Shivani Vishwanath is a second year participant at IIM Indore. These days when a lot of students are flying abroad to pursue their management education, Shivani came to India to pursue her management education. She pursued her graduation degree from University of Toronto in Engineering Science, Biomedical. She has recently bagged a PPO from a renowned investment bank. She has been awarded several scholarships for her academic excellence from organizations in India and abroad. University of Toronto Admission scholarship, University of Waterloo President’s scholarship, SIA(National Level) Singapore Airlines Youth Scholarship are some of the awards she has been offered. I got a chance to talk to her about her internship experience and her decision to return to India for higher education.
Why did you choose to come back to India to pursue your education?
I was born and brought up in India. However due to the job of my parents I had to move from one place to another. I eventually landed in Toronto for my high school and graduation. My stay at Canada gave me a multi-cultural exposure since Toronto is very diverse. This made me a person who can easily adapt and can interact with new people. I got to taste it even further when I went to Hong Kong during my internship. I could easily grasp the work culture and felt one among the team. This reflected positively in the quality of work I experienced. However, my birth country always attracted me. Whenever I could get a chance, I would travel to the country. I came to IIT Bombay for student exchange program and later resorted to write CAT so that I can complete rest of my education in India.
Tell us a brief about your project during summers?
The project involved a pitch to an Indian oil and gas player to acquire a London listed company. This included: analyzing the macro-economic oil and gas industry outlook, designing a positioning strategy for the target, analyzing the combined entity from a synergy perspective and preliminary valuation considerations. It was a blend of strategy and finance and gave a hands-on experience in valuing companies and understanding how a deal takes shape.
What was the most interesting aspect of your internship?
The most interesting part of the internship was that you would never know how the time passes by – how the day becomes noon and the noon becomes night. It is an extremely fast paced work culture wherein you are constantly on your toes accomplishing one task after another – preparing pitchbooks for client meetings, models for preliminary analysis of financing options and so on. Executing high priority tasks in a speedy manner with uncompromised quality was what made the internship all that exciting. At the end of the day – it all culminates in a highly rewarding feeling - a satisfaction of having learnt something new every day!
How has your learning from the domain you studied helped you in your project?
The courses I took at schools provided me with useful tools. The finance courses especially gave me a strong foundation to help me understand the underlying concepts required for modeling – for example: DCF, rights issue or cash flow projections. In addition, the strategy courses helped provide frameworks to analyze the industry, company, business model and the value chain. This was paramount in order to develop a meaningful merger analysis. The technical knowledge base IIM Indore had nurtured was leveraged in interpreting and comprehending research which is the backbone to execute any task successfully.
You were fortunate enough to be a part of the PPO process, how does it feel after achieving the same?
It feels good! It is quite exciting when you get to realize your dreams. I feel it would not have been possible without the guidance and support from friends, faculty and placement committee. Cheers to them! I eagerly look forward to plunge into the realm of investment banking with my fellow-mates.
How would you describe your interaction with other B-Schools?
It was a great opportunity to meet some highly talented interns from other B-Schools. The socials and the get-togethers facilitated this process. The interactions were lively, the takeaways and experience sharing were also enriching.
What is the most significant take away from your internship?
Three major takeaways: the first one being hard work always pays off, secondly, one should take time out for networking and talking to your peers, lastly, one is always more energetic and efficient than one feels.
One of the aspects I really enjoyed in the organization was interacting with the analysts on the floor, I met some really interesting people who have great stuff to share, for instance an analyst had worked on pricing CDOs/CMOs as an undergraduate project!
What advice would you like to give to the PGP batch of IIM-I regarding the summer internship?
Be yourself and do what you like. You will find ways to excel and counter the challenges coming your way. Be strong, confident, and sincere and work hard!
Barleen Kaur is currently pursuing her second year PGDM at IIM Indore (Class of 2015). She did her B.Tech degree from GGS Indraprastha University in Computer Science and Engineering and worked as a training manager at a consulting company and also started a coaching center. She has a strong affinity for writing and is an avid orator.
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Comments
gaurav
I believe the argument put forth by MDI about family run business is not strong as MBA;s from these families send their children to study from top US B-Schools where the focus is on experiential learning.
