Corporate war escalates

Meanwhile, the man the Tata8217;s are attempting to nail has now begun singing rather loudly. And they say he is being rather well advised by mysterious supporters.

Are we seeing the beginning of yet another episode of corporate rivalry spilling over onto Bombay8217;s streets? It certainly is serious enough for Tata8217;s most trusted top-level aide Gopalakrishnan to state publicly that competitors who were worried about the Tata brand image, may well be behind the latest episode in this sad saga. Meanwhile for more episodes of this saga, those in the know are plugging into the corporate grapevine rather than into the governmental one.

Nowhere to turn?

Harsh Neotia of Gujarat Ambuja says no to fresh investment in hotels. His Radisson Fort, located near Kolkata has not been doing too poorly despite the slowdown in the tourism sector. But that is thanks to Neotia8217;s hotel being supported by the requisite men, money and material.

However with the tourism sector crash landing the way it has, Neotia confessed that he is refraining himself from putting further booty into the sector. Yet Neotia insists that he has no plans of sell-off like the public sector. He intends to stay in the game. He says he just is not making fresh investments in new ventures but that his ongoing ventures are getting adequate funding.

The tycoon has been taking some steps to supplement his ongoing hotel business. For instance the recent diversification into hospitality management education ensures Neotia some ready human resources and some cash. The vine is buzzing that the tycoon is now in search of a core competency on which his hotel could rest. On one hand there is health on the other is business or could it be numerous conferences? He now has to make the choice. Or young Harsh might befuddle his target audience.

Time to grow up

Dilip Dandekar of stationery major, Camlin suffered a setback when consumers started shifting to imported brands. Dandekar realised that the onus had shifted onto him to reach out to the customer and do that at a competitive price. As a result Camlin is now rejuvenated.

Dandekar has sufficient equity for his two brands8212;Camel, with its range of colours and adhesives and Camlin, with its range of office stationery. And he has set his eyes on the vast untapped rural market for these brands. A new third standalone brand is in the offing, which will offer a range of writing instruments. This would be targeting the youth.

Dandekar8217;s idea of having two support businesses that is, pharma and fine chemicals, does raise eyebrows. These certainly do not fall into the core business areas. They are supposedly only a form of support. But if Dandekar wants to prove how independent Camlin is, it is time it grew up without holding hands.

Dilip Cherian runs a public affairs firm Perfect Relations. He is an economy watcher and tycoon tracker. None of the people he writes about are his clients. Your insider tales are welcome at dilipcheriannow-india.net.in