Scale has always fascinated Paresh Maity, but now he&rsquo;s experimenting with newer genres in paintings and sculpture.

When big is big

Business Standard

The world&rsquo;s lowest-cost refrigerator will be launched in March.

Godrej's Nano: Chotukool

As full-service carriers invade the no-frills space, SpiceJet is finding new ways to bond with customers.

Battle for mind space

Whether it&rsquo;s getting M S Dhoni and his boys to play a game of cricket with young fishermen in the backwaters of Kerala to promote &lsquo;My Pepsi, My Way&rsquo;, or constructing checkdams and recharge ponds in Paithan to create a recharge potential of over 700 million litres of water and promote its &lsquo;sustainability&rsquo; strategy, PepsiCo India is doing it all. In an interview with Leslie D'Monte &amp; Shahana Joshi, PepsiCo India Chairman Sanjeev Chadha explains the roadmap as the company is close to completing 20 years in India.

'PepsiCo caters to both Indias'

Any film star worth his or her salt (and red chilies) currently has more ad releases than films. Thus Shah Rukh romantically squints from behind a sofa, saying it takes just one second to mutter &lsquo;am sorry&rsquo; to a loved one while also urging males to spread fairness everywhere from a 7 buck sachet. Hrithik&rsquo;s dancing the rats away while having his latest portfolio splashed on hoardings all over town. Saif&rsquo;s painting with gay abandon and making things large while trying to hide his childhood sweetheart from Kareena. Not to be outdone, Kareena is strutting her size zero all the way from Vaio to Globus. Akki boy single-mindedly pursues the thunder as he smashes cars, dangles from windows and leaps over rooftops. And of course, the paa of them all pushes everything from fast relief to chawanprash to solitaires to dark dress codes (Phew! Try topping that, with or without your hair.

Unrecognisable star

VoIP services come in real handy to make cheap overseas calls.

Computer call: When your PC becomes a phone

Consumers now have a wide variety of choices available in the market for a state-of-the-art digital camera that&rsquo;s compact in size. Practically every brand is competing on megapixels and in looks too in this segment. Here is our pick of the best compact digital cameras for young adults, parents with young children and compulsive picture takers. Don&rsquo;t be fooled by their diminutive looks - these babies have enough megapixels to portray in detail your picture-perfect moments.

The bold and snappy

When Alok Singh thought of starting Novatium Solutions in 2005, he had a simple plan in his mind &mdash; to make computing simple and affordable without compromising on the user experience. With prior experience in companies like Satyam and Tata Motors, Singh zeroed in on the idea of launching a PC with no computing hardware like the CPU and, instead, managed by a central server.

Hollowing out a PC to cut computing costs

The Gio, Mahindra &amp; Mahindra hopes, will draw buyers from three-wheelers as well as small trucks like the Ace.

Mahindra's Gio logic

With the demographics of our workforce heavily skewed towards younger people, awareness about pension benefits in India still has miles to go. Employers nevertheless have not let this deter them from designing employee benefits in order to differentiate themselves, while at the same time making the most of their compensation budgets.

A cushion for dotage

    Name the brand whose up to 43 wood parts include mahogany from west Africa, maple from North America and pure wool from Australia, north China and California .

Answers to last week's quiz (#123)

Volkswagen revs up the market with a larger-than-life brand campaign.

Hit the road

Long dismissed as a price warrior, Acer is repositioning itself as a brand for the youth.

Coming up Ace(r)s

    Name the person and the name he gave to the theoretical proto-hypertext computer system he proposed in 1945. This has been referred to as the vision behind search engines.

The Strategist Quiz (#124)

DISNEY WAR
Author: James B Stewart
Publisher: Simon &amp; Schuster
Price: Rs 1,287
ISBN: 9780684809939.
FREE
Author: Chris Anderson
Publisher: Random House
Price: Rs 502
ISBN: 9781905211487.
THE PROFESSIONAL
Author: Subroto Bagchi 
Publisher: Penguin 
Price: Rs 399
ISBN: 9780670082957.
THE THREE TRILLION DOLLAR WAR
Author: Joseph Stiglitz
Publisher: Penguin
Price: Rs 299
ISBN: 9780141039442.
SUPERFREAKONOMICS
Authors: Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner 
Publisher: Penguin
Price: Rs 399
ISBN: 9780713999914.
TAMING GLOBAL FINANCIAL FLOWS
Author: Kavaljit Singh 
Publisher: Palgrave 
Price: Rs 247
ISBN: 1856497844.
GETTING THINGS DONE
Author: David Allen
Publisher: Penguin 
Price: Rs 562
ISBN: 0142000280.
UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Authors: Moira Chatton and James O Gill 
Publisher: Crisp Publications 
Price: Rs 744
ISBN: 1560524251.
THE SECRETS OF POWER NEGOTIATING
Author: Roger Dawson 
Publisher: Career Press
Price: Rs 895
ISBN:

The top 10 business bestsellers

School stationery sales are on the rise and the category has created its own space in the market place.

KIT: The school stationery market in India

You hear the pop of blooming buds and the ruffle of unfurling petals, and spy insects feeding on nectar in this idyllic garden, bathed in the early morning sun. Just as you get drawn in by visuals that could rival footage on any nature channel, you notice the flowers are nestling fruit juice cartons &mdash; as if they too have blossomed in the heart of nature. This is the ad for Parle Agro&rsquo;s 100 per cent fruit juice, Saint, being aired on English lifestyle and news channels. &ldquo;Juice the way God meant it to be,&rdquo; says the punch line.

Parle Agro: In nature's lap

Birla Sun Life Insurance, which belongs to the Aditya Birla Group, has roped in four cricketers &mdash; Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma &mdash; to endorse its wealth and protection solution plans.

Birla Sun Life Insurance: Batting for insurance

Pureit and Acquasure are fighting hard for leadership in the entry-level market.

The water purifier slugfest

Dabur acquired Fem Care Pharma in June this year for Rs 300 crore. Five months on, the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) major has seen its market share in the skin care segment shoot up from a mere 1 per cent to 6.6 per cent.

Fem Care gives Dabur a facelift

Last Friday, I &mdash; and 17 other unwary souls &mdash; got a bit plastered.

The test of wines

- Find Specials News, Features, Analysis and more at Business Standard. Full coverage of Goafest 2014

Page 1124 - Supplements