Advertisements are the most powerful means for communicating the marketing message to the target audience. The presence of likeable attributes in ads has profound effect on the mindset of the audience and results in creating a positive image about the ads and consequently, the brands. This article focuses on understanding and using likeability in television commercials.

The articles published in the book are drawn from a series of columns written by the author in the magazine Portfolio Organizer. The selected articles in the book are arranged under five heads: Economy, Capital Markets, Banking, Forex Markets and Governance. The book in general deals with a wide variety of issues, challenges, and opportunities that have confronted mankind for the last few years. The articles offer a sustained and scholarly analysis of significant developments of the day in the country and abroad over the last few years.

Section One of the book consisting of 30 articles, discusses the specialised contexts of the modern economy with reference to globalisation. In the very first article, "Growth: The Other Side", the author says that with the advent of globalisation, India is experiencing a boom in the service industry, mainly through the deployment of human capital, which in turn has made India emerge as a hub for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO). Turning to the vexed issue of reservations, Murty contends that the current increase of reservations in IITs and IIMs, in the backdrop of globalisation, would surely undermine the national interests of the country. However, he asserts that "it is time companies walked beyond resenting reservations and exhibited a sense of social responsibility by undertaking various skills development activities for people in areas around their workplaces and made them employable". It is not `reservations' that the Government should aim at, "but develop human capital in partnership with corporates" (p.12). Furthermore, the author comes up with certain remedies that will reduce the gap between the `haves' and the `have-nots'. He suggests the creation of community vocational centres that can retrain those who will or are likely to lose jobs, and make them re-employable. Murty also covers a variety of issues and topics ranging from an obituary of the renowned economist Professor John Kenneth Galbraith to foreign direct investment and the condition of life insurance corporations, etc.

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