At the end of Period 2 we were tasked with developing a business plan. My team and I decided to attempt to revolutionize the way in which grocery stores used their consumer data.

Below is a video to our presentation.

For this post I have decided to upload case letter that I have worked on for the Consulting and Strategic Management module. Students were tasked with analyzing a case and provide solutions to the CEO on the best course of action.

CSM Case Letter

“It may not be rocket science, but we certainly treat it like it is.”

In the beginning of 2012 I entered into a partnership with a close friend to start our first business. Our company named Smoked Out Shisha specialized in Shisha (or more commonly known as Hookah in North America) and took up residence in one of Kuala Lumpur’s most renowned restaurants, Souled Out. Shisha’s meteoric rise in Malaysia can be attributed to the influx of middle eastern culture and this opportunity was ripe for the taking.

Approaching two of the most high profile entrepreneurs in the Food and Beverage business in Malaysia was daunting to say the least. Souled Out’s policy was to have tenders to select their partners. And we were up against experienced Shisha vendors with more capital to fund their operations. However, what we offered was a commitment to quality and the hunger to succeed.

Obtaining the partnership was the first step, but it was not the last challenge. Having no prior experience to running a business there were many operational issues that we faced. This included staffing and obtaining reliable suppliers. On top of running a business I was working full time as a Brand Manager at DiGi Telecommunications and over this period I learned a great deal about time management.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SMOKedOUTKL

Within a year, our business was booming and customers at Souled Out were loving our product. We expanded into another of Souled Out’s branches and continued to deliver delicious flavours with great service to our customers.

Now that I am pursuing my MBA at the Sauder School of Business, Smoked Out Shisha has been absorbed by Souled Out and has closed down. This experience combined with my professional career has readied me for an MBA. My time with CIMB has taught me how to manage deadlines and stress. At DiGi I have improved my presentation skills and am practiced in facilitating discussions. As an entrepreneur I have learnt time management practices that have helped me to succeed in a demanding job while running a business.

I trust that my experiences, proactive attitude combined with a Sauder MBA will help me to succeed in future professional endeavours.

For this post, I have decided to upload one of the case memos I’ve worked on during the MBA program. This memo was for the Operations and Logistics course and centred around the Wriston Manufacturing Corporation (WMC). Students were tasked with providing solutions to overcome the company’s troubled Detroit manufacturing plant.

Wriston Case Memo – Gabriel Lim

Rewind back to 2009.

I was fresh out of university and walking into my first day at work in CIMB Bank. Green, raw and brimming with confidence believing that success would come just because I had graduated from one of the top universities in Malaysia.

Now fast forward a couple of months from that point; sleeves rolled up, sitting in the office alone at 11pm on a Friday night and wondering what happened to my social life.

Reality had set in and I was loving it.

During one of my rotations in CIMB Bank I was placed in Marketing Strategy. While still being a ‘trainee’ at the time I was asked to join the working group for the 2 Good 2 True campaign. The campaign was a marketing initiative to grow bank deposits from our customer base. It was a primary focus from our CEO to capitalize on this product as it represented a customers starting point of their relationship with the bank and gave many potential cross-sell opportunities.

The 2 Good 2 Be True Campaign was a huge departure from traditional banking strategies. With marketing budgets that were on par with the fast moving consumer goods industry and marketing themes that captured attention where traditional banking advertisements did not. With the intense focus of our CEO and huge resource deployments the pressure was on, we had to deliver.

(2Good2BeTrue Advertisement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhpkphxUmPg)

In the end, the campaign was a huge success growing deposits 85% from the previous year and growth 2.4 times higher than the industry average.

Being on the working team I was responsible for many of the supporting functions. I handled tracking and reporting of deposit numbers, facilitating weekly update meetings, internal communication of deposit growth and auditing of processes. I did so with little supervision and worked independently from superiors.

This experience gave me exposure to the workings of a company. Being a massive cross-departmental initiative and a keen focus of the CEO I was rubbing shoulders with senior management of a major South East Asian financial institution. It gave me the confidence in my ability to develop presentations and proposals to senior executives.

