Competitive Intelligence

“Just like the other science kids who took up Biology in high school, I started off by thinking that I would become a doctor. But as I sat for the medical entrance exams, I realised that it’s not practicing medicine that attracts me, but rather the management side of healthcare and pharmaceuticals. I therefore ended up taking a different route of pursuing a Bachelor’s in Bioinformatics.

When I went to IIT Delhi for an internship in the last year of my college, I understood I was more inclined towards dry lab tools and techniques. Post engineering, I started working in a pharmaceutical consulting position which was involved in business development. It gave me the opportunity to nurture my passion for management. But I did not want to go into the regular management fields. Instead, the office had a competitive intelligence (CI) team which interested me more and therefore I went ahead for a specialized MBA in CI & Strategic management. During my engineering days, I had published several research papers, which had kick-started my knack for research but the real motivation for a PhD came after my encounter with CI while working as a management consultant in a healthcare group.

Instead of doing a full time PhD however, I decided to do a distance PhD while working at the company. It wasn’t easy but I still wanted to give it a shot. There have been pressuring days at both the…