• Nestle tried to create a market for iced tea in India by launching Paloma in eighties & again with Nestea in the nineties & both the cases came up with a failure
• Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American ad campaign:
“Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”
• When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that “no va” means “it won’t go.”
• Volkswagen Schwimmwagen was an amphibious all-wheel-drive off-roaders, used extensively by the Germans during the Second World War.
• Henry Ford’s grandson (another Henry) turned down an offer to acquire Volkswagen after the
Second World War when it was under British Army control because he thought it was worthless.
• ‘Herbie’ and its three sequels (‘Herbie Rides Again’, ‘Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo’ and ‘Herbie Goes Bananas’) is a series of movies made by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie the Love Bug, a white Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own. Another theatrical sequel, ‘Herbie: Fully Loaded’ was released in 2005 by Disney.
• William C Durant was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, the founder of General Motors and Chevrolet who created the system of multi-brand holding companies with
different lines of cars
• Prior to the manufacture of Henry Ford’s Model A, Mary Anderson was granted her first patent for a window cleaning device in November of 1903. Her invention could clean snow, rain, or sleet from a windshield by using a handle inside the car. Her goal was to improve driver vision during stormy weather - Mary Anderson invented the windshield wiper.
• Sanford L. Cluett discovered a way to pre-shrink fabrics and his invention was called the
‘Sanforized fabric’. The company he set up Cluett Peabody & Co, Inc. licensed the process and
made it available to everybody in the textile industry. The Arrow brand of shirts comes from this company.
• The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, who founded Detroit in 1701. In 1912, Cadillac was the first
manufacturer to incorporate a successful electric starter on their cars equipped with gasoline
internal combustion engines, replacing the hand starting crank; the device was developed by
Charles Kettering and was marketed as a convenience device for female drivers.
• Lipton launched a tetra-packed fruit drink in India called Noga in India in the 1980s; the product was
unsuccessful and was withdrawn
• Godrej Consumer Products launched Vigil–India's first and only Grade I Health soap. The advanced
Triple Control System (TCS) used in Vigil removes germs, acts faster and lasts longer
• Hindustan Unilever product failures: Aim, 2001, Rural toothpaste; Impulse, 2002, Women’s
Deodorant; Revel, 2001, Washing Machine detergent; Calvin Klein, 2001, Toiletries
• Dandi Namak–salt brand founded by Suresh Agarwal of Kunvar Ajay Industries
• D.S. Narang of RDM Traders launched the Ayur herbal brand
• G. Munusamy founded Kaleeswari Refinery famous for its Gold Winner edible oil brand
• S.C. Sehgal, a veteran of Glaxo, founded Ozone Ayurvedics which is now famous for the No
Marks brand
• Murli Gyanchandani of Kanpur Trading Company is famous for his detergent brands–Ghadi in
economy category& Double Dog in premium one
• M. P. Ramachandran is the founder of Jyothi Labs, famous for brand like Ujala (1982), Maxo
mosquito repellent, and Exo, a washing bar
• Prakash Parakh of Parakh Foods is the founder of famous edible oil brand–Gemini
• Atul Shah of Anchor Health is the man behind the Anchor toothpaste that was focused on
predominantly vegetarian Gujarat and Rajasthan and positioned its toothpaste as a vegetarian
product
• England’s Lever Brothers began importing their Sunlight brand soap into India in the late 1880s.
By 1895, Lever had introduced another of its brands, Lifebuoy, which became the company's
longest-running successful brand in India. Other Lever brands followed into the beginning of the
next century, including the Lux soap flake brand in 1905; and scouring powder Vim as well as soap
brand Vinolia in 1913. In 1963, HLL entered the dairy industry with the launch of Anik brand of
ghee. HLL also launched but later withdrew Signal toothpaste–India’s only brand with colourful
strips in it
• HLL’s Le Sancy soap was famous for its advertisement punchline “Rahul Pani Chalajayega”
• HLL formed a joint venture with Kimberly-Clark, which began marketing the Huggies diaper and
Kotex sanitary pad brands in India.
