美国商学院MBA申请之 Essay Sample 汇总

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

Discuss a challenge in your life, why you consider it a challenge, and what you learned? (400)
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Keeping people in my department turned out to be my biggest challenge soon after I took up the position of the department manager in 1995. That year, some young employees of our company left for new foreign trade companies that paid higher salaries. Although none of my fifteen people left, they were certainly tempted. Their performance was apparently affected. If my department, the most important export department, suffered a brain drain, the whole company's performance would be undermined.

At the time, we could not possibly provide the kind pay or positions that other companies were providing. I analyzed out situation, looking for our advantages that might offset our disadvantages. Compared with the newly emerged competitors, our department was much more established in business, staffed with much more qualified people and had a lot more financial assets. I decided to make full use of these resources to meet our people's needs to the best we could

- [' L2 R/ }6 J, uFirst, I wanted to instill a sense of professional pride in our people. I laid down a rule of routine project review whereby project managers would report the progress of his project to the whole department as "case studies". I made English our working language and thus turned the offices into effective classrooms where people could learn and improve their command of the foreign language. I let everyone know I cared about their professional progress and their personal future. They began to appreciate the environment, which would not be available to them elsewhere.

/ W7 H6 I8 [1 a( @' Y9 @  T8 {Second, I changed the focus of the department's business to larger and more complicated projects that were beyond the capability of new foreign trade companies, which were usually small and inexperienced. This strategy successfully withdrew my department from the chaotic competition between foreign trade companies scrambling for business and personnel with connections.
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' ^* ]: r* J: s: n, lThird, considering the company's bonus/profit ratio were dragged down by a large reserve set aside for possible losses, I proposed to the company management a method that incorporate the risk factors into bonus calculation. This method allowed a much higher bonus/profit ratio for "safe deals" such as most of our department's projects, which were financed by World Bank. Many managers in my department received a remarkable increase in their incomes.
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7 z3 T) u5 ^: V+ GThe result was that my department gradually restored its stability and our export started to go up. Today, as the assistant general manager in charge of my company's export, I always keep in mind what I have learned from this experience -- human resources are the most important asset of a company, and, to retain such an asset, the management have to put people's needs before anything else.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

Tell us about your professional aspirations and how you plan to realize them.
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My goal is to become one of China's best businessmen ever. I am glad to say that I have been taking very solid and substantial steps towards that goal. As a graduate from Beijing University's business school, I have received probably the country's best possible undergraduate education in business. Upon obtaining my Bachelor's Degree in business, I chose to take up a job with a company rather than go into graduate studies right away, as I understood the importance of hands-on experiences. I needed to apply what had learned from the books to the real world first before I should embark on further studies.

In the three years I have been working with Tigerta, I have been promoted from the position of a rookie office worker to the position of a general manager for one of the company's most important branches. In the process, I have acquainted myself with both how a Chinese is typically managed and how a modern business along the Western model is managed. Furthermore, I have learned how to maintain a Chinese business' presence on foreign soil. There are not many Chinese people of my age who have had such colorful experiences.
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, e# X0 C/ Y9 ~# PPerhaps my most important preparation will come through my MBA education at Harvard, a cradle of some of the world's most important businessmen. I have accumulated significant experiences in doing business, and I would now like to sit back and look at those experiences reflectively in light of the world's most brilliant business models, principles, and conceptual frameworks.
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& J4 d- J% \) p3 _$ s1 ]I hope that what I learn at Harvard will shed light on how China's state-owned enterprises can turn in a profit, and what kind of role I can play in reforming these state-owned enterprises. If I can make a significant contribution to the country's endeavor to make its state-owned enterprises profitable, I will probably have no trouble in being recognized as one of the best Chinese businessmen.
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, S6 t$ v2 W: p7 w) F7 eAs was required at the time, I underwent a full year of rigorous military training after I was accepted into the Beijing University. That helped to instill endurance and self-discipline into my character. With that, I have lived a life of strong principles and impeccable integrity. The training also helped to make me physically healthy. All these qualities - endurance, self-discipline, integrity and a healthy body - will be my assets as I seek to reach my goal.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

