2008年4月11日 星期五

[Career Explorer]请牛人分析我的背景申请北美TOP10的可能性

http://forum.chasedream.com/dispbbs.asp?boardid=13&id=316546&star=4#316546

以下是引用poetfarmer在2008-4-11 9:33:00的发言:多谢各位的指点!简述一下我的背景:1。G/T都还没考,但自己英语底子还是比较自信的,一直都是做海外销售。2。本科是原来的华中理工毕业,毕业后在一个国内顶级电信设备公司作技术,工程师。1年后调到国内NO1的手机设计公司做海外销售,2年till July, 现在的position是海外一区域市场的team leader.我得疑惑主要在:其实个人的最终目标还是创业,但是面临一个创业不确定性的问题,曾经有几个创业项目都因为各种资源的原因没成,所以打算进行止损,干脆加入TOP IB先解决财务自由,当然IB的经验积累对我将来的创业也有好处。创业的偶像是柳传志,但可惜无法遇到像他那样好的机会,所以想走沈南鹏那样的道路,觉得TOP MBA->TOP IB-> START UP比较具有可行性。PS鹤蛲砣ゲ渭恿饲寤桑停拢恋男律婊幔芴甯芯鮠iversity非常不够,而且担心I班的清华老师都是大陆人,可能讲全英文课程无法讲的细致,可能最终只是蜻蜓点水。I班的前辈也反映过这种情况。请前辈再帮忙深入分析一把,拜谢先。
呵呵 补充一下,本人1年的技术工作有2个月的海外经历。2年的销售base在北京,不过海外出差比较频繁。希望加入CD,分享智慧。

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A:
講實話 一切要等GT都出來以後才能考慮
什麼事都有可能 不管什麼分數都有例外
不過MBA進的了哪間跟出來要去哪不是看機率
而是看爭取
工程背景要創業 跟MBA中間有哪些關聯
有人創業不需要MBA
有人靠MBA創業
MBA無所不包 您要的是裡面的哪幾塊
為什麼? 而又要怎麼用上

多半在生涯管理選擇中
對創業人士最簡單直接的問題就是
如果不創業您要做啥?
創業是不歸路 所有成敗一人扛
拿自己的錢來燒
不是想進就進的來 也不是想放就放的下
LZ創業的替代道路是top IB
不能完全說不切實際
但還要問其中的關聯在哪
又全世界真正進IB領域的華人一年大約只有一百多人
比進consulting firm還難
即使進去了也只是拿命來換錢
重點是這站上茫茫三十萬人海 幾乎還沒人真正賺到IB的錢
在您連GT都還沒考的狀況下
可能說這一切都嫌太早
當然不是質疑LZ的能力
只是一切都還要等有硬體分數這項最基本的門檻以後
才有辦法進行下一步生涯規劃

[Career Explorer]Suggested line of work?

美國商周商學院論壇上,
有人詢問25歲若未來要念MBA名校
應該選擇哪種生涯路線
這位詢問者有相當不錯的諮詢顧問潛能
但其中有幾項生涯選擇不合邏輯
請見小弟分析如下

http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools&tid=75186


From: davidlee0222
Date: 2008-04-12T00:25:50
Very typical example of MBA career management. It's a global business that not limited to Chinese.
· From: dionusos
·
· Total Posts: 64
· Posted: Apr-10
I'm 25 years old, and I have been an administrative assistant for the past 2.5 years. Last 1.5 years at a health care company. I need to look for a new job that will put me in a better position to get into MBA school in a few years. What positions should I look for?
1) "Analyst" ?
2) IT support (I hope it's not hard to pick up and learn...)
3) Fill in the blank.
I just have no clue!

