Increasingly, companies from the developing world are drawing attention for their ability to survive and grow despite limited resources. These emerging country multinationals are the subject of a new book authored by academics Amitava Chattopadhyay, Rajeev Batra and Aysegul Ozsomer. Released in June, the book titled The New Emerging Market Multinationals: Four Strategies for Disrupting Marketing and Building Brands has received positive reviews for being a text-book guide to these companies, which include names such as Marico, Godrej Consumer, Tata Global Beverages, and Mahindra &amp; Mahindra (M&amp;M). Batra, who is a professor of marketing at University of Michigan, USA, was in Mumbai recently. He spoke to Viveat Susan Pinto on what excited him the most when working on the book and the take-homes for both emerging as well as established multinationals.

When making acquisitions you have to have the right balance of patience and speed: Rajeev Batra

Business Standard

The top 10 business bestsellers

Our economy has already reached a stage where the services and manufacturing sectors contribute significant portion to the economic output. Workers employed in manufacturing and allied sectors such as automobile, oil and gas, construction etc. are becoming aware of occupational hazards and, as a result, the companies are developing a safe working environment. Vendor companies are required to meet international safety requirements as prescribed by buyer requirements. This, coupled with the need to build a strong corporate identity, has increased the demand for basic and protective workwear.

KIT: Workwear and uniforms market in India

A few weeks back, image artist Wally Olins, who has handled marquee brands such as LVMH, Coca-Cola, Visit London, the Royal Opera House and East Timor Development Agency, wrote a blog on &lsquo;What&rsquo;s right with India' at a time when the foreign media was busy taking the sheen off India&rsquo;s image. In an interview with Ishita Ayan Dutt, the Saffron Brand Consultants chairman talks about the perception and reality about Brand India.

Huge opportunity exists on branding India: Wally Olins

    One of the cartoon characters owned by Hanna Barbera is also a brand name for a range of children&rsquo;s multivitamins sold in the US. Name the cartoon characters and the company.

Answers to last week's The Strategist Quiz (#266)

Airtel has an interesting campaign on air currently that says: &ldquo;I, me, myself&hellip;boring hai/ &lsquo;us&rsquo; and &lsquo;we&rsquo; interesting hai/Internet hai toh friendship hai/Friendship hai toh sharing hai. This is a sequel to the immensely popular campaign from 2011 that said &ldquo;Har ek friend zaroori hota hai&rdquo;, which brought brand Airtel back into focus when Vodafone&rsquo;s pug and Zoozoos and Idea&rsquo;s Sirji were beginning to eclipse its visibility.

Alokananda Chakraborty: Friends as brand endorsers

It was exactly a year ago when Hindustan Unilever&rsquo;s oral care rival Colgate-Palmolive stepped up its efforts in emerging categories such as sensitivity and mouthwash. The company launched an upgrade to its toothpaste Colgate Sensitive called Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief and rolled out two variants of its Plax mouthwash in quick succession.

The battle for niche oral care

Maruti Suzuki&rsquo;s best-seller Swift, which sells over 15,000 cars every month, usually has a long waiting list. That increased further after the month-long lockout at the car&rsquo;s main production centre at Manesar.

Rival models try to gain from Swift's pain

A regulatory body would ensure such universities do not get a chance to take advantage of gullible people of India and exploit careers of bright students.

Students' corner

Does going abroad for higher education sound exciting? If you have heard about the shutdown of institutes like the Tri-Valley University in the US, TASMAC (Training and Advanced Studies in Management and Communications) London and the Herguan University in the US that has been accused of visa fraud, you will think twice before taking any decision to go abroad.

Studying abroad: Look before you leap

Pacific University in Oregon, the US, on Wednesday announced a three-year business scholars programme for undergraduate students. &ldquo;Most undergraduate programmes in the US require four years of study and this accelerated programme saves students not only one-year but also up to $45,000 (over Rs 25 lakhs),&rdquo; the release by the university said.

Pacific Varsity launches 3-year programme

On the face of it, times have never been as good for management schools worldwide as they are now. Their graduates command higher starting salaries than those from any other discipline; members of their faculty are asked to man government policy committees and serve on corporate boards; in media rankings of higher education institutions, they figure at the top of the list.

Ajit Balakrishnan: B-schools and their discontents

Reticent and low-profile are not the usual personality traits of a CEO in a high-profile business like aviation. But Aditya Ghosh, 37, has defied convention in many ways. His regular office wear is T-shirt with jeans, he doesn&rsquo;t have a B-school degree and before joining IndiGo, he was a lawyer at J Sagar.

IndiGo sticks to the basics

CFA Institute has appointed Paul H Smith, CFA, as managing director of Asia Pacific Operations, with effective from October 3. Smith will succeed Ashvin Vibhakar, who will continue to lead strategic initiatives for the organisation as a managing director.

CFA Institute names Paul H Smith as MD, Asia Pacific

S P Shukla, Mahindra Group&rsquo;s strategy and chief brand officer, fondly remembers the celebrations that followed Mahindra Racing&rsquo;s first ever victory at the Italian Mugello Circuit earlier this year.

Mahindra's brand play

The brand, born as part of William Hollins &amp; Co in 1744 in Nottingham, England, was mainly known as a hosiery maker to begin with, and later turned its attention to menswear.

Heritage brand's new look

At the Auto Expo held in January 2012, one of the highlights at the Hero MotoCorp pavilion was a rather unusual two-wheeler concept, targeted primarily at women. Called the Leap, it was an electric scooter which used a small petrol engine as a range extender and to charge the battery. Hardly anyone knew that the scooter concept was conceived and developed in just 10 weeks by a little-known American company which specialises in performance-oriented motorcycles.

Hero bikes to get aggressive edge

Heart, Smarts, Guts And Luck: What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur And Build A Great Business by Anthony K. Tjan, Richard J.

Online retail is the next growing phenomenon in the Indian retail growth story. Changing lifestyles, increasing time poverty and the convenience to buy things online has paved the way for Indian consumers to have a &lsquo;consumer friendly &amp; hassle-free online shopping experience&rsquo;. The current market for non-store retailing in India is estimated at USD 3.2 billion and is growing at a rate of over 23 per cent.

KIT: Online apparel retail

    She was one of Hollywood&rsquo;s most glamorous silver screen goddesses of the 1930s and 40s, also a mathematician and Inventor who married six times. She worked along with a music composer and came up with the notion that multiple frequencies could be used to send a radio transmission. This concept provided the basis for a globally well known technology company that first commercialised it in 1995. In fact this company is indebted to her for its existence. Name the actress, the company and the technology.

Answers to last week's The Strategist Quiz (#267)

Spend a significant amount of time with any social psychologist, and sooner or later they will tell you the story about the wise old man and the abusive teenagers.

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