It was a hot summer day at IIM Rohtak. We were back from our summer internships, longing to get back to our learning mode and busy schedules. Each trimester seems to outdo the previous one with a plethora of stimulating concepts to learn and implement. The best part of this trimester unanimously goes to GBS (Global Business Simulations). Though we encountered a considerable number of subjects which involve implementing concepts in the real world in our previous trimesters, this is by far the most complex and most exciting one.
The entire class was divided into groups of 6 as usual for the course, we were given a typical case before the first session, which included the history and present conditions of a company. We were asked to study its course over time and form our opinions and decisions regarding its future course. We entered the class anticipating the course to be on International business with a case based outline.
A young guy enters the class and introduces himself as Mr Aseem Sidhu, our course instructor for the subject. He asks us to register on a website and join our designated teams for the course. We go through the process and log in to the site. We arrive at a page which made me stare in awe. It was a dashboard for the company in the case, spanning all geographies, functions, technologies, products, financials. Political and economic conditions in multiple countries.
The best part, our competitors are other groups from the session. We were in a close to a real-world scenario in which we take decisions to launch products, invest in R&D, Production, Financials, Logistics, Sales, Marketing, balance loans, increase our shareholders’ equity. In a sentence, run a company with formidable competitors. A deadline was given for submission of decisions by each group. The timer starts, and every group goes working to establish dominance in the simulation. We used all our learnings to date to take decisions.
We learnt many things we missed from other functions, which resulted in the overall development of the team. It was a 16 round course, where we make decisions for each round based on previous, current scenarios and future estimations. The results and decisions taken by each group were made available to all groups at the end of each round. We were implementing our knowledge and learning from our peers. This was my most exciting classroom experience at IIM Rohtak.
Which ABG Company would I want to work for and why?
Being an ECE graduate and having a good knowledge of the telecommunication industry combined with my excellent managerial skills would make me an apt fit for Idea Cellular of Aditya Birla Group. My inclination to work in the telecommunications started towards the final stage of my graduation days, when I began to study and follow the sector before and after the entry of JIO into the market using predatory pricing and the sustainability of this strategy in the future. I believe Idea Cellular would be the right place for me to implement my findings and learn more about the sector.