1 Jeff Bezos was a model student who was profiled (under an assumed name) in the 1977 book titled
‘Turning on Bright Minds: A Parent Looks at Gifted Education’, by Julie Ray.
2 In 1982, Bezos won the Silver Knight Award from the Miami Herald. He graduated summa cum laude from
Princeton in 1986, earning Phi Beta Kappa membership.
3 Bezos's entrepreneurial spirit became evident when he obtained his first post-graduation position at Fitel, a
start-up that focused on creating a network for international financial trade.
4 After two years, when Fitel failed to get off the ground, Bezos moved on to Bankers Trust, where he was
responsible for developing software applications for pension-fund clients. He eventually became a vice
president at Bankers Trust.
5 He then moved on to D. E. Shaw & Company, a financial-trading company on the cutting edge of computer
technology.
6 He made a thorough study of the book business, beginning by attending the American Booksellers'
Association's annual convention before setting up Amazon.Com.
1 Berlusconi put himself through college with variety of jobs: selling vacuum cleaners, writing papers for his
classmates (for a fee), and singing on cruise ships.
2 He received a law degree, with honors, from the University of Milan in 1961
3 He then borrowed money from the bank where his father worked and went into real estate development,
setting up the companies Cantieri Riuniti Milanesi in 1962 and Edilnord in 1963.
4 Berlusconi went into television by establishing the cable TV company Telemilano in 1974
5 Set up a holding company Fininvest, in 1978
6 Fininvest's advertising agency was Publitalia.
7 In 1980 he set up the Canale 5 television network.
1 Bernard Arnault is the Chairman & chief executive officer of luxury goods company, Moét Hennessy Louis
Vuitton.
2 Both Arnault as well as his wife Helene Mercier are accomplished pianists.
After graduating from the École Polytechnique, France's esteemed engineering school, Arnault worked as
an engineer and ran his family's construction and property business firm, Ferret-Savinel.
3 He spearheaded the company's move into the lucrative new niche of building time shares on the Riviera.
4 When the French Socialists rose to power in 1981, Arnault immigrated to the United States. He prospered,
developing condominiums in Palm Beach, Florida.
5 The French Socialists switched to a more conservative economic course in 1983, prompting Arnault to return
to his native France.
6 His rise to control of the world’s largest luxury group began with an opportunity created when a textile firm,
Boussac, went bankrupt. The textile firm owned the prized couture house of Christian Dior.
7 Arnault was involved in a bitter struggle for control of LVMH in 1989 with Henry Racamier, the former
chairman of LVMH’s Louis Vuitton subsidiary and a member by marriage of one of the firm’s founding
families.
8 Although he concluded early in life that he did not have the mettle for a career as a concert pianist, Arnault
was classically trained and made time to practice Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann. Both his wife and mother
were pianists as well.
1 Subhiksha founder Ramaswami Subramanian did his B Tech. from IIT-Madras in 1987 and followed that
up with an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad with a gold-medal. His first job was with Citibank’s investment
banking division with a salary of Rs 5,500.
2 He quit the Citibank job in three-four weeks and joined two-wheeler maker Enfield.
3 After a brief stint Subramanian borrowed Rs 2.5 crore from Enfield Chairman S. Vishwanathan and
launched Viswapriya, a financial services company.
4 When he started Subhiksha with a capital of Rs 5 crore in 1997, Viswapriya was Rs 100-crore company.
5 Currently, Viswapriya is an NBFC with interest in real estate as well, but Subramanian is no longer into
managing that business.
6 His recommended list of reading includes Alfred P Sloan’s My Years with General Motors, where the
author describes his systematic and of course the “logical style” in which he built the business.
7 Subhiksha has bought a majority stake in Madras Stock Exchange-listed Blue Green Construction and
Investment Company for Rs 3 crore