What is your long-term goal? And how do you think an MBA education can help you reach that goal?
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8 A! `7 a8 k! ~- j  LMy long-term goal is to become one of China's best businessmen ever, one who is able to solve the world's practical business problems with the most sophisticated business theories. My short-term goal is to acquire comprehensive knowledge and expertise in Western business principles and practices.
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/ J7 t4 U+ i  B/ o& ]$ D( F4 cI have been taking very solid and substantial steps towards my goals. As a graduate from Beijing University's business school, I have received probably the country's best possible undergraduate education in business. Upon obtaining my Bachelor's Degree in business, I chose to take up a job with a company rather than go into graduate studies right away, as I sought to gain hands-on experiences. I needed to apply what had learned from the books to the real world first before I should embark on further studies.

In the three years I have been working with Tigerta, I have been promoted from the position of a rookie office worker to the position of a general manager for one of the company's most challenging branches. In the process, I have acquainted myself with both how a Chinese is typically managed and how a modern business along the Western model is managed. Furthermore, I have learned how to maintain a Chinese business' presence on foreign soil. There are not many Chinese people of my age who have had such colorful experiences.
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Perhaps my most important preparation will come through my MBA education at Haas School, a cradle of some of the world's best business talents. I have accumulated significant experiences in doing business, and I would now like to sit back and look at those experiences reflectively in light of the world's most brilliant business models, principles, and conceptual frameworks.
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' G9 O; x' t( oI hope that what I learn at Harvard will shed light on how China's state-owned enterprises can turn in a profit, and what kind of role I can play in reforming these state-owned enterprises. If I can make a significant contribution to the country's endeavor to make its state-owned enterprises profitable, I will probably have no trouble in being recognized as one of the best Chinese businessmen.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing a graduate business degree in the US.

My career goal is to lead a state-owned company to expand from a local to international business scale. The first thing I want to do after I earn an MBA is to work as a manager in general management at a multinational for several years. Equipped with sophisticated management skills I learn from this experience, I will move ahead to direct the operation of a state-owned company.

9 h8 m3 a+ H% {Now the badly managed state-own companies are running in red and laying off their workers on a massive scale. The most effective way to help these workers and companies is to train their managers. I want to share my efforts and expertise with them. This was what I learned after I graduated from university in 1994 with a hope of reforming a state-owned enterprise.

6 z' K+ ^) M: W% P) L! qAt that time, most state-owned enterprises were running in the doldrums. Interpreting challenges as opportunities, I volunteered to join Beijing Engine Corporation, the third largest industrial enterprise in Beijing. After one year in the company, I realized there was not much we could do to change the status quo of such companies.
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* ^3 l$ h4 u; o* V: }$ `" yKnowing such backward companies would not offer much for me to learn about management, I decided to select a multinational to work for. In October 1995, I was employed by Kodak (China) Limited. I have really learned a lot over the last three years at Kodak. Kodak performs well in developing new techniques, making high quality products, setting efficient distribution channels around the world and offering good services to customers. What impresses me most is the teamwork spirit in Kodak. Support is coming to me everyday from our local office, Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne and Rochester. I did not personally know most of my colleagues in those places, but I can always rest assured that we are working in the same team.

Now three years of working experiences with Kodak have turned me into a professional businessman. I can pursue my career with Kodak and continue to learn business management skills. However, I will have more opportunities if I can earn an MBA at a renowned business school. To receive MBA training at this stage of my career will be good for my personal growth. After I examined my past working history and education, I came to believe that a rigorous training in business management will launch me onto my desired career track.
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My undergraduate years were spent at Xi'an Jiaotong University, one of the most prestigious institutes in China. I was admitted in 1989 without taking the usually mandatory admission test held nationwide each year. Only a handful of the very best high school students are given such offers by several leading universities around the country. My academic performance continued to shine at university.

