Personal Statement

Just after my 30th birthday, an age that marks the supposed establishment of career success according to traditional Chinese value system, I came upon the book The Purpose of Your Life-Finding Your Place in the World Using Synchronicity, Intuition and Uncommon Sense by Carol Adrienne. In two days, I finished reading the book and I shared some of my reflections with my wife. Both of us realized that there should be some changes in our life. Our conclusion was that, as advocated by Carol Adrienne, we should follow our intuition and pursue our future career as dictated by our interests, even though it meant relinquishing our present promising professions. The result is that my wife arrived in XX University in August 2003 to embark on her Ph.D. program in mathematics and by the end of this Sept., upon the expiration of my contract with my last employer I have started preparing for my proposed Ph.D. program in strategic management.

Like most university graduates, I commenced my professional career as a hardware engineer at XX Technology & Design Co., Ltd (July 1995 to June 1999) where I was engaged in circuitry design of high-resolution TV. As chief engineer, I was dispatched to Japan to learn video circuit design at XX Motors for a year and a half, during which I participated in designing the XX in China, I was promoted as director of Circuit Design Department and, as such, led the design project of XX. The project was awarded the Third Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress of XX Province.

My specific management experiences have happened at XX Infotech Technologies Co., Ltd., a leading supplier of banking applied software, since July 1999. In the first two years, I worked as general manager of XX Branch Office and my achievements included managing the Sales Center, which rapidly increased our market chare in northern China by winning the software development projects for processing the negotiable instruments of the country’s three leading banks—XX Bank of China, XX and XX Bank. In addition, by establishing and managing the XX Center, I recruited a dynamic team of outstanding local software talents committed to developing the future-oriented banking software.

My distinguished performance was duly recognized by the top management and I was promoted to the position of vice president of the company. Based in the headquarters, I was responsible for the corporate strategic development, HR management and financing. In my strategic management, I accomplished 4 major achievements. I first formulated our corporate strategy by focusing on financial information technology centered around Vision, Mission and Philosophy, with the development of cutting-edge technology and maximum satisfaction of customer demands as our core competitive power. Then I succeeded in introducing 3 strategic investment partners with a funding of 30 million RMB (equivalent to x x US dollars), financially guaranteeing the rapid and healthy corporate expansion. Furthermore, I participated in the XX of new products by diversifying the single product line into a serial one, enhancing the annual sales volume from 20 million in 2001 to 80 million in 2004, making our company the top software enterprise in bank negotiable instruments processing. Finally, I perfected the performance evaluation system and wage system based on team contribution assessment and trained dedicated employees in line with Gallup Path Theory. The number of employees increased from 30 to 120, with very low level of dropout.
 
In retrospection, my academic backgrounds played an important role in my successful professional career. An undergraduate in electrical engineering, I excelled in advanced mathematical analysis and critical reasoning. The spirit of engineering made me goal-oriented and adept at perceptively diagnosing and solving practical problems. By far, my management expertise is derived from my 3-year MBA training (1999-2002) at XX Management School of XX University, the country’s best business school. With a GPA of 3.3 (87.3/100), I was the top achiever in a class of 105 students.

While doing my MBA program, two books by Michael E. Porter, Competitive Strategy and Competitive Advantage, shaped my interest in strategic management. As a result, I was especially fascinated by such courses related to industrial organization as Organizational Behavior, Strategic Management and Human Resource Management. The advanced management theories taught by top-flight international MBA scholars, formed a catalysis with my years of practical professional experience. The greatest input I received from my MBA program was the broadening of my perspectives. My concerns transcended mere products and technology to include other vital factors underlying corporate success—HR management, financial management, production and supply chain management, and the formulation of rational strategies for corporate development that accord with the corporation’s own unique characteristics and the external business environment.

Compared with other applicants, I excel in research apart from a systematic knowledge in management and an abundance of managerial experiences. My master’s dissertation XX, which was rated “XX University’s Excellent Thesis of the Year”, probes into the financing activities of 107 local enterprises and the problems they faced. By applying theories of corporate growth and transformation of financing structure, I proposed a macro perspective and a micro perspective. The former refers to the construction, on the part of the government, of a diversity of financing channels and a hierarchical capital market system whereas the latter refers to the standardization, on the part of enterprises, of business operations, enhancement of transparency in financial reporting, and selection of appropriate funding patterns. Another research achievement of mine was the research paper I co-authored, SXX, which was collected in a book entitled XX by    University Press (Sept. 2001).

I love to study strategic management because I am a true insider of the business world, with in-depth knowledge of a whole spectrum of problems connected with corporate survival and development. For another thing, strategic management is challenging in that it encompasses knowledge across diverse fields— not only management science but also economics, sociology and even psychology. I believe that only through facing challenges can I achieve heightened personal development.

There are at least two unique qualities that I can contribute to the vibrant intellectual community of XX. First, my decade-long professional experience ranging from the technical to the managerial will allow me to share my unique Chinese perspectives with my international student community. China itself is so special a phenomenon as a country. Second, as a product of China’s top business school, I can serve as a touchstone for a top U.S. business school. I would like to see whether two top business schools in the world can combine to produce a top scholar on strategic management.

Contrary to most present-day scholars in China whose research on strategic management is primarily oriented toward large enterprises, my research interest will be focused on medium and small enterprises. My past academic research and an insider’s knowledge of China’s business world both indicate that the country’s future economic growth hinges on the healthy development of numerous small and medium corporations. The sad fact is that it is precisely those corporations as a whole that lack a strategic mentality.  

“It is more important to do the right thing than do the thing rightly.” Doing the right thing pertains to strategy while doing the thing rightly falls into tactics. Right strategy undoubtedly should be fused with right tactics. In terms of my personal development, my present application is exactly motivated by this strategic principle of “doing the right thing.” Not only that, this application also happens “at the right time”— with a long list of academic and professional experiences behind me and an exciting prospect of scholarly career ahead of me. By undertaking groundbreaking research in strategic management geared toward small and medium enterprises, I wish to rejoice in an academic career of lifelong scholarly speculation.