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Corporate Internships and Career Intentions: A Pre- and Post-Internship Analysis
No full textAbstract
The study investigates the shift in students’ interests and attitudes towards pursuing careers in specific departments before and after completing internships, with a particular focus on collectivist contexts. Grounded in David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory and Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Career theory, the research employs mixed method design comprising quantitative surveys (n=175) and quantitative in-depth interviews (n=10). Findings reveal that interns whose departmental placements aligned with their initial interests were most likely to sustain those preferences post internship, while misaligned placements often prompted reconsideration. Key influencing factors include self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and personal goals, alongside cultural and gender norms. The study underscores significance of psychological and contextual elements in shaping students’ departmental pathways and highlights how internship structures can either reinforce or disrupt professional careers. These insights offer practical implications for employers seeking to refine internship programs and for students aiming to optimize experiential learning. By contextualizing departmental decisions within a collectivist framework, the study contributes to evolving discourse on career development and organizational engagement in culturally nuanced settings
Muharram, Milad and the Memons: The Commemoration of Muharram and Celebration of Milad within the Memon Community
No full textThis thesis is a documentation of the Oral History of the commemoration of Muharram and celebration of Eid Milad-un-Nabi (ﷺ) within the Memon community residing in Karachi. The thesis traces a shift in scale from Muharram commemorations to Eid Milad-un-Nabi (ﷺ) celebrations. Using seven oral-history interviews from Kharadar and Hussainabad, it reconstructs the rituals affiliated with Muharram and Rabi-ul-Awal and analyses their meanings through hermeneutic phenomenology. It then analyzes transformation via Van Manen’s four lifeworld existentials: spatiality, corporeality, temporality and relationality. To complement the findings of this thesis, a historical analysis of Memon community’s practices in colonial Natal and colonial Bombay has been analyzed as well using Catherine Bell’s ritualization framework. The study argues that reformist critique, urban densification, costs, street-level enforcement and new media together narrowed Muharram’s public labor while enabling Mawlid’s growth. It offers the first Karachi-grounded Memon account, and preserves a disappearing oral history. With that being said my main attempt has been to make this thesis as humane as possible
AA Joyland: Assessing Brand Identity, Brand Image
No full textThe Experiential Learning Project (ELP) with AA Joyland in Karachi assessed how the company’s intended brand identity aligns with the actual brand image experienced by visitors at four family-focused venues PeekABear, Super Space, Giggle Town, and Bounce Karachi. Using a convergent mixed-methods design, we first conducted a digital audit of each outlet’s Instagram presence, benchmarking profile completeness, content strategy, engagement rates, and community management against regional best practices. We then collected customer feedback via an online survey (134 predominantly parent and young-adult respondents) and on-site interviews, yielding both quantitative metrics (80% repeat-visit intent; polarized service-quality ratings) and qualitative insights into pricing fairness, adult-inclusivity, and safety perceptions. Our analysis showed strong visual branding and the ability to evoke positive emotions: joy, nostalgia, and family togetherness, yet revealed that nearly 40 % of respondents felt ticket prices did not reflect on-site value, and staff responsiveness varied significantly across locations. To address these gaps, we propose a dynamic tiered pricing framework that aligns cost with demand and access, a “Joy Ambassador” service model to standardize guest interactions and deliver on-the-spot experience enhancements, and an omnichannel “Behind the Magic” storytelling campaign featuring safety demonstrations, staff spotlights, and authentic visitor testimonials. Additionally, creating dedicated adult comfort zones with better food and beverage offerings and photo worthy installations will improve inclusivity, while a weekly analytics review of social engagement will ensure continuous optimization of digital content. Together, these strategies aim to bridge the identity–image divide, strengthen customer satisfaction and loyalty, and reinforce AA Joyland’s position as Karachi’s premier family entertainment destination
Unwrapping Cornetto’s Premiumization Amongst Gen Z
No full textThis Experiential Learning Project (ELP), conducted in collaboration with Unilever Pakistan, aimed to craft a comprehensive marketing strategy to enhance the market performance of Cornetto Disc, an “accessible premium” ice cream offering within Pakistan’s competitive snacking landscape. The core objective was to examine the misalignment between Cornetto Disc’s intended positioning and its actual consumer perception, particularly among Gen Z.
