The Asian MBA leadership team is proud to present you

the October edition of Asian MBA newsletter. It certain-

ly has been an interesting (almost) one year for the

leadership team and for the members. In the past we

were able to host the India Night, Asian snack breaks,

and professional development initiatives. We certainly

look forward to host a bunch of events this year as well.

Our newsletter is intended to present you with latest

happenings, cultural events, new initiatives, and share

vision and ideas. We encourage you to share your ide-

as, impressions and thoughts via articles to facilitate us

to offer richer content to the Asian MBA members. We

look forward to your active participation in the days to

follow.

EDITORIAL

ASIAN MBAA MONTHLY MAGAZINE October 2011

Present edition, brings you some summer internship

experiences, E&Y case-comp insights and one anoth-

er interesting story. Lastly, we would like to thank

you for your support and expect the same in the fu-

ture.

So, happy reading and for first years ...all the very

best for mid-terms, you are almost there.

This Issue

Editorial P.1

E&Y Case Competition P.2

Manufacturing, Khichadi & Uniforms P.3

Ships to Excel SheetsP.4

Thailand Flood Relief P.5

Asian MBA Team Introduction P.6

Hear It From The Winners

The E&Y case competition was quite differ-

ent from the Kelley ‘Core’ case competition.

First, this was a recruiter event which put

more pressure on the teams to perform. Ulti-

mately every participant wanted to do well

as that would be the best way to get noticed.

Since most of the judges that came down for

the case comp had been visiting school dur-

ing networking nights. The case competition

was the ideal platform to impress the recruit-

ers further. Second, the time allotted to the

teams for the case preparation was three

days which is shorter when compared with

the time period allotted for Kelley case-

comp. Lastly, the expectations were higher

since most of the participants were second

year MBA students and were collectively representing the brand ‘Kelley’ in front of a reputable company such as Ernst &

Young.

The case was about a fictitious organic foods company that was planning to acquire a dairy farm in order to enter the

organic milk industry. The objective was to make recommendations by analyzing the industry profitability (market size,

barriers to entry, projected market share), entry strategy (greenfield, acquisition, contracting), strategic fit analysis, tar-

get selection, operational implementation and exit options. Once we had identified the broad strategy we focused on

making our valuation fool-proof, planning for contingencies & risks and preparing for probable questions. One of our

strengths was that all four of us knew about each and every aspect of the case, presentation and analysis; this helped us

immensely during Q&A. We were glad when our research was applauded with comments such as:

“Had you outsourced your research?”, “We could show this presentation to the CFO!” , “How did you guys manage to do

all this in three days?”

We faced quite a few challenges during the competition. Our team consisted of four people majoring in finance which

essentially meant that all of us were more focused on numbers. This was a strategy case requiring knowledge and appli-

cation of concepts from every area of business and we, at times, felt that one of us should have been from marketing.

Having said that, we identified that finance was going to be our differentiating factor and concentrated on leveraging

our strength. Also understanding the American organic milk industry and consumption preferences was a difficult task

given that we were an all-international team. Hence we had to strive harder (market research, survey reports, etc.) to

be sure about our analyses and data.

Key takeaways from this experience were:

Q&A is more important than presentation; prepare for probable questions and have an appendix for each question

Identify your core competence. Leverage your strengths

Each member should know everything

Enjoy the journey! - Sam Singhania & Rahul Gupta

Here is the first hand account of E&Y case competition from the members of the winning team ‘Alpha Consultants’

Manufacturing, Khichdi, and Uniforms

This summer I interned with Cummins in their Corporate Strategy division. I’d made it

clear during the interview process that I was interested in working internationally, and so

was thrilled to be offered a project in Pune, India. I’d worked in Mumbai for four years

before Kelley, but had never spent time in Pune.

I was in Pune for about a month, from the middle of June to the middle of July. The Cum-

mins HQ in Columbus, IN, is a classically Midwestern office setting. Going to Pune was a

sea change in many ways: first, the building dated back to the beginning of Cummins’ JV with Kirloskar – the

early ‘60s. In line with the ‘60s architecture, everyone wore uniforms. Not just the people who worked in the

plant – everyone, even some VPs. It was just part of the culture, and was something I had never seen in India

before. That may have just been the office I was in, however – I visited another Cummins office in Pune, which

was extremely modern, and definitely had no uniform requirement.

One thing I loved, and miss enormously, was the canteen. It was a big old warehouse, with high ceilings that

made regular lunchtime conversation sound like low-level riots, and had rows and rows of plain steel benches

and stools that folded into the tables. The canteen served regular food, diet food (steamed vegetables, normal-

ly – suffice it to say I didn’t eat there), spicy food (that was my counter!), and on Mondays and Thursdays,

fasting food. The sabudana khichdi was absolutely to die for, made in the Maharashtrian style, with a couple of

ripe mangoes to take back to the office for dessert.

I had a great summer, and was amazed that it never rained during the day in Pune, while daily reports of flood-

ing were pouring in from Mumbai (pun intended!). But even though Pune was lovely and the climate was per-

fect, I couldn’t help missing life in Bombay. There’s just something special about that city.