The student leadership positions I held during my undergraduate studies may well indicate my good mastery of organization skills. In 1991, I was elected president of the Students Union of Xi'an Jiaotong University out of more than 10,000 undergraduates. During the summer holidays in 1992, as a representative of Xi'an Jiaotong University, I attended No.21 Conference of All China Students Federation held in Beijing and was elected one of five executive presidents of this nationwide student organization by representatives from all over the country. My management capabilities were well cultivated in the extracurricular activities at university
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To bring my potential in management into full play, I am eager to pursue an MBA in the United Sates where new ideas about management are constantly generated. Kellogg is a great education center as illustrated by the ranking of business schools. I believe that the culture of the school sets it apart from the others. For example, teamwork is taught extensively at Kellogg. That is something highly valuable after school. With good cooperative working style, Kellogg graduates will be greatly appreciated by their employers. I am sure that I can learn a lot from Kellogg students who represent various experiences, interests, talents, and cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

Briefly and specifically describe your career objectives and your reason to apply to the Montana School.
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In consideration of my education, professional experience and personal qualities, I have for long been determined to build up a career in business management consulting. Such a career calls for knowledge, experience, keen judgment and creativity, but the challenges it presents are precisely what makes it so attractive to me. My dream is that, under my seasoned guidance, many a Chinese company will grow by leaps and bounds to take up dominant positions in the world market. I am confident that my education at Simon, coupled with my strong analytical skills and broad vision, will put me firmly on track to such a career.

& Q% x* M: N3 U# y  L  wHaving undertaken professional training in trade and finance, I believe that I can also do well as a professional working for a foreign trade firm or a banking institution.

In choosing my career path, I have carefully canvassed the human resources market in China. Thanks to economic and other reforms, the country's economy has been growing as the world's fastest for almost two decades. Such growths have generated an enormous demand for modern managerial talents, which Chinese universities do not supply sufficiently in either quantity or quality. The shortage of professional managers is now seriously hampering China's economic restructuring drive, particularly in the state-owned sector. As globalization sucks China's economy into the world economic system, the lack of professional managers also puts China at a disadvantage in its economic and trade relations with other countries. China's continued growths have been called into question, particularly at a time when it gets hammered harder and harder by the Asian financial crisis.
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+ d# ^5 b2 x/ L* |' T" X! lIf China is to sustain its spectacular economic progress, its businesses will have to be managed by professional managers who are equipped with not only excellent personal qualities, but also solid business expertise. They must have a keen sense of the risks and opportunities around them, a quick instinct on the best development strategies, and superb organizational skills. They should also be versed in business theories, relevant law and regulations, and the prevalent business practices of the world. I think such abilities can be best attained through advanced training at quality business schools.
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; S1 |7 |8 S  l/ D* rThe ideal way for me to meet China's need for modern managerial talent is to make myself a professional manager and then advise a host of Chinese businesses on their management. I feel that my current knowledge and expertise are not yet up to the task that I have set for myself. I therefore wish to pursue MBA studies at a well-known graduate business school such as the Simon Business School. What I need is not just a degree, though. I need to learn the ways of handling complicated situations and making the right decisions. Your program, with its excellent faculty, significant international student body, and the small sized teamwork model of learning, holds strong allure to me. I would dearly love to have the opportunity of communicating with diversified talents in the classroom. I am sure that education at your school will put me firmly on track to realize my dream.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

Describe your career goals, explain how the Olin School will help you meet your objectives. (400)
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My ideal job is to head a foreign trade service company. At present, this kind of company does not exist in China. My future company will provide innovative services-offering insurance on product quality and after-sale service to foreign purchasers of Chinese goods. We will do this in corporation with overseas companies so as to share our human resources, information, marketing channels and management skills.
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4 o" B) X- D  R* `  O5 T; q/ bMy experience of over ten years in international trade business has endowed me with insights and a sense of direction. I have observed that many foreign trade companies are being pushed out of the market because the international buyers and sellers have established close contact made possible by modern information technologies. Many traditional services provided by China's foreign trade companies are no longer needed by their clients. I have many ideas of how my future business is going to function in the new market. However at this stage, what I need is to better prepare myself with advanced business skills. I also need to pause in order to reflect on my professional experience. Towards that end, I shall pursue MBA studies.
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* u+ U5 i8 X  F9 d3 s, IA friend of mine who is familiar with your MBA program speaks highly of it and has encouraged me to apply for acceptance. Your program holds special allure to me because of your fame as a top business school in the US and your philosophy recognizing that "each student has unique needs". You offer the students maximum choice and personal attention to meet their individual needs. Based on my own professional experience, I understand customization represents the greatest responsibility and highest standard in any kind of services. Your customized teaching will not only help me achieve my professional goals but also conform with my own ideals in business practices.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

Indicate your reasons for taking part in an MBA programme (including what you hope to gain from the MBA program).