There are striking similarities to this experience to what I will be going through in the next year when I graduate from the Sauder School of Business. This time with the added weight of expectation but knowing that success comes from personal sacrifice. With the vigorous training of a MBA program and my past experiences I am confident to delivering value to any future company.

In the past year prior to starting my MBA I worked in the telecommunications industry. DiGi Telecommunications (DiGi) was the third largest player in the Malaysian market and our mission was to deliver wireless data to every DiGi customer. Our value proposition included providing voice telephony, messaging, mobile/broadband data services, and the selling of mobile handsets.

I have chosen the telecommunications industry as it is one that I am close to. I have enjoyed the pace of the industry with the rapid rate of technological change, where sources of differentiation are continually evolving. It is up to service providers to maintain profit margins while keeping attrition levels to a minimum. This industry is relevant to my career and is one that I will pursue again in the near future.

Global forecasts indicate that industry revenue is expected to grow at an annualized rate of 5% to $1.5 trillion. Emerging markets have been identified as the fuel for global industry growth. This has been due to the saturation of subscriber growth rates in developed countries and the increasing penetration rates of mobile phones in developing countries. Even Apple, with the launch of the iPhone 5C has taken a drastic change in product design to try and capitalize on this segment. And by the end of 2013, mobile subscriptions worldwide will reach 7.4 billion.

Furthermore, as consumer incomes increase in developing countries there will be a shift in consumer patterns. Consumers are upgrading from the traditional legacy voice and SMS products, which have lower profit margins to become more data driven. Driven by improvements in infrastructure and smartphone adoption rates, consumers in emerging markets are changing their communication habits. This has led to some cannibalization on legacy products but data bundles profit margins for telecommunications service provides are increasing.

Industry growth will be driven further by the roll out of Fourth Generation Networks (4G) that will provide faster data speeds and escalate data usage. 4G will be a game-changer in the industry, just as 3G shaped the data landscape with new value added services. 4G will reshape the data landscape and forecasts indicate that by 2017 85% of the world will have access to 3G, 50% will have access to 4G and the number of smartphones is forecasted to reach 3 billion.

Malaysia is an emerging market and one where telecommunications infrastructure is advancing. Having worked there I am aware of the limitations and the opportunities present for telecommunication companies. I will be able to contribute to activities that attempt to increase Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) as well as creating value propositions to drive smartphone adoption.

Source: IBISWorld

I thought Vancouver was supposed to be cold.

Coming from South-East Asia and only knowing humidity and high temperatures I was looking forward to a change in weather. After being a resident of Vancouver, BC for the past three weeks, summer here is bloody hot! I just so happened to arrive at one of the hottest summers on record for the city.

I’m glad that that has been the only disappointment so far in my MBA journey. MBA prep courses have ended and two days from now the program will officially get under way. Classmates are extremely bright and I’m sure we will be learning plenty from each other over the course of the program. I am excited to share my experiences and lessons learnt and will draw from my life so far to tackle problems that will be coming our way.

Back in Malaysia, I was a product manager for DiGi Telecommunications (a mobile service provider). I have had practical experiences in marketing, project management and process improvement. Having said that I feel humbled by the professors, the school and my fellow MBA students. I am all too aware that my knowledge is just a drop in a vast ocean and it is my duty over the next 16 months to soak up all that the MBA program has to offer.

I decided to undertake an MBA program as I viewed it as a vehicle for career change. My goal is to move from a more marketing centric role to a career in consulting. My dad has an MBA and he has told me that the decision to go through an MBA program was the best decision he has ever made in his professional career. And after two years of dreaming I am finally here.

From the program I expect to be challenged, to have my perseverance put to the test and to have moments when I wonder how I even graduate from university. But I know that I have my professors and fellow MBA victims as support. I intend to work my socks off and to see what great heights the MBA program can help me to scale.

As I stand at the edge of a new chapter in my life I say goodbye to the last.

Goodbye Malaysia (at least for now). Hello Vancouver!

MBA here I come!