostly on primary
data collected through series of intimate interactions with the entrepreneur in question
over a period of about two years. The audited accounts of the BCS for the years 2001 to
2014 forms another basis of data collection specially related to share capital, borrowed
capital, business turnover and net profit/loss. The schedule to these audited statements
gave the break up of different businesses done by the BCS during this period. Authors
also interacted with the family members of the entrepreneur and the employees of the
organisation besides meeting the local traders and farmers to know their view point and
analytical perspectives of this case. Some secondary data has also been used in this case
by referring to related books and concerned websites.
The hypothesis of this case research is that change is the only constant. An
entrepreneurial journey can only sustain and succeed with renovation on a continual basis
changing approach and strategy to best fit the evolving circumstances and best profit out
of it absorbing along the tide of odds and hurdles.

4 Mr. Mihani – a rising entrepreneur

It all started in the year 1948 when during partition between India and Pakistan,
Shri Gagandas Mihani, the grand father of Mr. Vishal Mihani shifted along with his
family members from Doda district in Pakistan to Nandura under Buldhana district of
Maharashtra, India. The villagers of Nandura gave them some place to stay outside the
village and were accordingly called as ‘Nirwasis’ – outsiders. Shri Gagandasji started
selling ‘Pakauda’ there to support livelihood of his family members. The seed of doing
business was thus sown in this family. Later on Shri Jivatram Mihani, the father of
Mr. Vishal Mihani, a BSc, and LLB by education, started the business of cloth merchant
 Agri-business of the best cold storage 421

in the year 1972 at Nandura itself. In the year 1975, Shri Jivatramji got the license of
liquor business and hence, he shifted his business from cloth to liquor. The liquor
business is still continuing and Mr. Vishal Mihani’s two elder brothers Mr. Rakesh
Mihani and Mr. Rajesh Mihani are associated with the same liquor business. Hence, the
entire family is a business family and entrepreneurship is in the blood of Mr. Vishal
Mihani. However, Shri Jivatramji did not want his youngest son Mr. Vishal Mihani to
join his family business of liquor after Mr. Vishal completed his Master of Business
Administration degree in the year 1999. Business ideas search started here and somebody
suggested for him to start mineral water manufacturing plant. This gave Mr. Vishal the
instinct of idea generation about which he had already studied a lot during his
postgraduate studies in management. But his father Shri Jivatramji did not approve this
too. Indeed, Shri Jivatramji had bored number of wells in the already drinking water
scarce region of Nandura in Vidarbha, Maharashtra and constructed drinking water tanks
for animals infront of his house and shop which he would personally fill with water every
morning and afternoon by using his own motor pump and well to ensure that animals got
enough of drinking water. Shri Jivatramji said, “We will not sell water”. This sparked in
Vishal the search for a sound philosophical base to lead a happy and successful life.
Mr. Vishal was now ready to take off to his journey on his own.
Mr. Vishal Mihani has many hobbies and he possesses some invaluable qualities. He
plays badminton and is fond of riding bicycle that keeps him fit and he also does aero
modelling. He has the hobby of wild life photography which keeps his creative instinct
alive and because of which he toured Kenya to participate in one of the wild life
photographs exhibition. He has made it a point to learn something new every two years to
keep him happy and enthusiastic and also keep renovating his spirit. He learnt playing
chess recently. Mr. Vishal Mihani says, “I have learnt a lot from the sufferings of my life.
I have learnt the equation of life that money is not connected with or equal to happiness”.
Mr. Vishal rears the sense of commitment and has the association with men of principles.
He evaluates persons not on the basis of somebody else’s version but based on his
personal experience with him/her.