As a successful businessman who has not had a formal business education, I wish to learn the art of running a business on scale. I have set up and run my own company, which has proved highly successful the last few years. But the company was small, with a staff of six and a regular team of collaborators. I wish to do business on a bigger scale and play on a larger stage. That calls for institutionalized management, which I have not really learned to do.
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8 G5 R! e% E; k, S& |If accepted into your MBA program, I would be receiving, for the first time, the kind of education on which I will be building up my career and business. As a student at the Mainland University, I did not really get to receive the kind of education that I preferred. What I did later on as a businessman had little to do with what I learned as an undergraduate student. I am determined to make myself a top businessman in China. My experience the last few years has laid a good foundation for me, and an MBA degree will put me firmly on track to reach my goal.

5 m  d% |) U/ g. o- l, D1 w" R+ bI hope that I will be thoroughly trained in business development strategy. I know that business schools of the European tradition are strong in training their students to do strategic thinking.

I also want to train myself in pricing, international accounting and other technical skills. As my own business grew, I found it quite a handicap to lack expertise in these areas.
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% U. |+ Y3 w' S7 pI also wish to have the capacity to understand and appreciate the country's overall business and economic conditions. I think this will help me greatly as I make my long-term business plans.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

Describe one or two accomplishments in which you demonstrated leadership. (limit 500 words)
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3 c2 K: x/ P+ u  O- pI have been playing leadership roles in my company for years. But my first days of being a highly independent manager were the most memorable.

8 N* m9 d" |8 @By a deal I made with the China Textile Resources Corporation, I took over its chemical products division as something of a contractor in 1995. The deal was made after this division had suffered lackluster performance for years. Under the deal, a 10 million yuan line of credit was made available to me at an annual interest rate of eight per cent, in return for which I would have to generate half a million yuan in net profit of half a million each year for the company. By good organization and aggressive networking, I easily reached the target and made a significant income for myself.
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1. The way I did it was to delegate as much responsibility as I could to my employees while I exercised control over the main events. I had only three people on the staff, but they were each given a clear scope of duties. The girl would serve as the secretary, and the two young men would be responsible for import and export, respectively. Together we set out to specialize in trading in sulfur, sodium sulphate, phthalic anhydride, tartaric acid, rubber and etc.
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2. I laid down strict rules of performance to ensure accountability. I would be involved in the negotiation and signing of every contract the value of which was beyond 200,000 yuan in Chinese currency. My employees were expected to handle most other responsibilities the best they could, with me coordinating among them. I demanded a written report every month about each and every on-going project, sweeping away the indolence that was then characteristic of state-owned companies.
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3. I made sure that remuneration was closely tied with performance. Incentives were clearly spelt out and promptly paid up. Under these incentives, the staff members were highly motivated, since they could see that their personal incomes were growing hand in hand with that of the business.

9 R& T: x3 S9 Y- Y2 @4. I encouraged the staff to undergo whatever training they could possibly receive in relation to foreign trade. Whenever necessary, I made sure that cost of such training is paid for. Such training enriched the employees' expertise and broadened their horizons. Such training proved highly effective in updating my people's knowledge and heightening their sensitivity to special circumstances.

9 R! I: r! V# x& d# N. |5. As the boss, I focused on creating synergy in this small group people, with each and every one backing up all others when called upon to do so. Exercising my superb communications skills and dealing with everybody above the board, I easily enjoyed everyone's trust and loyalty. Although we did not have too many people, our teamwork compensated for the lack of hands. I understood that the number of employees did not necessarily matter much as long as the employees were all quality people bound together by team spirit. I am glad to say that I achieved a strong measure of synergy in my office.

