In the current scenario of globalization of business, strategic alliance is emerging as a powerful management tool in business management. Though alliances are as old as the industrialization during the 15th and 16th centuries, they are being refocused in the 20th century. But, strategic alliance is not an unmixed blessing as more number of alliances have turned out to be failures. In this article, Dhawal Mehta and Sunil Samanta discuss the nature and significance of strategic alliance by citing a few recent cases of strategic alliances in the Indian industry, argue out why strategic alliance should be resorted to, and list out do's and dont's to enable Indian companies to successfully catapult themselves to the mainstream of global business.

The significance of mergers and acqmsltions is undergoing change since liberalization in India. The MRTP Act and FERA have been amended paving way for large business groups and foreign companies to resort to the merger and acquisition route for growth. Further, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997, have been notified. Exit policy would be a step further towards the logical conclusion of liberalization process. All these are likely to change the approach for corporate growth in India. In this article, Dhawal Mehta and Sunil Samanta explain the types of mergers and acquisitions and classify specific cases of mergers and acquisitions. They further suggest areas for future research.

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Background The Indian pangolin is a globally endangered species and is accorded the highest level of protection under Indian legislation. The species has a wide distribution in the country. However, information on its ecology is scanty with limited accounts on the diet of the free-ranging population. Results We studied the diet of the Indian pangolin in a tropical dry deciduous forest of Gir National Park, India. A total of 12 faecal samples in the form of 22 pellets were collected between November 2019 and March 2020. The faecal matter’s length, diameter and girth were 4.80 cm ± 0.40 SE, 2.72 cm ± 0.12 SE and 8.49 cm ± 0.41 SE, respectively. The dry weight of the faecal matter was 22.31 g ± 3.24 SE. The composition of the faecal content by weight was majorly contributed by insect matter (56.53%), followed by grit (42.35%) and plant matter (1.12%). Faecal content’s analysis through microscopy revealed that insect matter was the most frequent constituent (53.59%), followed by grit (46.26%) and plant matter (0.05%); 0.1% of the constituents could not be identified. The ant genera contributing to the diet of the Indian pangolin include Camponotus, Crematogaster, Dorylus, Lophomyrmex, Monomorium, Myrmicaria, Pheidole and Tetraponera. The termite genera consumed by the Indian pangolin were Odontotermes and Cryptotermes. Conclusions The study’s findings contribute to enhance the ecological knowledge in a hitherto unexplored habitat and hold implications in the ex situ conservation efforts and rescue and rehabilitation of Indian pangolins in similar landscapes.