Amanda Engelland-Gay - Class of 2012

Sailing Ships To Crunching Numbers

Being a Navigation Officer on a merchant oil ship is not an easy task. At a young age you are given a lot respon-

sibility, of the Ship and the men. You are on the job 24/7 and

have to face extreme pressure situations almost daily. Your

actions especially your mistakes can have disastrous conse-

quences. But on the other hand, you get to roam the world,

while being paid handsomely. You feel life up close and these

adventures and excitements live with you for life. From work-

ing in frigid Russia to scorching Iran; from swimming in the

pleasant Caribbean to being chased by pirates in Somalia; from

almost losing you own life, to saving someone else’s; you truly

live life to the maximum.

Being on the operational side of a primary industry like ‘Oil’ for

so long. I wanted to make that jump to being on the other side

of the business, and calling the shots myself. I had a thirst for

learning and by all means it is being quenched here at Indiana.

The process is truly much more amazing than I imagined an

MBA to be.

Kelley’s culture is something that had really struck a chord with me from Day One. What makes this collabora-

tive culture an even more valuable experience, is because my last job was a strictly “Yes Sir” kinds. There you

just have to do what your superior commands you to. That too was a commercial setup, and a big and success-

ful business at that. So seeing that things can be, and are, done this way too is an eye opener for me. From the

very beginning , this system of openness and inclusion, from the teachers, to the staff to even my collegues has

really impressed me, and has immensely changed the way I look at things.

People ask me a lot about how am I fitting into this new life, which is such a contrast from my past. Well, if you

look at it closely, I don’t think its all that different. My job description I just portrayed can’t be all that different

from that of say, an Investment banker. My past experiences, of leading teams across hazardous operations,

taking split second critical decisions to avoid a collision with another vessel, all are what any good manager

strives for, and is valued by organizations of any nature. So it may seem a lot different to many, I see it as just

the right step for a career in management.

I see myself taking away a lot from the this great school, and am genuinely excited and eternally happy to have

taken this decision to come here. I hope to share my atypical experience, add value to the school and provide

new insights for my colleagues. For me, another journey has just begun, and there are still miles to go on this

voyage.

A first year’s transition from a hierarchical merchant navy to the collaborative Kelley culture - Nipun Khanna

Ek Lewchalermwongse | Netita Sowanwanichakul |Justin Delaney | Dylan Chatterjee

Thailand Flood Relief Lunch

- The disaster has already killed more than 430 peo-

ple

More than 3 million households are affected with

tens of thousands of people having to evacuate

from their homes.

Vehicles at a

Honda car

factory are

submerged in

floodwaters in

the Rojana

industrial dis-

trict in

Ayutthaya province, central Thailand on October 16, 2011. (Sakchai Lalit/AP)

- Total economic damage is listed at 9.8 billion in

USD.

- The waters have entirely submerged seven industri-

al estates with a total investment of 10 billion USD.

Wide ranges of global businesses, from auto manu-

facturers to electronics, have been affected.

As students at the Kelley School of Business and Indi-

ana University, one of our main values is giving back

to communities. With support from MBAA, Asian

MBA Association, and friends from the MBA class, we

are hosting a lunch event on Wednesday, November

16 from 11:30 – 1:15 in GC0034 and 0036. Your ticket

donation will cover a delicious Thai lunch, and the

proceeds will assist Thailand in this time of need.

Tickets go on sale this week for $10.

I am a first year MBA student from

Bangkok, Thailand. Hoping to make things

better for my family business and my commu-

nity, I left my home country in July 2011 for

the Kelley School of Business at Indiana Uni-

versity. A couple of months into my busy life

that came with the core, I learned that there’s

a flood situation in Thailand.

While flood is not unheard of in Thai-

land, this year’s situation is unlike anything

that I have ever seen, and I learned that more

and more of my close friends and colleagues

have been affected.

People push their belongings through floodwaters during an evacua-

tion from a flooded market in Bangkok October 24, 2011. (Sukree

Sukplang/Reuters) #

Moreover, some people had to leave

their houses while others can’t continue their

jobs. Searching for more information, I

learned of the following frightening facts:

Kelley Asian MBA Leadership Team This edition would be incomplete if we didn’t use the last page of the newsletter to brag about ourselves. For

the most of the second years, this may

be repetitive as they already know us

better than we would like them. Howev-

er, for those who are new, we are the

leadership team for Asian MBAA.

As some of you would have heard us at

the kick off meeting, we are extremely

casual, overburdened and unpaid, yet

passionate, excited, and fairly interesting

bunch. We all come from diverse back-

ground but share passion for culture and

diversity.

We are extremely open to suggestions, so please feel free to reach out to any of us. In fact, we will look for-

ward to it.

Kelley Asian MBA Leadership Team, Class of 2012 kgarg@indiana.edu

(L to R) Nachiket Kale, Haksoo Kim, Khushboo Garg, Bryan Cheng,

Anand Singhania

Contact us:

If you have suggestions or would like to contribute, feel free to write to us.

We would love to hear from you.

Nachiket Kale

VP, Marketing- Asian MBA Association 2012

nrkale@indiana.edu