BUSINESS
Biki Oberoi is best remembered for his attention to detail
Biki Oberoi paid attention to the small things like the choice of cutlery or the bathroom fittings; he was obsessed with customer satisfaction rather than grand corporate moves
BUSINESS
Holcim’s exit: Financial muscle no longer a trump card for MNCs in India
In a business where logistics accounts for nearly 15 percent of the total costs, the logic of an MNC competing with strong local players falls flat
BUSINESS
Forgive me if I don't shed a tear for Netflix or cheer the successful listing of Zomato
How tech-enabled firms destroyed the old order without creating anything new.
TRENDS
Giving bulldozers a bad name
The bulldozer as an idea has always had a life beyond the construction site.
BUSINESS
L&T’s moves in IT have so far been short on ambition
If L&T is looking upon IT as a major driver of its business, a likely merger of group companies merely moves the needle incrementally
BUSINESS
Infosys’s decision to exit Russia after the UK row is poor optics
The company had a skeletal presence in Russia implying little impact of the exit on performance, but the timing raises questions on why it took that decision
SCIENCE
Fly me to the moon with a QUID or two
A 15-year-old technology is all but ready to be deployed as a space currency, for when you want to buy snacks or knick-knacks at duty-free shops on the moon and Mars.
BUSINESS
India’s business families need women power to meet fresh challenges
For their own good, traditional families are realising the tremendous gains from having female leaders
BUSINESS
The gigantic HDFC of today is part of H.T. Parekh’s rich entrepreneurial legacy
The striking thing about the entrepreneurs of that era, men like Parekh, is how they identified a real need and set about addressing it. HDFC went on to finance millions of middle class homes in India.
BUSINESS
Amid COVID recovery, megamergers will be commonplace
With growth in digitisation and new competitive pressures, managements are rushing into mergers and acquisitions to shock-proof their companies
BUSINESS
Not all splits are inimical to business family interests
A clean break helps separate the wheat from the chaff, allowing the more competent of the family members to carve out an independent business career without the burden of a dysfunctional part to drag them down
TRENDS
SlapGate: Remembering the many slaps before The Slap
From 'The Godfather' to Hindi soaps and the Oscars, the most dramatic slaps in entertainment history.
BUSINESS
Rajesh Subramaniam’s rise at FedEx sets the template for Indian Americans’ success
The growing success of Indians in Corporate America may be attributed to the brutally competitive Indian school system, an understanding of technology and loyalty to one's company
BUSINESS
India’s business families have unique values that are worth emulating
In a world where multinational corporations and professional managers think nothing of resorting to mass layoffs to lower their costs, some of India’s business families serve as excellent models of placing human beings before shareholder returns
TRENDS
'The Kashmir Files' only reinforces our obsession with Bollywood
It is almost as if before we saw Mithun Chakraborty and Anupam Kher in the movie, none of us were aware of how great a wrong had been perpetrated upon Kashmiri Pandits over three decades ago.
BUSINESS
Zomato’s 10-minute food delivery plan is a solution in search of a problem
Simply put, it’s just a marketing gimmick, but one that could go badly wrong
BUSINESS
Business families have provided the ballast for Indian industry
While there are many independent and professionally-managed companies that have done well for their stakeholders, without the families, much of India’s post-liberalisation industrial progress wouldn’t have been possible
BUSINESS
Indian IT should amp up its ambitions
Recent events present the perfect opportunity for India’s most globally competitive sector to leverage its dominant status for exponential growth
TRENDS
Founders’ excesses are turning public opinion against many startups
Many of India’s entrepreneurs are doing themselves a disservice by flashing their wealth and their attitude blatantly.
BUSINESS
India’s business families reflect the changing nature of Indian families
Today, the Indian business family looks very different from the previous era, and very similar to the society in which it operates. Indian families are increasingly going nuclear, shrinking in size, and becoming more heterogeneous
WORLD
Don’t read too much into MNCs' boycott of Russia
The moot question is: are these MNCs are being driven by morality and ethics or purely by self-interest, weighed by the reputational and financial risks of doing business with Putin’s Russia?
BUSINESS
Dish TV's belligerence is a sad commentary on the power of the regulator
As the results of the voting now show, shareholders had rejected all three resolutions placed before them on December 30, 2021. Continuing with business as usual was a clear travesty of the rules of corporate governance. Yet for months, Sebi could do little to enforce those rules
TRENDS
Don’t blame Indian students for the failings of successive governments
The war in Eastern Ukraine has been on since 2014. If despite this Indian parents chose to send their children to study in that country, there must be a real desperation.
BUSINESS
Founder’s curse: The fatal flaw that has undone many an entrepreneurial journey
The stronger and charismatic the founder, the weaker the organisation in its second generation, says a new research paper. Indian business is replete with examples of strongman founders destroying the organisations they’ve built
