In just three months from now, &lsquo;Hamara Bajaj&rsquo; could become &lsquo;Hamara Pulsar&rsquo; or &lsquo;Hamara Discover&rsquo;. &nbsp;And the man presiding over this mega transition will be none other than a Bajaj himself &ndash; Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj.

Bajaj to drop its name

Business Standard

The process of admissions to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) has begun, with the announcement of the Common Admission Test (CAT) results across the country today.

CAT results declared; eight candidates score 100 percentile

It goes to the credit of Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to share information about the scientific process of equating their various test forms.

CAT methodology disclosure unclear

&nbsp;

    Which company, known for its innovativeness, inserted chips with an audio message in newspapers and used Heli-banners in Mumbai to attract people?
    Volkswagen
    &nbsp;
    Which movie has got these linked: Oakley3D glasses, Quorra Platform sandals, Monster&rsquo;s iPod docks and Coke Zero?
    Tron-Legacy
    &nbsp;
    A new-age company has borrowed the direct sales model of Avon Products, supply chain management of Toyota Motors, Dell&rsquo;s customisation techniques

Answers to last week's quiz (#183)

The dialogue may have been brewing for over a year, but it was a trip to the coffee plantations of Tata Coffee in Coorg that did it for Starbucks big boss Howard Schultz. So the frappe folks from Seattle are finally in India &mdash; the last of the key untapped markets after they successfully crossed the Great Wall.

Brewing a 'third place' in India

The Japanese word &ldquo;Kizashi&rdquo; means &ldquo;something great is coming&rdquo;. Maruti Suzuki (MSIL) must be hoping its newest luxury sedan of the same name lives up to that promise. Kizashi will be launched in India this month-end and was formally unveiled in Udaipur last week.

Maruti banks on Kizashi to break the big car jinx

In September 2010, IDC, the global market intelligence firm, published a report stating that Nokia had lost its plot in India and had close to 20 per cent of its share in the Indian market over the past one year.

Connecting People: What next?

The Rs 1,300-crore instant noodles market in India is in a state of war, with three new players having thrown their hats in the ring over the last one year.

Not a two-minute war

As the emergence of the new breed of private banks transformed the banking scenario, SBI realised its communication strategy needed a change. The following extract from the book &ldquo;Grit, Guts and Gumption: Driving Change in a State-owned Giant&rdquo; by Rajesh Chakrabarti lays down how SBI met the challenges of the new environment with a series of ad campaigns that sent a strong message of inclusion without sacrificing its identity.

High on confidence

Within two years of entering the Indian passenger car market in 2007, BMW toppled rival Mercedes-Benz to become the numero uno luxury car maker of the country. In 2010, the company recorded a 73 per cent growth in sales volume, maintaining its leadership position in the category. In conversation with Preeti Khicha, BMW India President, Dr Andreas Schaaf, outlines the company&rsquo;s India strategy and the reasons for its phenomenal success. &ldquo;My goal is to establish the foundation for the future organisation,&rdquo; he says.

Q&A: Dr Andreas Schaaf, India President, BMW

Monopoly is not always good. Competition is essential for stimulating growth. Without competition market development is a lonely and tortuous task.

Expert Take: Pranesh Misra, CMD, Brandscapes Worldwide

The latest campaign by Tetra Pak is a renewed push by the company to generate awareness about the brand&rsquo;s unique six-layer packaging. The concept of six layer packaging is not new to consumers, but in the past, most of the communication around the brand was limited to packaging innovation in the dairy sector.

Tetra Pak: Packing a punch

Snacking is largely about fun and to ride on the fun aspect fast food company KFC has added an innovative new product on its menu&mdash; chicken popcorn&mdash;small morsels of boneless chicken, battered and fried. Indeed, the company has shown a lot of aggression over the past one year, adding new products and opening new outlets.

KFC: Serve hot

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THE

The top 10 business bestsellers

    Name the rap song and the group that is linked to the fastest civil airplane in the world? This song became number two in the US Billboard Hot 100 last year.

The Strategist Quiz (#184)

These are just three of the 18 joint ventures with the private sector that the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has formed in its over one year existence.

Cashing in on skills

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland (Smith) and the School of Management, Zhejiang University (Zhejiang, China), jointly announced the launch of a global senior management programme that will have business leaders traveling to each country to learn the keys to successful innovation in each market.

IIMB's global certification programme

Mahindra Group Vice Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra says &lsquo;Rise&rsquo;, the group&rsquo;s new brand positioning unveiled earlier this week, is an effort to become &ldquo;tomorrow&rsquo;s company&rdquo;. The outcome of a year-long brainstorming, it is going to be the Rs 32,000 crore group&rsquo;s new credo.

Mahindra's rising ambition

The Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, has so far seen the highest domestic job offer on its campus at Rs 39 lakh from a private equity firm, according to two recruiters familiar with the development.

ISB student offered annual pay of Rs 39 lakh

When Neeru, a resident of Manoharpur village on the outskirts of Agra, attended a driving camp conducted by Mahindra and Mahindra (M&amp;M) a few days ago, nobody thought she would learn the ropes and start driving a tractor so soon.

Shyamal Majumdar: Marketing with a human touch

The third decade after liberalisation is likely to see aggregate consumption expenditure doubling &mdash; this could be more &mdash; but it will also see new, never-before market structures and consumer behaviour. These changes will bring new opportunities for those who exploit them, leaving behind those who see them as the same old game, only to be played more vigorously.

Page 612 - News