Croma, the Tata group&rsquo;s electronic and durables chain, seems to be making up for lost time. The retail chain, which opened just 50 stores in the last four years, is launching three stores every month in the current financial year. The 50th store was opened last week in Bangalore.

Croma steps on the gas

Business Standard

Sridhar Maturi is on cloud nine these days. Reason: his is the only Indian company that is scoring heavily in this year&rsquo;s FIFA World Cup.

Mahindra Satyam scores heavily in World Cup

Dabur has added one more Rs 100 crore brand to its kitty. Riding high on the growing popularity of ayurveda, Dabur Red Toothpaste has achieved this landmark in less than six years.

Dabur Red goes past Rs 100 cr

When it came to India, The Body Shop &ndash; the second largest cosmetic franchise in the world &ndash; was targeting only high-end consumers. But it didn&rsquo;t take long for the 100 per cent subsidiary of French cosmetics brand L'Oreal to realise that the only way to prosper in the country is to move down the economic pyramid.

Body Shop takes budget beauty route

Nestle has set its sights on the Indian consumer&rsquo;s breakfast menu. Breakfast cereals&ndash; a category where Nestle has a strong presence worldwide &ndash; is one segment the Indian subsidiary is planning an entry, Nestle India Chairman &amp; Managing Director, Antonio Waszyk, says.

Nestle wakes up to breakfast cereals

What makes a Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer connect with many of their fans? At one level, they are achievers; they are well known stars and have both fame and fortune, things that many youth and young adults desire and strive for. But digging deeper, they also embody the spirit of excellence, the pursuit of perfection, and they represent a performance level that most can&rsquo;t hope to achieve. What makes these brands tick is their ability to drive awe in their fans.

Madhukar Sabnavis: Inspirational branding

Till a year ago, they were just irritants. Today, they are a serious threat. Homegrown mobile phone brands have blown a serious hole in the pockets of their multinational rivals. According to the Voice &amp; Data annual telecom survey, three Indian brands &mdash; Micromax, Spice and Karbonn &mdash; raised their share of the market from 2 per cent in 2008-09 to 11 per cent in 2009-10. During the same time, Nokia&rsquo;s share fell from 64 per cent to 52.2 per cent.

Bhupesh Bhandari: India rings loud and clear

    This company&rsquo;s first board comprised Raunaq Singh (late founder of Apollo Tyres), MA Chidambaram of SPIC, Coke bottler Charanjit Singh and VR Mohan of Mohan Meakins.

Answers to last week&#39s quiz (#155)

    Name the first company/brand in the world to use the sky as a billboard. Also name the city where such advertising first occurred.

The Strategist Quiz (#156)

SOCIAL MEDIA 101
Author: Chris Brogan 
Publisher: Wiley
Price: Rs 1,108
ISBN: 9780470563410.
ENGAGE
Authors: Brian Solis &amp; Ashton Kutcher
Publisher: Wiley
Price: Rs 1,205
ISBN: 9780470571095.
MARKETING 3.0 
Author: Philip Kotler
Publisher: Wiley
Price: Rs 1,197
ISBN: 9780470598825.
GETTING NAKED 
Author: Patrick M Lencioni
Publisher: Wiley 
Price: Rs 1,205
ISBN: 9780787976392.
LEADING WITH CARE
Author: Mary Cantando
Publisher: Times Publication Books
Price: Rs 350
ISBN: 9788126525010.
PRACTICING GREATNESS 
Author: Reggie McNeal
Publisher: Times Publication Books
Price: Rs 295
ISBN: 9788126525027.
BEATING LOW COST COMPETITION
Author: Adrian Ryans
Publisher: Times Publication Books 
Price: Rs 325
ISBN: 9788126525041.
THE STRATEGIC DRUCKER 
Author: Robert Swaim
Publisher: Times Publication Books 
Price: Rs 395
ISBN: 9788126525058.
THE THREE LAWS OF PERFORMANCE 
Authors: Dave Logan &amp; Steve Zaffron 
Publisher: Times Publication Books

The top 10 business bestsellers

The instant noodles market in India is valued at around Rs 1,000 crore.

KIT: The instant noodles market in India

After two successive years of gloomy forecasts, the initial response to this year&rsquo;s summer internship placement season at the premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) has been good.

Summer placements set a scorching pace

Perfetti Van Melle has gone national with its Chlormint brand of chewing gum. Chlormint was first launched in 1997 in its green candy version; soon thereafter a gum variant was launched. But sales took off only in the East. Perfetti then brought in the ice candy version of the brand. So, why the national rollout now? According to the Perfetti Managing Director Sameer Suneja, gums are doing very well as a category and he is keen to tap this. &ldquo;Moreover, I would like to leverage the Chlormint brand,&rdquo; says he.

Perfetti Van Melle: Gum power

A dedicated team makes sure the information technology brand grows from strength to strength.

Building brand Infosys

The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2009 received bad press last year due to numerous glitches which inconvenienced thousands of students. This year, Himanshu Rai, faculty, IIM Lucknow, in his first interview after taking over as the CAT convener for 2010, tells Chitra Unnithan how he plans to enhance the quality of the premier management test.

Q&A: Himanshu Rai, Faculty, IIM Lucknow

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets milk-based products under the Amul brand, plans to launch a &lsquo;sports drink&rsquo; called Stamina.

Amul to milk 'sports drink' demand

Saina Nehwal&rsquo;s brand value soars five times to Rs 30 lakh per endorsement.

Ad world's new poster girl

In May this year, Spanish fashion brand Zara opened its first Indian store. A month later, it was the turn of Chinese clothing giant Yishion to follow suit. They were preceded by at least three more &ndash; Diesel, Vero Moda and 7 For All Mankind &ndash; all of them set up shop in India this year.

Foreign fashion brands play the pricing game

Knowledge Academy, an initiative of Lalbhai group in the private education space, has launched a programme on Power MBA at its campus here. With an initial batch of 60 students, Power MBA combines MBA degree from UGC recognized University and professional qualification of certified financial planner.

Knowledge Academy launches Power MBA programme

It&rsquo;s a deluge in the marketplace. India saw 1,500 brand launches in the past 18 months, which work out to three a day.

India sees three brand launches a day,but only 5% survive

The fourth batch of Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) in Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has seen an average annual salary of Rs 26.1 lakh &mdash; an increase of about 30 per cent over the previous year&rsquo;s average of 20.16 lakh. The fees for the one-year full-time programme is Rs 19.35 lakh.

Page 643 - News