internship report
TRANSCRIPT
Internship Report – August 2011 Foreign Trade University
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PREFACE
External economic, in general, and the importing and exporting activities,
for specific play an important role in developing and improving the national
economy and society. Vietnam is in the process of integrating into the world
economy; therefore, strengthen and encourage the external business is of the first
priority of our countries. Phu An Loc Company is a company of exporting hand
embroidery is the firm that I will have a chance to explore in this internship
program.
The department that I have applied for the internship program is the Export
and Import- one of the most important functions of the Company. After one-month
internship, I would like to present in this report the real situation of this a young
entrepreneur. The question raised is simply how effective the company is operate
and how to improve the overall performance in the near future.
This internship has finished; however, there are still many regrets as well as
things which is not as expectation. In short, due to the limit of time and personal
restrictions, this paper must have contained a lot of mistakes. Therefore, I
appreciate all the comments and contributions in order that I can do a better job in
the next papers.
I send my sincere thanks to my supervisor teacher, Mrs Trinh Thi Thu
Huong and the whole staff of Import and Export department - Phu An Loc
Company, especially my direct instructor – Mrs Pho Thi Bich Huong, have helped
me a lot during the internship program and the progress when I complete this
report.
Hanoi, 2nd August 2011
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MAIN PART
CHAPTER 1 - AN INTRODUCTION OF PHU AN LOC
LIMITED COMPANY
1.1 The establishment and development of the Phu An Loc Ltd. Co
1.1.1 Phu An Loc Ltd Company
Established in 2008 with factory located in Tuan Cao village - Ninh Thang,
Hoa Lu, Ninh Binh province - the ancient capital of Vietnam 1000 years ago,
which is 100 km to the South of Hanoi, Phu An Loc is one of the biggest factories
of Hand-Embroidery in Vietnam. This place is a village of traditional hand-
embroidery, which has the most skillful workers and craft man. With its own
specific characteristics of Hand-Embroidery, most of products are produced at
households.
In the context of the development of international business and realizing
that the skillful hand-embroidery is of great demand in the global market, the
company is confident in expanding the operation especially investing in the chain
of manufacturing. After many years of operation, this company has experienced a
lot of difficulties as well as some achievements. The following is some basic
information of the company:
Vietnamese name Cong ty TNHH MTV Phu An Loc
International name Phu An Loc Limited Company
Address Tuan Cao, Ninh Thang, Hoa Lu, Ninh Binh
Hanoi head office G11, Lang Quoc Te Thang Long, Dich Vong, Cau Giay, Ha
Noi
Telephone 0084 43 7912 407
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Fax 0084 43 7931347
Email [email protected]
Website http://anloc.ninhbinhcraft.com.vn/?mdl=home&IdStand=243
General Director Ms Vu Thi Tue
Deputy General
Director
Mr Le Tuan Anh
Company size 20 staffs in Hanoi office, 65 full-time worker in Ninh Binh
factory and over 1000 craft men in households
Phu An Loc Company is the private company, has the legal entity and
independent accounting system. Its forerunner was An Loc Ltd Company which is
established according to the decision 3823/TLDN of the Committee of Hanoi. Phu
An Loc was officially operated in February 2009. The business license number is
05060167831 issued by Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment. (Phu An
Loc’s profile)
The motto of company is “to establish and maintain good, long-term, stable
business with clients basing on the spirit of mutual understanding, benefit and
support”. In the process of development, the company always takes care of the
quality to assure that all the standard are met as well as the requirement of
international customers are satisfied. To assure the quality, Phu An Loc have many
skillful workers at our factory specializing in inspecting quality during the
processing time or in-line. To have proof of quality, the Company also co-operate
with international- independent QC companies such as ITS, Bureaus Veritas,
SGS(Phu An Loc profile). In 2010, Phu An Loc was planning to apply ISO 9001-
2000 quality system for the hand-embroidery products with aim of maintaining
satisfactory and stable quality for clients. Phu An Loc well understands the
importance of quality. The company’s commitment to quality is first priority.
