Amarnath Gupta And Sons The Family Business Case Solution

2. Discussion

According to the case study, the company was established by the joint efforts of the two founders Amarnath and Chandu Lal Gupta, who set up petrol pumps in a small town in India and later diversified their business by trading in lubricants as well. Sanjeev Gupta is the son of Amarnath Gupta who is now the main person responsible for handling the two businesses of his family. Sanjeev Gupta joined the family business immediately after his graduation when he was just 20 years old. He studied law but joined the family business as was the tradition at that time to do so. Amarnath Gupta was a very efficient businessman and it was because of his work ethic that the company had gained a large number of customers and the organization and grown considerably. But as Amarnath Gupta grew older, his health declined, and he could not conduct business as he did in the past. This led to Sanjeev Gupta gaining more and more responsibility of handling the family business which had now two separate sectors consisting of petrol pumps and lubricants.  

When Puneet returned from college after his bachelor’s, there was a celebratory dinner at home. Amarnath, who was still the legal owner of the business and the head of the family, addressed Puneet and gave him a gift in order to welcome him for joining the family business. This was done while the entire family was present at the dinner. Everyone took it as this was the usual tradition but Pallavi had an objection to this. Pallavi who was still studying for her degree, had been involved with managing the accounts of the family business and helping her father in the business overall. She thought that instead of Puneet being gifted for being the 'first child from the third generation to join the business', she should be the one who's rewarded. She makes the point that she has been working in the business ever since she started her degree. Amarnath says that even though she is an important part of the business, but this will only last until she gets married. 

In addition to this, Puneet adds that he wants to pursue a master’s degree in engineering or an MBA, instead of joining the family business immediately after completing undergraduate. To this Amarnath says that this is not necessary since he already has a family business to cater to and should not waste his time gaining more education.