5 Nagpur oranges – the Mandarin

The city of Nagpur in the province of Maharashtra in India is also proudly known as the
orange city. The Nagpur oranges are a wide variety of monsoon fruits which is grown in
Nagpur and around. This countryside rustic fruit which is disfigured with pockmarks
gives a tangy sweet taste having a juicy pulp in it. The Nagpur oranges are supposed to be
one of the best mandarins across the globe whose production is always showing an upper
graph every year. The Nagpur oranges blossom during the monsoon season and go in for
the harvest between February and March. The harvesting period of this mrig (mrig bahar)
crop is very ideal for export since the arrival of the mandarin fruit in the international
market is very less during this period thereby creating a great demand in both the local
and the global market. There is also lot of work and effort being put in to make wine
from the oranges. The Nagpur oranges also take the credit of being applied for the
Geographical Indication with the registrar of GIs in India, which is awaiting its
approval. The Nagpur Santra (Mandarin) is grown primarily in the Satpura Hills
(Vidharba Region) of central India. Oranges are however also grown on the hilly slopes
422 H.M.J. Bidyarthi et al.

of Darjeeling in West Bengal, Coorg in Karnataka, Orissa, Tripur, Sikkim, Meghalaya

and Arunachal Pradesh. The other countries which are into the production of these
mandarin oranges are the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Greece, Israel, Argentina,
Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela, Cuba, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt,
S. Africa, China, Japan and Australia. Oranges are a type of berries which are
Hysperidium and nearly 40% of these oranges go for cold storage. Across the globe,
Brazil is the leading producer of oranges and this fruit is referred to as Chinese Apple in
many languages. The botanical nomenclature for the Mandarin orange is Citrus
Reliculata Blanco which takes the pride of being ranked first among all the citrus fruits.
The Nagpur oranges do not require a very high altitude for it is grown even at an
elevation of about 1,500 mt. Mandarin is grown in the tropical/sub-tropical regions
35° N to 35° S of equator. Nagpur oranges are used for producing canned products like
juice, juice concentrate, squash, beverages, jams and marmalades.
Apart from the fruit consignments to the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and
Nepal by road, the Nagpur oranges are also exported to other countries like Europe, Gulf
and South East Asia by refrigerated container both in ships and by flight. Some of the
other international markets for the Nagpur oranges are Sri Lanka, Canada, the USA, the
UK, Germany and Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and
Oman. The producers get much better prices when they sell their fruits in the local market
meant for it than selling it in the orchards itself. However, the market cost also includes
transportation cost of fruits and payment to commission agents. The Nagpur orange
producers do have Producer’s organisations and cooperative societies which assists the
producers in channelling the markets and thereby helping the mandarin growers. Crop
insurance policy is also available for the growers along with advanced marketing
credit/loan facilities.

6 Sweet-sour flavour of Nagpur Orange

Nagpur orange, says V.J. Shivankar, former head of the National Research Centre for
Citrus, Nagpur (http://www.fruitipedia.com/mandarin.htm), is characterised by unique
sweet-sour flavour and has an aroma that is matchless. “This flavour is result of a unique
acid-sugar blend that is not found in any other orange across the world”, he says. “The GI
tag has been accorded on the basis of these unique qualities that can be attained only
under specific soil and agro-climatic conditions of the Vidarbha region”. According to
him, five characteristics have been used to approve the Nagpur mandarin. These include
size, colour, number of seeds and the chemical properties of the juice that give it its
flavour and aroma. Any fruit that does not conform to these parameters cannot be sold
under the brand name of Nagpur Orange.

7 Baker-Miller: drunk tank pink effect

Drunk Tank Pink (http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-the-body/drunk-tank-pink and

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/05/176339686/drunk-tank-pink-finds-clues-to-behavior) is a
shade of pink paint that psychologists used to paint jail cells in the 1970s. In an
experiment in the 1960s, they found that schoolchildren were better behaved when they
happened to learn in classrooms that were painted bright pink. They were intrigued by the
 Agri-business of the best cold storage 423

finding, and began exploring whether the colour might be useful in other areas. Two
naval prison officers – Baker-Miller – ultimately discovered that naval prisoners were
much calmer and better behaved after they spent 15 minutes in cells painted with the
same colour. The cells, otherwise known as drunk tanks, gave the colour its new name.
Though the colour of oranges under study is not exactly pink, rather it is orange colour;
the effect of innovative approach of marketing of orange business by the entrepreneur in
question left the identical impact on the farmers of the region that is like drunk tank pink
effect hence this case study has been so titled.