Additionally, in order to widen the range of buyers’ choice, company has
already started to develop machine embroidery and this will soon contribute to our
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turnover. Attending Heimtextile fair in Frankfurt in this January will help Phu An
Loc see client’s feedback and look for new buyers. The head office of Phu An Loc
located in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam has take advantage of communicating with
clients from many countries in the world
1.1.2 Functionality, responsibility and the scope of operation
1.1.2.1 Functionality
The company specializes in high-class Hand-Embroidery products such as
bed linen (flat sheet, bedcover, duvet cover, quilt …), table linen,(tablecloth,
napkin, placemat, runner…). Besides, the company supply many other textile
embroidery products like apron, kitchen towel, bath towel, hand towel, laundry
bag, decorative products, gifts and others…Aiding and lowering cost for clients,
Phu An Loc work as direct importer, producer and exporter: At client’s request,
company import raw materials such as fabric, thread…from Thailand, China, Italy
for production and export finished products to them. During the past years, Phu
An Loc’s products have been on good sales in United Kingdom, Spain, Italy …
especially due to the fact that their quality are always highly appreciated.
1.1.2.2 Responsibility
Setting and organizing business plan in alignment with the current policies
in order to fulfill the goals and objectives that the Company has set. Ensuring that
the capital is guaranteed and supplied on the basic of self-raising capital in order to
finance for the whole activities of the company and reasonably use it, following
the regime of government and complete the responsibility of paying tax for the
State.
Strictly following the financial management system, asset management and
implementing all the policies related to the labor and working right, the company
also continues to improve the requirement for all staffs in order to meet the
demand and complete all the business responsibilities at a higher standard.
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1.1.2.3 Scope of operation
The company has constructed a good relationship with international partner
from the Asia to European and America. The company not only takes advantage of
domestic raw material but also import from Thailand, China and Italy for the
variety of input for production.
The company manufactures and sells a wide range of products including
the following kinds:
- Table cloth
- Runner
- Duvet cover, flat sheet, pillow case
- Napkin
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- Cushion caver
- Bag
- Lavender sachet
1.2 Company structure and the role of each departments
1.2.1 Company structure
The following is the model of the structure of Phu An Loc Ltd Co. As a
young entrepreneur, Phu An Loc has not too many employees; however, all the
department are well organized and they has a close relationship.
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Figure 1: Organisation structure of Phu An Loc Company
(Source: Phu An Loc profile)
1.2.2 Task and role of each function
- General Director
General Director now is Mrs Vu Thi Tue. She plays the critical role in guiding,
organizing and managing all aspects of the company’s business activities
including manufacturing, exporting, importing, investing. General Director has to
manage and make sure that available resources are utilized and the company will
be able to grasp opportunities, fulfill or even outstrip the targets. Then, the
company can improve its image and brand name, promote the corporate capacity,
outnumber in the market share.
- Deputy General Director
General Director
Deputy General Director
Export and Import Department
Designing Department
Accounting and Finance Department
Organisation Administration Office
Factory
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He has to be responsible for assisting the general director in managing the
operation of business activities of the whole company.
- Export and Import Department
+ Conduct production and consumption plans
+ Implement marketing promotion and sale strategy to different kinds
of products
+ Managing materials for input of production, ensuring the stable and
high quality material for manufacturing
+ Importing material when necessary
+ Exporting products, following all the steps in conformity with
+ Searching for new markets
- Designing Department
+ Design the products according to the requirement of customers
+ Do the research and give out new products with more fashion styles
- Accounting and Finance Department
+ Managing financial situation of the company to ensure that the core
business of the company are sufficiently and effectively financed.
+ Strictly follow the Law of Accounting and Finance issued by the
State
+ Record and reflect accurately, systematically the Company’s
financial situation and effectiveness of its operation, suggesting plans for
future plans.
+ Carry out internal and external payments
+ Inform the Company Directors and Board of Director clearly and
timely the loss and profit, capital resource to that they can have plan for
settlement.
- Organization Administration Office
+ Implementing the responsibility of managing organisation and
personnel.