6 Aug 2012, 05.14 PM
Mausam
MDI's point about demand for B-Schools not getting low seems invalid as if that was the case why would you see a drop in CAT exam givers in times of recession or a move towards foreign b-schools by Indians recently through GMAT. Clearly classroom training at top Indian B-Schools is inadequate
6 Aug 2012, 05.21 PM
anonymous
The tangible benefit points mentioned by MDI are extremely myopic in vision , when you are studying MBA , you don't study with the goal of studying 'only' what will help in getting placement . Placements are just the start , the skills acquired from practical learning will help in growing faster than your peers once in industry . Though classroom learning is an important and a necessary part of B school education , Focus should be more on practical learning . As Benjamin Franklin says "Well done is better than well said."
6 Aug 2012, 08.20 PM
Avani
Off Summers/Research teach you a lot more. When you work in a bank you obviously understand better than what you learn about banking in a classroom. For instance in class you only learn the finance part of banking but banking encompasses lots of guidelines which need to be adhered to practically. This cannot be taught in any class. I have practically experienced it guys and i tell you there is a big difference.
6 Aug 2012, 08.42 PM
Soumitro
I find the arguments given by the JBIMS team a bit hollow in the sense that the stress on practical learning has a meaning only after the context for that is set by a strong grasp of theory. Experiential education will anyways be the bread and butter of a career in Management, and most MBAs would probably spend 3 decades after their graduation pursuing this never-ending education in the industry. I feel that a strong foundation of theory is the chief value addition of an MBA school, most of whose intake would be lost in their new corporate role, without such education.
6 Aug 2012, 10.07 PM
sachin
Yes MDI does have a point regarding fundamentals that are taught in class being necessary, but we have so many non-MBA leaders in the industry today and that somehow leads you to the fact that practical aspects of MBA are crucial and it is better for some of these MBA grads to learn this in B-School themselves rather than spend the next 30 years trying to learn them, I mean you can learn and apply the skills simultaneously. You do not need to learn for 2 years and spend the next 30 years implementing it. Learning is one continuous process and i don t think any B-School can cover the entire gamut of MBA skills in a 2 year course.
6 Aug 2012, 11.25 PM
Bhavin
@soumitro - you may agree with me when I say, theory simply put is what one saw in practice... treat management education as any sport or an art and you will understand the point the team from JBIMS is making.. :) I see clarity in their thoughts..
6 Aug 2012, 11.25 PM
Soumitro
Hi Sachin, Bhavin, Thanks for considering my views worthy of your comments :) I realize the error in putting my point across, which probably appeared as if I'm stressing solely on Theoretical Education, while overlooking Experiential Education entirely. Like both the teams, I also believe that mid-way approach is the most suitable with stress laid on both aspects of learning - theoretical and practical. To refine my point, 2 years of MBA education are probably the most ideal for internalizing the theoretical concepts, whereas the practical concepts whose seeds are laid during MBA (for example, during Summers) will continuously prosper throughout one's career. Theoretical learning, which provides the context for practical learning, might take a back-seat after joining the industry, so I feel an MBA education should focus more on building the foundation. Just an opinion. We can always agree to disagree :)
6 Aug 2012, 11.47 PM
Abhinav
Plato would have said, "This maybe good in theory, but it doesn't work in practice" to which Ayn Rand would have replied "What good is a theory one cannot practice?" Guess where I read about the above concepts of philosophy? I read about them in a book I bought from crossword. My point being, an MBA is not about learning concepts and theories. Whether it is India or abroad, an MBA is about the EXPERIENCE. The focus is on practical learning, getting your hands dirty, making mistakes and learning from them (not referring to making mistakes in an exam and doing better next time). I think fundamentals are great but when I asked myself - 'Why MBA?', 'theories and concepts' is not the answer I got. If I had to get my basics in place, I would much rather continue working and enroll with the best library in my city - will give me access to diverse opinions, it is more cost effective and will save me two years of time and opportunity cost.
7 Aug 2012, 01.24 PM
prashant
The argument really is as to whether Indian B-Schools have become too bookish and less practical.IS this the reason why we do not produce as many management thinkers. I mean why do we need a Peter Drucker or a Micheal porter. Even CK prahalad and Amartya Sen havent done MBA's from India. IS it because of our poor emphasis on research and focus only on books.
7 Aug 2012, 02.42 PM