8 The BCS

Inspired by the attitude of his father to diversify Liquor business Mr. Vishal Mihani, an
MBA graduate, consulted a Chartered Accountant from Nagpur and surveyed the local
area before he decided to incorporate a cold storage on 20th March 1998 named as BCS.
The construction of the cold storage was completed in the year 2000. This organisation
did nine different businesses from the year 2000 to 2015 (as shown in Table 1), however,
all of them were confined to agribusiness sector. These businesses are described below in
their chronological order. Three of these businesses are surviving even today while five
of them had to be closed down due to various reasons also described below. The one
business has been recently started in the 2015 and is yet to take its final shape.
• Chilli storage: Nandura region richly harvests chilli crop. The survey conducted by
Mr. Vishal Mihan on the advice of the CA revealed that 6 lacs bags of chilli arrived
in the Nandura market which traders were interested in storing. Hence, Mr. Mihani
constructed the cold storage for chilli business only with storage capacity of
50,000 bags and started this business in the year 2000. He could later on realise
that the local traders did not have the holding capacity of chilli and they were merely
interested in their earning through commission at the earliest. There were hardly
1,000 bags which were stored in the BCS and that too for a maximum period of
three months. The business thus collapsed.
• Potatoes storage: Mr. Vishal Mihani then quickly thought of storing potatoes
harvested in the locality as the chilli business had flopped and had been shut down.
The potatoes business was also started in the same year of 2000 and was forced to be
shut down due to want of enough quantity of potatoes for storage.
• Orange storage: The nearby Sonala area is rich in orange harvest and many traders
who used to buy from the orange growers were looking for storage facility for selling
their oranges at a premium price. Here, Mr. Vishal Mihani saw an opportunity who
then shifted to orange storage business in 2001. It started well and helped the
organisation reach its break-even in the year 2005 to 2006 after seven years of its
incorporation. But all of a sudden, it was found that the orange traders’ behaviour
changed in favour of other nearby cold storages. On investigation, it was observed
that the traders shifted to those cold storages which financed them more for
purchasing oranges from its growers. It created competition and the traders started
exploiting the situation. Mr. Vishal Mihani gave a serious thought to it and came out
with a new strategy. After all he is a management graduate.
424 H.M.J. Bidyarthi et al.

Table 1 Showing businesses of BCS, Nandura

S. Name/nature of Starting Continued/shut

Reasons thereof
no. business year down
1 Chilli storage 2000 Shut down Low holding capacity of traders
2 Potatoes storage 2000 Shut down Too less capacity utilisation
3 Oranges storage 2003 Continued Initially less capacity utilisation, then
full capacity utilisation, now again
less capacity utilisation
4 Ice factory 2005 Shut down Due to local competition and that
from 20 Ltr. Aqua jar
5 Mushroom plant 2007 Shut down Due to raw material supply issue
6 Meat processing 2009 Shut down Due to change in Maharashtra
Government policy for this business
7 Butter storage 2009 Continued Now doubled its capacity
8 Banana ripening 2010 Continued but Now every city has banana ripening
business is a seasonal chambers creating a tough
business competition for BCS
9 Pre-mature 2015 Continued Yet to take shape
oranges storage

Table 2 Showing financial performance of BCS, Nandura

S. Share capital Borrowings Business Net profit (loss) –

Year
no. (Rs.) (Rs.) turnover (Rs.) PAIT (Rs.)
1 2001–2002 22,70,000.00 72,08,024.00 16,18,453.00 (4481.00)
2 2002–2003 22,70,000.00 78,87,184.00 25,82,513.00 (9,06,186.00)
3 2003–2004 22,70,000.00 75,15,526.00 31,70,288.00 (2,43,157.00)
4 2004–2005 22,70,000.00 78,12,680.00 30,67,420.00 (1,44,144.00)
5 2005–2006 22,70,000.00 76,39,509.00 31,58,712.00 34,323.00
6 2006–2007 22,70,000.00 62,97,317.00 28,72,788.00 80,266.00
7 2007–2008 22,70,000.00 68,54,769.00 29,95,262.00 32,214.00
8 2008–2009 22,70,000.00 69,63,000.00 69,43,680.00 7,41,665.00
9 2009–2010 22,70,000.00 54,50,000.00 98,11,052.00 2,00,890.00
10 2010–2011 22,70,000.00 58,92,790.00 96,18,405.00 7,29,243.00
11 2011–2012 22,70,000.00 42,96,677.00 1,07,03,202.00 5,62,470.00
12 2012–2013 22,70,000.00 29,53,224.00 56,28,196.00 3,75,674.00
13 2013–2014 29,52,000.00 16,27,000.00 79,79,882.00 3,66,339.00
14 2014–2015 29,52,000.00 NA NA NA

