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Why MBA? Essay
Turkish news nowadays carry vivid
images which have become terrifyingly commonplace:
the surface of the sea littered with dead sheep;
a landfill explosion leading to a number of deaths;
vendors offering radiation-contaminated tea for
half-price; a little girl's death resulting from
her fall through an open sewage manhole in her schoolyard;
radioactive waste sold to unsuspecting scrap dealers;
a twenty-year-old tanker breaking into pieces, spilling
hundreds of tons of crude oil into the ocean and
killing sea life all around.
The frequency with which these environmental disasters
fill Turkish news broadcasts -- along with the obvious
insensitivity of the authorities towards both environment
and health issues -- prompted me to learn about
ways to prevent these types of disasters. At the
age of fifteen, I decided to focus my studies on
environmental sciences in order to equip myself
with the technical tools I would need to make a
real contribution.
After earning a master's degree in environmental
sciences, I completed a professional international
management certificate program in order to gain
a management perspective of the field. I then realized
that, in order to effectively combine my technical
knowledge and management skills, I needed to accumulate
real-world experience. Specifically, working at
a large company would allow me to develop insight
into various industries, as well as an overarching
vision of the international business arena.
I have now worked for nearly two years in the energy
and environment group of Koc Holding, Turkey's first
and biggest diversified conglomerate. As a project
engineer, I am mainly responsible for our holding
companies' environment and energy sector investments.
This position has given me the opportunity to interact
with businessmen from all over the world, thereby
expanding my international perspective. Because
of my outstanding work performance, I was chosen
to attend various meetings with local and international
governmental bodies such as OPIC, IFC, and the World
Bank. It is highly unusual for a young associate
to represent the company at such events, and my
self-confidence -- as well as my management skills
-- was further enhanced by that successful experience.
While working in various business lines, including
the automotive industry, consumer durables, and
the energy sector, I have realized that the root
cause of many environmental problems is financial.
I believe that many people in the environmental
sector are so ignorant or insensitive that they
will cheat customers to increase profits. Furthermore,
businesses do not prioritize environmental investments;
as a result, insufficient funds are allocated to
adequately prevent problems. For instance, despite
a population over eight million people, Istanbul,
Turkey's largest city, still lacks a properly operating
sewage system. In most of the areas of the city,
waste water is discharged directly into the Bosphorus.
In the long term, I hope to help solve my country's
problems by starting my own environmental-services
business in Turkey. The company will serve both
local and international customers by providing cost-effective,
adaptable solutions ranging from waste management
to safety management. In order to accomplish this
goal, however, I must deepen my knowledge of the
field. Despite my experience, I still lack some
important knowledge and management skills, especially
in finance, marketing, and entrepreneurship. I am
also aware that my knowledge of American environmental
issues is insufficient. Since dealing with aspects
of international business will be an integral part
of my job as an entrepreneur, it is essential that
I fill in these gaps.
The NAME School's MBA program is the perfect bridge
from where I am to where I want to be. I am attracted
by the inventiveness and uniqueness of its entrepreneurial
and finance programs, and believe that I will increase
my practical knowledge of entrepreneurship by interacting
with my classmates. I value the fact that at NAME
entrepreneurial education does not stop at the classroom,
but rather continues through internships and extracurricular
activities. I feel that a business school for entrepreneurs
should balance a dose of theory with real-world
application, and NAME's curriculum and hands-on
experiences through associations, internships, and
the management field study provide such balance.
I am also drawn to NAME because of the school's
emphasis on teamwork and technology, reflected by
such exciting courses and programs as High Technology
Entrepreneurship, International Finance, 12-week
field application projects, and the global immersion
program directed to teach global thinking and global
action. Additionally, the school's profusion of
student groups and its flexible entrepreneurial
program -- with electives from 200 courses -- will
allow me to tailor my course of study directly to
my career interests. It is precisely this flexibility
that I plan to draw on while at NAME and beyond,
by taking advantage of (and contributing to) the
school's strong international alumni network.
Above all, a NAME MBA will help me strengthen both
the finance knowledge and the entrepreneurial skills
necessary to secure a position as an environmental
specialist in a multinational American-based firm.
Such a position, in turn, will prepare me to accomplish
my long-term ambition of building my own company.
