One fine day in 2007, three trucks from Hindustan Unilever, laden with shampoos, powders, creams and assortments for the body beautiful, arrived at the gates of ACCs Kymore cement plant, near Jabalpur. The plant head was foxed and wondered why shampoos had come to him. He quickly configured it perhaps had something to do with the companys employee welfare initiatives. But then, how was he to distribute the huge quantities; and how much for each worker? He was awestruck by the sudden bounty. He called up headquarters, only to be told that the stuff all past their expiry date was to be burned in the kilns of the cement plant to generate energy. It was then a small trial. And the technical staff had no inkling about the immense potential of waste to replace coal in cement kilns. Since then, HUL has hauled 13,700 tonnes of its waste products to ACCs Kymore plant for co-processing, a term commonplace in the cement sector across the...

Anybody would have felt proud of one's country, sitting and watching the military prowess of India live. We were lucky being part of the audience of the full dress rehearsal of Republic Day Parade 2011. Spectacular welcome show by warplanes and helicopters, brave Indian children being rewarded, motorcycle rides by the daredevils contingent of the army, handsome marches by the para-military and other services, women marching ahead, synchronized dance performance by kids, fighter plane `Tejas' and beautiful tableaux showcasing India's rich diversity, were all there to fill you with a sense of awe. The country's latest and the best military hardware were displayed at the full dress rehearsal. The weapons and planes ranging from battle tanks to missiles were flaunted at the parade show. Although it was only a dress rehearsal, but was a replica of the January 26 parade, projecting India's prowess as well as its rich diverse culture. ...

The Indian School of Business (ISB) has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Coca-Cola India to establish the Coca-Cola ISB Retail Academy at the ISB campus in Hyderabad. Present at the announcement were Ajit Rangnekar, dean, ISB, Deepak Chandra, deputy dean, ISB, Ahmet Bozer, group president, Eurasia and Africa group, The Coca-Cola Company and Atul Singh , president and CEO, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia. Retail is where the moolah is going to be in the next decade. So ISB is training its students to ride the bandwagon as soon as possible. This is one of many initiatives from ISB where they train their students in practical realities in life including the finer nuances of family business in India. According to Ajit Rangnekar, dean, ISB, "The retail sector in India is undergoing a rapid transformation , and the next phase of gr...

In his office in St Louis, Missouri, David Farr has a baseball bat he likes to swing. The 55 year-old Chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric plays with the bat even when he has company, but his top management team in the USA is used to it. They're familiar with baseball bats and know them to be relatively harmless, even when their CEO is winging one around rather aggressively in one of his moods. But it was different when Farr was posted as president of Emerson Asia Pacific in Hong Kong some years ago. Chinese employees would then eye the bat behind the boss's table with great misgiving, believing he might use it on them if he got angry. When he finally realized the effect he was creating, an embarrassed Farr moved the bat home and decided to tone down his natural American aggression. "They actually thought I would hit an employee! I realised how different people and cultures around the world are,...

In his office in St Louis, Missouri, David Farr has a baseball bat he likes to swing. The 55 year-old Chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric plays with the bat even when he has company, but his top management team in the USA is used to it. They're familiar with baseball bats and know them to be relatively harmless, even when their CEO is winging one around rather aggressively in one of his moods. But it was different when Farr was posted as president of Emerson Asia Pacific in Hong Kong some years ago. Chinese employees would then eye the bat behind the boss's table with great misgiving, believing he might use it on them if he got angry. When he finally realized the effect he was creating, an embarrassed Farr moved the bat home and decided to tone down his natural American aggression. "They actually thought I would hit an employee! I realised how different people and cultures around the world are,...

Any retailer will tell you that to make a play in retailing, supply chain efficiencies is most critical. And Anshuman Singh, MD & CEO of Future Logistics thinks the back end processes put in place in the last two years has also benefited one critical aspect of retailing business private labels. "In terms of supply chain cost, we have been able to shave off around 3% of the cost on the total sales value," says Singh. So in the next 10 months, Future Logistics is putting in place a network of warehouses across 12 metros complete with sophisticated warehouse management and conveyor systems to handle fruits, vegetables, staples and even private labels. So, the warehouse network is keeping in mind the requirement of the entire retail operations, but Singh says back-end efficiencies are a force multiplier for private labels as well. "Savings in terms ...

