The recent set of clarifications on multi-brand retail are unlikely to enthuse foreign investors any more than the original policy did

Retail confusion worse confounded

Business Standard

Most MNCs do not deliver their lofty 'customer service' promises in India

Global firms, local service?

The winter session of Parliament in 2011 was drowned out in the din of tabling the Lok Pal Bill. In the build-up to the session, many Bills to be tabled were sent back for reconsideration by the respective parliamentary standing committees, including the Unique Identification (UID) Bill. While the objective of UID is laudable, even keeping aside issues with political overtones the members do seem to have raised some valid concerns.

Dilip James: We are all an item number

There are numerous publications on China&rsquo;s rise as a global manufacturing hub and the creation of its world-class infrastructure. It is not often that one comes across a book on the phenomenal development of the supply chain management (SCM) industry there. Though initially created to address export needs, the application of SCM internally is now dramatically transforming China&rsquo;s domestic retail system. Peter Levesque and contributing authors have put together an interesting work on this subject, utilising their considerable SCM operating experience in Asian markets, particularly in China.

Inside China's retail chain

I read with interest interviews in the media in which you have recommended opening up foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail. I could discover two macro-benefits that seem to be at the core of the case you make. The first that in the long-term this would reduce food inflation. The other that it would generate a significant number of jobs, particularly for the relatively unskilled millions that India will add to its workforce.

Dilip James: FDI in retail - Shopping for the wrong solution

If pronouncements by the commerce minister are anything to go by, November 2011 is a watershed moment comparable only to 1984, when Rajiv Gandhi took the visionary step of liberalising large parts of the economy. The comparison seems contrived since the current situation is riding on Cabinet approval for just one policy change &mdash; allowing 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail and 100 per cent in single-brand retail.

Dilip James: No retail therapy in sight

Saral, Sahaj and Sugam: for many readers these would have a familiar ring particularly in the month of July. No, they are not monsoon releases from the Karan Johar or Ekta Kapoor production house but names of forms used for filing income tax returns (ITRs). Given the tryst in July to file ITRs, I was at the office of my chartered accountant (CA) when I heard him chanting these names looking rather forlorn. Cheer up, I said to him, your life is much simpler these days.

Dilip James: Neither 'Saral' nor 'Sahaj'

Consumer liberation&rdquo;, &ldquo;Improved choices for consumer&rdquo; and so on were headlines screaming from some of the leading dailies. In case one wondered what momentous event warranted such sentiment, just a day before the Committee of Secretaries had recommended guidelines for allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.

Dilip James: FDI norms in retail - What a tangled web!

Dad, what a funky-looking book you&rsquo;re reading, unlike the dull business ones you normally read.&rdquo; That was my 12-year-old&rsquo;s comment on seeing me with Heart, Smarts, Guts and Luck (HSGL). It did strike me then that the attractive combination of colours and fonts on the cover of this book stood out and attracted attention. That comment stayed with me as I continued to read this work. To an extent, it was also descriptive of the authors&rsquo; approach to a subject on which there have been numerous previous works.

The 'HSGL' quotient in business

Satyam, Subhiksha, Lilliput, Reebok, Everonn, Onmobile. Wondering what they have in common? These were extremely successful companies set up by new-generation professionals, who combined domain knowledge, passion and entrepreneurial nous to make them the envy of their peers.

Dilip James: Bad old ways of the new-gen founders

When Business Standard requested me for this review, something about the title seemed vaguely familiar. After an initial flip-through, I recalled reading an article with the same title by the author that was published in the Harvard Business Review of February 2008. Since then and over a 12-year period, Professor Wasserman has accumulated the most prolific and comprehensive repository of information about startups, tracking the dilemmas they face and the outcomes at various phases of their evolution.

Entrepreneurs' guide to the startup galaxy

The Competition Commission (CCI) levied a mammoth fine late last year on a prominent builder for allegedly indulging in monopolistic practices and it is now under appeal. That got me to look in some detail at how this industry deals with its customers, labour, society, minority shareholders and so on.