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+ Complying with the Constitutions and State Laws
- Factory
+ Implement the producing plans of the company in accordance to the
design and assure producing progress
1.3 Overview of business performance
1.3.1 Overview
Company is the young entrepreneur and it started to operate only since
2009. Although complying with a lot of difficult at the beginning, the company
still continues to develop. Company invests in manufacturing line, bring the
market with more and more high quality products. Business result also gains
considerable achievement.
1.3.2 Business performance result for the periods from 2009-2010
In two years, 2009 and 2010, the business performance of the company has
achieved good results:
+ In 2009, the gross revenue is 15,803 million Vietnamdong
+ In 2010, the gross revenue is 33, 624 million Vietnamdong
Năm
Data
2009 2010
Revenue 15,803,509,814 33,624,896,764
Earning before Tax (372,339,846) 85,568,255
Earning after Tax (372,339,846) 64,176,191
It can be seen that the company has grown quickly for the one year time.
Interestingly, in 2009, the company has suffered from a loss of 372 million vnd.
It’s due to the project of building factory and equips it with modern machines to
increase the productivity and the quality of the products. However, thanks to the
Table 1: Business result in 2009 and 2010
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increase in all aspects of business activities, the company has gained a high growth
rate and it’s hoped that the company will achieve quickly development in the
future. Also, the company also invests in some other finance activities (See also
Appendix A)
Next, the following is the balance sheet which presents the real situation of
the firm in two years 2009 and 2010.
2010 2009
I. Current assets and short term
investment 23,843,906,753 13,662,341,980
1. Cash 4,162,309,230 1,688,184,884
2. Short term investment 0 0
3. Account receivable 8,258,420,832 5,967,872,995
4. Inventories 10,706,704,388 5,864,824,275
5. Other current assets 716,472,303 141,459,826
6. Investment (Securities, CK KD, CK
nợ, Ldoanh) 0 0
II. Non-current assets and Long term
investment 521,629,143 526,316,332
1. Tangible non-current asset 410,450,942 434,534,776
2. Intangible non-current asset 0 0
3. Long term investment 0 0
4. Other non-current assets 111,178,201 91,781,556
Total assets 24,365,535,896 14,188,658,312
III. Liabilities 21,702,648,709 11,589,947,316
1. Short-term liability 21,702,648,709 11,589,947,316
2. Account Payable 0 0
3. Long-term liabilities 0 0
4. Other debt 0 0
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IV. Shareholder’s equity 2,662,887,187 2,598,710,996
1. Total shareholder’s equity 2,662,887,187 2,598,710,996
2. Other fund 0 0
Total equity 24,365,535,896 14,188,658,312
According to the above balance sheet, it can be seen that the total asset of
the company has increased by VND 10,176 million in 2010, or increase by
71,73%. In there, current assets and short term investment in 2010 has gone up by
74.52% in comparison with 2009. Especially, cash and cash equivalent increased
146% rather than the number in 2009; whereas, short term investment experience
little change. Account receivable increase to VND 2,290 million or 38.38%.
Inventory also increases by 82.56%. Other current asset also increases by
406.56%. Liabilities of the company increase two times. In overall, assessing the
balance sheet, it can be seen that high liquidity assets, like cash, increase, reflect
the high liquidity of the firm. The account receivable increases with a low rate,
proving that the ability to recovery the debt of the company is good or maybe the
policy of credit sale of the company is strictly. However, looking at the balance
sheet and income statement, the financial situation of the company does not
contain a lot of problem. However, company also has to learn more to be able to
manage finance wisely, in order to take advantage of more huge finance resource,
utilize the capitals to invest in manufacturing and exporting.
1.3.3 Exporting fact and figure in Phu An Loc Company (2009-2010)
Although it has just been established for nearly 3 years; however, the
company has experienced a good sale of handicraft products in the global market.
The exporting revenue of Phu An Loc sustainably increases years on years. The
following table will illustrate the revenue from exporting activities in year 2009
and 2010.