The project employed a mixed-methods research approach, combining secondary data (industry reports, digital trend analysis, competitor benchmarking) with primary research, consumer surveys (n=200), focus groups, in-depth interviews, sentiment analysis, price point analysis and a retail audit of 200 Karachi outlets. Insights informed a 360° marketing plan tackling key challenges such as weak packaging differentiation, low repeat purchase rates, and limited retail visibility.
Key deliverables: (i) A research report incorporating primary and secondary research (ii) A holistic marketing strategy tailored to Gen Z behaviors (iii) A Power BI dashboard visualizing quantitative data (iv) Actionable recommendations to reposition Cornetto Disc as a culturally relevant, socially shareable premium dessert (v) Supplementary Documents
Findings indicate that while Cornetto Disc benefits from brand recognition, it lacks the distinctiveness and value perception to compete with aspirational brands. The proposed strategy addresses this gap through upgraded packaging, limited time culturally inspired flavors, and emotionally resonant youth marketing. Broader implications include improved brand clarity, enhanced consumer engagement, and long-term differentiation in Pakistan’s evolving premium snacking category
Revision & Update of HR Policies & Procedures With Process Re-Engineering for Automation
No full textThe IBA students undertook an experiential learning project (ELP) at PwC Pakistan focused on transforming key HR components. Their work covered three major areas: upgrading the internal HR SharePoint platform, revamping the employee and trainee manuals, and simplifying over ten HR policies to align with Pakistani labor law and PwC’s global standards. These updates aimed to enhance clarity, compliance, and digital readiness, especially in areas like leave, overtime, career growth, and exit procedures. By eliminating ambiguity and reducing process steps, the revised policies created a fair, legally sound, and automation-ready HR framework.
Simultaneously, the team redesigned the employee and trainee manuals, previously considered overly complex, to improve first impressions and reflect PwC’s brand identity. Emphasizing user-friendly layouts, logical content flow, simplified language, and visual aids like infographics, the new manuals became a more effective onboarding and internal reference tool.
The centerpiece of the project was the overhaul of the HR SharePoint platform. The outdated and poorly organized system was reimagined into an interactive, intuitive, and employee-friendly portal. Enhanced navigation, coherent styling, updated content, and self-service tools allowed employees to access HR resources independently, easing HR’s operational load and promoting strategic focus.
Overall, this initiative fostered a professional, efficient, and engaging HR environment at PwC Pakistan. It supported the firm’s digital transformation goals, improved employee experience, and ensured that HR systems were future-ready, compliant, and aligned with both regional needs and global standards
Incentive and Throughput Analysis
No full textThis Experiential Learning Project (ELP) was carried out in partnership with FrieslandCampina Engro to evaluate and optimize the performance of Omore’s nationwide retail freezer network in Pakistan’s highly competitive frozen desserts market. The primary objectives were to assess Omore’s market presence and product throughput, benchmark its position against competitors such as Walls and Igloo, and develop a comprehensive, data-driven system to improve asset deployment, store-level sales, and retailer relationships. To achieve this, the project was executed in multiple steps: it began with an extensive on-ground retail audit across Karachi, covering key factors such as availability, freezer placement, discounting, pricing alignment, and retailer feedback. In parallel, raw sales and asset data from tens of thousands of stores nationwide were cleaned, integrated, and analyzed in Excel to calculate standardized throughput per freezer per week. A robust threshold framework was developed to categorize stores into four performance bands: Power Performers, Hidden Gems, Underutilized Stores, and Underperformers. This thresholding approach formed the backbone of a dynamic scoring model built entirely in Excel, which tracked store performance across monthly, quarterly, and annual periods. To operationalize these insights at scale, a custom Store Analyzer tool was created in Excel, enabling rapid store-level diagnostics and clear recommendations for whether to maintain, grow, monitor, or relocate freezers. Complementing this, interactive Power BI dashboards were designed to consolidate top-level KPIs, seasonal trends, channel breakdowns, regional footprints, and scoring distributions, ensuring that insights could be easily interpreted by decision-makers. The analysis showed that a small cluster of high-performing stores consistently drives most of Omore’s sales volume, proving strong asset productivity and reliable consumer demand. In contrast, a substantial share of stores repeatedly underperforms, tying up freezers and operational costs with minimal sales output. Mid-tier outlets demonstrated clear untapped potential, with signs that targeted incentives, improved merchandising, and retailer engagement could elevate their contribution significantly. Based on these insights, key recommendations call for preserving and strengthening the performance of top-tier stores through consistent supply and monitoring, boosting mid-tier stores with focused promotions, training, and better freezer placement, and decisively relocating or removing freezers from persistently underperforming sites to reduce wastage and free up capacity for higher-return opportunities
Rekindling Love & Purpose With KFC
No full textThis report explores the circumstances behind KFC Pakistan brand crisis due to consumer boycotts because of geopolitical tensions recently, in the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict and proposes a strategic plan to help restore the necessary emotional connect and consumer trust to the brand locally. The study examines psychological and cultural surroundings of the term of brand love, which is focused on emotional affiliation, cultural attune and the brand well-being of history. In spite of the longstanding existence and contributions that KFC has brought to the communities in Pakistan, the brand has lost perception ground because of perceived ethical insulation and scanty appearance of CSR.
