Week 5 of the program just finished. We are all past the stage of polite introductions, acknowledgements and acquaintance. Everyone now has relatable experiences to bind them together. Sleepless nights, business cases, leadership lab and the upcoming personal development elective. Conveniently we are starting to see a beautiful cohesion in the content taught at the program and also in the group work we are assigned to complete.
Throughout the week, we learnt how to position a company in the market using its competitive advantage. We also learnt what it meant to enter a mature and competitive market and conversely how to respond to such an entry. We looked at some of the most operationally efficient companies in the world and analyzed their value chains to understand and quantify the competitive advantage. We got an interesting introduction to Finance and got first hand experience on how to build internal cash flows for evaluating several strategies of a business. All of this tied into our increasing understanding of microeconomics, regulation and partnerships. Its quite impressive how this much information got condensed into a week and even more impressive how we’ve been able to keep up with the content. It felt like we’ve been served all of this introductory content as a humongous buffet. Can’t wait to see what’s up for lunch.
Even with so much happening in the class, some of us found time to self-reflect, hit the gym, square off at table tennis and go out to some famous spots in Lausanne. All in all a very eventful week at IMD.
Feature image: Aptly, I decided to get some breakfast buffet and watch the snowflakes settle on a quiet Sunday
Parth
For this week, I asked some of my classmates for their opinions on the program and the content:
“I don’t think you can truly appreciate the poetic beauty hidden in a fully integrated and meticulously coordinated MBA course load until your Economics professor quotes your Marketing professor in good-humor at 8am on a sunny Friday morning… Coffee in hand, lake in backdrop, 90 people chuckling in unison – IMD, you rock! :D” – Veronika Raszler
“IMD is full of surprises. In trying to find a method in this madness, I have turned some acquaintances into friends and also started an exciting journey of learning and self awareness. Just waiting to see how the coming 10 months will unfold.” – Sonia Sachdeva
“My first weeks at IMD flew by in the blink of an eye. I hardly believe that a month has passed since I met 89 extraordinary colleagues who will surely become life-time friends. IMD has managed to constantly surprise me with inspiring and fascinating classes. This month has shown me that the journey will be intense but extremely rewarding!” – Guilherme Mendes
“IMD’s MBA has been a great start to my leadership development journey. The learning has challenged my assumptions and changed the lens through which I see the world around me. It has been a truly transformational experience. I’m really excited about the rest of the year and beyond.” – Praveen Sam
