Mohan Tyres

Named after the septuagenarian owner, Mr. Mohan Das, Mohan Tyres has been one of the oldest
tyre manufacturing companies in India. Son of a convenience store owner, Mohan’s father had
big dreams for his son and worked hard to send his son to Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). Mohan made the most of this opportunity and returned home with a degree in production
engineering and a fire to manufacture the best in class tyres India has ever seen. A self-made
man, Mohan was able to set up a small plant on the outskirts of his village in Bengal and slowly
built a business purely on the basis of hard work and zero compromise on quality.

With a dedicated staff, Mohan managed to build an empire that gained immense popularity and
respect in the industry. Apart from the quality of the product, his relationship with his clients and
personal attention given to each customer made him a reliable name. After spending 50 years in
his beloved company, the time was ripe for him to pass on the baton to his daughter, Shilpa, who
had been training under him for close to a decade. Apart from holding a degree from her father’s
alma mater, Shilpa has keen business acumen and is as driven as her father.

The key difference however is their circumstances! Mohan started off at a time when owning a
car or personal vehicle was considered a super luxury meant for the rich. Even though the
company had undergone upgradations, their plants were nowhere close to meet the rising
demands of the industry. Since Mohan had faced immense struggles during his initial days, the
appraisal system he followed was not in line with industry standards. His old staff might have
worked with him out of loyalty, but there was trouble brewing amongst the young staff who were
questioning policies and demanding an explanation for their meagre salaries and lack of perks.
Shilpa is on the cusp of landing their first international client and understands that these issues
will be detrimental to their progress. She decides to take this up in the meeting with the board
of directors. Issues to be discussed include:
1. Miserable work staff who demand for better working conditions and salary appraisal
process. What can Shilpa do to meet this demand?

2. An international client means they need to deliver international quality standards. How
can Shilpa cope with the technological deficiencies that plague their manufacturing plants?

3. The lack of skilled talent is another factor to be considered. Shilpa needs talent that is
current and in line to meet the demands of the present day. How can she tackle this?