The first three weeks of the New Year have proven to be rather tumultuous for Indian equities. The broader benchmark indices have lost over 8% of values during the period. This will be a little difficult for investors since it becomes more important for them to look all over again at the prospects of various sectors and stocks within. One way to simplify the exercise is to focus on sectors that missed out on the last years stock market rally and to search for possibility of a turnaround. And when it comes to laggards, sectors such as telecom and cement are the usual suspects. Companies in these sectors are grappling with issues such as over capacity and higher competition. This also justifies their lacklustre performance on bourses. In sharp contrast, the underperformance of the power sector looks rather intriguing in a country, which has a history of power deficit. ET Intelligence Group took a closer look at the sector to understand the reasons for its dep...

The stock market got some respite last week, with the Sensex finishing 0.78% or 147.09 points higher, and the Nifty 0.74% up. The CNX Midcap Index gained 0.06%. TCS was the biggest winner among index stocks with an 8.4% gain. The other index stocks to go up included ICICI Bank , Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra and Cipla with gains between 5.5% and 4.1%. Reliance Infrastructure was the biggest loser among index stocks with a 7.7% loss. The other index stocks to go down included ONGC, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Power and Hero Honda with losses falling between 6.3% and 3.4%. Tata Coffee was the biggest winner among the more heavily traded non-index stocks with a 28.7% gain. The other non-index stocks to go up included LIC Housing Finance , Gitanjali Gems , Orchid Chemicals, Opto Circuits, Canara Bank , Bank of India and Rural Electrificatio...

I Come from a family of scientists and educationists. The word catering college in my scholarly home elicited uninspiring visions of a cook labouring away behind some stove or a waiter taking orders. My father, Late Dr Snehamoy Chatterjee, was an Emeritus Scientist of Epitomology at the Indian Centre of Agriculture. He had high hopes from me, destined to flourish in physiology and zoology. So, my decision to switch to the nearest hospitality and catering institute nearly gave him a heart attack. We have come a long way since then. Today being known as a chef or a restaurateur is a social compliment. The world looks up to the two occupations as something between a wizard or some practitioner of magic with secret ingredients and recipes, and a suave person of the world who can patronise the food connoisseurs. Welcome to the world of food entrepreneurship. Food has gone through a quiet revolution. As the family be...

ANTANANARIVO (Madagascar): A Madagascar army colonel arrested for participating in last Novembers coup attempt in the country alleged on Saturday that local businessmen, but also Indian and Pakistani businessmen , helped to finance the March 2009 coup. Colonel Charles Andrianasoavina, in parts of a letter published in the Malaza newspaper, said the businessmen provided 1.2 billion ariary ($6 million) to finance the unrest leading to the March 2009 coup in the Indian Ocean island off the southeastern coast of Africa. Andrianasoavina called for an international investigation of the March 2009 coup and said he would be prepared to testify. The letter was sent to former Mozambique premier Joachim Chissano, who is now serving as mediator for the Southern African Development Community to try to resolve the political impasse on the island. ...

When Zia Mody , a student of Cambridge and Harvard Law School started her own litigation practice in Mumbai in the mid-1980s, clients had a hard time believing she would be as good as a male attorney. As if that wasnt bad enough, she had to live up to the eminence of her father former attorney general Soli Sorabjee. She says she decided to follow her mothers advice and set out to prove she was better. Better than her father and any other male attorney. Today, as senior partner at AZB & Partners , she plays an integral part in closing several of India Incs multi million dollar shopping sprees. Mody, who has juggled 16-hour workdays along with bringing up her daughters, is considered somewhat of a pioneer for women professionals to make it in the Indian legal sector. Whats the first award you remember winning? How did it feel? One of th...

By Nicola Clark In the world of brands, no year is complete without mishaps. 2010 had its share of marketing bloopers. BP brand feels spill On 20 April 2010 an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 men and sent millions of gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. To label the fiasco a "marketing mishap" doesn't do justice to the huge environmental and human cost of the disaster, but there is no doubt that the reputation of Britain's biggest company was irrevocably damaged. At the time of writing, more than 11,000 people continue to work on clean-up operations in the area. An official update in October revealed that 93 miles of shoreline were still suffering "moderate-to-heavy" oil pollution and 7% of the Gulf's fishing area remained shut. The saga is set to continue in 2011 when the outcomes of two federal investigations are due. ...

The commodities cycle has yet again turned bullish. Although better placed than their retail counterparts, manufacturing companies are not insulated from the impact of rising raw material prices. There is little relief from the rising wholesale price inflation. The inflation index has moved up to 8.4% in December from 7.5% in November. If these numbers are any indication, prices of most basic items of consumption have shot up (see the table). Prima facie, this indicates an inflated raw material bill for manufacturing companies but it is not bad news for all. Companies use variety of means to protect their bottom lines from escalating input costs. Some enter into forward contracts by booking the price of a key commodity in advance for the next few quarters. There are others, which hedge their commodity exposure by taking a position in the futures market equivalent to their physical market requirement. Some other companies ...

