SUDHAKAR GHATE : AN ENTREPRENEUR BY

CHOICE
EXCECUTIVE SUMMARY :
Sudhakar Ghate is a successful entrepreneur and also a receipient of “ VIJAY
RATNA” award and has been the chairman of Miraj Pharmaceuticals since its
inception. Miraj Pharmaceuticals is a family managed organisation which was started
23 years back. Initially he started as a marketing organisation and he expanded his
business by adding manufacturing units to it later on. He has three sons and a
daughter. All of them were board members and most of the decisions were taken by
the family members in Top level management. The Miraj Pharmaceuticals has created
such an environmwent where interaction and information sharing could take place
easily amongst excecutives and staff. Ghate did his intermediate from Nagpur,
Bachelors degree in Pharmacy followed by a degree in law from Nagpur. Since then
he visioned about starting a Pharmaceutical unit. He first started his career aa a
Medical Representative (MR) in 1959 and rose to the position of Deputy Sales. He
got the position of Manager in a span of only 7 years and then was transferred from
Nagpur to Bombay in 1966. He resigned his job in 1967 for starting up his own unit
and to become an entrepreneur. He started his unit with initial investment of Rs
55000 with the money of Gratuity and Provident fund and his friends also helped him
in setting up of the unit.

At first he used to get two types of tablets and a capsule manufactured by the
concerned company under the formula and supervision provided by him. He realised
that a common product that could be prescribed to every second patientwould fetch a
better market than other products.

He knew with his experience that a tonic “Metatone” was doing well in
market, so he went to meet and made an agreement with the concerned company
thereafter they manufactured the same tonic with their own made and registered brand
name `ViTL` tone.
Further he applied for a government land in Bombay for starting up a new
manufacturing unit and got a loan of Rs 1,98,000 from the Maharashtra government.
Soon he got 100 percent annual growth for quite few years.
By the suggestions of his sons , he
started producing 10 new products in the production line. Getting a great shock after
the company met heavy losses form those new products. He made Extensive
Market Surveys to find out that the few of his new products which were introduced in
the recent past were not doing well in most of the regions. He restricted the market
territories for such products and even stopped the manufacture of some of them.

The strategy worked and the company Miraj Pharmaceuticals regained his
position in the market once again. Miraj Pharmaceuticals main product the
‘ViTL’tone alone achieved 26 % line by adding a product every year and coming up
with a new project annually.

Ghate also acquired a sick chemical unit in 1989 and it started producing in
September 1990. Now Ghate was planning to enter a Joint Venture to start a new
pharmaceutical unit at U.A.E.

1. What were the personal characteristics of Sudhajar Ghate which helped him
to become an entrepreneur?
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM :
Sudhakar Ghate’s personal characteristics are the reason for his successful
career.

RECOMMENDED SOLUTION :

Some of the characteristics found in Sudhakar Ghate that helped him to

become an entrepreneur are :-
Big dreams
Intrinsic motivation
Positive approach
Long term vision
Ready for risks and new challenges

2. What led to heavy losses in the financial year 1986-87?

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM :
Reasons related to heavy losses in the financial year 1986-87.
CAUSES OF THE PROBLEM :
Frequently adding ten products at a time.
No market research
Taking advice of family members who are not experienced

DECISION CRITERIA AND ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION :

He could introduce some products at one time instead of all products at a time.
They should do the research related market forces.
Expert advice should be preffered incomparison with the unexperienced
family members.

RECOMMENDED SOLUTION :-
Expert advice should be taken after consecutive market research.

3.Does this case reveal anything about the vision of Sudhakar Ghate:-
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM :
Understanding vision and mission of Sudhakar Ghate .

RECOMMENDED SOLUTION :-
Sudhakar wanted to fulfil his dreams into reality.
He dedicated his whole career to become an entrepreneur and starting a
manufacturing unit on his own.
He always try to innovate into his production lines with new products.
He wants to extend ‘Miraj Pharmaceuticals’ beyond international boundaries.

CONCLUSION :-
Sudhakar Ghate’s personal characteristics of being a visioner had made
himself into an achiever. The extreme losses found in financial year 1986-87
could be terminated if taken expert advice before decision of adding 10 new
products in the production line. Sudhakar Ghate is a true entrepreneur and
entrepreneurs are experts in dealing with dynamic situations.