What is your long-term goal? And how do you think an MBA education can help you reach that goal?
My 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.
I 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.
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.
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.
