Apropos the report “Final countdown” (February 9), analysing the reasons behind Dunlop’s fall may not have much relevance. Two key factors need our attention — the falling away of the natural market in the East and the management hubris. A blind faith in Dunlop being the best stopped the management from simplifying a complex product line, dropping small-run loss-making items, reforming the top-heavy and over-centralised bureaucracy, or a morale-damaging class system. If labour bullheadedness is established by interminable debates over trivial issues like “boiled eggs”, an equal responsibility must lie with the management for failing to ensure that such debates were quickly settled. The defence put up by the current owners would have rung truer if the real estate assets were sold for cash to the highest bidders by a public tendering process. Transfer to group companies, whether for cash or shares, raises issues of governance and transparency. Independent directors are expected to provide this essential check.
P Datta, Kolkata
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