Industry Visits: Bridging the gap between theoretical and practical Learning

Industry Visits: Bridging the Gap between Theoretical and Practical Learning

Learning from textbooks, lectures and other study material does not suffice for holistic learning. Practical, hands-onlearning is essential for better understanding of work processes and business functions. For students pursuing Marketing/ Finance/Operations/Supply Chain etc., industrial visits help them gain hands-on experience of how industry operations are executed. Industry visits bridge the gap between theoretical training and practical learning in a real-life environment. They provide opportunity for active/interactive learning experiences in-class as well outside the classroom environment. Students are able to better identify their prospective areas of work in the overall organizational function and they also help enhance interpersonal skills and communication techniques. Students become more aware of Industry practices and regulations during Industry Visits and they broaden the outlook of students with exposure to different workforces from different industries. IILM believes in experiential learning where theory is supplemented with practical experience and application of concepts. As part of this thought IIILM has adopted the practice of Industrial Visits as a value-added learning method for management students. IILM took the students on several Industrial Visits where students had a great learning experience. OYO Corporate Office We got an opportunity to visit OYO Corporate Office in Sector 69, Gurugram as a part of Industry Visit. OYO is known as the world’s fastest growing operated hotel chain which focusses on providing standard rooms at affordable price with high quality and basic amenities like air conditioner, Wi-Fi, breakfast, television, etc. OYO stands for 'Own Your Own'. It does not own most of the properties rather it operates them. The objective of the visit was to gain insight about the working of hospitality sector and comprehend the theory studied in our curriculum with practical business environment. We met Ms Pooja Falwariya who was working there as an HR Manager taking care of campus placement and learning. She is an alumnus of IILM, Lodhi Road, 2017 batch. She shared her professional life experience about the internships with reputed brands such as Marks and Spencer, Sterlite Power, Dassault, etc. which helped her gain practical knowledge and exposure required for corporate life. Since it is a fast changing world, we need to keep ourselves updated with the happenings and focus on acquiring new skillsets. We learnt about the working of OYO hotel chains, its strategies and different business models like OYO Townhouse, OYO Life, OYO Weddingz, Oyo Power Stations. Its hotels are also listed in Make My Trip, Clear Trip and other platforms which helps in increasing its market share. We were amazed with how it was started by Ritesh Agarwal when he was just 18 years old and how he transformed the conceived problem into business opportunity. We wanted to know the role of HR in OYO. We learnt that the role of HR is not just limited to managing people which is considered as the technical definition of HR, rather it is much beyond that.

Students at OYO, world’s fastest growing affordable operated hotel chain

The personal experience shared by Ms Pooja provided an overview of corporate life. Since it is a fast changing world, we need to keep ourselves updated with the latest happenings and focus on acquiring new skillsets. Overall, it was good industry visit. We got an opportunity to learn many new things. We were also able to comprehend the theory studied during our course with corporate world. We would like to thank our college who gave us an opportunity to be a part of such visit. We look forward to such informative visits in future. Winnie Ranjan PG 1

