A Boot Camp Pitch For Getting An MBA in China

Elective courses provide opportunities for concentration in finance, marketing, or entrepreneurship, and 30 to 50 students per year take a one-week elective course overseas, last year in Japan, France, and the U.S., this year in South Korea, Japan, Israel, France, and the U.S.

Last year, CEIBS added an entrepreneurship concentration. At CEIBS and other top business schools, few MBAs launch ventures right out of school, but around a third do within 15 years, says entrepreneurship professor Rama Velamuri. Faculty encourage students to pursue enterprises if they’re passionate, but Velamuri warns that the Chinese market has grown more difficult. “In the early stages of China’s economic miracle, there were lots of what I call open spaces . . . where entrepreneurs could move in and start ventures – 15-20 years ago,” Velamuri says. “Nowadays, I would say that most of the gaps in the market have been filled. There are relatively fewer low-hanging fruit. No matter what industry you enter you are likely to find competitors, especially local competitors.”

LOCAL PARTNERS RECOMMENDED FOR CHINA STARTUPS

Because of the challenges for international entrepreneurs working in Chinese markets, CEIBS faculty recommend finding a local co-founder, “somebody who can provide you with the access to local resources, who can provide you with a deep understanding of the local contexts, who can help you overcome language barriers,” Velamuri says.

Nevertheless, the entrepreneurship environment is very favorable in certain areas, Velamuri says. “In China there are large sectors of the economy where there are hardly any barriers to startups. Especially in technology, it’s very easy,” he believes. “By and large the sectors that youngsters are typically interested in in China and generally I would say in emerging markets are quite friendly from a regulatory perspective.”

During the boot camp, which is in its third year, lectures highlighted career opportunities within China for international MBA graduates. Both the government and private sectors boast massive cash reserves, and the rapidly growing consumer class is hungry for Western- and Chinese-made goods, Chason says. The country’s chemical and energy sectors are booming, and auto production exceeds that of the U.S., Europe, and Japan combined, Chason says, noting that BMW, Nissan, and Ford recruited at CEIBS last year, as did Honeywell Aerospace. Most major consulting firms also recruit at CEIBS, Chason says.

BOOT CAMPERS VISIT MCKINSEY IN SHANGHAI

On a visit to global consulting firm McKinsey & Company in Shanghai, boot campers hear from associate Jerry Ding that the Chinese tech market is expanding massively, as are internet-delivered financial services. Also, a widespread problem in industry with waste – of time, inventory, labor, and emissions – provides a great deal of work for consulting companies in China, Ding says. And the country’s emerging middle class presents a massive target for companies operating in the country. “We see that they have sufficient share, they have sufficient disposable income,” Ding says. “What is the best way to capture them is really a big question mark for our clients.”

In hiring international MBAs, including CEIBS graduates, McKinsey in China heavily weights problem-solving ability, along with leadership experience, applicants’ personal impacts, and their history of “driving and achieving,” says McKinsey’s Greater China Office Recruiting Manager Mike Wang. “Problem solving is really the foundation of everything we’re looking for,” Wang says, adding that with that ability, lower marks on other parameters such as leadership experience may be overlooked, but without it, any chance for a job evaporates. “McKinsey’s way of solving problems will not only make you survive within the company, but give you the edge, the competitive edge, when working in other companies.”

Back at the school, CEIBS alumnus and school career development consultant Jeff Pi addresses the recent abrupt fall in China’s stock market, and urges boot campers to look beyond specific events to “overall megatrends” in the country. “We lost 10 Greek economies. You can be a pessimist and say, ‘Ah look, the bubble’s bursting,’ or you can look at it from an opportunistic point of view,” Pi says.

Among the megatrends are the urbanization of a billion people; huge manufacturing scale; the rising consumer class; large amounts of money and brainpower within the population and industries; and internet commerce, Pi says. He notes that Facebook took a decade to reach the billion-user mark, while Chinese mobile-communication app WeChat hit 600 million after only four years. “This is the kind of explosive growth that we’re talking about,” Pi says.