Abstract

The case ‘Mapro: Sustaining a Family Run Business’ is about Maharashtra, India-based food processing company, Mapro Foods (Mapro). The company was started in the 1950s by a pharmacist Kishore Vora, who, with the intention of helping the local farmers, started making jam with locally available strawberry. He soon started a food processing unit where jams and squashes were made from different fruits. Later on, Kishore Vora’s nephew took up the reins of the company and developed Mapro. As the company entered its third generation, it ventured into other products like chocolates and fruit-based jelly. The success of its fruit jelly brand ‘Falero’, along with growing competition from both domestic and MNC confectionery companies made the owners think about establishing a pan-India presence. They chose to bring in professionals into the key management roles to run the company, with the family not involving itself in day-to-day activities. The company also moved its headquarters to Mumbai and inducted a new sales team. This left analysts wondering what lay ahead for the company that till then, had been run as a closely managed family venture.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• How to guide a family businesses to be successful as it grows
• The concept of “Entrepreneurship” by next generation family members
• The process of moving the business from a family-run to a professionally-run organization.
• The importance of innovation in products and rebranding in the family business.
• The measures to be taken to ensure the growth and continuity of a family business.

Keywords

Mapro,Family business,Growth of business,Entrepreneurship,Growth Management,Continuity,Transition to Professional management,Professional change