T&T Motors T&T Motors are the dealers of Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Delhi/NCR & Rajasthan. With exclusive retail business in these markets, T&T Motors is well positioned to satisfy customer demands in Sales & Service. World-class facilities enable a competitive team to get ahead of others in customer enhancement. The Industry Visit was at the Flagship Store at Mathura Road where we were greeted and welcomed by our facilitator at the T&T premises. Mr Jha briefed us about the three important things that keeps any organization alive and successful - People, Processes & Product/Services and we were given a detailed presentation about the company which began with detailed information about T&T (Talwar & Talwar) Motors and its vintage history in the industry having an experience of 75 years which now happens to be a kingpin in automobile retail industry with sales of 2000 cars & 30000+ cars being serviced every year. We were also told about the fact that T&T holds 90% of the market share in sales of Mercedes Benz cars in Northern India. Not only Mercedes but the Allied group of T&T are also responsible for bringing the new potential international automobile brands like KIA in India. They already have 4 stores set up in Gurugram & Noida. Thereby we were briefed about the company presence in the northern part of the country and its network. After the descriptive company overview, the major part of the presentation and meeting was about HR aspects of the company and their policies in the segment, by telling us about how their recruitment drive and selection of appropriate candidates to work for their organization results in obtained the desired numbers at the end of the year. It was made obvious and clear about their transparent system and approach towards hiring and how as an MBA or PGDM students can build their profiles to land themselves in such organizations. Talking about recruitment, Mr Jha shared his viewpoints and must dos for a management student about how we should groom ourselves in the industry by sharing his own example. Right after this discussion he made us familiar with the work culture and benefits from an employee perspective and talked about: • Employee Welfare Policy • How to keep an employee happy and his security • Career opportunities & growth at T&T • List of best HR practices adopted by T&T • Compliance & Integrity These were the few topics which we all discussed in depth. We also had an interactive exchange on the topic Whistle Blower under company policy and compliances. We were also told about the types of jobs offered at T&T Motors – Mercedes Benz such as Technical Jobs. For students with Engineering & Diploma in Engineering Background and Management Jobs for MBA/PGDM students (Specialization in HR, Sales and Marketing & Client Relationship Manager). After the presentation few of us were allowed to visit the high end unit of the Mercedes Benz (AMG) along with Karan Ahuja (APC Sales Expert) and were briefed about how these cars are manufactured, their technical details and most important how operations and handling of these vehicles is completely different from others. We asked a lot of questions that were answered to our satisfaction. This was a very interesting and educative Industry Visit where we learnt the following: • We gained new knowledge & experience about premium car retailing and high end service facilitation in Indian Auto Industry.

Students at T&T Motors, dealers of Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Delhi/NCR & Rajasthan

• We were briefed about T&T motors and its history, their presence in the country with different kinds of showrooms having their own specialty. • We were briefed about organization’s unique HR practices and how it has helped them set themselves apart from the industry and thereby emerging as a retailing brand. • We discussed about Major HR practices from an employee’s point of view like EWP, career opportunities, how to keep an employee happy etc. Akash PK PG 1 L'Oréal L'Oréal is a French personal care company. It is the world’s largest cosmetic company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair colour, skin care, make-up etc.The industry

visit was very interesting where we initially began with the introduction of all the students. We were first told about recruitment and how the strategy has been changed with more off campus recruitment. We were told about IILM alumni working at L’Oreal and how a majority of people working at L’oreal are part of the Sales Team. We were apprised about the benefits at L'Oréal such as thirty days of annual holidays; foreign visits; one month salary as gift when you get married; priority on the safety of women and daily travel allowance which is the highest in industry. On students being more employable we were told that we should be clear about what area we want to work in and should be passionate about it because during interviews L’Oreal looks for attitude in candidates because while work can be taught, passion and attitude cannot be taught. Ayushi Goel PG 1

parts of northern India. We were also told about the production and the products of the company which is mainly in south India and it is local in their production process catering to the local tastes. We also learnt about the operations and how the Company’s model is fast changing to cope with the dynamic environment. Some of their concerns are the large volume of compliance work and employee retention. We were also shared the job profiles for HR, Finance and Sales roles that are located mainly in the southern parts of India, Mumbai and Kolkata. They have 600+ employees on payroll and the factories work as separate profit centers. The visit was very interesting as we gained insights into the operations of FMCG Industry, work profiles in this industry, particular skill set required to build a career in the FMCG industry. We were briefed about 3 major aspects, Production, Working (format and procedures) and Job Profiles. Some other valuable insights that we gained in this particular company was about HR practices and it’s specific approach of handling finance (front ending roles) & sales force. Smriti Garodia PG 1

Industry visit at L’Oreal the French personal care company

Modern Foods To know the working of FMCG industry, the work profiles, skills required for being a potential employee and also to find area of interest as management students, we visited Modern Foods. The visit began with the introduction of the company which included the company’s interesting history. It was the first major company to bring bread to the Indian market in 1965. The company was acquired by HUL in 2000s but the company’s performance was poor as a result of which about 7-8 factories were shut down. Later, Everstone Capital Private Equity acquired Modern Foods and targeted to grow the company’s revenue but due to demonetization and the news of presence of potassium bromate in the product, they fell short of the target. Now they are working hard to achieve the goal. The company has faced many ups and downs but continues to deliver best quality products pan India except for some Students learning about the FMCG industry at Modern Foods