) A; w" J: ?+ w3 Y5 a# Z( N! mI believe that all of the above were qualities of a good and effective leader. Over the years, I have continued to refine my management approaches. The synergy resulted has served my business very well. I have no doubt that, with MBA training, I will be able to shoulder much larger leadership roles than described here.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

What is your most memorable achievement in your professional career?


9 L; G% @. h6 P8 hIn the first few days after I was appointed by my company, Tigerta Propriety Limited, as its manager in South Africa, I decided to shift the company's operations away from Johannesburg, the South African capital, to other South African cities. The decision was considered risky at the time as it would take the company's business into uncharted waters. But the risk-taking paid off. As a result of the shift, my company secured a strong foothold in the South African market, where it has an ever expanding presence.

Our office, like those of most other foreign companies in South Africa, was situated in the business district of Johannesburg. But the market there was already saturated. Upon being appointed at the beginning of October 1996 the manager in charge of South African operations, I convinced my colleagues that we had to tap into markets in other areas of that country. The decision was implemented immediately. After my office established initial contact over the phone with some potential customers on the basis of the information we culled from the Yellow Pages, an assistant and I drove on October 6, 1996 to Durban, the country's largest port city on its east coast, 600 kilometers away from Johannesburg. We set out at 5:00 am only to be trapped in outpouring rain and bewitching fog. We spent eight instead of the usual four hours on the road.
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We persisted and reached Durban right after the lunch hour, hungry and tired. With a few hamburgers quickly stuffed into our stomachs, we proceeded to meet our potential customers. In three hours, we visited seven of them, three of whom placed orders, which together valued at 23,000 US dollars. We spent seven hours on the way back. By the time we arrived home in Johannesburg after 1:00 am, we were totally exhausted. But it was with this rocky ride that my company's business in South Africa finally took off. The three customers all became long-term buyers of our products later on, but more importantly, we tasted the fruits of creative thinking.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

Describe an experience in which you exercised leadership and made a difference in an organization.

2 `" _$ {4 P$ L2 f+ VAs my company's top guy in South Africa since October 1995, I have secured a strong presence for my company in South Africa. To do this, I have streamlined our business, devised new incentive program for our employees, and cut back the cost.

Before I was made the manager, my company was trying to sell a wide range of Chinese products in South Africa, including commodities as different as foodstuff, china, clothing, and textiles. Seeking to do many things too fast, the company incurred huge costs but generated little profit. Upon careful analysis of the market situation, I determined that my company should concentrate on marketing textiles, for which we had relative advantages in terms of expertise and supplies. So, we pulled out of the markets of other products, where we had no special advantages in the fierce competition. With the benefit of scale in one product, we quickly achieved better efficiency.
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With a new incentive program I developed, the company's sales people, its biggest asset in South Africa, worked harder and more productively. In my scheme, remuneration was strictly tied with one's performance. Each salesperson's income is made proportionate to his or her volume of sales. With this program, the company brought in more revenue and the sales people made more money for themselves.
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  x* _" c4 _" m0 NLarge sums of money were saved for the company because, with strict control of operational cost, I drastically cut down the company's overhead in South Africa. For this, I put in place a clear chain of authorities with respect to who can authorize what amount of spending for what purpose. That has worked very well. With the cost down and revenue up, the company's profits have soared.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

What is your most important achievement and how has it changed you?

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( C; |. E$ F3 {7 u/ n0 cBorn into an ordinary family in a small town in China, I, as a child, used to believe that whether one can be successful depends on one's luck. It never occurred to me that I could get anywhere or become somebody. Such is life, I thought. But I still studied hard in high school, thinking that it would not do any harm anyhow. My diligence proved rewarding, as I passed the mandatory university entrance examinations with such high scores that I was accepted into the Beijing University, described by Bill Clinton as "China's Harvard" on his recent trip to my home country. That was really a milestone in my life.
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Once I entered into the Beijing University, I had a lot more confidence in myself and I began to believe that, as long as I tried hard enough, everything would be possible. With that kind of confidence, I graduated from the university as one of its top students, which won me a host of excellent job offers. Having taken up a job, I believed that I could have an outstanding career if I worked hard enough. With industry and tenacity, I have been quickly promoted up the corporate ladder. I am convinced that it is my intellectual caliber and hard work, not good luck, that ensures my continuous success in life.
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) D- |! n+ U* z" Y5 h+ bIt is with such confidence that I am now applying for acceptance into the Harvard business school, which no doubt has a reputation of selectivity and distinction. I know that most of Harvard's applicants make up the cream of their communities, but I also know that I will make no less a businessman than any of them.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

