Budget Special
 
JULY 18, 2004
 Cover Story
 Editorial
 Features
 Trends
 Bookend
 Personal Finance
 Managing
 BT Special
 Back of the Book
 Columns
 Careers
 People

 

Small
Towns,
Big Business

The topography of India's
small towns is changing.
Think malls replete with
golden arches. Think multiplexes. And think, a
new consuming class.
A Busines Today report.

EDITORIAL
Still Shining
Read More

60 Minutes

Hans StrabergHans Straberg, the CEO of the world's biggest consumer appliances company, AB Electrolux, speaks to Business Today about his global strategy, plans to bail out the ailing Indian subsidiary, and thoughts on the growing competition from low-cost players.
Read More

The Great Marketing Rush
Marketers are waking up to a
world of opportunities in
small towns. more...

Restless Dissatisfaction
A great aspirational urge is
pushing change in small town
India.
more...

The Story In Numbers
How small towns compare
to big cities.
more...

Small Town Diary
From Belgaum to Vijayawada, from Dehradun to Trichy and from Mangalore to Rajkot, small towns are becoming big centres of consumption. A journey through the booming main street of Small Town India.
more...

Small Towns, Big Myths
The stereotype of the small town
consumer as thrifty, price-chasing,
quality neutral and brand fickle is
coming unstuck. Here's a reality check
for marketers. more...

  Small Is Beautiful
Retailers are experimenting
with a variety of formats to hit
upon the winning proposition
with which to woo the small
town shopper. more...
 
 

Attention Span
Telecom, civil aviation and insurance share this in common: they are all markets that have government-imposed entry barriers for varied reasons. This alters the dynamics of competition in these markets, and in different ways. But still, they must all hope for a customer with a long attention span.

More Web Exclusives

More Net Specials

Q&A: Jim Spohrer
One-time venture capital man and currently Director, Services Research, IBM Almaden Research Lab, Jim Spohrer is betting big on the future of 'services sciences'. And while at it, he's also busy working with anthropologists and other social scientists who look quite out of place in a company of geeks. So what exactly is the man—and IBM's lab—up to?


NBIC Ambitions
NBIC? Well, Nanotech, Biotech, Infotech and Cognitive Sciences. They could pack quite some power, together.

Market Research Jitters
The big market research (MR) problem: people, when asked, often tell you what they think you want to hear rather than what they really think.
 

Farms In Focus
Agriculture is back in investment
focus. Presenting a set of agri-
sensitive stocks that could help
green up your portfolio.

more...

 

Remaking A Township
For almost a hundred years, Tata Steel ran its township in Jamshedpur. Now, though, the steel major has embarked on a plan to turn its town services into a self-sustaining, even profitable, business. more...
 
Beyond Hagiography
A no-holds-barred account of four
celebrity CEOs, an essay on the
''primal urge'' for growth, and one
on law in the cyber age.
more...

 

Everyman's Guide To The Veshti
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram wears one;
so, on occasions, do First Citizen Abdul Kalam, Mphasis CEO and Nasscom Chairman
Jerry Rao, and a clutch of southern Indian executives. Here's what you need to know about the common veshti.
more...

People
Starring Ranbaxy's outgoing CEO D.S. Brar, consultant Narayan Seshadri, Anil Agarwal of Sterlite, E. Neville Isdell of Coca-Cola, Montek Singh Ahluwalia of the Planning Commission and Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways.
more...
 

Global Ideas
Leadership Secrets by Ravi Bhatia

Waiting For July 8...
A week from now, FM P. Chidambaram will present his third Budget and the United Progressive Alliance's first. Here's what we can expect.
more...

Funding the Fisc...
...or balancing the prime economic equation.
more...

MotoAdvantage
Things are beginning to look up at Motorola
India, thanks to revamped marketing
strategies.
more...

An Earful Of Blue
Impulsesoft provides Bluetooth technology for the upcoming version of Apple's iPod.
more...

The Mentorship Maze
Managing your own career is hard enough. Can you play mentor too?
Help, Tarun!
Multidisciplinary Edge
What They Know
more...

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