Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi, with its futuristic approach in imparting education provides the students with a unique opportunity of international exposure through its "Global Field Study" program.
As a part of its academic curriculum, the students of DMS spent a week at various locations in Malaysia; exploring new avenues, understanding the Malaysian businesses and cultural variations.
Heriot Watt University
As part of the university visit, the students of DMS, IIT Delhi were extended a warm welcome by Heriot Watt University. The interaction with eminent personalities at HWU turned out to be quite a fruitful one as it provided the students with a unique perspective on the international business curriculum.
The first session by Prof. on "Project Management" has brought out quite a few interesting phenomenon where project management played an important role. The discussion also focused on the role and value proposition of strategy, and how the businesses could benefit with the appropriate adoption of planning and controlling the work of the team to achieve specific goals. The classification of respective actions by the industries based on the short-term and long-term approaches and their level of control over them had given great insights into the approaches of business leaders.
The second session by Prof. on "Competitive Strategy" gave insights on the strategic decisions which companies take to sustain in the competitive environment of today’s world. The major strategies regarding cost leadership, differentiation were talked upon as to how they help a firm gain a competitive advantage over other players in the market. Some interesting frameworks were discussed like Porter’s which enlightened on the real business case on how a company strategises its thinking. We were taught about the four broad categories of competitive strategies, two with threatening moves and two with non-threatening moves. Threatening moves take two general forms, offensive and defensive strategies and Non-threatening moves are also classified into two types - collusive strategies and strategic alliances.
Yakult Factory, Malaysia
The Yakult factory located in Malaysia was established in 2003 and began to produce Yakult products since 2004.
Inside the factory, students experienced how the Yakult bottle is made from scratch through high paced machines, with each bottle being filled and capped in the tenth of a second. Thus, the visit to Yakult happened to be a great success in terms of the learnings and experiences of the students pertaining to a new segment of the industry.
Pewter Factory (ROYAL SELANGOR INTERNATIONAL SDN BHD)
Royal Selangor is one of the world’s foremost pewter manufacturer and retailer, with its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The company offers over a thousand tableware and gift items, from tankards and tea sets, to photo frames, desk accessories and wine accessories. Founded in 1885 by Yong Koon, in his little shop called Ngeok Foh (Jade Peace), Yong Koon handcrafted pewter objects mainly for ceremonial use, such as joss stick holders, incense burners and candle holders for altars of Chinese homes and temples. The brand was then known as
Selangor Pewter. In 1992, the company changed its name to
Royal Selangor to reflect its royal endorsement from His Royal Highness the late Sultan of Selangor at that time, and to reflect its product range, which has extended beyond pewter.
The students were shown the world’s largest pewter tankard, recognised by the
Guinness Book of Records, made by Royal Selangor in 1985 to commemorate its centenary. It is 1.987 metres tall, weighs 1,557 kg and has a capacity of 2,796 litres. Also on display were famous sporting trophies made by Royal Selangor, such as the Formula 1 trophies of Malaysia, Singapore and China Grand Prix, and the Shanghai ATP 1000 Masters trophy. At the headquarters, the students were also shown the master craftsmanship and how some products were handcrafted and polished repeatedly, to make Royal Selangor the world famous name it is for manufacturing high-quality pewter.
Beryl's Chocolate Factory
The visit to the Royal Salangor Factory was a treat to the eyes, especially for those who are artists at heart. Our next stop was Beryl's Chocolate Factory, where it was time for some of our other senses to be appeased.
At the reception, we were briefed about the place and also about our future course of action. Then, each one of us was offered a tiny cup of dark chocolate shake. Next up, we were introduced to their various varieties of chocolates following which we were treated to a small sample of each variety. After the demonstration ended, few of us started selecting their favourite flavour of chocolate to buy for friends and family while others were in search for a spot to click a photo of themselves.
The GFS program finally concluded with a lot of learnings, providing a great amount of international business exposure to the students of DMS, IIT Delhi. The trip added a unique proposition to the students’ knowledge, boosting their enthusiasm to work in a dynamic business environment. The experiences and the key takeaways of the trip will, thereby, help the students develop a broad perspective of the globally followed business practices.