Ross Ambassador Blog

MAP in Ohio

Hi folks!

Following Annie's post I'll share my MAP experience, and my absence in the past months is because of that.

My project is somewhat standard:

a) for-profit company;

b) six people team;

c) market entry / new product development.

I'm in such a diverse team, with three international and the remainder American students. The pre-MBA background is diverse as well: a mechanical engineer with experience on construction industry, an accounting consultant, a management consultant, a finance guy, someone with experience in the renewable energy sector and myself, a sales and marketing man. 

We started our project doing a lot of research in terms of geographical and technological research, in order to find out which regions would be most promising ones. Technology and customer segmentation played very important roles in narrowing down some targets, then we conducted several interviews with potential customers and right now we're finalizing our recommendations, final presentation and final report. It's a lot to do, in so little time!

The group interaction was very important throughout the project, and we were able to learn a lot from each one's opinions, perspectives and backgrounds. This situation was very important to me, since I'm switching to management consulting over the summer so having this MAP experience made me realize that (1) I like this environment of team-based projects and (2) it made me a better team player in terms of learning from others and sharing my own expertise.

I hope all you guys enjoyed GBR, for those who came. Last year it was an important event to me and clearly helped me to decide to come to Ross! Hope to see you after the summer!

 

MAP in D.C.

Thought some reflections on MAP might be in order.  I'd say I have somewhat of a less traditional project, since
a) we're working for a non-profit
b) there are only four people on my team
c) all four are women, which certainly not the norm in business school.

We spent the week of March 19th in Washington D.C. to meet the sponsor and gather information.  Though we did conduct no fewer than 17 1-hour interviews in 5 days, our sponsor was kind enough to encourage us to see the city and to give us the time to do so.  The weather was beautiful - I had been to DC before, but largely in the summer, which was hotter than I care to describe - and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom (see picture below of me nearly bumping into a tree), which was even better than advertised.  The best thing about the weather was that it gave us the chance to get a sense of the neighborhoods just by walking around.  My favorite was probably the cobblestone streets and campus of Georgetown, but it was nice to get a better sense of the city overall.

The team interplay has also been interesting.  I think the most valuable thing I've learned in business school so far is how to work effectively with, and learn from, people who think differently than I do.  My team has very different backgrounds (PR/Communication, financial consulting, political fundraising, and...me....I guess nonprofit/investment research?  weird slash...) and often different skills as well, and though it sounds cheesy, we really are better together than we would ever be apart.  Hopefully we'll continue to be better together, since we need to produce a final presentation in just over two weeks!  I'll be sure to give you some final reflections on MAP after the fact.

Hope you admits are planning on attending GBR next weekend - though I'm not generally a fan of large-scale social events (hmm, can you say that and still be someone people want to hang out with?), I thought GBR was a blast and, more importantly, a really great way to get a taste of the Ross culture.  Hope to see you there!

Photo Credits: Kate Casolaro - thanks!

In-N-Out of India (No, not the Burger…)

These past four weeks in India have flown by; I can’t believe we are coming back to the U.S. in just a few days.  We all enjoyed the field visits and the chance to talk with the rural villagers about their experiences and opinions about eyeglasses.  I’ll also really miss the food (I tried doing a lassi a day – quite successful).  Here are some memorable moments:

Village Interviews – we interviewed a couple women, and when we asked what their occupation was, they named a few roles, then eventually said “We do EVERYTHING!”  I guess some things don’t change wherever you are in the world.  :) We went to an eye screening camp that was held at a school, and here is my teammate Elvira giving this girl a high FIVE! 

The great thing about these kids was that they were initially very shy, but they would eventually inch closer and closer to us out of curiosity, and at some point, all shyness would go away.  It was cute.

Gender differences are still prevalent though, at least in the villages.  On one of the drives into a village, we saw women picking wheat, moving bricks, carrying maneuver piles, etc.  Then we interviewed a group of men (who were playing cards at the time), and while most of them had their eyes checked and saw the benefits of glasses, none of them saw the need for their wives to get their eyes checked. 

In yet another village, we interviewed this man.  Pretty healthy for someone who is 102 years old, eh?

Unpaved Paths – some parts of yesterday’s drive to the village was especially bumpy, though we saw a lot of road construction in progress.  We asked our driver what he thought of all the road construction, and he said “If the roads are too smooth, drivers will fall asleep, so it’s better to keep the roads bumpy.”  Ha!  We also had another driver who, as we approached the toll booth, busted a u-turn on the highway, cut through oncoming traffic, drove onto a side dirt path, barely passed through a 8-ft vertical pole, cut back onto the oncoming traffic, and continued back along the highway - just to avoid paying toll.

Jaipur – we met up with a couple of the MAP teams in Jaipur one weekend, and we all attended a dinner at the Chokki Dhani Village, which consisted of music, dance, and entertainment.  It was similar to a carnival, but with a Rajasthan theme.  It was my first time on a camel!  And as b-school students, of course we had to dress up!

This is our (good-looking) MAP team inside the Amber Fort ;)

We’re headed to see the Taj Mahal this weekend – can’t wait!  Ann Arbor – see you in a few days.  GO BLUE!