What are the three most important accomplishments in your life?
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The three most significant achievements in my life are: winning acceptance into the Beijing University, winning a job with Tigerta Group Corporation Ltd., and winning the position of general manager of Tigerta's South African chapter.
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. v8 m' C1 I) pOn the strength of the high scores that I obtained in 1990 in the National University Entrance Examinations, which are held every year to screen high school graduates for higher-learning, I got to enroll myself into the Beijing University, considered by most people as China's best institution of higher education. Five years at Beida, as it is known in Chinese, endowed me with extensive knowledge, broad perspectives, confidence in myself and a strong sense of mission and responsibility. I entered into Beida a naive small town teenager, but, five years later, I graduated a mature man.

8 k! x& `4 B$ e; _One sign of my maturity was that I chose to work for Tigerta Group Corporation Ltd., based in the boomtown Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong. This went against the trend among university graduates in Beijing, most of whom prefer to stay in the nation's capital even today. But I wanted to join a good-sized company in a pioneering city. Shenzhen was an ideal place as it was the venue where most of China's reforms are first tested before they are dropped or adopted nationwide. Working for Tigerta, one of the country's top 300 companies, as its CEO's assistant, I learned first-hand how a modern Chinese is managed. By participating in the policy deliberations, I gradually developed my own thinking on management.
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In 1996, I was sent to South Africa to be Tigerta's top gun in opening up that country's market, which was closed to Chinese businesses for decades as the Chinese government refused to deal with its former white government. In South Africa, I worked perforce independently, which forced me to keep learning and exploring. I had to come up with a solution to every problem, big or small, no matter what. The pressure was intense, but my entrepreneurial spirit was tempered. In South Africa, I got to improve my command of English by leaps and bounds, since it was my working language every day.
The hardship that necessarily accompanies expatriate businessmen did not deter me, but rather helped to steel my will and give me unprecedented will power.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

You have the opportunity to invite three individuals who have ever lived to help you solve a problem. What problem would you solve? What role would each person, including yourself, play on the team? (1-2 pages)

I would like to help solve the education problems in China, as that has been my long held dream. Education needs people who are devoted to the progress of the society.

8 J- c* F+ J6 tI would like to have Confucius who lived 2,000 years ago to help me to promote a higher moral standard of the general public. He was a great educator advocating human dignity, forgiveness, honesty, diligence and charity. Traditional Chinese ethics and culture to a large extent stem from Confucian teachings. A person who wishes to be properly treated when in a subordinate role must, according to the Confucian Golden Rule, treat his own inferiors with propriety. In the midst of the warfare and tyranny, he urged a system of morality and statecraft to bring about peace, stability, and just government. Today after the era of communism in China, our nation is in desperate need of new ethical standards to guide its people's behavior.

" ]4 }5 B7 c: c+ C$ s! n- OI would also invite Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman, scientist and writer to help me educate the educated. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence, which he signed. As a scientist, he proved the presence of electricity in lightning through his famous experiment with a kite in a thunderstorm. Today, many Chinese intellectuals lack the sense of social responsibility and they pursue their studies only to improve their personal life. Franklin would be a good example as an outstanding intellectual, who was devoted to the cause of freedom and the cause to understand the natural forces.
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  Q& M! ~# P; I1 BI would also ask for help from Kenan's family, who donated to the Kenan-Flagler School of Business. People like them have through their altruistic actions made education much more affordable and attainable. I will invite her or him to China and preach on contribution to education. If we believe one's value lies in one's contribution to society, then contribution to education renders the highest value to the contributor. In making such contributions, the contributor does not only maximize his contribution to the society but also sow the seeds of uplifted human beings, who can be inspired to pay back to the society that they feel indebted to.

