The Value of Lenovo GCSC Internship

As you consider whether it is worth it to take half a year out of your university education to pursue an internship in Beijing with Lenovo, there must be many doubts in your mind – Can I trust that this is a good internship with value-adding training, will I be stuck in a exploitative data-entry job in a small China office? Do I want to spend so many months away from home in a possibly less comfortable city without my friends and family? If I do take this risk, can I expect that I would be rewarded? Where can this internship take me in future? What kind of chinese colleagues will I be interacting with?

They were the same doubts that I had in my mind when I chose to embark on this journey. I was in a less luxurious situation because I had needed an overseas internship to fulfil my Masters programme and I was working against time. But on hindsight, I did not regret my decision and I am glad that I had gone for it intuitively. And I suppose it would be even better for you because you would be in a better position than I was as you will benefit from the hindsight and reflections that the four of us (Carena, Yuanxin, Yuxuan & I) intend to share with you in the months ahead. 🙂

In my two months at this posting, I have identified many value-adding elements in this programme and it is my intent to share with you in this post so that you can better evaluate if this would be a good programme for yourself.

A Chinese Company with a Global Profile

While the Lenovo name may be a little less glitzy than other PC names such as Apple or Hewlett Packard (which has just decided to spin off its PC division by the way), it is a strong market player in China and it is increasingly gaining market share in regions such as India, Latin America and Middle East. It is thus, not so much the name of the business (although if you really care about it, Lenovo has just recently inched up into the Global Fortune 500 list) that should be the foremost in your list of consideration but the fact that you would get to see firsthand how a Chinese company is rapidly making its mark in the global arena.

Lenovo’s ‘protect and attack’ strategy (defend mature markets such as the U.S. and Europe, hold market share in China and grow aggressively in emerging markets) has weathered the recent financial crisis well.Just a few days ago, Lenovo reported a first quarter net profit of $108 million, or $1.08 a share, on revenue of $5.92 billion, up 15 percent from a year ago. This signals that while you may not be working in the top PC firm today, you may be here to witness its stellar ascent to becoming one.

Solid Financial AnalysisTraining

As a finance student, you may perhaps be concerned as to what are the possible learnings that you can look to having in this internship. There are four internship positions offered this time round and you can look to either working in the operations team or the methodology team. The learnings for the two positions will be slightly different and perhaps you could best decide which is the better internship position for yourself.

I am with the Methodology team and so on a regular basis I provide worldwide credit-risk report and macro-economic analyses on rapidly emerging markets. I also perform company analyses which leverage on my prior accounting and financial statement analysis knowledge. If you were to work in the operations team like Carena, Yuxuan & Yuanxin, you will be supporting senior credit analyst and managers through drafting daily financial report updates and analysis on customers within your respective region. Through the process you would learn about what are of interest to a billion-dollar company when considering whether to extend trade credits to customers. For example, you would learn about what are the financial backings that such companies must have and what are the various considerations that inform a credit manager’s ultimate decision in credit release. In sum, the training that you receive in GCSC would adequately prepare you for any entry-level financial analyst internship/ job in any major companies, banks or other financial institutions.

A Different City from Singapore

Beijing, also known asPeking, is the capital of the People’s Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19.5million people as of 2010. The city is the country’s political, cultural, educational and military center, and home to the headquarters for most of China’s largest state-owned companies.

Few cities in the world have served as long as the political and cultural centre of an area as immense. Beijing is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. It has been the heart of China’s history for centuries, and there is scarcely a major building of any age in Beijing that does not have at least some national historical significance. The city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, and huge stone walls and gates. Its art treasures and universities have long made it a centre of culture and art in China.

I admit I took this from wikipedia, but you get the idea! 😉 It’s a great city worth exploring! 🙂

Great Colleagues

However, to me, the greatest value add so far has been the opportunity to work alongside capable and nurturing colleagues who have been most kind in sharing their learnings and experiences with me. Each of the team member have tremendous amount of experience in credit risk management, and ther genuine willingness to teach and help you would greatly enrich your academic learnings outside the classroom. The colleagues are an motivated, jovial team of workers who will make your time in Beijing a really enjoyable and rewarding one.

Through structured sharings sessions, lunch conversations and office banters, you would also find yourself deeply immersed in a cross-cultural and societal experience that will initiate you to the ways of the Chinese. However, they would not be so different as you because many of them have also been to international schools just like us in Singapore. As such, you would be impressed by how some of the knowledge workers of the Chinese economy are indeed very global and open-minded in their outlook and assessment of issues.

Understanding China

Finally, as China becomes a non-negligible economic force in the world, I believe that there exists an imperative for us as Singaporeans to understand more about the changing dynamics in its society and its economy. The internship at Lenovo (Beijing) will really give you a chance to penetrate deep into the society and gain a meaningful understanding of China. Through interacting with ordinary Chinese citizens, you will also grow to understand their lives and aspirations and an insider’s view of how they view their own society and the challenges/ issues ahead.

Having said so much, my point is not to convince you that this is the best internship out there in the market. What I mean to say however is that there are significant and meaningful learnings that you can hope to obtain. If you would like to consolidate your financial/ credit risk management knowledge, learn more about the Chinese market and society, and perhaps enjoy living in another city, you may want to consider the Lenovo GCSC internship.