Acquiring a company in India can throw up four human resource challenges.

The human factor

Business Standard

Dabur's acquisition of Fem gives it a foothold in the crowded skin care market.

Dabur finds its missing link

    This magazine initially featured a &ldquo;sweetheart of the month&rdquo; and changed its original name after its co-founder suggested the name of the car company that produced only 97 cars in its history and closed down. Name the magazine.

Answers to last week's quiz (#106)

How the small and resilient newspaper honed its strengths to compete against rivals with deep pockets.

Mid Day zeal

&nbsp;

    What is common to Infosys Technologies and Technopak Advisors?&nbsp;
    &nbsp;
    Whose mascots are Chouw and Mouw?&nbsp;
    &nbsp;
    Which newspaper was the first to publish a correct story about the sinking of the Titanic in 1912?&nbsp;
    &nbsp;
    Which is the only company that is allowed to use the Red Cross logo and why?&nbsp;
    &nbsp;
    The Fiat Punto launched in India replaces which previous brand from Fiat&rsquo;s stable?&nbsp;
    &nbsp;
    Who

The Strategist Quiz (#107)

PRODUCT MARKETING
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EXPERT PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
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THE BOOK OF LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGY
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ZIGLAR ON SELLING
Author: Zig Ziglar
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WHARTON ON MAKING DECISIONS
Authors: Stephen J Hoch and Howard Kunreuther
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WHAT THE CEO WANTS YOU TO KNOW
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BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
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MANAGING THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRM
Author: Maister David
Publisher: Free Press UK
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ISBN: 9780743231565
MARKET OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS
Authors: Robert E Stevens, David L Loudon, Philip K

The top 10 business bestsellers

Bike maker Bajaj Auto's new campaign hopes to lure 100 cc bikers to the bridge segment of 135 cc bikes.

Accelerate to XCD

With an obesity rate of 5 per cent in India, the plus-size population in the country is in excess of 150 million, creating a huge scope for plus-size clothing.

KIT: The plus-size clothing market

Reasserting its emotional connect with consumers &mdash; something that is at the core of its brand philosophy &mdash;, Bharti Airtel last week rolled out a new plan called Special 5 for all its 100 million mobile phone customers. The plan allows the customer to choose any five (Airtel) numbers of his choice to make local calls at low rates of 20 paisa per minute and long-distance calls at 50 paisa per minute. It is based on the company&rsquo;s internal research and consumer-call analysis which showed that most users make 60 to 70 per cent of their calls to four or five &ldquo;special&rdquo; people &mdash; family members or close friends.

Bharti Airtel: Bond with &#39;Special 5&#39;

Even after 6 months of using the much-hyped Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, Abhishek Verma, a 32-year old software engineer, isn&rsquo;t too kicked about it.

IPTV gets a cold shoulder

While Blu-ray is still in its infancy, DVD continues its dominance over movie disc formats. Steady decline in prices of both movie discs and players, and you know why DVD players are not going out of fashion any time soon.

Lay back and 'play'

Having spent nine years in investment banking, Neetu Bhatia was ready to start out on her own. A veteran i-banker, Bhatia has successfully executed several billion dollar deals with Time Warner, Google, Comcast, Cablevision, Verizon, Cingular, AT&amp;T and others. The entrepreneurial bug bit Bhatia in 2006, while on her summer break along with her brother and co-founder Akash Bhatia.

Jumping the queue

Don&rsquo;t fret if your general physician goes for a summer vacation and you happen to need any medical services. Just pick up the phone and dial a doctor. You would be connected to a contact centre where you are required to pay the minimum consultation fees of Rs 160 using your credit card. Once done, you would be put through to a doctor in a matter of minutes.

Dial a doctor and get treated

The battle for prime-time eyeballs has just got bigger. Sony Television, which has been struggling to retain its slot among the top five Hindi entertainment channels, is putting all its marketing and programming muscle behind six new TV shows, five of which are being telecast between 8 pm and 11 pm, when advertising and sponsorship rates are the highest.

Sony does a STAR Plus

This election saw the re-emergence of single party dominance in our democracy. The tide had turned from a few years ago when our states were churning &lsquo;Kingmakers&rsquo;.

Mandate 2009: Lasting lessons for national brands

Be it politics or any other issue, the trump card seems to be &ldquo;local&rdquo;, always. Take regional packet tea brands, which have held on to their turf despite the onslaught from big brothers like Tata Tea and Hindustan Unilever.

Regional tea on a roll

Axe angels are working overtime these days. Ever since Hindustan Unilever launched the &lsquo;Call Me&rsquo; campaign that shows a girl giving her phone number to a boy doused in Axe, the angels (as the girls in the commercials are called) have received 3.5 million calls. And the phones just don&rsquo;t stop ringing these days.

The Axe effect: Competition acquires an edge

Adidas, which launched its premium lifestyle product &ndash; Originals &mdash; in India two years ago, is still in the process of educating customers about the different story that the collections, represented by the Trefoil logo, has to tell vis-&agrave;-vis its regular 'performance&rsquo; brands.

'Adidas doesn't want to run before learning to walk'

Perceived till recently as low-budget and low-margin, the domestic market now means big business to Indian IT majors.

IT Services: Go Local

Voltas takes the social cause route to promote its air-conditioners.

Voltas: A cool cause

How the target for marketers and advertisers has changed.

The new improved Indian man

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

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