Sunday, March 22, 2009

This semester has been fantastic for a number of reasons. First, now that the 1st semester of the core is over I have been taking classes of most interest to me. The first semester is all about the first 6 classes of the core where you have no flexibility in your schedule. In the second semester however there are only two core classes remaining and depending on your immersion your schedule is up to you. Second, because internship recruiting really heats up this semester, I had a chance to speak with great companies who came to campus looking for those interested and ready for opportunities at their firms. But most importantly, this semester has been great because I have been able to put theory into practice travelling to Dubai to see how companies are positioning themselves within that rapidly emerging market.

Visiting firms is one of the best ways of seeing theory in practice. Taking the operations and strategy core classes, you get to see how firms position themselves to capture and retain market share, at least theoretically. However, visiting firms you get to see up close what firms are up to and the types of impacts they are making. Over spring break, a group of 10 of us from JGSM traveled to Dubai to do just that. We visited manufacturing firms such as ABB and GE, consulting companies such as Booz&Co and BCG, and financial services companies such as Citi and Standard Chartered. We are all interested in working in the Middle East and North Africa region and took the break as an opportunity to visit firms, interview, and build relationships that will make a difference with summer and full time recruiting.

The visit was great and the companies we met were eager to interact with us. There were quite a few JGSM alums and other Cornellians in the region who were all instrumental in opening the doors at these firms. The JGSM network is vast and was critical for pulling off this event. This trip was eye opening for me and revealed the potential to make an impact at firms across the globe. Emerging markets such as Dubai are great places to get in on the ground floor of new business development. Dubai is attractive to multi-nationals firms for the ease of setting up offshore companies. For me (or anyone with limited international experience on your resume), Dubai is highly attractive during or post-MBA. With the only 7-star hotel in the world, tallest building in the world, and other assorted worlds only you-name-its, Dubai is a cool place to do business, gain great experience, and have fun at the same time. This last point is important because when your work is your play, you will never work a day in your life!