Mr. Vishal Mihani observed that the farmers used to be paid at the rate of Rs. 800/- per
1,000 pieces of oranges by the traders and the traders sold the same in the market
@ Rs. 3,500/- to Rs. 8,000/- per 1,000 pieces of oranges making huge profit in between
and that too without much of the investment as most of the financing was done by the
cold storage owners to these traders. Mr. Mihani started making direct contacts with the
farmers and creating awareness amongst them. He trained the farmers in directly selling
their oranges in the market at a premium price while storing the same in his BCS for as
 Agri-business of the best cold storage 425

long a period as they found it suitable for price gain. He came forward to finance
the cash crunch farmers to the tune of 50% to 75% of the value of their oranges stored in
the storage. This helped 6 to 18 lacs farmers of the region sell their oranges at
Rs. 1,000/- per 1,000 pieces in 2005 and went on to Rs. 2,500/- per 1,000 pieces in 2013
while their financial needs were met by Mr. Vishal Mihani. During this period, up to the
year 2012 to 2013, the BCS became the only cold storage in the country with round the
clock 100% occupancy on yearly basis and thus declaring good profit as obvious from its
financial data presented in Table 2. However, the profit kept on fluctuating from year to
year due to wastages of stored oranges. The year 2005 to 2006 was the year of
break-even for the BCS after seven years of its inception. During first seven years of his
business, Mr. Vishal Mihani could only pay the interests on his borrowed capital,
repayment of the same started after that from the year 2006 to 2007 and today he is in a
position where he has nearly paidback all his borrowings.
Unfortunately, the poor rainfall since 2013 affected adversely the orange harvest of
the region. The supply of oranges in the market fell down enhancing further the
bargaining power of Nagpur Mandarin growers of Sonala region. The farmers thus
stopped coming to BCS so much so that its occupancy during 4-months of the season fell
down to 33% while on annual basis its occupancy now stands at just 8% posing great
threat to its survival. It seemed the BCS was back to first square again.
• Ice factory: An opportunity was seen in profiting out of ice manufacturing by the
cold storage and hence the same business was started in the year 2005 for the
sustainability of the organisation. Unfortunately, even this business could not
continue long and was shut down the same year due to competition from local ice
manufacturers and also due to launch of 20 litre aqua jar in the market that killed the
demand for ice.
• Mushroom plant: Looking for the options to revive his cold storage Mr. Vishal
Mihani started another agribusiness of mushroom growing inside the cold storage in
the year 2007. He observed huge demand for mushroom cuts by the hotels and
restaurants but raw material supply for mushroom plant was critical. He could
manufacture the required raw material which needed an investment of Rs. 30 lacs
which Mr. Vishal Mihani could not afford at that stage. Alternatively, he could look
for outside supplier of the raw material that appeared a better option and he went for
the same. The business did make sufficient profit but irregular and low quality
supply of raw material ensured that his mushroom plant was also closed down the
same year.
• Meat processing: Mr. Vishal Mihani then ventured into meat processing in the year
2009 even though he did not like it from his heart but for the cause of the viability of
his business. He found a local meat processor with whom he entered into a contract
for processing meat in his cold storage @ Rs. 4/- per Kg for 100 metric tonnes
capacity though the market rate was Rs. 6/- per Kg. This business prospered for five
years till 2014 and earned Mr. Mihani huge profit resulting into repayment of his
borrowings and building his own house. He had such a strong bond with the
contractor that many people from the market offered him higher processing rate but
he turned them all down showing his commitment – the other quality of a successful
entrepreneur. The meat processor even brought an investment of Rs. 50 lacs to
Mr. Mihani’s cold storage business. But once again fate did not support Mr. Mihani
426 H.M.J. Bidyarthi et al.