/ o* a6 i& O( w: VAs for myself, I will do something really special. In China, the government allows only one child in each family to receive public-financed education as one of the measures to reinforce Family-Planning Policy. While this policy is necessary to forestall a catastrophic population explosion in the world's most populated country, it is very unfair to those "extra children," who did not choose to come to this country. They are often deprived of equal rights to education, which usually means they will not have any opportunities whatsoever. Private schools in China only cater to kids in wealthy families and are prohibitively expensive. I will set up schools to take in only these disenfranchised children and provide them with quality education. I will make sure that my school instill in them good values and mold them into responsible and noble citizens.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

If you are in charge of the company you work for now, what strategic changes would you make to give your company a competitive edge?

: r* T  R2 u# y8 ~: C* w7 A( QI really enjoy my current job, particularly the fact it is challenging. I am exporter vis-a-vis the Chinese market, but in South Africa, I am in fact an importer. This dual role notwithstanding, I have to conduct careful market research, tough negotiations and be always on the lookout for more and better business opportunities. The demanding nature of the job means that I must muster all my intellectual resources in order to do the job well. This has forced me to improve both my professional expertise and my strength of my personality constantly.
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6 [, h7 j, D* v- }I also enjoy the career opportunities that the job has brought me in the last two to three years. As I said, very few of my former classmates have moved so far or so far up the corporate ladder as I have in the last two to three years. This has brought me not only handsome monetary compensation but also professional respect from my friends and confidence in myself.

5 z7 b* U# Z; ^) }& b2 j4 }It used to be hard to say what I disliked about my job, but this has changed recently with the deepening Asian financial crisis. With the drastic devaluation of most Asian currencies and the Chinese government's determination to uphold the value of China's currency, Chinese products are getting increasingly expensive in foreign markets, particularly those emerging markets, including in South Africa. By now, we have lost all pricing advantage we ever had, which has made it increasing difficult for us to do business abroad. The dire situation has aggravated the already intense competition among Chinese exporters, who are racing to beat each other's offer of prices. This state of affairs simply cannot be allowed to continues for long, or we may lose significant amounts of money.

If I were promoted to the top management of the company, I would make a strategic change to our business. I do not want to abandon the South African or other African markets, and the market share we occupy will be needed in the future, say, after the Asian financial crisis comes to an end or China is forced to devalue its currency. No big company with long-term plans should pull out of the market and simply give up its market share to its competitors. But meanwhile, the company has to be doing commercially viable business to survive, or it will make no sense to talk about the future. So, every effort must be made to ensure that our loss of pricing advantages can be compensated for by better services and more value-added technologies.
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But more importantly, we must shift the focus of our business if we want to be certain that we can ride out the financial crisis. For now, instead of exporting Chinese products for consumption in South Africa, we can import South African products, particularly raw materials and wine, which can now be bought at almost unprecedented bargain prices, thanks, again, to the financial crisis that has swept into Africa.
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This will be good for China as a whole, too. One way or another, China's economic takeoff will have to happen. The country will need raw materials on a massive scale as it pursues a host of gargantuan infrastructure projects. The Asian financial crisis surely has given China headaches, but it should be taken to be nothing but a curse. China's imports are getting cheaper, which will help cut down the cost of its infrastructure projects and relieve the Central Government of some of its financial burdens.

When my company is engaged in both imports and exports, it will enjoy much more resiliency in the volatile marketplace. In fact, it will place the company in a position where it can hardly ever lose. That way, I will find my job much more gratifying and a whole lot less distressful.

kevinhrmUID: 2158364

Explain why you chose your current job. How do you see your career developing over the next five years. How will an MBA assist you in the development of these ambitions?
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0 H5 ]' x9 r# i# HSometime in January 2001 I was told that a pitch effort I’d put together had been unsuccessful. Sage, the UK’s largest software house had decided that they would not be appointing Domino Systems to redevelop their websites because I and the 24 year old colleague I’d worked with on the pitch were ‘too young’. Sage’s marketing managers ‘would not feel comfortable presenting us to their directors’ and that was that.

