Abstract

The case ‘Launchpad: The Internship Program at Flipkart’ looks at the selection process and design of the internship programs offered by Flipkart for graduate and undergraduate students in India. The case first describes the summer internship program offered to students pursuing their Bachelor’s or Master’s in computer science or business management who interned for two months in the software development, operations management, and product management roles. The case then talks about Launchpad, an internship program offered by ekart, the supply chain arm of Flipkart, since 2019 for undergraduate students. The 45-day internship program was designed to introduce students to work in Flipkart’s supply chain. The case ends with a look at Flipkart’s focus on becoming a value player in the Tier-II cities of India as part of its long-term business strategy.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the benefits of internship programs for an organization
• Learn about the characteristics that lead to the effective design of internship programs
• Become aware of the need to align the HR strategy with business strategy
• Understand the challenges that HR leaders face while implementing internship programs
• Learn about the common forms of internships

Keywords

Internship Programs; Internship Design; Training Objectives; HR Strategy; Business Strategy; Managing Interns; Mentorship; Human Resource Planning; Recruitment; Job Rotation; Company Image; Employee Motivation; Creativity