India ensured its place among an elite group of countries making a fighter jet from scratch when the indigenous multi-role Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas got initial operational clearance this week. A key part in this success was placed by the avionics and flight control systems that were designed by DRDOs Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE). PS Krishnan, distinguished scientist and Director, ADE gives Anirvan Ghosh an inside view of Tejass journey and the challenges faced along the way It took the Tejas 1,500 test flights and 23 years of development to get to this point. Isnt that too long? You have to see that it started as a thought process in 1983 and there was no funding at that point. For the next ten years, we firmed up the requirements and then went into project definition phase. We went to France and Germany and too...

This is the third quarter results season of the current fiscal year. The markets are in a consolidation mode due to concerns over mounting sovereign debt in the global economies and high inflation rate in the domestic economy. Some correction has happened in a few sectors - banking and automobile, for example - over the last couple of months. The markets have high expectations from stocks and sectors that are out-performing in the current conditions. For example, front-runner IT companies, pharma companies, and the metal sector. These are some significant factors you should track during the coming results season: Global cues Sentiment and news from global markets have been key driving factors for the domestic markets over the last few years. The markets were driven by liquidity and foreign institutional investor ( FII )) fund inflows last year. The reaso...

MUMBAI: A top army general has recommended to the defence ministry that the CBI probe the sale of a one-acre prime plot in suburban Malad , leased by the Army from the Maharashtra government , which in turn sold it to a firm floated by a leading builder. The ordnance depot land was on hire with us. There was no reason why this land should have been sold to a builder unless we had cleared it, Lt Gen Pradeep Khanna, GOC-in-C Southern Command, said. We found this out sometime back after a detailed inquiry. My recommendation to the Ministry has been that the case should be handed over to CBI, General Khanna told reporters after an investiture ceremony in Colaba area here. The land was occupied by the Central Ordnance Depot (COD) since 1942. In 2007, the state government sold the land to Neo-Pharma, a ...

The future of work is no longer in the future says a video on the Cognizant website. Even as the world comes to terms with a reset economy, its apparent that the same rules no longer apply. Malcolm Frank , chief strategist, Cognizant says that the world as we know it is rapidly changing, in part because of a series of events over the last few years. As we started talking to clients during the recession to understand the situation better, we realised that this was not a cyclical shift but a secular one, he explains. Companies are now being faced with the reality that in order to remain successful, they will have to reassess their business models and their entire approach to business so far. Frank cites the example of a client, an insurance firm. Prior to the recession, they had a 200 people set-up which is now down to eight employees. In reality, the firm has grown over the last two years and h...

After Ritu Birla had finished her second BA in history from Cambridge she knew she wanted to go on to do a Ph.D, but after a break. So she took a job with the Ford Foundation for a few years, working on community development issues. And it was there that she first heard the complaint about philanthropy in India: why did it barely exist? Why, so the question went, didn't most rich Indians act like their Western counterparts in generously giving to charities, creating public institutions or supporting the arts? Was there an essential selfishness about the Indian character, no sense of obligations, or a lack of identification with those less fortunate? There's a sanctimonious air to such questions that Indians would find acutely annoying, and yet it also seemed true, especially as more Indians became really rich, that few were inclined to follow a Bill Gates or Warren Buffett ...

Back in the spotlight, though in a different avatar from Des Pardes, Tina Ambani shares her journey through world cinema and recommends five must-see films at the Mumbai Film Festival I have always been proud to acknowledge that my roots lie in the film industry. My decade-long career in cinema has been both formative and empowering, and has contributed to my growth as a person. It led to my awareness and respect for the creative process, which metamorphosed into my affinity for art, leading to the establishment of the Harmony Art Foundation. And with my personal evolution over the years came the realization that we can’t live in individual, self-contained bubbles. We need to reach out and give back to the community, the society that has nourished us. Ultimately, good cinema mirrors reality — and there are myriad realities existing in our world today, each one equally intense to those experiencing it. For instance, the Danish film Applause exposes the reality of life behind the glamour...