  X% T+ k* D# E  qI was livid. A year earlier I had carried out usability engineering on Tiny Computers online store that had helped increase sales from £4000 a week to over £100 000 a week. I’d provided consultancy to Cisco on how best to launch new products online. I was one of only five consultants busy helping Fujitsu Siemens Computers sort out it’s post merger, pan-European web presence, I deserved better than to be told I was too young.

More than that, I wrote in a furious email to my managing director, I was not young. I was a veteran of the world wide web, I remembered text only browsers, I had installed Mosaic 1.0 onto my college computers, because of my fathers background in academic computing email had been a fact of life for over a decade for me. I had spent three years solving the kind of problems Sage had asked us to address, in an industry that was only five years old that was good going.

In his book ‘Ogilvy on Advertising’ David Ogilvy relates how one of the vice presidents of Ogilvy and Mather owed his success to going grey by the age of thirty – at the time I thought it was funny, re-reading it it didn’t seem that way anymore.

A few weeks later the same colleague and I were presenting to BP. We recited, with grim ferocity the litany of our achievements, feeling for the first time that we might not be judged solely on our merits. In the event BP loved our work and we secured the most prestigious client Domino have ever worked for, but the Sage experience had shaken me.
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6 e) o" H$ `- y# R. J% HThe above anecdote explains a lot about why I chose my current job, and why I feel the need to take an MBA.
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& K/ s7 U- a, T' \: W. f: z  ADomino Systems is a web agency providing IT and marketing consultancy, online brand development, creative executions and technical development. Among other things we helped build Dell’s European e-commerce operation – which turns over more than $6 million a day, and provided the world’s fastest results service for the World Rally Championship as part of our work for the Subaru team. When I joined Domino we built websites, the past three and half years have given me the opportunity to watch a company grow, struggle and ultimately transform itself. I like that about my job.
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. s1 Y- `* r7 ~2 Q( o5 @( _5 oI also like the fact I am given responsibility, and trusted. I may have lost the Sage pitch, but I was trusted to go out a few weeks later and pitch to BP Amoco. If we won the work I was going to be the one to do it, and so the only question about whether or not I pitched was whether or not I had the confidence to do it.

" C2 R- ]8 T5 p% ?  CI like the fact that I am asked to solve problems, and I like the variety of problems. As I write this I have the following questions to answer by Christmas
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--- How can Automobiles Inc convince their employees to use their under-utilised intranet?
--- How can Automobiles Inc use their intranet to communicate the repositioning of their brand to their employees?
, L9 i0 }  e( W--- How should Kitchens R Us, a retailer of luxury kitchen appliances best allocate it’s limited online budget?
. }7 _) G  z2 ?4 |/ K; A--- How can the internet help Unknown Computers effectively enter the PDA market which Compaq has managed to dominate in just six months?

These are the kind of questions I like working with. They give me a chance to exercise my mind and address big issues. When I joined Domino these were not the kind of questions we were asked, but I was allowed to pester our clients with suggestions and ideas and in time I became the first employee of what is now known as the strategy team.
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) t; ]8 }7 A- ^. {0 ]8 RI was once asked by the Marketing Director of Unknown Computers what made our best clients successful online. The answer I gave is the reason I want to undertake an MBA, internet technologies are only useful when they integrate with the rest of a business. The answers to the kind of questions I outlined above go well beyond the bounds of the internet, and as my work takes me further and further from home base I need new knowledge, understanding and experience to support myself.

0 |, d7 G* `. {  d& W# G: xAs to the future, in five years time I will be either standing in the board rooms of the world’s greatest companies and helping them solve their most interesting problems, or I will be working in some newborn start up company trying to become one of the world’s most interesting companies.

I will be able to do this because an MBA will have equipped me with the broad understanding needed to address specific issues accurately. It is my hope that an Oxford MBA will provide me with a chance to do more than learn. It is my hope that a tutorial system will allow me to challenge, to push my tutors as hard as they push me. It is my hope that the Oxford Internet Institute will provide avenues through which I can pursue my ideas about the relationship between the real and virtual worlds. It is my hope that in a multi-disciplinary environment I will find the kind of stimulating and provoking atmosphere that supported me through my first degree.
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' j5 y& D1 c+ OI want to learn, and I want to get old fast.