A wise decision

In a small village lived a shop keeper. He came in search of lively hood to this village.
Understanding the need of the villagers he grew his business. He not only was a good business
man but also a humble and sensible person. He never took advantage of the innocence and
ignorance of the villagers to make huge profits. He lived as one among them.

In few years he got married and had four sons. His children grew with the primary education
from school and business education from his father.

He educated his children about value of time and money. He would often tell them the various
means of making a business profitable. He was a genius in those matters.

When asked why he remained in the village in spite of such knowledge, his reply was “if I get a
competitor who can replace me in the village I have no objection to leave to a better town to
prove my skills, but I cannot leave the villagers who gave me lively hood to any selfish
merchant. It is my duty to look after the people who took trust in me for so many years.”

Time rolled on and his children grew young. Though there was a little development in this
village, there was a remarkable development in the nearby towns.

The shop keeper gave an equal amount to his four sons and wanted them to start business in
four different towns. He advised them to not to go into competition among themselves.

The villagers advised them to stay back with their father but the shop keeper said “if they stay
here my expenses keep rising, in few years they need to get married and the income from this
business does not increase as my expenses do. To meet my extra expenses I have to either
cheat you or do other illegal activity, which is against my policy, let them use their skill and test
their fortune”

And so the four young men left the village.

The time passed by, it was not the internet era and so the news about their business did not
spread much.

After around a year the shop keeper called his four sons together for a family gathering.

After the formal gathering the father called each son individually to his room and enquired about
their business.

The eldest of all was the first to meet his father.

Father enquired him “my son how is the business”

Son replied “father I have a good business. My shop is always busy. I am not making good
profit, but the public are always eager to come to my shop whenever a need arises.”

“Why so?”
“It is because of the discount and offers I give to my clients”

“What if you cannot give any discounts tomorrow, will your clients come to you”

Father continued “ my son today you are offering discounts, customers get used to them and
when you cannot give or someone offers better discounts you will lose, better change your
strategy”

There was no reply from his son. He left asking some time to give a reply.

The second son came in and was posed the same question.

He replied “Father I have a few clients to whom I give door to door service, as I cannot employ
many which increases my overheads, I have limited my business and so is my profit from it”

Father questioned “what if few drop you and go for another supplier?”

Son replied “why will they leave me and if so I have to go in search of new clients”

Father said “my son if you do not have a perfect strategy to keep them with you, you cannot go
on searching for new customers, add value to your services based on the amount of purchase,
let them keep guessing how they get benefitted, start a second vertical to be on safe side”

Father was not totally happy.

Then came the turn of the third son, and the following was his reply to the same question.

“Father I have a chain of customers through whom we supply many products, and we have a
special recognition for whomsoever brings in a new customer. Every time a new customer is in
we honor the old one who introduced him”

“Do you ensure that you are giving a quality product too” father got a doubt.

“Father our chain ensures everything and as we use a supply chain as distributor I cannot check
at all levels. I do not have a competition so at present I am enjoying reasonable margins”

“What if your chain breaks or a new wealthy person offers better deals to kill your business?
And what if the quality is at stake?”

The third son had no satisfactory reply.

Father suggested “my son to have a better business, change the model to a production and
supply chain, this ensures the quality of product and also ensures that the customer is aware of
your brand”

Now it’s the turn of the last son.

Father was eager to know if at least this young man took a better road to secure his business.

Son started giving his reply.

“Father first after shifting to town I looked around for a business which is in demand and which I
can handle. Later I started my business. I made a group with my suppliers and other
contractors. All of us came to an understanding to help each other. Instead of becoming an easy
prey to a big business man who can invest in a big way, all of us started meeting regularly. We
understood that the investment by all of us is more than a single big businessman. What we
lacked is coordination and trust in each other. We started meeting regularly and have built the
trust among each other. Later we started sharing our business leads. This ensured us that all of
our customers contribute to all of us in the group. We are not worried of any new competitor that
he will either break into our business or lure our customers easily.”

“What do you think will keep your business going” asked father.

“The trust and the sharing of business among each other keep us going. We value each other
the same way irrespective of the trade we are in”

Father felt extremely happy on hearing this. He called other three sons and told them the way
the last son has developed his business.

He added “ Though the profit which all of you are making right now is almost same, this persons
business is sure to go a long way as he is in a group which believes in together we can earn
more.”

He continued “though any business is meant to make money, it is equally important that we
develop a healthy group who stand by us in all our walks of life.”

His sons agreed to their father’s point of view and took a pledge that they will follow his
guidelines.

Later in their life they proved themselves to be as honest and successful businessmen as their
father.