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Quarter 2009 2010 Increased by
Revenue
(USD)
% Revenue
(USD)
% (%)
I 30,530.74 3,5 368,394.54 20,5 1106.6
II 210,833.33 24,1 340,240.8 18,9 61
III 212,194.74 24,3 445,318.24 24,7 109,9
IV 421,044.15 48,1 647,229.53 35,9 53,7
Total 874,602.96 100 1,801,183.11 100 105,9
Table 2: Export situation in 2009 and 2010
(Source: Report by Phu An Loc Ltd.Co)
If we categorized the number of exported products by products, it can be seen the
significant increase in each types of products by Phu An Loc. Specifically, having
the highest growth in revenue (132%), the bed linen seem to be favored in the
international market. Other products of table linen such as table cloth also had a
very high growth (123.7 %) (See also Appendix B)
Phu An Loc Company use mainly two modes of exporting, namely direct
export and commercial processing. Commercial processing including two types:
processing export and producing export. Firstly, direct export is the mode of
export in there sellers export the finished products to buyers. In this case, products
are made by Phu An Loc from the designing to processing. Secondly, Processing
export is kind of exporter receive the material from importer and finally producing
export is the mode of export in which the exporter only produces in accordance
with the design and standards from importers. Also, materials are imported from
other countries.
Because the core business of Phu An Loc is hand-embroidery exporting,
it’s necessary to have an overview of the business performance and exporting
situation. It’s helpful for me in analyzing the real situation and giving some
suggestions for the development of company in the future.
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CHAPTER 2 - INTERNSHIP DIARY
[Duration: 1/7/2011 – 30/7/2011]
[Instructor: Mrs Pho Thi Bich Huong]
[Position: Head of Export and Import Department]
Week 1
Before I started my internship I was nervous about what my department and
manager would be like. I was also very excited about finding out what the real
operation in an importing and exporting firm would be. The night before I had
called a friend, who also apply for the internship in Phu An Loc Company and we
spend time discussing what to wear in the next day or what we would bring for the
first day of intern period.
I decided to choose official clothes with white blouses and black trousers. I
also prepare a file of some necessary documents including my CV, my references
in case the director would like to see it.
In the first day, I and my friend spent a morning with a staff in human
resource department whose name is Phuong. She provided us with information
about the history of the company, the core business of the company, some policies,
code of conduct. Next, a receptionist, named Nhung, was asked to take us a tour of
all departments. The import and export department is the first room in the second
floor and it’s quite large. We entered the room. I noticed that the head of this
department is a young woman. Ms Nhung informed the woman of two new
interns, Thu, my name and Phuong, the name of my friend. This is the first time
the company receive intern students, especially from the Foreign Trade University,
they are both friendly and eager. The atmosphere is cozier when the head of
department talk to us. Her name is Pho Thi Bich Huong. She is 35 years old;
however, her appearance can not say any thing about her age. She asked me some
things about my study at university. We truthfully answer the entire questions with
the regarding that I wonder whether we study exactly as the real import and export
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operation. She smiles and say that she hoped that in this internship we can answer
those question.
The next two days we continued to go to the office and we sit in the import
and export department. In those today, we often sit in a blank desk in the corner of
the room. Mrs Bich Huong gave us some documents related to the products of
company, some performance results of the Phu An Loc for recent years. We
spend most of time looking at the documents. People in the department are still
busy doing their works.
At the end of the week, we asked Mrs Hương for a drink at the end of the
last working day. She accepted and we went for coffee and we had a chat about
her background in the past, her own family and her working experiences. She
shares with us some things related to her internship before when she was a student
in Ha Noi National Economic University. She said that at that time, during the
internship periods, she was almost neglected and she was often asked to do some
work like making tea or coffee. She said that at this time the import and export
department is quite busy. Each person has their own job to do; therefore, we need
to carefully take a look and we can learn some things.