They were the primary and secondary research methods, namely focus groups, and a quantitative survey comprising more than 100 questions. The results showed that on the one hand, as KFC continues to be grossly associated with quality and consistency, particularly in Gen Z and Millennials, it has on the other side lost a substantial number of consumers based on their moral and ethical concerns. It is important to note that 41.2% of them had not had KFC meals during the past 6 months and 34 percent revealed that they no longer liked the brand. The inclusion of transparency, ethical marketing, and increased conformity to the values of Pakistanis became additional key issues to the consumer.
The current CSR activities of KFC like hiring the deaf or scholarships to the needy youth were well received whenever heard though venality by the mass might have been a point of concern. Such a disparity points at the necessity of more precise communication and narration. The report aligns the work of KFC with these Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 4 (Quality Education) and 10 (Reduced Inequality) and demonstrates the possibility of the brand bringing positive changes to society.
The strategic idea that is present in the core of the strategic thinking and that is explained as the campaign of Finger Lickin Trust is to reposition KFC as to more than a “good food provider.” This incorporates an interesting advertisement & storyline theme focused on the representation of the differently abled people, on-ground activations such as sign language promotions and awakening the campus.
The report recommends a plan on how KFC can once again elicit brand love by combining brand truths with cultural awareness and focusing more on purpose-driven communication. Finally, the above approach shows how a multinational brand in Pakistan can recover its brand equity by promoting authenticity, inclusivity, and social relevance when it encounters socio-political turbulence
Industry Syndicate Financial Model (ISFM) – Analysis
No full textThis Experiential Learning Project (ELP) was conducted in collaboration with Habib Metropolitan Bank to design a dynamic, Excel-based financial model for evaluating the credit feasibility of syndicated loans across key sectors in Pakistan, with a specific focus on the Oil & Gas industry. The objective was to create a practical decision-making tool that supports investment banking functions by integrating company-level financial projections, industry benchmarks, and loan amortization schedules.
The Industry Syndicate Financial Model (ISFM) consolidates historical financial data (2020–2023) and uses forecasting techniques such as Excel\u27s FORECAST.ETS function to project key metrics like revenue, net income, and cash flows through 2026. The model incorporates sector-level insights and enables side-by-side company comparisons, sensitivity analysis, and scenario testing to evaluate the debt-servicing capacity of firms under varying market conditions.
Key features include a loan amortization engine that adjusts for tenure, interest rates, and grace periods, enabling tailored credit simulations. The project also accounts for macroeconomic variables like interest rate changes, SBP policies, and commodity price fluctuations, which are particularly relevant to Oil & Gas financing. Findings suggest that while major upstream firms like OGDCL and PPL demonstrate strong creditworthiness, weaker downstream entities exhibit significant volatility, requiring stricter lending terms.
