XLRI Strategy in action

1. Strategy and You
- By Ashish Dongre
An IIMB NSRCEL & Goldman Sachs SupportedFirm

2. My Experience so far
 Total experience now – 16+ years
 Metallurgy Engineer
 7 years of Pre MBA experience
 Shop floor,
 Projects
 Corporate
 EPGP – IIM Bangalore
 Life post MBA
 Took up a difficult seeming job in a not so well performing company

3. How to choose, the transition
 I was quite gung ho about consulting, also took some electives to this
effect
 Had many offers, including consulting, MNCs, sales etc
 Initially was keen to go into management consulting and got ivy league
offers
 Wanted to get into a position where I can make a difference and the
impact could be seen long term
 Focused on person who I was going to work with and opportunity to
make impact

4. Life Post MBA, How it fared
 Joined as EA to Promoters of GVK Group
 2012-2013 mid - Responsible for change in the way the group reporting
and decision making worked
 2013-2014 – was given charge of operationalizing Terminal 2
 2014 onwards
 2 big M&A transactions 600 Mn USD and 1.2 Bn USD respectively
 Almost 2 Bn USD restructuring and settlement
 Divestment strategy
 Business Development head for Africa
 Head of Real Estate for 100 acres of land at Mumbai Airport
 Innovation Lab at Mumbai Airport

5. What is Strategy
 Simply put Strategy is ‘Structured way of thinking’
 There can be long term Strategy and Short term strategy
 However a strategy is only as good as its ‘Implement-ability’
 Having a good strategy means having a robust framework of parameters
for decision making

6. What is Corporate Strategy
 Strategy and Corporate Strategy are generally used interchangeably, but
 Corporate Strategy is generally used for a decision on multi business and multi
parameter business
 This is generally a team of people, part of the corporate or central team
 Working directly with the promoters or the CEO of the organization
 Day to day operational decision making is not part of their purview
 They mainly focus on a time horizon of more than one year

7. What Does a person in strategy do?
 Part of overall steering group for the company or group
 Responsible for making the overall plan and roadmap for the company as
a whole (each unit, SBU may have goals based on this plan)
 Gives guidance in annual Planning and Budgeting exercise based on
overall plan. The detailing is however left to business owners
 Takes up strategic projects directly – projects which within a short or
medium term can help achieve the stated goals
 In time of crisis leads the way by working along with the team in-charge or
independently

8. What Skills are needed to be in a corporate strategy role?
 Fast learner
 Ability to number crunch quickly
 Ability to see the larger picture
 Ability to draw patterns
 Ability to take up leader or supporting role from time to time
 Ability to jump into diverse situations and come up with solutions
 Good temperament and patient behavior
 Financial modeling – added advantage
 Legal, domain knowledge may come in handy based on profile

9. Most Important Tool In My Journey
 Right attitude
 Continuous learning
 No fear

10. Other Important Tools
 Keep abreast with latest developments in the company and globally
 A slow start too leads to fast track in due course
 Financial Acumen
 Thinking holistically
 Presentation and excel
 Do what you want, but be open to ideas,
 Multi tasking

11. Challenges faced
 Plenty
 Too much expectation
 Skepticism
 Old hands
 Short term is the only priority- always
 Long term is always ambiguous
 Ambiguity is the only certainly

12. What helped from MBA
 Networking
 Brainstorming
 Thinking and vocalizing fearlessly
 Creating small groups and working
 Fast information collection and analysis
 Failure

13. Courses that helped
 Economics
 Financial analysis
 Technology and strategy
 Mergers and acquisition
 Marketing strategy
 Operations strategy
 Analytics and making sense of data

14. Live Projects – Most important tool
 Approach Corporates
 Network
 Latch on to new projects, even for a subject in a trimester
 Collaborate for case studies
 Ask professors for live projects.

15. Tips for doing well
 Be nimble
 Be ready to learn even after MBA – It’s a continuous process
 During each subject try to understand the practical application of each
concept. Before and after every class try to find application of each concept
 Be ready for a lot of changes, lot of shocks, that’s why being dynamic will
help

16. Possible roles
 EA to CEO, Director, Promoter
 Business analyst in consulting or IB
 Management consulting
 Corporate strategy team of corporate
 Govt. departments of smart city, urban planning
 Political analyst, strategist

17. What your strategy interview may be
 What is strategy
 Your Life strategy
 How exactly has MBA helped you
 Where you want to be in x years
 Work strategy
 How differently would you handle a situation from past, now
 Hypothetical crisis situation – to see if you strategize or problem solve
 What do you think you will be doing and how?
 Market strategy – what a particular company should do from here – Vodafone, Tata motors etc.
 Discuss about few ongoing issues, National, Political, Business etc. Idea is to know
 How informed you are
 Do you have a view on various aspects of life – current affairs or controversies
 How you approach an external situation – a crisis or challenge
 Number estimation game

18. FAQ’s – what your counterparts in other campuses asked
 How do I prepare for this role
 Will it be an entry level role
 I don’t have experience of this in past, how do I show it in my resume?
 What are the exit options
 What do people in corporate strategy do?

19. Impact of Covid
 May need to compromise on initial role and salary, but don’t be
disheartened
 With great trouble comes great opportunity
 Don’t be shy to get into distressed companies and try to make a difference
 Give importance to learning and contribution that you may be able to
make rather than to the cushy jobs or blingy designations

20. FAQs
 What is Corporate Strategy? Strategy is a generic word which can be applied to all
domains and industries. How is Corporate Strategy different from strategies in
different domains?
 What roles are available in Corporate Strategy domain? What roles are offered for a
typical one year MBA campus?
 What are the responsibilities of a Corporate Strategist? Is it limited to advisory
responsibilities or extend to execution of strategy as well?
 What skills are required to land in Corporate Strategy?
 How to leverage MBA for a switch from different domains to Corporate Strategy?
How difficult it is to switch domain to Corporate Strategy?
 How to crack the interview of Corporate Strategy role?
 How is General Management and EA to top management different from Corporate
Strategy?
 How important is domain knowledge in Corporate Strategy role?
 How is career growth in Corporate Strategy domain?

21. FAQs
 What is Corporate Strategy? Strategy is a generic word which can be applied to all domains
and industries. How is Corporate Strategy different from strategies in different domains?
 What roles are available in Corporate Strategy domain? What roles are offered for a typical
one year MBA campus?
 What are the responsibilities of a Corporate Strategist? Is it limited to advisory
responsibilities or extend to execution of strategy as well?
 What skills are required to land in Corporate Strategy?
 How to leverage MBA for a switch from different domains to Corporate Strategy? How
difficult it is to switch domain to Corporate Strategy?
 How to crack the interview of Corporate Strategy role?
 How is General Management and EA to top management different from Corporate
Strategy?
 How important is domain knowledge in Corporate Strategy role?
 How is career growth in Corporate Strategy domain?