KANTAR IMRB KANTAR IMRB (formerly IMRB International) is a market research, survey and business consultancy firm. Headquartered in Mumbai, India with operations in over 15 countries IMRB is a part of the Kantar Group, WPP’s research, insights, and consultancy network. With over 1200 employees, KANTAR IMRB is one of the largest providers of market research in India in an industry estimated to be worth a minimum of $ 187 million. As the oldest market research company in India, KANTAR IMRB has been responsible for establishing the first and only household panel, the first television audience measurement system and the first radio panel in the country and has played a key role in the

development of market research in India. It has been rated the ‘Best Market Research Company’ by industry body Market Research Society of India (MRSI) for several years. The visit commenced with the introduction to 'Market' by Mr Jones where he explained that market can be geographic (Delhi), demographic (Youth), industry/product (Computer). He conducted an activity (DOG) to explain reasoning, HYPOTHESIS (expectations prior survey), Sample Survey and Proving/Disproving of Hypothesis and explained the types of Market Research (Open Ended and Close Ended) and their application. We were also briefed about the different bases on which Market Research is conducted and told about different frameworks used for understanding markets. We also learnt about the Company’s Vision - to provide services to client to make it an extraordinary world as well as the services provided to their global clients - Vision Strategy,

KANTAR IMRB, a market research, survey and business consultancy firm was an interesting exposure for the students

Brand Strategy, Performance Optimization & Prediction among other services. We were told about the usage of technology such as Facial Recognition, Specialist Software, Heat mapping, Barcode Scanning, Virtual Reality and the development of SEC (Socio Economic Classification) which used as a standard metric. We also became aware about their contribution towards Government Scheme – Swach Survekshan Grameen - using app-based technology which ranked districts based on Rural Sanitation (Issued by the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation). Finally we had an interesting discussion about job prospects and skill sets required for a job in the market and students had many queries which they answered. This was an interesting industry visit that exposed us to the real world outside our classrooms. Sai Varsha Reddy PG 1 AMUL AMUL is the largest food brand in India and Asia. It has a diverse portfolio of consumer products ranging from milk, yogurt, ghee, paneer, butter, milk powder, ice-cream etc. It holds 33% market share in India and faces competition from brands like Nestle, Mother Dairy and Britannia. The reason for AMUL’s success is good quality products, value for money, easy availability and most importantly its robust supply chain and strong distribution network that initiates in villages and ends in our consumption baskets. Students of BBA Batch 2019-22 were taken on a company visit to Banas Dairy, Faridabad. Company Visits are educational trips as they reinforce the lessons taught in the class. It is a great bonding experience for both the course faculty and the students. New environment and interaction with the company management provides an experiential learning experience for the students. It’s a transition from instructional class formats to experiential learning. The institution provided the students with a member of the Amul plant to walk them through the dairy and give a detailed description of the products from the procurement to its sales. The students met at 10.00 am at the dairy dressed in formal attire where they started their journey to this new experience. The students were guided through the plant and were shown how the milk is packed in plastic packets from the tanks and were explained the procedure for the same. They were also given details of how Amul processes cottage cheese and then further uses it’s residue to manufacture milk powder. After understanding how the extensive line of products is sold by Amul, the students were seated in a room where the plant members projected a worthwhile documentary that consisted of Amul’s history, how the milk is collected and converted into different products, its product as well as stories of the consumers and importance of Amul in their lives. The students were also given milk and ice creams by Banas Dairy during the documentary which they enjoyed. The documentary built interest in the students and they could ask questions at the end of the projection in order to solve their queries. Their questions were answered by the guide and they were given further details about how Amul functions. With this, the students dispersed with a mind full of new knowledge and an experience they would always remember and acknowledge. Titeeksha Aggarwal, UG 1