Three years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers produced worldwide financial disruption, advertising agencies continue to face significant challenges. But Madison Avenue is, by and large, in better shape than many of the industries for which it creates ads.

Uncertainty on Wall Street, big deals on Madison Avenue

Business Standard

The home solution chain of the Future Group changes tack and decides to open more smaller stores around the larger ones.

Home town banks on hub-and-spoke model

The battle for the breakfast table just got fiercer with Dr Oetker launching Germany&rsquo;s No. 1 muesli, Vitalis Crunchy, in India. If all goes well, Vitalis could vie for shelf space in Indian kitchens with Kellogg&rsquo;s cornflakes and Quaker Oats in three-four years.

Vitalis eyes a crunchy bite

Some people want all-out performance from their cars, practicality be damned. Other people want their cars to be spacious, frugal and a warm and inviting place to be in. If you belong to the former, you could be wasting your time reading this. However, if you are part of the latter, this could very well be the car you&rsquo;ve been waiting for.

Sunny shining

Tata&rsquo;s flagship sedan has been selling well over the years, and not without reason. In terms of space, it beats betters cars in higher categories, making it popular among people who are largely chauffeur-driven. The cabin is well kitted-out and equally well finished, with Tata taking steps to improve the fit and finish issues. The car comes loaded, with features such as steering-mounted audio controls, Bluetooth, airbags, ABS and so forth. The ride quality is comfortable, tending towards the softer side, with the trade-off being that handling is a bit on the soft side as well. The Manza makes a strong case for itself as a value for money offering. Prices start at Rs 5.15 lakh, ex-showroom, Mumbai.

Sunny rivals

I&rsquo;ve just about started driving and I plan on buying a new car. I would like a premium diesel hatchback, for a 35 km daily commute. The car should offer good ride and handling abilities, great features and also driving pleasure.

New wheels

Food is the new nirvana. Recent years have seen as many as 40 food shows on television.

Feast for the eyes

Angry at the way rapid urbanisation has changed their city, Bangaloreans have taken to street protests to protect its green cover.

Citizens for trees

Private jets are not just for the super rich. Michelle Higgin lists ways to get on board for half the price.

Fly high for less

Encouraged by the government, sustainable architecture has become the latest fad in Singapore.

Build it green

Find a place where murder, lust and senseless violence are a part of life. Where women are quite likely to end up dead, or abused, if they are not resigned to their fate or even for no particular reason. Where outside hospitals, people scribble, &ldquo;Enter at your own peril.&rdquo; A place that veers from one crisis to another. Where love is most likely to turn into an all-consuming obsession. Where people from different religions coexist, but are only barely tolerant of each other. In a place like this, put Mohammed Hanif. Not only will he bring out the grim reality of the place and the situation, he will also make you laugh, often more than once on every page, while doing so.

Love in the time of choler

Basant Kumar Birla was born to a great father, Ghanshyamdas, had an illustrious son, Aditya, and has an even better-known grandson, Kumar Mangalam. In the lineage, he is perhaps the least famous. So Rashme Sehgal&rsquo;s book on Birla and his wife, Sarla, called Life has no full stops (Amaryliis, 2011) ought to be an interesting read. And it won&rsquo;t disappoint you &mdash; it will take you from his childhood in Kolkata to his marriage, Independence, years in business, Aditya&rsquo;s death and beyond. No less interesting than the text are the pictures &mdash; most in black &amp; white and a few in colour.

More than words

Why does India not produce match-winning spin bowlers any more, Aabhas Sharma asks B S Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan.

Spin theory

Picture this: a small vineyard, set amidst rolling hills, with the vines sloping down to a gleaming lake. At one end of the property is the winery, located at the base of a forested small hill; a short distance away is the homestead, a cottage with a sloping red-tiled roof and gleaming rough-finished walls, built in the hacienda style, with a large courtyard that gives air and light to the rooms.

Time traveller's museum

Peter Svidler beat Alexander Grischuk to snaffle first place in the World Cup. Svidler took one game and three were drawn. Both players qualify for the Candidates, however. That one decisive game in the final match was a superb example of preparation. Svidler played a provocative line of the Sicilian Paulsen where Grischuk produced a strong novelty. The chess engines assessed it as nearly winning for Grischuk.

Chess (#974)

Arghya Ganguly reports from the sets of &ldquo;Panchkoti Maha Money&rdquo; Kaun Banega Crorepati, a little dazzled by the energy of its anchor.

Game, set, Bachchan

The rot in the Kannada film world runs deep.

Sandalwood stories

When a director helms a film that grows into a phenomenon, he can become so closely associated with it that his other movies might get downgraded or overlooked. But in the long run, enthusiastic movie buffs might revisit those less popular works and find unexpected points of interest in them. This often leads to critical reassessment; there are numerous examples through film history of a lower-profile work by a director eventually rising to supplant his acknowledged &ldquo;masterpiece&rdquo;.

Masks and mirrors

In these days of big media houses, Umesh and Rita Anand have shown the advantage of being small.

Ear to the ground

Some men build empires and some men write poems, but two men have nurtured young India&rsquo;s dreams for education between them like a parenthesis. Indoo Shivdasani, the reclusive Cambridge-educated, London-based billionaire son of an ICS officer, set up the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation way back in 1976 and more or less singlehandedly created the elite core of modern India&rsquo;s intelligentsia.

Poets of hope

Managing talent is high priority in corporations across sectors. Unfortunately, many of them end up burying talent under layers of complex HR manuals, says Marc Effron, author of One Page Talent Management: Eliminating Complexity, Adding Value, and CEO, The Talent Strategy Group. Effron has a no-frills approach to executing talent management solutions: Keep it simple and transparent. During a whirlwind visit to India recently Effron fielded questions from Alokananda Chakraborty and Arunima Mishra on how a company can manage performance effectively and create a talent pipeline. Edited excerpts.

Q&A: Marc Effron, CEO, The Talent Strategy Group

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