It&rsquo;s around 10 on a chilly December night. Anindya Mitra is shadowing a woman in the narrow lanes of Kolkata&rsquo;s satellite township, Salt Lake. The 25-year-old business administration graduate is investigating a case of extramarital affair. The woman suddenly realises she&rsquo;s being followed and raises an alarm. Within minutes, Mitra escapes and his partner takes over from where he has left.

Want to be a detective?

Business Standard

History can have a twisted sense of humour, sometimes. One day, you wake up and are struck with a brilliant idea, one that could fundamentally change the way things have traditionally been done. You put the idea into practice, but all doesn&rsquo;t go according to plan &mdash; people are sceptical, the finished product isn&rsquo;t cheap, it has some flaws and to top it all, a World War comes along.

The back story

Fate had different plans for the Mercedes-Benz 130H. But other manufacturers like Fiat, Citroen and of course Volkswagen achieved great success post-WWII with their idea of people&rsquo;s cars. They were quirky, but that didn&rsquo;t stop people from buying them.

People movement

I drive an average of 25,000 km per year and I own a Mahindra Scorpio and Tata Nano. Now I am also looking for a 1,200 to 1,600cc diesel powered car. I have been thinking of buying the Hyundai Verna or perhaps the Skoda Rapid, but having owned a Fabia in the past and, after facing the after-sales service, I am not keen on buying that brand again. I am also looking at the Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, Ford Fiesta and Nissan Sunny. Please help.

Verning curve

It has taken the country&rsquo;s second-largest commercial vehicle maker 60 years to shed its reticence.

Ashok Leyland breaks its silence

A late entrant into India, the US-based Expedia has chalked out an ambitious plan to capture a large share of the country's $22 billion (Rs 1,13,000 crore) travel market. The company believes it still has an edge over other players in the segment in that it offers complete travel packages that would include booking for hotels and buses apart from the flight tickets.

India is expected to be the fastest growing online travel market in the Asia-Pacific region in 2012: Dan Lynn

Tata Salt is taking its positioning as &lsquo;desh ka namak&rsquo; a step forward, emphasising the role of mothers in nation-building by inculcating values of honesty in their children. In this season of scams and unmitigated cynicism, the theme is sure to find resonance with consumers. Ashvini Hiran, COO, consumer products business, Tata Chemicals, the manufacturer and marketer of Tata Salt, says, &ldquo;The campaign is timely when seen against what&rsquo;s happening in the society. The communication has a consumption as well social angle to it making it relevant for consumers.

Honesty is the best policy

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)&rsquo;s 42-year-old brand Eno (the brand was born in 1850 but launched in India in 1972), the leader in the Rs 750-crore antacid market in India, is looking to connect with the youth. The company&rsquo;s research shows the brand appeals to an older audience-in the 30-35 year age group &mdash; while a larger section of the youth is also a potential target base what with the increasing incidence of gastric problems among this demographic profile.

Eno: Looking for a younger audience

After plugging the gap in the cookie segment with a mass brand, Happy Happy, Parle Products has trained its guns on the glucose biscuit market.

Parle-G: In pursuit of gold

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The top 10 business bestsellers

The books market in India (non-academic) is estimated to be Rs 2,000 crore, of which around 15 per cent is from organised retailers. Key leading organised retail chains include Crossword, Odyssey, Reliance Time out, Landmark, Om Book Shop etc . More than 75 per cent stores of these large chains are in top eight cities. Besides this online channel is also significant with players like Flipkart, Indiaplaza, Infibeam etc.

KIT: Organised book retailing

    This person was appointed professor of painting and sculpture at the University of New York (now New York University) during the 1830s. He invented a marble-cutting machine that could carve a three dimensional sculpture in marble/stone and later discovered that it was not patentable because it infringed an earlier invention. One of his famous paintings is that of the Dying Hercules. Name him.

The Strategist Quiz (#255)

    When and which company coined the acronym for Office Automation &mdash; OA? It recently unveiled a new global brand tagline.

Answers to last week's The Strategist Quiz (#254)

When one thinks of Coke three things come immediately to mind: the Coke brand mark, the iconic bottle and the colour red. These are powerful attributes and provide instant customer recognition when used in combination or even individually. While Coca-Cola has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over decades to build these attributes, their success is not purely a result of time and money.

Building the perfect property

One hears about businesses benefiting from revenue growth that has come from products, services and business model innovations that are in line with green stewardship. Others benefit from purchasing and using those products and services, from both increased efficiency and lower costs. The global environment also benefits from lower greenhouse gas emissions and less resource consumption.

Is going green just a fad?

The European man in the first scene of the current Emirates television campaign who dreamily looks out of the window of his car, is seen in the last scene of the commercial too &mdash; on a bus going down a dusty road in India.

No plain Jane travel

Rising mercury levels is hardly a welcome change for anyone. Except for ice cream manufacturers that is. In that sense the timing of premium ice cream maker, London Dairy ice creams&rsquo; first ever media campaign in India is perfect.

London Dairy goes all out for bigger footprint

    Rohit Surfactants, makers of Ghari detergent which is ranked No.

Answers to last week&#39;s The Strategist Quiz (#246)

&nbsp;Ranjan Kapur has been country manager of WPP in India for the last eight years. But he gets back to actively managing operations at an agency with the additional responsibility of Bates India as its chairman. This task is in no way easy given that Bates has seen some high-profile exits in recent months. But Kapur, who has spent 46 years in advertising, is not one to give up easily. He speaks to Viveat Susan Pinto.

The high-growth areas are in non-advertising: Ranjan Kapur

Parivartan might be the favourite buzzword in the political circles of West Bengal, but it can equally describe the face of the movie industry in the state.

Lights, camera, action...

Actor and convenor of FICCI Frames, eastern region, Prosenjit Chatterjee, has been witness to some of the biggest changes that have taken place in the film industry of Bengal in recent years.

I expect the industry to grow at 70-80 per cent annually: Prosenjit Chatterjee

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