Growing your business is difficult in the best of times. Competition is intensifying as new markets open up and hitherto unknown players step into the arena. Customers are demanding the best at the lowest price. All-pervasive technology is placing new demands and accelerating the pace of innovation. As a result yield is flattening , squeezing margins to death. Now, add the biggest challenge of them all: a severe recession, which has tested most organisations. We have survived and learned some hard lessons in the bargain that can help us create an even more successful business in the better times that lie ahead. After all, challenges are an intrinsic part of the growth of any organisation. One can either reel under challenges or find innovative ways to surmount them. Despite being a debt-free company and powered by innovation, Biocon was not immune to the recession. However, we have dealt with our share of challenges in the past and this was a strength we could draw upon in these hard t...

ET goes in rewind and fast forward mode catches the pulse and trend of Bollywood in the gone decade and how it might shape up in the new decade. 2000 - Papa kehte hai bada naam karega: It was like a super-hit film script. A father, who in his avatar never hit the jackpot as an actor, launches his son who zooms straight into superhero-sphere. Truly, no father has created a bigger star in Bollywood than papa Rakesh Roshan when he launched son Hrithik in Kaho Naa Pyar Hai and has held his hand almost through the decade now. 2010 - Papa kehte hai bada naam karega: A slight difference in the script here. Legacy, looks and love were all there but no papa launches here. Ranbir Kapoor has escalated past others, a la Hrithik 10 years back — but all on his own steam. Yes, papa is very, very proud and the industry has heaved a sigh of relief as another star is born. 2001 - Kisan ki kahani, Aamir ki zubani: An underdog from the rural boondocks (read farmer-hero), a bat, a ball and a game, a swelli...

Here’s a quick math puzzle that Michael Mauboussin often likes to throw at his audiences: A bat and ball together sell for $1.10. If the bat costs one dollar more than the ball, how much would the ball cost? If your answer was 10 cents, here’s how Mauboussin, chief investment strategist at Legg Mason Capital would react: "That’s what almost everybody says — and of course, it is the wrong answer." According to Mauboussin, the human mind has a tendency to wander down a set path when faced with certain questions as it tries to rush to the answer — which may not necessarily be the right way to go. Another common occurrence: People rolling the dice tend to throw it more gently if they are hoping for a low number as compared to how they would if they wanted a higher number. Now while any rational person would know that the number rolled has nothing to do with the intensity with which the dice is thrown, time and again, especially when the stakes are high, they find themselves doing...

As companies face the most turbulent market conditions since the Great Depression, many see survival as their primary goal, yet stabilising sales and price declines while making draconian cuts need not be the extent of a company's ambitions. My research uncovered that some companies have circumnavigated the challenges posed by turbulent markets and have positioned themselves for breakaway success after the recession. How have they managed it? By looking at company strategies starting in the last downturn in 2000 and continuing into this one, I found that those companies built around an inside-out mind-set—those pushing out products and services to the marketplace based on a narrow viewpoint of their customers that looks at them only through the lens of their products—are less resilient in turbulent times than those organized around an outside-in mind-set that starts with the marketplace, then looks to deliver creatively on market opportunities. Outside-in orientation maximizes cust...

Scale comes naturally to Ambani Junior and his crack team at Reliance MediaWorks. Their strategy is to build a company that will dominate the global film and media services’ value chain. While searing growth has pulled down profits and increased the debt burden in the past two years, the company is confident of making it to the big league. There was a huge surprise in store for Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek, Aishwarya, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik and almost all of Bollywood who attended Anil and Tina Ambani’s party last month at the Grand Hyatt — the guest list for that night included Steven Spielberg, Nicolas Cage and Julia Roberts among other Hollywood hotties. The only difference was none of them really got to ‘rub’ shoulders with their Western peers, because though Cage and Roberts joined Bachchan and his colleagues in “wishing Anil and Tina all the best” they could only convey their wishes via audio visuals played out on big screens. Hollywood and Bollywood, two of the globe’s biggest fil...

As IMDb turns 20, its editor-in-chief Keith Simanton speaks to Vikram Doctor about the passion that has built this comprehensive and authoritative database on Hollywood movies. IMDb also has a more-than-impressive section on the Indian film industry that goes much beyond Satyajit Ray The site’s data is vast and intricately detailed. It can be searched on the basis of films, actors, technicians, even recurring fictional characters. The Academy Awards season sees a huge amount of information put up as people access it to make their Oscar bets. TV information now makes up a significant part of the site. And most well-known Indian films are covered When the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) recently started carrying news about Bollywood, they were expecting some reactions from Indian consumers. When you load the IMDb page now, along with details about upcoming Hollywood releases, pictures of film celebrities in the news, film lists on box office toppers and Internet searches, and random bits ...