Trouble at the family mill? Call in the chief emotional officer, says an INSEAD Knowledge analysis.

A new profile

Business Standard

Although creativity is often considered a trait of the privileged few, any individual or team can become more creative &mdash; better able to generate the breakthroughs that stimulate growth and performance. In fact, our experience with hundreds of corporate teams, ranging from experienced C-level executives to entry-level customer service reps, suggests that companies can use relatively simple techniques to boost the creative output of employees at any level.

Sparking creativity in teams: An executive's guide

New findings show how large and small companies grow-and reveal the startling performance of emerging market players.

Drawing a new road map for growth

When the Association of Indian Management Schools was set up in 1988 to work as the professional association of management education, there were about 100 B-Schools in India. The number of schools has grown by leaps and bounds thereafter, and now they stand at more than 2,000 including those that are outside the purview of the All India Council for Technical Education, the central regulatory body for technical education. More than half a million students write the national admission tests to get into the hallowed precincts of India&rsquo;s best business schools. By some accounts there are about 250-300 applications for every single seat in some of the leading B-Schools &mdash; here I am not even talking of the Indian Institutes of Management.

The best and the rest

Is the management education system in India equipped to handle the new set of challenges? Are we producing leaders who can look beyond best practices and trigger change? Read on...

Where change is the only constant

&ldquo;Like everything else in India, marketing too is part logic, part gut,&rdquo; says Dheeraj Sinha, regional planning director, Bates 141, in his book, Consumer India: Inside the Indian Mind and Wallet. In his book, Sinha puts Indian consumers into three segments: partition generation, transition generation and no-strings generation, and gives an account of what marketers and advertisers need to keep in mind to draw the attention of each of these consumer segments. Taking off from his book and drawing upon facts, fiction and personal experience, he unravels the interconnections between the mind and the wallet of the Indian consumer over a free-flowing tele-conversation with Arunima Mishra.

Q&A: Dheeraj Sinha, Bates 141

Investment banks make a smashing return to the IIMs this year, while realty, infrastructure and innovation firms also make inroads.

iBanks make a comeback

The agency has kicked off a restructuring exercise post the 26 per cent buyout of its India business from local partner Sandeep Goyal.

Dentsu bullish on India growth story

The home shopping business is off to a good start.

Pressing the right button

&ldquo;Kuain ka mendhak bahar kyon nahi jata&hellip;.kyonki bahar roaming lagta hai&rdquo;&hellip;Sounds silly? Well, not so, for the Tata DOCOMO campaign on air this IPL season.

Keep it simple, silly!

Even until 10 years ago, Bank of Baroda was seen as a fuddy-duddy public sector bank with a bureaucratic way of functioning. That&rsquo;s when its management decided to give the bank a new identity altogether and position it as a marketing organisation. In this extract from the book Dare To Lead: The Transformation of Bank of Baroda, author Anil K Khandewal, former chairman and managing director of the bank, recounts the passionate and intensive rebranding exercise undertaken to transform the bank&rsquo;s image and perception.

More than a makeover

The world&rsquo;s second largest computer maker, Acer, has recently unveiled a new advertising campaign in India with the tagline &ldquo;Easy is Acer&rdquo;. The Taiwan-based company now wants to shed the image of being a purely personal computer (PC) and notebook manufacturer.

As easy as it gets

With a new initiative, You Matter, Reliance MediaWorks&rsquo; Big Cinemas wants to turn its theatres into more-than-just-movies destination. The 30 million customers who walk in annually to watch movies on its 268 screen across 78 cities had little reason to view them any differently from other multiplex chains in their cities. Now, Big Cinemas hopes that the two surveys it has recently conducted will arm it with the right insights to differentiate itself more clearly. Reliance MediaWorks&rsquo; chief executive Anil Arjun says, &ldquo;A movie&rsquo;s distributor creates the destiny of the movie overall, but as exhibitors we have to create the destiny a film will have in a given neighbourhood. Through the drive called You Matter, we will become consumer-led rather than distributor-led.

Bigger and better

Dabur is piggybacking on the equity of its digestive brand Hajmola to enter a new segment in confectionery &mdash; mints. Hajmola Mint Masti will enclose the Hajmola tablet as a filling in a mint shell. The product innovation, says Dabur, will help break the clutter in a segment where product differentiation is close to zero.

Minting a new segment

The casual wear market is growing rapidly in India.

KIT: The casual wear market in India

OPEN SOURCE LEADER 
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MANAGERS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE 
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THE MAN

The top 10 business bestsellers

    Name this brand which describes itself in this manner: &ldquo;After 5 burglaries, 1 office dog, 9 Christmas quizzes, 12 nights spent in the warehouse, 1 consignment of refugees arriving with a clothes delivery, 4 office moves, 2 venture capitalists, 6 awards, about 20 fantastically annoying customers, a couple of crooks, a great team spirit, bucket loads of sweat and even more laughs, we&rsquo;re still here.

The Strategist Quiz (#201)

    This brand gets its name from Turkish meaning black stone. Recently it launched a limited edition version of its products inspired by Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupathi. Name the brand and the series.

Answers to last week&#39;s quiz (#200)

Extends the technology to a range of devices like laptops and mobile phones.

LG bets big on 3D 

Chief executive officers and senior level executives are usually responsible for managing all other executives in the company and are ultimately accountable for achieving results. The best way to get a firm understanding on what you must do to reach the top job in your field is to learn from those who have already made it to the top job.

Student's Corner

B-schools are paying faculty per lecture to save staff cost.

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