GUIDELINES FOR SUMMER INTERN PROJECT BY MBA STUDENTS OF

CHRIST UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

SUMMER OF 2012
Students are required to undergo summer interns for a period of 2 months
commencing generally from 1st April immediately after their 3rd end trimester exams.
The objective of the summer interns is to provide an opportunity to the students to get
exposed to the work culture of organizations and to simultaneously pursue a
management problem / issue, specific to the area where the student is doing the
summer intern.
Which company or project to choose for SIP?
Students are expected to use their net-working and get a suitable project during
summer vacation. The company could be of their choice. While choosing the
company or the project, the students may keep in mind the following:

Their career interest

The reputation of the company
The quality of the project they are likely to undertake

While the third point is compulsory, the first two are not that important if the project
is good in terms of the exposure and learning opportunities the project may provide.
We have seen in the past that projects in good reputed companies have not been
properly handled by the students and projects in not so reputed companies have been
handled by the students exceedingly well also. So it is in your hands as to how you
would commit to the project work.
Students should finalize their company and obtain approval for summer
internship from the companies on or before 1 st March 2012 and provide the
company details to their respective faculty mentors.
Expected learning from the summer interns:
The student while doing the summer intern should expect that the learning can take
place in the following areas:
Learn about the companys products and to sell the companys products
Learn the various processes and systems within the company or at the area of
work
Learn the work and discipline culture of the organization
Learn to relate to the companys vision
Learn to network with the staff
Learn about people management
Learn to be punctual at the work place
Learn the discipline rules of the company and adhere to the same

In order to ensure that the above learnings happen in a structured way, the student
should choose a project that will keep the student fully engaged with the company
where the summer intern is undertaken.
While chosing the topic the student should keep the following broad principles in
mind:
Normally when the prospect company is approached by the student for summer
intern, the company official would ask the student about his/her area of interest. In
order to answer this question in a proper way, the student should do enough ground
work before approaching the company official. Please do not say that you would do
whatever they ask you to do. It would place you in a poor light and the company
official may not be inclined to give you any work, as you havent done any ground
work before approaching them.
The ground work would involve, knowing thoroughly about the company in terms of
its operations, products, financial numbers, various areas where project could be done,
branch offices details, company history, core strengths of the companies, its market
position, competitors, growth history etc etc etc.
This would normally enable the student to create good impression with the company
official and they would be inclined to give a good project to the student.
Further guidelines in this regard are as follows:
The project should be related to the company / area where the summer intern
is undertaken.
The project should be such that, in order to do the project, the student should
have requirement for inputs from the company where the summer intern is
undertaken. In other words, if the project can be done without any inputs from
the company, such projects would not be acceptable.
Primary data is not a compulsion. However, if the project is such, which needs
primary data, the same can be worked upon by the student. The student can
work with secondary data.
The student should read more from all possible sources concerning the area of
the project before finalizing the topic for the project.
Before finalizing the project topic, the student should assess the available data
inputs from the company where summer intern is being carried out and then
decide on the project.
The student should also keep in mind the privacy of the data and
confidentiality of the analysis which the company may insist, in which case
the student should ensure that the project work does not get hampered due
to this.
Normally the students encounter the following pitfalls while doing summer interns:

The project guide would be normally busy with his / her office work that they
would not have sufficient time to guide you. (Normally the project guides
would be free during the end of the day-else find out- and hence the students

should try to approach them during this time to get clarifications or to keep the
project guide updated on the progress)
No data pertaining to the business of the company may be made available to
you easily to do your summer interns. Or no data may be available to provide
you for your project. (You should be aware of such limitations and constraints
even before you start the project and hence should choose such projects where
such constraints are not there. In such cases you can attempt to use publicly
available information of the company or such information that would not
normally affect the confidentiality aspect)
The company would normally expect you to sell their products (atleast for a
part of the time) instead of allowing you to do full fledged project work
confining to office. (Sales job should not be considered as menial. It is very
important aspect of the summer intern training, as many companies would
expect you to do it. But, apart from sales, you should also take up a project
which would involve analysis and data compilation. A chapter could be
included in the project report about the sales experience, nature of the product
sold, clients whom you met, problems encountered etc etc etc.
You may not be provided with sufficient office space to sit and work on your
project comfortably. (Be flexible enough in the work place to adjust to this
situation)

Other general guidelines for the students:

The student should observe proper dress code while on summer interns or while
meeting the customers of the company and representing the company where summer
interns is pursued.
The student should be punctual for work.
The student should ensure that the routines of the company guide is not disturbed due
to the project work of the student and the student should in fact support the company
guide in his / her work as permitted by the guide. The student shall approach the
company guide during the lean hours of the guide for learnings and for project work.
The student should keep the company guide informed from time to time about the
progress of the project and the work assignment.
The student should also keep the faculty guide informed on a weekly basis about the
progress of the project and the work assignment through emails. It should be ensured
that the emails are continuous so that earlier correspondence can be referred at any
point of time.
The student should always uphold the values of Christ University Institute of
Management at work and ensure at all times that the name of the University is
maintained or enhanced in the eyes of the company where summer intern is carried
out.
The student can use the following structure while building up the project report of
summer intern:

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.

Executive Summary
Introduction to the topic
Industry Profile
Company Profile
The problem statement
Objectives of the study
Project Design and Methodology
Data analysis and findings
Learning outcome from the study and during the period of work at the
company.
j. Suggestions from the study
k. References, Bibliography and Appendices
The student should prepare hard copy as follows: 1 for the department, 1 for the
student and 1 for the company if required.
The report should be carried out with the following specifications:
Size 50-75 pages (indicative including tables etc)
Font size for the body should be 12 with 1 line spacing with head
lines in 14
A4 size executive bond paper
Font style is Times New Roman
Foot notes and References can be added at the end of each chapter if
necessary
Bibliography can be added at the end of the report if necessary
Bar charts and diagrams can be used wherever necessary
Project completion certificate from the company
The students should obtain completion certificate from the company approved guide
where summer interns is carried out and the same should be a part of the hard copy
project report.
Minimum period of summer interns project:
Students are expected to put in a minimum of 6 weeks in summer interns project. It is
possible that you may start the project a week later or complete the project a week
earlier. However it should be ensured that the project should be done in the company
for a minimum of 6 weeks during the summer vacation and your certificate from the
company should attest this fact.
Time frame for completion of the project:
Completion of discussion with the mentor with draft copy : 15th June 2012
Final submission of hard copy to the mentor

: 20th June 2012

The students should gear up to adhere to the above schedule, while doing the summer
interns.
Assessment procedures:
Your SIP work would be assessed by the internal faculties on the basis of the
following parameters:
Organization and Area of study
: 20%
Project Design and Data Collection
: 20%
Analysis and Interpretation of data
: 20%
Learnings, Conclusions and Suggestions
: 20%
Reporting regularity during the SIP with the faculty : 20%
Stressing again, good projects can be messed up or bad projects (if at all there is one)
can be made into excellent ones. The choice is yours, how you handle it.
Wishing you all the best.
PROF.T.S.RAMACHANDRAN