Page 23 - Insight 2018

VISIT TO

SILICON VALLEY

An Experience of a Lifetime

By Shaela Safwan (Senior Manager, Quality Assurance)

My visit to San Francisco California was arranged by Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) LUMS, to complete the Globalisation Module for
the Executive MBA Session 2017, with the collaboration of a US Strategy firm; Concordia Ventures. I feel excited to share this experience with PTCL
family, a few glimpses of which have also been added.

OBJECTIVE OF THE GLOBALISATION ORGANISATIONS VISITED
MODULE My visit to many of the companies in the Silicon Valley gave me

The globalisation module, which lasted a duration of 11 days, is an integral incredible exposure. The comfortable work place environment and
the open culture was remarkable. Some of the companies present
component of the EMBA programme and is equivalent to one full course. had evolved from start-ups into successful corporations, whilst large
Amongst other things, it educated participants regarding the success organisations such as SAP, Google and Oracle were doing miraculous
stories of many venture firms in the Silicon Valley. It also helped me realise
how different my organisation is to theirs,’ as well as enabled me to identify jobs related to corporate entrepreneurship.
the issues in my workplace. I took this as an opportunity to bring forth
ideas for further improvement in existing processes and practices at PTCL. • Elastica: The NIS Solution Provider
• SAP: Strategic Design & Co-Innovation Centre
• PayActiv: Work Health Services
The primary areas of discussion included the following topics: • VPNet / BIA / CITRIX: A successful Entrepreneur and Venture
The history and ecosystem of Silicon Valley and how it fast-tracked the Capitalist
success of entrepreneurialism through a culture of knowledge-sharing • Sequoia: The Venture Capitalist firm
and learning. • Google: Corporate and Customer Services Block
• Innovation and its importance. • SkyDeck: Incubator in UC Berkeley
• Venture creation, pitching, marketing, scalability concepts. • Pillsbury: Business Law firm
• Importance of corporate entrepreneurship for organisations. • Draper University: Leading Entrepreneurship programmes
• Case studies related to international marketing strategy. • Graduate School of Business Stanford: Campus Visit
• Networking with US entrepreneurs. • Berkeley-HAAS: School of Business, UC Berkeley/Big Data
Strategy
• Mentorship from experienced Venture Capitalists (VCs). • Berkeley Engineering School
I would like to thank PTCL and the LUMS Business School EMBA faculty
for arranging this marvelous visit filled with learning and exposure. I
highly recommend all EMBA students to avail this opportunity.

Crossword Hint-Realistic

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