Big Box Walmart made a $100 million investment into a consultancy with no employees, and just $14,000 in revenue. A consultancy? It began as Bharti Retail Holdings Ltd, according to documents filed with India's Registrar of Companies. Then four months later, after India opened its market to global investors, Walmart swapped out that name for Cedar Support Services. It may have broken foreign direct investment rules by putting money into a retailer before the government threw open the sector to global players. Cedar Support Services is not to be confused with Cedar Lake, the NYC ballet company owned by Walmart …

After charging up for the first 10 months of the year, sales of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid unexpectedly short-circuited last month. Volumes fell to barely half of September and October levels - ensuring that Chevy will end 2012 selling barely half as many Volts as it had originally hoped for this year. The plug-in's sales for November fell behind those of two key rivals, the Nissan Leaf battery-electric vehicle and Toyota's Prius Plug-in. But all three models appeared to lose some momentum despite the overall surge of the U.S. car market.

Mondelez International announced a number of changes to its executive management Monday, including the retirement of its developing markets chief, Sanjay Khosla. The company has made a number of changes leading up to and following the spin-off of Kraft Foods in October. Khosla will stay on with the Deerfield, Ill.-based snacks company as a consultant.

Sales of adult beverages in the U.S. increased in 2011 and will continue to rise, according to a study by restaurant research firm Technomic. The firm's 2012 BarTAB (Trends in Adult Beverage) report showed that sales of beer, wine and spirits in restaurants increased 4.9% in 2011, reaching $93.7 billion and are trending up for 2012 and 2013. One reason may be pent-up post-recession demand.

Cars and trucks are becoming mobile offices and automakers are offering ways to make it easier. "This is the biggest tool in their toolbox," said Bob Hegbloom, director of Chrysler, LLC's Ram truck brand. Rams at the L.A. Auto Show are decked out with in-cab office technology: a media hub where you can charge an iPad or a laptop; a touch screen to access media while parked or driving; a USB port and an SD card slot; ways to turn the truck into a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Sajan Raj Kurup, founder and creative chairman, Creativeland Asia, has some words for WPP chief Martin Sorrell. "I happened to read an interview of yours in the press last Friday. There were some nice observations about India. However, your statement about India seeming to lack self confidence, in my humble opinion, is an overly simplistic generalization and an incorrect one. You mustn't take our businessmen's deliberate and cautious ways or their concern about our country for a lack of self confidence."

The New England Patriots QB has been spokesperson for Ugg for Men for over a year. The latest effort is the holiday "Pink Slip" campaign, detailing how he gave his teammates the Ugg for Men "Ascot" slipper as a way to say thanks. The effort includes traditional media, plus online videos, mobile, and social. Nancy Mamann, VP marketing, UGG Australia, talks about how Brady got the job and the impact he's had.

Analysts were predicting a strong November, and that has come to pass. Partly because of post-Sandy replacement demand, auto sales hit a five-year high for November. Sales rose 15% to 1.14 million vehicles. Ford, Honda and Nissan bested expectations. Toyota and Hyundai also reported strong increases that industry executives and investors said should continue through the end of the year.

Trying to stay on its feet in the U.S., Mitsubishi is hoping to pull off a 12th-round upset. The automaker, which unveiled the 2014 Outlander at the Los Angeles Auto Show, is trying to reinvent itself, after early-millennium mistakes aimed at getting credit-challenged kids into cars. Result: hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. And a number of recent products flopped, notably the now-abandoned Eclipse sports coupe. Analysts are predicting Mitz could follow Suzuki out of the U.S. but, said CEO Yoichi Yokazawa, "Mitsubishi is as committed to North America as ever."

Beer brand Heineken is partnering with Los Angeles-based retailer Union LA and fashion designer Mark McNairy for the Heineken 100 program, an influencer and celebrity seeding campaign aimed at celebrating Heineken's "man of the world" consumer. One early fruit of the partnership is McNairy's leather saddle shoe, in all-black leather but incorporating a branded cushioned sole in Heineken Kelly green.