We at the India Business Club get lots of questions from prospective students, especially during admissions season. We love to answer these, but in order to ensure that everyone benefits from these, we have started this initiative.

We have selected some of these questions and every week, we approach one current student to answer it from his/her experience. Efforts have been made to get the most relevant profile for answering these. If you have other questions, check out the prospective students page.

What is the Global Initiatives in Management Program and why do students do it?

What is GIM?
Global Initiatives in Management (GIM), a part of Kellogg’s international curriculum, is a highly successful program involves 450 students (across full-time, part-time and executive MBAs). Every full-time MBA student at Kellogg is required to meet a one-credit global elective requirement and GIM is an eligible elective for that requirement. In each class, a group of 30-40 students learn about a country or region in great detail through a combination of guest lectures and a two week in-country visit during the spring quarter.


Kellogg Students with Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan
What will I learn in the course?
The course offers the students a unique opportunity to learn and experience a country or region as a whole. Though I had lived in India until my undergraduate education, I had not had a chance to work there (except for a two-month stint before Kellogg) and I was eager to take the GIM India class. Through the course, I had the opportunity to learn about various aspects of business in India. During every class, I got to listen to a guest expert’s perspectives on a particular topic or industry. This year, we had speakers from diverse industries like healthcare, venture capital, retail and entrepreneurship. Apart from the lectures, students also form small groups to research a topic of their choice relevant to the country or region and submit a final report with their insights. For example, our group is researched the opportunities for venture capital in the mobile sector in India.
What about in-country?
Most Kellogg students love traveling and I am no exception! During the spring break, the students follow up their in class learning with a two week field trip to their respective region or country to meet prominent industry leaders, government officials and conduct research on their projects. During our trip to India, we had the opportunity to meet the Union Home Minister, the Governor of Reserve Bank of India, the CEO of Infosys and other senior leaders in the industry. For our project, we had meetings with venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and network operators to hear their perspectives on the mobile sector. Personally, this was also a great opportunity for me to network with many accomplished professionals in country.
Another aspect of traveling to any region is learning and understanding the culture of that place. Apart from making the usual tourist stops at places like Agra, we made a trip to the Dharavi slums in Mumbai. It was interesting to know that the slum was also a small business hotbed (the annual revenue of the slums is estimated to be over US$500 million!). I was fascinated by how every entrepreneur makes use of the limited resources available to churn out products from oil tins to cookies. Finally, while there are many opportunities to bond with your classmates at Kellogg, the best way to do it is to travel with them.
Anil Goteti (KSM '11) is a member of the India Business Club and was the team leader of GIM India 2010 at Kellogg. Before school, he worked with Qualcomm Inc. as a systems engineer and will be interning with McKinsey & Company during the summer of 2010. He can be reached at agoteti2011 (at) kellogg (dot) northwestern (dot) edu