BTW my target industry for post-MBA work... I am very open to anything, but my top choices are Marketing and Finance.
(cont'd.)
I'm not sure how much more specific I can get than saying I want to be the director of a department at a company, a department that makes decisions concerning Brand Management, advancing and protecting the brand image of the company. Do I have to cite a specific company and product? Okay, well, I want to be the director of the Entertainment Department at Sony and decide how to market the next Playstation console.For example, this console generation had a controversial move that Sony was heavily criticized for--inclusion of the Blu-Ray drive (and the requirement that all game developers use the Blu-Ray disc). This raised the price on the PS3 and caused many to say that the xBox 360 would beat out the PS3. Sony, being much more experienced with hardware than the software giant of Microsoft, would surely take a big hit in their brand image in the console industry if this happened. The Sony Playstation became legendary with its second incarnation, but the name Sony was still not as resilient in console gaming as Nintendo, and Sony couldn't afford to lose out in this battle after so much investment.The decision to include Blu-Ray was risky and overlapped into the high-def media war with HD DVD, but winning over Warner Brothers through exclusive deals secured the victory, and now the PS3 is seen as a bargain way to have a gaming console and a high-def media player all in one.The overlapping of media players and console gaming was done before when Sony decided that that the PS2 would feature the software to play DVD movies. The buggy state of the PS2 DVD player led the masses to speculate that Sony would leave console gaming and movie players as separate markets. But Sony surprised everyone with the PS3.I want to be the guy who makes the decisions on how to market Son'y shoe entertainment products. I want to be one who takes Sony's reputation from "Oh yeah they're generally good, but not the best deal caused they are overpriced" to "Oh yeah, Sony!! They make great hardware like gaming consoles and HDTVs!!! Sure it's a little pricey but well worth it. Better to spend $500 on something you love than spend $350 on something that feels cheap and will break on you."I'll add another example if that helps.Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola have very different approaches to marketing their products. Pepsi Cola embraced non-carbonated beverages (Gatorade, Sobe) earlier, and expanded globally much faster than Coca Cola. Coca Cola was a little stubborn with developing non-carboated beverages, and wanted to concentrate on the market in America . Pepsi Cola's advertisement reacnhed out to the younger crowd, known to drink more soft drinks than their older counterparts. Coca Cola, looking back, realized how conservative their advertisement campaign was, and how it did not appeal to the younger generation. Coca Cola also ran into trouble with some of their bottling businesses, some of which were family-run and could not afford the low margin of profit. Coca Cola was losing the battle so bad, that to eliminate debt, Coca Cola brought back a retired ex-president, who came up with the highly regarded "51% solution" of keeping 51% of Coca Cola's stocks, while taking the other 49% and forming the Coke Company (correct me if I am wrong on the exact names). This eliminated millions in debt by taking advantage of a loophole in the law.So to give you an idea of what I want to do, I DON'T want to be the guy who is charged with coming up with the next brilliant 51% solution, but I DO want to be the guy who helps change Coca Cola's strategy of what types of drinks to develop (do we pool our resources into making new kinds of Powerade, or do we make more carbonated drinks?), and where to market the drinks (concentrate on the United States, or spread it out to Europe? Or the whole world?). In general, I'd like to be the guy who made everyone stop saying "Oh yeah, Coke, my dad drinks that" and instead, start saying "Why would I drink that Pepsi when there's perfectly good Coke right here? Save the Pepsi for your little sister."Again, thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. If there is anyone else out there that can make suggestions despite my vaguery, please do so!

Answer:
From: davidlee0222
Total Posts: 30
Posted: 8:09 PM
To: dionusos
:: Unread ::
18 of 18 75386.18
Reply to 75386.9
Hi Dionusos,
I believe you might be facing several blind spots in your career logic now. First is the reverse logic that you're choosing your career paths based on "pursuing a decent MBA." All due respect but the logic is error by nature. Your MBA should be something supplemental that can significantly accelerate your solid career objectives, not a "goal" by itself. Nobody knows what will exactly happen in future, but at least you need a direction or narrowed options as focused as possible, then you can figure out why you need an MBA and what part of it you'll need. So far these career choices are still all random. You need to find out by your career logic.
It's quite obviously that you have some analytical potential, but that may be misleading since the points you analyzed were the "afterward outcomes" that already reflected by the market, and these were only the surface of the operations and business strategies that either PS3 v.s. 360 or Coke v.s. Pepsi you need to go much deep down at least 4 to 5 levels to see internally the short-term and long-term business strategies, market-orientation, consumer perception and demand, brand strategy, product positioning relates to product portfolio, financial structures, supply chain networks, outsourcing practices, competitive landscapes, operation value chain, channel structures and profit splits, and then "forecast" the market for either profitabilities and stock influencials, so as to execute brand promotion, product selling campaigns, and pricing tactics.
But all of these are not your career pathing considerations. Career drivers are 3 major elements: Passion, Characteristics, and Professional Capabilities. Now although you had such a brillent analysis on market, it still cannot confirm whether the consulting-related jobs will be your career yet, since you need some concrete evidence on your real-world career. You need to prove to yourself that consulting or something else can be your life-long career, even though you might need "a decent MBA" first to get into certain industries like consulting, you have to prove your potential first by solid evidence, whatever it can be, to "knock the door" on these professions.
Another key may be your age and experience that 2.5 years are still too unpredictable to try to "settle down" your career. It'll be a huge risk based on very limited evidence and career track. Some of those evidences may be temporary or even false. You need at least a coule of years to observe and examine your best fit from 3 career drivers. Then see if you need a MBA and how significant it can play a role in your life. We can talk in private to find out your career progress and find out those career drivers.
David
MBA Career Manager
davidlee0222big1@gmail.com

"Chinese Ask David": http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools&tid=75186