IIMs/IITs are wonderful places with outstanding faculty and students. But there are issues on quality that need to be sorted out. The value addition that takes place for students at IITs/IIMs would have been impossible if there would not have been considerable quality education being imparted. We have faculty who are definitely world class, but then there are also cases which were otherwise. I think it is largely systemic flaw and by and large faculty at IITs/IIMs are victims of government policy therefore Jairam's statement should have propelled us to introspection, rather than spiteful retribution.

Student's corner

Business Standard

In a bid to enhance exposure of its students towards the manufacturing sector, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has tied up with Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd. (SIEL). As part of the partnership, the premier B-school has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the leading digital technology company for a scholarship program for management students.

IIM-A, Samsung sign pact for Scholarship Program

Future innoversity, an academic initiative of Future Learning, Future Group, has started a two year MBA programme in supply chain management simultaneously in its Ahmedabad and Bangalore campuses from this year.

Future Group starts MBA in supply chain mgmt

Indus-League is focusing on innovative methods to woo consumers with its cool line of branded apparels to beat the heat of the excise duty hike and rising raw material costs.

Innovating for a bright Future

Shubh Aarambhi! (have a great start!) greetings and a bar of chocolates welcomed the 81 budding creative designers at the world&rsquo;s largest simultaneous advertising portfolio review event &ndash; Portfolio Night &ndash; on May 26 in a Mumbai five-star hotel.

The Portfolio Night: Creative bites

For the past decade, brands like Koutons, Cantabil, Allen Cooper and TNG relied on a year-round sales offer to woo consumers. Now, it is time to review their strategy: Given the rising input costs, imposition of excise duty and a slowdown in the retail industry, discount designer brands in India have suffered a 30-40 per cent dip in sales over last six to seven months.

Budget brands revisit sales strategy

Nivea India, an affiliate of Beiersdorf AG, has come to the rescue of all those women who face the problem of darkening of underarms caused by waxing, shaving and use of hair removal creams. The company has launched a new deodorant, Whitening, which it claims is a global innovation in the category.

Nivea: Power of white

In a recent development, India&rsquo;s first multiplex chain PVR Cinemas and British Coffeehouse Company&rsquo;s Costa Coffee have joined hands to offer gourmet coffee and other beverages to visitors at PVR theatres.

PVR Cinemas/Costa Coffee: A movie over a coffee

FREEFALL
Author: Joseph Stiglitz 
Publisher: Penguin 
Price: Rs 399
ISBN: 9780141045122.
CONNECT THE DOTS
Author: Rashmi Bansal 
Publisher: Eklavya Education Foundation
Price: Rs 150
ISBN: 9788190453028.
SURVIVING THE STORM
Author: Dhiraj Nayyar 
Publisher: Penguin Books India
Price: Rs 499
ISBN: 9780670085255.
ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP - 2011 OFFICIAL GUIDE
Publisher: Living Media India 
Price: Rs 200
ISBN: 9786077636229.
MANAGERS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Author: T V Rao 
Publisher: Random House India
Price: Rs 299
ISBN: 9788184001372.
GEEK NATION
Author: Angela Saini 
Publisher: Hachette 
Price: Rs 499
ISBN: 9781444734096.
THE HABIT OF WINNING
Author: Prakash Iyer 
Publisher: Penguin Books India 
Price: Rs 299
ISBN: 9780143068280.
THE MAN WHO SOLD AMERICA
Authors: Jeffrey L Cruikshank and Arthur W Schultz 
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Price: Rs 995
ISBN: 9781591393085.
ESSENCE OF GOOD MANAGEMENT
Author: K R Kim 
Publisher: Biztantra
Price: Rs

The top 10 business bestsellers

In a bid to enhance student-industry interface, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) launches new set of speaker series for the current batch of post graduate programme for executives (PGPX).

IIM-A's PGPX 2011 launches Speaker Series

Technical textiles (used for applications other than clothing and furnishing) are a high growth category in India and globally. They are used extensively in agriculture, buildings, healthcare, roads, sports, aviation and so on.

KIT: Technical textiles and the baby diaper market

&nbsp;

    What term (named after an actress) is used to describe an internet phenomenon that happens when a person or company tries to suppress a piece of information and, in so doing, unintentionally popularises it?&nbsp;
    &nbsp;
    What has been set up by an investment boutique based on an academic study by Johan Bollen, Huina Mao, and Xiao-Jun Zeng that established the connection between emotion-related words appearing in Twitter posts and subsequent movements in the Dow Jones

The Strategist Quiz (#204)

    This Indian company began production of this product in the 1950s &mdash; when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru described it as a symbol of India&rsquo;s independence and industrialisation. It stopped production in 2009 due to obsolescence. Name the company and the product.

Answers to last week&#39;s quiz (#203)

Camlin is not shedding its colour just yet. The stationery major will retain its portfolio post the majority stake sale to Japan&rsquo;s Kokuyo Co.

Camlin's colourful camel safari

&ldquo;Purpose is what gives life a meaning.

Of governments, brands, social media & purpose?

In roughly 13 months, between January 2010 and February 2011, fast moving consumer goods company Marico has snapped up four international acquisitions &mdash; which include brand Code 10 (Malaysia), Derma Rx (in Singapore via wholly-owned subsidiary Kaya Ltd), Ingwe in South Africa, and an 85 per cent stake in International Consumer Products Corporation (ICP) of Vietnam.

Beyond borders

On the face of it Discovery Networks India seems to be in a tight spot. It is a non-fiction network in a market where more than half of all TV viewing is general entertainment. The rest is, largely, movies, cricket and news. More importantly India is not yet a robust pay TV market; so it has to depend on advertising revenues. The India arm of the US-based $3.77-billion Discovery Communications however is having a great time.

Q&A: Rahul Johri, Sr vice-president & GM, Discovery Networks

Phillippines-based Del Monte has rolled out its first television commercial (TVC) for its juice range in India. The racy musical shows juice drinkers wondering about the taste of the brand &mdash; what is it like or rather what&rsquo;s it not like.

Taste the difference

The Indian two-wheeler market comprises about 12 million units per annum, of which over 75 per cent is constituted by motorcycles.

Passing lane

Reactions to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh's comment recently that India's premier institutes like IIT and IIM are &quot;not world class&quot; but only &quot;excellent&quot; have been sharp and critical. But IIM Ahmedabad Director Samir K Barua in an interview to Vinay Umarji says, a straight comparison of IITs and IIMs with global institutes, without accounting for the impact of the ownership on performance would be unfair.

Q&A: Samir Barua, Director, IIM Ahmedabad

A few years ago, Mohan Murjani gave up the franchises of Gucci and Jimmy Choo in India as sales failed to match the expected demand for luxury goods in India. But things have changed since then.

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