Considering u r a first year student, I suggest read 3 books -

1. Marketing as a strategy - Nirmalya Kumar (my persoanl fav), gives u a an enlightened view of ur responsibilities and roles to aspire for as a Marketer
2. Made in America - by Sam Walton......in the pursuit of becoming a marketer, dun neglect the difficulties in developing a new business, and what better start than this one
3. Losing my Virginity - Richard Branson .....unlearn branding protocols and thought processes....learn ffrom a man who learnt and built his biz brand thru "experience" n "ambition"

I still espouse, if marketing is the final frontier......Kotler reading is a must with all the above....make it a daily habit (like brushing ur teeth) for the next part of ur marketing career life :)

Cheers

Hi Rohan,

It definitely helps if u do ur summers in the sector u finally wanna work in. Why? Simply coz ur understanding of the nature of biz in tht sector improves. For instance if u wanna work in retail sector, doing ur summers in retail will expose u to concepts like (more importantly way to look at) - Footfalls, Conversions, Contribution margins, Customer loyalty programmes, Instore selling, Space utilization, Visual merchandising and a lot more. It just helps u grow ur thinking beyond text book concepts. And mind u, I reinforce again that when u r in ur job, a lot of ur ability to get ur work done is based upon ur "been there done that" confidence level. Ur learning curve once u join ur job in the same sector too gets reduced....treat ur summer project as ur launchpad. 

I understand its never always easy to get what u want in smmers, but u can always vouch  for related sectors. After all synergies do exist in marketing; and on a macro level u could still contribute to ur experience level.

Cheers

 Most organizations comprise 4 levels- Corporate level, Division level, Business Unit level and Product level.

Corporate (Organizational) level designs the corporate strategic plan to steer the entire organization (which businesses to start/eliminate, resource allocation to divisions etc).

Division level prepares the division plan (allocation of resources for the business units within the division)

Business Unit level develops a strategic plan of how profitably run the business and meet the set objectives, which in turn should meet with the division objectives and the organization objectives.

Product (category) level will develop plans for a product line within a business unit.

Example-

Organization - ABC  (A Global technology and Manufacturing Leader)

Divisions- 1) Automation and Control Solutions      2) Aviation Systems

                3) Transportation systems                    4) Speciality Materials

SBUs in Division 1-- Automation and control solutions

             a) Building solutions                                b) Process Solutions              

             c) Security group                                    d)  Fire group

Product category in SBUs- Security group

              i)  CCTV                                                ii) Access Control

             iii) Intrusion Alarm  etc

SBUs are established with a strategic intent keeping in mind that any business has 3 major dimensions- Customer groups, customer needs and technology. Different businesses will have their own set of customer needs and competitors. A division can be an aggregate of business units with (related) businesses.

In any case, exceptions will exist by way of company prerogative to define its method of strategy as a component of division or SBU, typically with organizations with little diversification.

(*Obvious references )