Rohan Bhargava

Before coming to St. Louis, and Washington University, Rohan Bhargava worked for his family business. When he leaves Olin and WashU with a master of science in supply chain management, he plans to return to his native India to help his family business.

Commitment to the process

Olin stood out to Bhargava because of the opportunity to study a wide variety of topics related to business management. The value of a mixed approach to learning, both theoretical and practical, has enriched his time at Olin. It’s exactly what he needed to take away from his post-graduate education.

“Most family-run enterprises in India are plagued with workarounds and quick-fixes in their daily operations and mine was no exception,” he said. “It took no time to realize that cementing a position as an indispensable link in the supply chains for large consumer goods companies required me to understand a wide array of topics that comprise supply chain management.”

Olin’s program enhanced Bhargava’s understanding across a spectrum of specialties in the field, including risk management, data science, stochastic models and negotiation.

Experiential learning

“Olin’s focus on a complete education has a well-structured mix of theoretical frameworks and data-driven programs,” he said. “In conjunction with this, I knew that experiential learning opportunities through the Boeing Center and CEL were unique and would be excellent learning avenues to understand how local and global organizations methodically rectify gaps in their respective supply chains.”

Struggle into strength

Bhargava arrived at Washington University with his eyes open about the challenges of graduate school. “It’s easy to get bogged down,” he said. “Especially when you’re taking over eight courses in a span of two months.”

By recognizing the challenge, and facing it head-on, success followed. Citing his relationships with Olin faculty, Bhargava overcame such challenges and excelled.

“Professor Eli Snir has been particularly instrumental in changing my mindset since starting grad school,” he said. “Though he teaches complex and quantitative-heavy programs, he makes sure we understand their practical implications so as future top-level managers, we make more informed decisions while managing information and material flows.”

Exponential growth

Bhargava admits that “before getting to Olin, I had the bare minimum experience with Excel and none with coding or data analytics,” however, throughout his time at Olin, he has developed skills to excel in supply chain management.

“The program has made me confident with running simulations, optimizations and even coding to a certain extent,” he said. “It’s knowledge that will help make well-informed decisions.”