"Puran, hi, Rakesh here. Are my costing figures ready?'' the 39-year-old General Manager (Marketing-Switchgears) asked his peer at the Jaipur factory. It was four in the evening and Rakesh Mehra was nervously twirling a pen in his right hand. He had an hour more in which to get the costing figures ready and fax a final quote to Shekhar Subramaniam, Vice President of Sourcing and Supply-Chain at Beta Automotives. He was already a week late on the quote.

''I was working on it when Nitin called for similar costing figures, and said that he had to have them by evening or he would be in trouble,'' Singh's voice echoed from the other end of the line.

''Nitin? Why on earth should Nitin want the SED switchgear costings?'' asked an angry Mathur.

''It's not exactly that model, although the specs he sent me are pretty similar,'' said Singh.

''Well, Puran, I will sort that out with Nitin, but right now I want you to fax me the damn costings because if you don't, I could lose a contract worth Rs 3 crore,'' hollered Mathur. ''Am I clear enough?''

''Just give me half-hour,'' Singh said and hung up.

Putting the phone down, Mathur snapped the plastic pen he was holding in his hand. ''Nitin,'' he angrily muttered under his breath. ''It's time I settled this issue,'' he thought to himself.

It was no secret at Power Equipment Corporation that Mathur and his colleague Nitin Kumar could not get along. Although both of them had joined the company about the same time and had risen through the ranks with the same speed, they couldn't stand each other. Nitin was a year older than Mathur and was also a general manager marketing, but he looked after institutional sales. Due to Power Equipment's peculiar organisational structure, there was an overlap between product and institutional sales. Therefore, while Mathur was responsible for switchgear products, Kumar-as the head of institutional sales-was responsible for selling other electrical equipment that the diversified Power Equipment had in its portfolio. And this wasn't the first time the two had had a run in.

Mathur reached for the phone and dialled Kumar's extension. The phone kept ringing, and on the eighth ring somebody answered. It was Kumar's secretary. ''Priya, this is Rakesh. Is Nitin around?''

''He's gone out for a client meeting in Gurgaon, and won't be coming to office when that's over. Should I take any message?'' the secretary asked.

''Don't bother," Mathur told Priya. Hanging up, he started punching in Kumar's mobile number. Suddenly, midway, he changed his mind. Also, from the corner of his eye he saw the fax machine spew out a page. ''That must be Singh's fax,'' Mathur told himself as he walked towards the machine. It was. He called in his secretary, gave him the covering note he had already prepared and asked him to fax it to Subramaniam at Beta Auto. ''Also mention that I will be there in Powai, Monday afternoon,'' he said handing him the papers.

This was a deal that Mathur desperately wanted to clinch. Not only was he still short of his sales target, but Beta Auto was a big customer, and it was important to build a relationship.

The Mumbai flight was on time, and Mathur reached the city by 11:30 in the morning. In another half-hour, he was in Powai at the Beta office. Subramaniam was just winding up a meeting when Mathur showed up at his second-floor office.

Mathur settled himself down on a sofa and was about to open his briefcase when he thought he saw a familiar figure walk by at the far end of the lobby. The figure was taking the stairs down, but Mathur had no problem in putting a name to it: Nitin Kumar. Mathur felt rage swell up inside him. "Now I know why he wanted the SED costings,'' Mathur said to himself.

Turning his face away from the fleeting figure, Mathur saw Subramaniam walking up to him. Soon, they were seated in Subramaniam's office, looking at the quotes Mathur had faxed him. Then, the Beta Vice President pulled out another set of quotes, not from a rival, but Power Equipment. ''Ranjan Bhat, our CEO, forwarded me these this morning,'' he said. It was another set of quotes from Beta alright. But it was for a complete switchgear and electrical system, and the signatory was Nitin Kumar.

''There seems to be some confusion here,'' Mathur laughed, trying to remain calm. ''I'll have this sorted out as soon as I am back in Delhi this evening.''

''We thought it strange that two quotes for two different deals should be coming from Power Equipment when we already have made our requirement known,'' Subramaniam said. ''In fact, Rajan and I discussed it this morning, and we were feeling very confused.''

''Don't worry,'' Mathur reassured him. ''I'll have this sorted out. Meanwhile, I am getting a product trial organised for you. At the end of this week, you can give me your feedback.''

The meeting over, Mathur headed back to the airport for the 5:30 flight. Not surprisingly, Kumar was waiting in the lounge too. Spotting him, Mathur went straight to him. ''What on earth are you trying to do?'' Mathur almost yelled. ''I don't know what you are talking about,'' said Kumar, pretending to be unruffled. ''You bloody well know what I am talking about. It's about Beta. Subramaniam just showed me the quotes you had faxed him. What are you trying to do? Sabotage my work?''

''Get a grip on yourself, Rakesh,'' Kumar shot back. ''You are trying to clinch a deal worth Rs 3 crore, whereas I am selling them a package that would fetch us Rs 5 crore.''

''But they don't need everything else that you are trying to sell them,'' Mathur hissed.

''That's what you think. My package will serve them at least for the next five years, even if they expanded their manufacturing capacity,'' defended Kumar.

''But I made the call first,'' replied Mathur.

''Too bad. I have a bigger and better deal in the making,'' Kumar said unperturbed. ''I am going to have a chat with Pranav today,'' Mathur said. ''I have the CEO's ear too,'' Kumar retorted.

The two need not have bothered going to Pranav Sood, Power Equipment's CEO. He had already got a call from from Ranjan Bhat of Beta, complaining that suddenly he wasn't so sure if Power Equipment was the best supplier. Yet, Sood had a problem. Both Kumar and Mathur were his star executives. He could move them out to a different division or location, but there was no guarantee that they would be as effective in their new jobs. Besides, the two had just been promoted. Assigning them new roles out of turn would affect his own credibility and the morale of other employees. It was a tricky situation, but one that could not continue. Power Equipment's image was at stake. What should Sood do?

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