as the Government of Maharashtra changed its policy for meat processing banning
slaughter houses in the year 2014 and the meat processing business too had to be
abandoned by Mr. Mihani in the same year, i.e., 2014.
• Butter storage: In the year 2009 itself, Mr. Vishal Mihani met one of his fast friends
in dairy business who wanted storage facility for butter produced by his dairy. Thus,
started butter storage business by the BCS with a capacity of 100 metric tones. After
the closure of meat processing business in 2014, the spared 100 metric tonnes
capacity from meat processing was also given to butter storage and today this
business is continuing with storage capacity of 200 metric tonnes.
• Banana ripening business: Another agribusiness was added to the cold storage
business in the year 2010 by offering banana ripening facilities. Since the area
falls under Bhusaval zone which is famous for banana harvest this business was
conceived. However, this business did not flourish due to tough competition from the
availability of banana ripening chambers in almost all cities and hence, banana
ripening business was also shut down in the year of its start itself, i.e., 2010.
• Pre-mature oranges storage: Mr. Vishal Mihani came across an article in some
newspaper that wrote about the medicinal value of pre-mature oranges and its huge
demand in France for producing medicine. As mentioned earlier, there are two
varieties of Nagpur Mandarinn, the ‘Mrig Bahar’ and the ‘Amba Bahar’. ‘Mrig
Bahar’ is sweet variety which is harvested in the months of March–April whereas
the ‘Amba Bahar’ is sour – citrus variety which is harvested in the months of
September–October. The ‘Amba Bahar’ crop needs more irrigation which farmers of
this region cannot afford due to water scarcity particularly during the months of
April–June as shown in Table 3 (http://www.nrccitrus.nic.in/uploaded/files/
03122014140336Nagpur%20Mandarin%20Cultivation.pdf) and hence, they
preferred not to harvest this crop. This invites another problem for the farmers where
they have to spend on labour cost for plucking the pre-mature oranges (‘Amba
Bahara’) and the cost of plucking pre-mature oranges comes to around Rs. 9/- per
Kg. However the French company requires dried pre-mature oranges for extracting a
medicine called ‘Daflon 500’ needed for regulating menstruation cycle amongst
women. This French company is currently importing such oranges from China and
Mexico and is ready to pay to Mr. Vishal Mihani a price of Rs. 80/- per Kg. against
the actual cost of around Rs. 30–40/- per Kg.borne by Mr. Mihani, Mr. Vishal Mihan
came in touch with a Delhi-based agent of this French company who assured him of
Pan India business of exporting pre-mature oranges but in the beginning only
confined to his own locality, i.e., Nagpur Mandarin. Otherwise also Mr. Mihani has
fascination for export business and he has therefore entered into this business for
exporting around 3,500 metric tones of pre-mature oranges after drying it properly.
His grass root reputation with the local farmers is of immense use where once again
he is working for them by saving their Rs. 9/- per Kg. plucking cost and inviting
them to take up both plucking and drying business at a price of Rs. 20/- which is a
very remunerative option for the local farmers. Mr. Vishal Mihani shall thus be
evading the risk of drying huge quantity of pre-mature oranges which might be
affected due to rainfall during July to August months here. This business is yet to
take its final shape but Mr. Mihani has found blessing in disguise in the form of the
prospective business of pre-mature orange storage. He has found opportunities in the
 Agri-business of the best cold storage 427

external environment which he is trying to exploit through innovations using his

strategic entrepreneurship (Hitt et al., 2012).
Table 3 Water requirement of Nagpur mandarin (litres/day/tree)

Age of the trees (in years)

