Tata Coffee will give up its brands to become a pure-play commodity company. Why? It is the ambition of most farm commodity companies to move up the value chain and sell branded products. Brands, after all, can improve profit margins and valuations. Seldom does a company give up its brands to become a pure-play commodity company. But this is exactly what Tata Coffee has done. Over the next few years, it will move its brands like Tata Caf&eacute;, Mr. Bean and Coorg (these brands may not be as popular as Nestl&eacute;&rsquo;s Nescaf&eacute; or Hindustan Unilever&rsquo;s Bru but have dedicated customers in certain pockets of the country) to group company Tata Global Beverages (earlier Tata Tea) so that it can focus on commodities. The strategy may look disruptive but has been well thought through.

Back to beans

Business Standard

This market is expected to grow at 17 per cent a year.

KIT: The cosmetic market in India

Dell, which recently knocked out Hewlett Packard from the No 1position in the Indian personal computer market, isn&rsquo;t the only one to move from the men to the boys.

Lenovo wakes up to the power of youth

Till the XIX Commonwealth Games (CWG) began, many companies were wary of letting their brand ride on the Games. Hence, official corporate sponsorships were limited to begin with. Having been launched successfully, the Games now find many riding the wave.

Ambush marketing at CWG

When the Stuxnet worm was recently reported to have infected industrial control systems in many countries, especially Iran, Indonesia and India, industry observers and security experts were caught unawares.

Glimpse of new-age cyberwars

Tholons, a leading full-service strategic advisory firm for global outsourcing and research, has ventured into education.

Tholons ventures into education sector

After the momentous High Court judgment proposing a three-way split of the disputed land, politicians sighed in relief and commented with wary optimism that the court had &ldquo;paved the way to build the temple at Ayodhya&rdquo;.

A temple to the present

More than a roof over your head

If you think all radio stations sound alike, think again.

Are you listening?

The South Asian Spelling Bee in the US grooms youngsters for the national competition.

To bee or not to bee

The other week I joked that I was tempted to run off and become an illegal immigrant in New York. This week I&rsquo;m serious. (Note to immigration officers everywhere: This is also a joke, sort of).

A bite of the Big Apple

Menopause is not a condition peculiar to women, men go through it too.

Men may pause, too

If Indian cricket is awash with money, few will disagree that one man stands taller than others in turning the gentleman&rsquo;s game into the most lucrative sport in the subcontinent.

Familiar territory

Since VVS Laxman guided India to victory over Australia in the first Test of the series at Mohali, there has been quite a chorus in his praise &mdash; in all mediums. Most of it has the same tenor: Laxman the unsung hero, the underrated genius, the artiste who is not a star like some of his flashier teammates, someone whose place in the side has been unfairly questioned, a master who was frequently put on trial, unfairly, because his worth was not recognised.

Looking for a fight

It would appear the fuss has died down, for the moment at least.

A day at the CWG Village

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has been re-elected Fide President by the margin of 95-55. He offered his rival, former world champion Anatoly Karpov, the post of vice-president, which has been declined. Karpov&rsquo;s electoral team-mate, and former rival, Garry Kasparov alleged the election was irregularly conducted with 56 proxy votes for Kirsan's ticket (proxies are legal in Fide). Meanwhile, another former world champion, Boris Spassky is reportedly seriously ill, in intensive care.

CHESS #647

Bijoy Kumar Y drove the all-new Audi A7 Sportback on the splendid Italian island of Sardinia.

Too CLS for comfort

It&rsquo;s not the story, the direction or the acting, but simply the scale of Zangoora that dazzles.

Zangoora, jamboree!

It would be putting things very mildly to say that recent Hindi movies haven&rsquo;t made journalists &mdash; TV journalists in particular &mdash; look good. The typical representation is one of shrill, parasitic cretins tripping over each other in a frenzy, exhibiting buffoonery as well as insensitivity as they thrust microphones into the faces of the unwilling.

The media as predator

I am a 42-year-old senior executive with a north India-based firm. I currently drive a tuned Toyota Celica for my weekend pleasure, but I am growing tired of it. I&rsquo;m now looking to buy a fast sports car that can fulfil my pleasures, without me needing to tinker around with it.

Dial 911 for sport

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is not an easy man to get hold of unless your name is Oprah Winfrey. So we thought we&rsquo;d ask the newly-recruited Facebook India team for a firsthand account of their boss. Why now? Because, this has, after all, been a busy fortnight for him. The Social Network.

The geek who may inherit the earth

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