Forbes India - Jul 30, 2010 Issue

ISSUE DATE Jul 30, 2010

The King's Eye View

World chess champion Viswanathan Anand broke into the international circuit nearly three decades ago as a child prodigy. Today, at age 40, he is still playing at top form. The longevity and resilience of his career are an inspiring lesson for all those building organisations or even their own careers. Anand tells readers how he handles success and failure, how he comes back from poor form, how he builds his team and how he became unbeatable in the highest echelons of chess.

The Firm

Who do stalwarts like P. Chidambaram, Mukesh Ambani, K.V. Kamath and Nandan Nilekani consider it a privilege to be associated with? It is India's largest law firm, Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co., run by two of the brightest minds in Indian law, Shardul and Cyril Shroff. It is easily the No. 1 choice of corporate India when it comes to legal affairs. But like all successful family firms, Amarchand too faces issues like sibling rivalry and the need to professionalise operations. The brothers embark on an all-new approach to take the firm to the 21st Century.

Breaking the Golden Handcuffs

Titan Industries floundered in darkness for over a decade and was almost shut down by the Tata group. Bhaskar Bhat convinced the board of directors to back his plans and turned the company around. Now, he has to expand the company at a time when other organised players are entering the jewelry market.

Fast Fashion

Spanish fashion retailer Zara has built a hugely successful business model of taking the latest catwalk designs and converting them into affordable high street fashion in a matter of three weeks. It has recently opened two stores in India and its initial performance was enviable. But industry watchers feel its global model will be tested in India on several counts.