Dabur India Vice Chairman Amit Burman loves his cars, gym and gadgets.

My favourite things: Amit Burman

Business Standard

If there's one thing in the world that doesn't seem affected by clogged credit lines, it's the global overabundance of opinions. Everyone seems to have at least one, if not several, on just about everything under the sun, and the less an opinion is solicited, the more it tends to be forthcoming. So far, so good; opinions are fruitful, helpful, and sometimes even necessary.

Truth is beauty

India's most successful cricket captain talks to Aabhas Sharma about life after cricket, the second season of IPL and judging a reality dance show on TV.

Captain Marvel, chilled-out dad

I got a call from a food stylist who said, listen, I want to come to India and do something on food. I said let&rsquo;s do something on street food, because I love street food.

Jewels on the street

An unsung industry hit by the recession, at least in the West, is that of suburban moms who had given up high-flying corporate careers to bake birthday cakes for their babas and babies &mdash; and then decided to crow about this through a variety of blogs, articles and what I can only think of calling kid-lit. Industry? Because, as writers of all such pieces will tell you, raising kids is an industry, isn&rsquo;t it? And one best not looked at through the prism of &ldquo;modern feminism&rdquo;.

Birthday challenges

Editorial delinquencies apart, says Kishore Singh, this book is a feast for the senses.

Corporate collectors

Professional drummer, singer and author Peter Lavezzoli, based in Miami, spent a few winters in India researching Hindustani classical music.

Ballad of the East and the West

BS Prakash, the Indian ambassador in Brazil, is an unusual diplomat as the blurb on this book suggests but not just for the reasons mentioned (degrees in physics and philosophy and joining the Indian Foreign Service for &ldquo;livelihood reasons&rdquo;).

Cheerfully undiplomatic

Kishore Singh gets a peek into Aman New Delhi, and is bowled over by its understated design and luxury.

Maximum, Minimum

The outcry over installing a statue of Charlie Chaplain in Udipi last week points to the re-fabrication of public space as something that only the revered-by-consensus can occupy. Any conventional intervention, like statues, has to be sombre, reverential and un-interrogative. Yet, several other works in public space get away without being commented upon. One of the escapees is the graffiti across south Delhi &mdash; political and entertaining, if not funny.

The curious case of public art

If you are the sort who reads balance sheets for fun, you don&rsquo;t have to read this road test. A glance at the big book from Toyota will reveal that they have, more or less, got a grasp of building what we call cars and selling them for good money. Study the Mahindra numbers and you will realise that they have a lot more catching up to do.

Finally, a challenger!

I am confused between the Honda City and the Fiat Linea. The Linea is loaded with features, it looks bigger and is also cheaper than the City. Should I still go for the reputation of the Honda brand and buy the City? Or shall I buy the value-for-money Fiat? The car will be driven both in the city as well as on the highway.

Tough choice

From watches to jewellery to accessories to eye care, Titan Industries keeps evolving successfully.

Titan keeps winning

In the past few years, a decidedly &ldquo;imperfect&rdquo; storm of scarce resources, global warming debates, shifts in customer demand and regulatory changes have compelled many businesses to react to the sustainability challenge. Some companies react strategically, adjusting the corporate strategy to sustain the human and natural resources they will need to succeed now and in the long term.

Green winners

The personal care category has a 5 per cent wallet share in the Indian retail market.

KIT: The retail sector

MANAGING THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRM
Author: David H Maister
Publisher: Free Press
Price: Rs 766
ISBN: 9780743231565.




MAJOR ACCOUNT SALES STRATEGY
Author: Neil Rackham
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Price: Rs 1,397
ISBN: 0070511144.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

EXPERT PRODUCT MANAGEMENT TOOLKIT BUNDLE
Author: Brian Lawley
Publisher: Happy About
Price: Rs 1,042
ISBN: 1600050794.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;
THE BOOK OF LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGY
Author: Thomas Cleary 
Publisher: Random

The top 10 business bestsellers

    Name the company and the strategic planning tool it used that envisions multiple future events and help develop plans to respond to them. It helped this company navigate the oil shock of the 1970s.

The Strategist Quiz (#091)

    This company was founded with an impromptu loan from a drunken rock band manager and its founder was hailed as his country&rsquo;s answer to Bill Gates. Today, it is its country&rsquo;s largest software company by market value and its software has been popular with government agencies, particularly intelligence services. Name the founder and the company.

Answers to last week's quiz (#090)

A hundred and fifty kilometres from Bhubaneswar, and seven kilometres north of the tiny fishing town of Dhamra, a rough, unpaved road ends in a beehive of construction. On the horizon, lights blink through the night as dredgers clear the way for a shipping channel.

Coming to port

As I write this, I have been listening to corporate bigwigs from some of the world&rsquo;s biggest luxury brands ponder over the subject of &ldquo;sustainable luxury&rdquo; at a conference in New Delhi. No one can pretend any longer that luxury is, and can be, aloof from the general environment &mdash; &ldquo;it is, after all, not on some another planet,&rdquo; as the Hermes VP quips.

Luxury dining

Chocolate, wine and caviar massages are the new rage, finds Abhilasha Ojha, as she checks out some new spa treatments.

Indulge and rejuvenate

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

Page 1179 - Supplements