In overall, for the first week, I come to the company in four working days
from Tuesday (5/7) to Friday (8/7). I spend all the day at the office and most of the
time, we used to read the document and get acquainted with people in the
department through some short conversations
Week 2
In the second week, we were asked to come in just two days (Thursday and
Friday )since the department is busy working for a contract to export their product
to EU and there would be nothing to do, even, we can disturb people, I guess so.
For the last two days coming to the office, we are allowed to bring our own
laptops, assessing the internet. We have visited the Website of Phu An Loc
Company and find that there is little information. The website was recently
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constructed; therefore, the information is still insufficient. After two week, I find
myself get familiar with all the department staffs and all of them are very friendly.
Week 3
It’s the third week of this internship periods and I found myself gain
nothing much the day before. We has investigated all the documents and most of
information are about the range of products and some thing about the partner, the
supplier and import and export market that the company is looking for. It’s time
for us to think about a specific topic so that we can focus on the core content and
by that way, we can also learn some thing. My friend, Phuong, is searching for
make the report related to the “mode of export” of the company. According to her
saying, she choose this topic in order to know more about the import and export
operation of the company in the reality. Moreover, it’s suitable for the Foreign
Trade University Student, majoring in international economics and business. For
me, choosing a topic for the final report becomes more difficult since I don’t want
to choose a topic which is similar to her. Also, my friend suggest that we should
not choose such topic like the import and export contracts, the process of import
and exporting because a lot of students also report about this issues. Studying the
business, I look back about all the subjects in the university program. Finally, I
made up my mind with the topic about the real situation of a exporting and
importing firms. In my opinion, assessing the financial situation of a firm is the
best way to know how well the company is operating and I can evaluate the
efficiency of the company in exporting and importing performance.
Later in the week after establishing where my direction to the internship
report is, I brainstormed the task ahead and start searching about what I need to
fulfill the report. From this time, I created a schedule for the following two weeks,
to ensure I utilize my time in the most effective manner. I set my goals is to find
appropriate source of information about the topic.
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In this week, I and my friends come in two days (Monday and Tuesday).
We asked Mrs Huong to give me some documents and we can read at home and
think about the topic that we need to focus in the final report.
Week 4
With the specific topic, I asked Mrs Bich Huong for more suggestions. She
talks some things about the financial issue of the company for recent years in
association with the exporting operation of Phu An Loc. She promised that she
will help me to have the data of the company. The rest of the week consisted of
collating all the data surrounding the company’s operation and financial
statements.
The Head of accounting department seems to be quite strictly and it’s
hardly to ask for the financial statement of the company at the beginning.
However, at the end of the week, we have provided the financial statement of the
company for the latest three years. I feel as a relief that finally, there is little
obstacles in order to complete this internship program.
At the end of the week, we come to say goodbye to everyone. The director
of Phu An Loc asked both of us for the feelings when having internship programs
here. Although the limited time was spent on this period and we are actually not
allowed to do any thing, we still say that this internship is very useful and send the
wish for prosperous development of Phu An Loc Company in the future. We
brought some kinds of fruits to thank for the warmly welcome and the help of all
people in the Export and import department, especially Mrs Huong. I thanked her
for the help with the financial statements and ask for another coffee drink
whenever she has free time.
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CHAPTER 3
PROBLEMS AND SOME SUGGESTIONS
3.1 Some existing problems
3.1.1 Some drawbacks from the mode of exports
As mentioned in the previous chapter, Phu An Loc currently uses three
mode of export including: direct export, processing export and producing export.
Among them, producing export is the most used mode of export (91% in 2009 and
94.66% in 2010) and direct export is the less used one (2.57% in 2009) (Phu An
Loc’s custom declaration, 2009-2010, See also Appendix C). Also, the company
achieves many successes; however, a larger proportion of producing export used
can results in some shortcomings. Producing export is the model in which the
exporter will receive the request from the importer and then produce in alignment
with those requirements from the material and designs.
Therefore, Company can not take advantages of cheap domestic material
and the ability of design department can not be utilized. So, it’s not the best way
for the sustainable development of any enterprises because they can not build their
competitive strength in the context of this intensively competitive world.
