Cover Story
- Tarun Khanna, Director, South Asia Institute, Harvard University and Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School says companies can sponsor colleges to create apprentice programmes between colleges and companies. They can work with colleges to develop training curricula.
- India has the potential to lead the world, but what is pulling it down is the mindset of corruption and lack of ethics. A quality mindset can bring about change. Quality mindset means an appreciation of very basic values such as honesty and integrity.
- Channapatna is called the Toy Town of Karnataka. The town's fortunes are now turning around thanks to niche toymakers focused on lacware, e-commerce websites and designers who want to make these toys contemporary and popular again.
- In a nation where cricket is a religion, badminton is attracting more sport enthusiasts, equipment suppliers and business savvy sponsors thanks to players like Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, Jwala Gutta and Parupalli Kashyap regularly winning international tournaments.
- After years of delay, the university has begun operating out of a small campus near the ruins of the old school and will have a partial launch next year. In some ways, the revival of Nalanda is seen as the revival of Bihar.
- Thomas DeLong says a crisis can destroy an organisation if it does not respond appropriately. During a crisis or in a low growth environment, organisations fall apart, unless they have leaders with the courage to be transparent and set an example.
- Co-authors of a new book, Reimagining India, Barnik C. Maitra & Adil Zainulbhai, say in order for India to transform into a global superpower, the act of reimagination - whether radical or subtle - will be vital.
- Mythological shows were once the coolest thing on television. But then television was hit by a saas-bahu storm. Mythological shows slipped down the popularity charts and people were mesmerised by women sparring with each other on television every evening.
- According to the World Health Organization, worldwide obesity has nearly doubled since 1980. Subsequently, the desire to look and feel good, coupled with a preventive approach to health care, has led to increased demand for not just services but also products.
- The growing popularity of indigenous comics and graphic novels came into sharp focus with the holding of the first Comic Con India in Delhi in February 2011. Since then it has become an annual feature in the capital and has been held in other places too, such as Mumbai and Bangalore.
- The MFI industry's loan portfolio grew in 2012/13 after falling in the previous year. The resurgence began when the Reserve Bank of India announced in 2011 a series of measures, including a cap on interest rates MFIs charge borrowers, to govern the hitherto unregulated industry.
- 1.4 million tourists visited the Kashmir Valley in 2011/12. The state government's renewed focus on reviving tourism, which contributes about seven per cent to the local economy, has helped the tourism industry.
- Of the 3,000 product companies that have set up shop in India since 1990, 500 did so last year. They develop a host of products from education software to e-commerce platforms.
- Commuters hope Gurgaon's Rapid Metro will revolutionise transportation the way Delhi Metro has done in the capital.
- There is every reason to believe that India's income inequality, already above European levels, is a foretaste of a winner-take-all society to come.
- Today even relatively young companies believe in giving. The main concern of most organisations and individuals, however, is to ensure their donations are being effectively channelised.
- Satyajit Das, author of Extreme Money: The Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk, says India's poor public finances, weak international position, structurally flawed businesses, poor infrastructure, corruption and political atrophy threaten to overwhelm its future prospects.
- Vijay Govindarajan says India has 750,000 doctors and 1.1 million nurses, yet practitioner density is about one-fourth that of America and less than half that of China. And there is a severe shortage of hospital beds and medical facilities.
- A sense of 'retro' is omnipresent in Enfield's product portfolio. The Bullet, the Classic and even the Thunderbird ooze old-school charm.
- Marketing managers who manage a weak also-ran brand should narrow the focus of their brands in order to strengthen their positions.
- Launching new models and increasing categories has become the new normal for Japanese brands such as Panasonic, Sony and Sharp in the Indian market.
- Ranjay Gulati, who teaches organisational behaviour at Harvard Business School, says companies that focus on cutting costs and cut costs faster than the competition don't necessarily flourish when the recession ends.
- Organic products are those made entirely from natural substances, which in turn have been grown eschewing the use of artificial chemicals, fertilisers and pesticides. The segment has begun to attract private equity and venture capital firms.
- With so many singers and albums and recording studios now promoting Sufi music, an overall estimate of its success is hard to make.
We don't know what Rahul Gandhi is trying to say: Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Arvind Kejriwal is talking corruption, Narendra Modi is talking development. What does Rahul Gandhi stand for? At least it is not clear to me, says Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Founder of the non-religious, public service organisation, Isha Foundation.Negotiation is critical to success in a whole variety of professions: Madan Pillutla
Madan Pillutla teaches organisational behavior at London Business School and is a visiting faculty at the Indian School of Business. He met N. Madhavan on the sidelines of BT's MindRush event, at which he was among the speakers. Edited excerpts from the interview:There was no leadership without courage: N.R. Narayana Murthy
N.R. Narayana Murthy, Executive Chairman of Infosys, India's third-largest IT company, was the opening speaker at Business Today's two-day MindRush conclave. Murthy, who earlier this year came out of retirement to try and arrest the sliding fortunes of the company he co-founded 32 years ago, spoke on what his business had taught him about the business of life