Months
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
January 7 15 22 30 44 62 72 82 92 102
February 9 20 30 40 60 82 96 101 121 137
March 12 26 40 53 78 109 127 145 163 181
April 14 29 43 63 87 123 143 163 183 204
May 17 34 52 74 102 143 166 188 211 235
June 11 22 34 48 67 95 110 126 142 157
July 8 18 26 41 56 79 92 105 118 131
August 7 14 23 34 42 60 70 8 90 100
September 8 15 25 36 45 65 76 87 98 108
October 9 17 27 40 52 79 92 105 118 131
November 8 15 25 36 45 63 74 85 96 150
December 6 11 19 24 35 49 57 65 73 82

9 Remarkable milestones of the BCS

The organisation (Figure 1) of the BCS is very small and represents an ‘entrepreneurial
structure’ (Kazmi, 2009) with only 15 persons working with it including the four
members on the board of directors. This has kept the overheads of the organisation well
within its control. The major milestones in the journey of BCS can be listed as follows:
1 During the first six years of its operation the BCS suffered losses.
2 It reached break-even point in the year 2005 to 2006.
3 It confined itself to agri-business sector even though there were many set backs in
this sector during the last 16 years of the existence of BCS.
4 It tried as many as nine products for its businesses.
5 All the products were locally produced except mushroom plants.
6 The meat processor brought in Rs. 50 lacs of investment which was paid back by
Mr. Mihani through retention of 25% of his every bill in his hand.
7 Five of its businesses had to be shut down for reasons beyond the control of the
entrepreneur.
8 Only three businesses are continuing of which orange storage and banana ripening
are under recession.
9 All hopes of the entrepreneur are now linked with the export business of pre-mature
oranges.
428 H.M.J. Bidyarthi et al.

10 Mr. Vishal Mihani nearly cleared off all his debts during this period and even
constructed his own house out of the earnings from his cold storage.

Figure 1 Showing organisational structure of BCS, Nandura

Board of Directors

Managing Director

Manager (01)

Operators (03) Office boy (01)

Helpers (03) Security guards (03)

10 What next now?

The mandarin business of the BCS received a set back due to the followings:
1 farmers’ awareness about the tricks to secure remunerative prices of their oranges
directly from the market.
2 harvest of oranges because of scanty rainfall.
The pre-mature orange business by BCS (though very promising in nature) is yet to take
its final shape. The big question thus arises before the entrepreneur of the BCS, ‘What
next now?’ This poses for a very serious managerial analysis of the case as the situation
is sandwiched between uncertainties of export market for pre-mature orange export and
those of government policy including pharmaceutical trade policy, etc. on the one hand
and poor harvest of mandarin of Sonala region due to uncontrollable environmental and
market conditions and the plight of rain God on the other hand.

11 Conclusions

Though unparallel in his commitment and perseverance, Mr. Vishal Mihani has been
once again caught in vulnerable situation so far as his BCS business is concerned. He has
tried number of products to salvage his business and has succeeded too. Presently, all his
dreams are pinned to pre-mature oranges export business. After all, Mr. Vishal Mihani
rightly quotes punch line of his BCS, “You can preserve your dream here”. This case
research proved that the entrepreneurial journey of Mr. Vishal Mihani sustained and
succeeded through the founding stones of the followings:
1 renovation on a continual basis
2 a changing approach and strategy to run his enterprise
3 introducing practices with befitting match to the evolving circumstances
4 emerging victorious under every trying business situations through his perseverance
 Agri-business of the best cold storage 429

5 absorbing the tide of odds and hurdles and yet best profiting out of it.
The case thus captures the parameters causing success and failure in the life of an
entrepreneur and his endeavours to sail through the same for a firm foundation and
growth of his business.

Acknowledgements

The authors express their sincere gratitude to Mr. Vishal Mihani, the entrepreneur and his
father and two brothers for their sincere support and open hearted interaction with the
authors sharing full facts about BCS. The authors also feel thankful to the employees of
the BCS for their support in data collection and to the farmers of the region and some
orange traders for throwing light on different aspects of orange business in the area.

References
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http://www.nrccitrus.nic.in/uploaded/files/03122014140336Nagpur%20Mandarin%
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