In 2003, Designer exports (designer), a leading manufacturer and marketer of leather products, based in Kanpur, recorded a turnover of 443.25 crores and a net income of Rs 43.24 crores.the company had emerged as a leading player in the leather industry with its wide range of products, which included leather bags, leather portfolios, leather accessories, wallets, and garments. All these products could be customized as per the  requirements of the customer. Customers could even get their logos and designs printed or embossed on these products. The company had tanning facilities of about 3 lakh square feet, in the outskirts of Kanpur. It had its own leather finishing unit where the leather obtained from the tannery was processed and finished. Exports contributed to 80% of designer's turnover. It had major clients  in USA, South Korea, Germany, Turkey, and Dubai. Quality was an essential prerequisite. The firm ensured that the products underwent stringent quality checks at all stages of production. The company was also very strict in hiring people. It hired those with hands on experience in the concerned field in similar firms. It also had a rigorous training program for its production line workers. The incumbent candidates had to undergo 15 days of training before starting to work in the shop floor.

Ashok Kapur was the new personnel manager who  had taken over a month back at designer exports.Ashok was a management graduate from one of India's leading business schools. He had a specialization in personnel management and industrial relations. He also had six years of experience in two other firms in the same industry. His previous stint was with crescent international another leading exporter of leather products based in Chennai. Within a couple of weeks of his joining, the production manager of designer had approached Ashok,as he was not very satisfied with the performance of some of his production line workers, in spite of their having undergone induction training. The two were interested  in examining the relationship between the training scores and the performance  ratings received by the workers three months after commencing work.Ashok took a random sample of 20 shop floor workers and tabulated their training scores and performance ratings.Ashok believed the findings would help him in deciding how much weight to give to the training program relative to other parameters like work history references etc.