3.1.2 Problems with human resource
Human resource is of great importance to any organization. Phu An Loc is
lack of creative designers, and skilled workers. The number of people to be called
“craftsman” in factory is in need. The weak human capital can results in the
deterioration in the quality of products. Phu An Loc design lacks of creativeness
and fashion in order that it can attract foreign customer and promote the direct
exporting.
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3.1.3 Problems with government’s policies and macroeconomic
issues
Phu An Loc’s performance is not only affected by internal factors but also
external factors especially the unstable macroeconomic situation recently. The
fluctuation of foreign exchange rate, the high interest rate, high inflation cause
many difficult for the firm in searching and approaching both domestic and
foreign market. As an exporting and importing firms, Phu An Loc will has to
suffer from such issues as the exchange rate risk. Small and young enterprise as
Phu An will find it hard to assess the loans with the high interest rate. Therefore,
the firm will can not invest more in the R&D activities as well as increase the
production scale.
3.2 Recommendation
The following are some recommendations to these mentioned problems.
3.2.1 Strengthen internal resources
Internal resources include finance health, human asset and management
skills. Those factors should be improved since business environment nowadays is
more and more vulnerable and competition between enterprises becomes
intensified.
+ Finance should be wisely managed and staffs in the accounting and
finance department must be willing to learn and increase their capabilities to serve
the best for the general director in making efficient decision to ensure that
Company also have a healthy finance.
+ Human resource has to be improved by selecting good qualified
candidates. Knowledge and skills such as export and import expertise, computer
literacy, excellent foreign language usage has to be highly appreciated in
accordance with encouraging the creativeness of staffs and urge them to contribute
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positive ideas for the development of enterprise. Old employees should
continuously improve their ability; otherwise, they will be out of the firm.
+ Management skills are about to be mastered by those who are at the
top management level. Mrs Tue and Mr Tuan Anh should continuously learn
effective management expertise in order to lead the company to success.
3.2.2 Setting a vision and a specific development plans
After identifying the problems of enterprise, top managers should have a
vision for the future development. Then, a specific plan should be conducted with
changes and innovation. For example, the firm has to have the plan to
continuously improve the product quality in many aspects. Such issues as
investing in technology and human resource and applying international standards
should have a specific roadmap and once it is carried out, company has to ensure
that it will success.
3.2.3 Solving problems related to government actions and policies
carefully and purposely and wisely
As a part of the whole economy, dealing with the real situation of Vietnam
economy, the firms has to be active. Instability in the economy should be taken
care of in order that the firm will not be seriously affected. For example, the
company should have plans to deal with fluctuation of exchange rate or the
inflation. Risk management should be highly considerate
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CONCLUSION
The internship program has finished; however, it instilled in me a lot of
feelings and excitement. I have ever engaged in some part time jobs; but, those
works are not related to what we learned at school. Before starting the internship, I
feel nervous about whether I can ask for the intern vacancy in an enterprise or not.
At the beginning, I aimed at the internship program in a bank. However, a friends
advise me that internship in a exporting and importing company should be more
effective since this is our major at university. During the internship, I have learned
some things.
Firstly, It’s not true that all what we have learnt at school will be used when
going into work. What we use to work is just a small part of knowledge that the
subjects provide us
Secondly, soft skills are very important when we do a job. For example, a
wide network of contact will help me in searching for information, finding a
company in this internship. When going to the company, I realized that
relationship between staffs inside the company is quite complicated. It’s the
relation which based on the mutual benefits in term of both economic and social
benefit. Sometimes, I realized that if a corporate does not build it own value and
culture, people with different benefits can destroy that firm in a certain way.
That’s when people do not work for the common goals and objectives
Thirdly, a manager in a enterprise has to deal with tons of problems. She
must have not only knowledge and skills but also experiences and a strong spirit.
In addition, I realized that management expertise is very essential for each
individual because each one has to be self managed in order to complete the
objective in their lives.
In short, this is a useful internship. Although, what I have learnt maybe not
strongly related to the professional knowledge; however, I think that this
experiences are helpful for me in the future.