The ISFM serves as a practical tool for both banks and analysts, providing a structured framework to evaluate risk-adjusted returns and recommend optimal loan structures. This project bridges academic learning with real-world application, enhancing our understanding of credit risk, investment decision-making, and financial modeling in Pakistan’s corporate lending landscape
Peak Freans Heart Beats
No full textThis research project aims to assess and analyze the consumer perception, brand positioning, and retail presence of Peak Freans Heartbeats (PFHB), a heart-shaped puff pastry biscuit by English Biscuit Manufacturers (EBM). Through a multi-method approach—including a quantitative survey (n = 170), retail store audits, qualitative focus groups, and first-time product reaction videos—the project provides a 360-degree evaluation of the product\u27s market performance and consumer sentiment. The survey, targeting 20–30-year-old university students across Pakistan, revealed that while PFHB enjoys high brand awareness (81%), it struggles with purchase frequency and visibility. Most respondents described the product as aesthetically appealing but underwhelming in taste, with many expecting a cream filling based on the packaging design. Notably, texture emerged as the product\u27s strongest attribute, followed by visual appeal and affordability. However, a significant portion of new users failed to recall the brand upon image exposure, reflecting a gap in top-of-mind awareness. Retail audits across modern and general trade outlets such as Naheed, Imtiaz, and Chase Up revealed limited shelf visibility, poor merchandising, and negligible customer interaction. PFHB was frequently placed on bottom or hidden shelves, with no promotional material or retailer push. Stock movement was consistently low, and retailers themselves lacked awareness of the product’s promotional strategy, indicating weak execution at the trade level. Two focus group discussions conducted at IBA Karachi offered further insight into PFHB’s perceived identity. Participants described the biscuit as “confusing” in its messaging, with packaging that implied a creamy center and advertisements that failed to communicate the product’s actual taste or use case. The brand’s attempt to appeal to Gen-Z was perceived as forced, while the taste was described as “dry” and “unexpected.” Complementing these insights, product reaction videos captured first-hand expressions from participants trying PFHB for the first time. Many associated its taste and texture with traditional Pakistani sweets such as nankhatai or bakarkhani, appreciating it as a light, flaky, tea-time snack. However, a recurring theme emerged around the disconnect between product appearance and actual taste, leading to consumer confusion and dampening repurchase intent.
Overall, this research identifies critical mismatches between PFHB’s product design, brand messaging, and consumer expectations. While the product holds potential as a refined, elegant snack suited to casual, social consumption, it requires improved shelf visibility, packaging clarity, and product-centered communication to enhance repurchase behavior. Stronger alignment between visual identity, advertising tone, and sensory experience is essential for PFHB to secure its place in an increasingly competitive biscuit market
Development of a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) for Mixed-Use Residential, Commercial, and Office Spaces.
No full textThe Dresden Developmental Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) project evaluates the feasibility of establishing a mixed-use REIT in Karachi, Pakistan. The aim of this Experiential Learning Project (ELP) is to assess the financial viability, market demand, regulatory compliance, and risk factors associated with launching a REIT in Pakistan’s rapidly growing urban environment. The focus of the Dresden REIT is on residential, commercial, and office spaces in a prime location in Karachi, responding to the increasing demand for integrated urban developments. The primary objective of the Dresden REIT Project is to provide a comprehensive financial model and investment case, which includes detailed projections of revenue streams, such as the sale of residential units and rental income from commercial and office spaces. The project also evaluates the regulatory environment governing REITs in Pakistan, especially the recently updated SECP REIT Regulations 2022, to ensure compliance and identify any potential barriers to successful operation. Additionally, the project aims to highlight key risk factors in the development process, such as market volatility, regulatory changes, and construction delays, and provide strategies for risk mitigation. A mixed-methods research design was employed to achieve these objectives. Primary data was collected through interviews with industry professionals, surveys of potential investors, and focus groups to assess market demand and investor preferences. Secondary data was sourced from industry reports, regulatory documents, and financial statements of existing REITs in Pakistan, including Dolmen City REIT and Globe Residency REIT. The financial model used techniques such as Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and Net Present Value (NPV) to evaluate the project\u27s feasibility. The results of the analysis indicate strong potential for high returns from the Dresden REIT, with a projected IRR of 21.05%, signaling a profitable investment opportunity. The market demand analysis indicates robust interest in both residential and commercial spaces, particularly given the location proximity to major business districts and transportation hubs in Karachi. Investor surveys reveal a clear preference for high returns, regulatory transparency, and Shariah-compliant investment options, all of which are key features of the Dresden REIT. The report also identifies key risks, including potential market fluctuations, regulatory uncertainty, and construction challenges, and outlines mitigation strategies such as phased development, conservative debt structuring, and adherence to SECP’s regulatory framewor