Essay 1
 
What are your expectations of the MBA program? What contribution do you think you will make? How will your personal distinctiveness enrich our learning environment?

First of all, I expect that I will be presented with a challenging educational environment in your highly respected MBA program. Your MBA program offers a solid course curriculum that will allow me to build on my previous extensive business experience to give me the skills that are required in the rapidly changing international business world.

Although my business experience is important, it is not enough in the competitive business environment today to have only practical experience. I believe that through your MBA program, I can learn the theories behind successful business strategies as well as learn about other organization’s experiences through the reading of different types of case studies. Reading and understanding a wide variety of case studies will allow me to learn how to approach certain business situations as well as to learn how to avoid some business mistakes that others have made in the past.

In addition to learning in a classroom situation from my professors, I know that I will learn much more than that by gaining the life experiences of living in a foreign country. The opportunity to learn by living and experiencing life in another country will make me a more complete business person by giving me the chance to look at the business world from another country’s perspective. An international perspective is essential to being successful in business as the different countries in the global business environment become increasingly intertwined and interdependent.

I will also expect to learn much valuable information from my classmates as we work our way through the MBA program together and become friends. Learning from the most elite students from many different cultures and developing lasting friendships with them will be another very attractive benefit of studying in your MBA program.

My contribution to this established MBA program will be that of an experienced businessperson in the most populous and rapidly developing country in the world. My previous experience working in multinational organizations has given me a very useful working knowledge and first-hand knowledge of the methods of doing business in China. I have experience with both large and small businesses in China, both as an assistant engineer and a higher level manager. I have worked with some of the world’s largest companies in China, which gives me a unique perspective and the ability to contribute not only the Chinese viewpoint but also a multinational viewpoint to classroom discussions. These diverse working experiences have given me a very broad-based, cross-functional knowledge of how to do business in China.

My unique experiences in working as an assistant engineer in the computer center of Jin Jiang Industrial Co., Ltd. have given me a solid foundation in actual working knowledge of computer software and computer systems. As a sales representative for nearly four years with the multinational company 3M in the southwest region of China, I learned to analyze buying behavior and develop a full marketing plan for our products. I also managed a distribution network, which involved inventory planning, marketing channel studies, incentive program development and training of new business partners.

With Xerox China Co., Ltd., I performed the duties of a high-level sales consultant. This position involved analyzing major potential clients' needs and developing an XES (Xerox Engineering System) solution to fit the clients' technical specifications and budgetary needs. I also worked for three years with China Hewlett-Packard Co., Ltd. My position as a Supplies Market Development Manager with the Consumer Business Unit required me to use my thorough understanding of all aspects of the marketing value chain, including the analysis of market dynamics and developing and implementing annual marketing plans for the entire business unit. My current position as a Business Director for AsiaEC.com, Inc., has allowed me to take full responsibility for developing the business of an e-commerce start up company involved with IT/office equipment and office consumable products.

As you can see from my extensive and unique business experience in China, I have much to contribute to the learning environment of your MBA program. I believe that the learning environment can be greatly enhanced by classroom participation from the students, particularly in an MBA program such as yours that involves the best students from around the world. I am eager to thoroughly involve myself at the proper times to add my real-life experiences in the rapidly changing business world of China to give an international perspective to classroom discussions. I also believe that I can learn to develop a better international vision and a sense of future business trends while adding my own experiences to your MBA program.