By developing and maximizing the technical knowledge
and managerial skills I have already accumulated,
NAME will allow me to ultimately make a concrete
and substantial contribution to Turkey's environment.
Uniqueness
Essay
For the first 20 years of my life,
my activities--and self-confidence--were circumscribed
by the fact that I was a chronic allergic asthmatic.
I was underweight, not as strong or as well as my
peers, and unable to participate normally in sports.
At night I was unable to sleep without an inhaler
beside my bed. I was forced to ingest heavy medication
on a daily basis.
At the age of 20 I started running (slowly at first),
because I discovered that this exercise--although
routinely precipitating a mild asthma attack--would
later enable me to sleep through the night. Very
gradually, my runs became longer. My strength improved,
the severity and frequency of my attacks lessened,
and soon I was able to discontinue all medication.
More remarkably, after about seven years I was actually
able to run 20 miles with no problem at all. This
accomplishment was an enormous confidence booster,
as it demonstrated that a normal, healthy life was
possible for me and that I could achieve anything
if I set my mind to it.
Eventually it was a logical step for me to progress
into competition. I found myself running in marathons
and, finally, competing in triathlons. In 1983,
in fact, I successfully competed in the Hawaii Ironman
triathlon, arguably the most arduous and certainly
the most celebrated single-day athletic endurance
event.
I have assiduously pursued aerobic exercise for
the past 11 years, ever since I discovered that
such endeavors were finally possible for me and
were the means by which I could attain physical
strength and well-being. It was a long and arduous
road--from huffing and puffing (and wheezing) my
way through tentative one-mile runs to involving
myself in the rigors of the triathlon--but I was
determined to become fit and to stay fit.
It has made all the difference.
Qualifications
Essay
As a Marketing Manager with ADP's
corporate marketing department, I have been assigned
to lead various product-specific marketing initiatives
supporting a diversified group of business segments.
Among these tasks, none was more important to the
strategic direction of the business than leading
the development of ADP's web site adp.com.
ADP, a leading $5 billion technology company with
over 425,000 clients worldwide, lacked a consistent
or aggressive Internet strategy. Instead, each business
unit or division was driving its own website strategy
and execution. More often than not, the result was
a fragmented message: a cluttered, company-centric
website that failed to effectively communicate our
broad range of products and services. Despite its
market leadership, ADP was meeting neither the expectations
of users nor the needs of clients. The company was
also missing a tremendous marketing opportunity
and risking losing market share because our competition
was operating at a far higher level than ours. Realizing
that corporate marketing could add value across
the company's business segments, I initiated and
led a plan to redesign the website and fully leverage
the Internet as a marketing channel to drive branding,
product awareness, and sales leads through an integrated
and path-driven website.
My role was specific: develop a strategy to improve
navigation, communicate the complete range of ADP's
products and services, optimize the flow of traffic
to drive leads for the business segments, persuade
visitors to purchase ADP products and services online,
and create a platform for ADP's evolving E-business
strategy. This initiative was highly challenging
because of the complexity of the service offerings,
the diversity of the business, and the overwhelming
political bureaucracy within the organization.
With a limited budget, limited resources, and limited
supervision, I designed a four-phase strategy to
re-evaluate the current website and replace it with
an active, path-driven site. The strategy included
a review of the company's current navigation and
content, a strategic assessment mapping navigation
and functionality against corporate and divisional
objectives, and the design and architecture of the
site. Furthermore, we developed a plan to validate
our recommendation with market feedback through
client and prospective client focus group interviews.
The first phase encompassed an overall program review,
analysis of all current ADP and industry Internet
market research, a web traffic audit, and internal
interviews with senior management. In familiarizing
ourselves with current industry practices, we also
reviewed ten competitors and twelve business-to-business
leaders' websites. These 22 sites were carefully
evaluated for their relative strengths and weaknesses
in the areas of navigation, content, degree of user-centricity,
and organization. The second phase included a design
exploration. Working together with a web design
firm, we developed five different design options.
In phase three, we gathered market feedback through
focus group interviews conducted with both clients
and prospects based on the current web site and
on the new design options. The final phase involved
feedback-based revisions to the designs, which will
be presented to ADP's Executive Committee in April
and launched in May 2000.
The project was a success. Our recommendation was
received with exceedingly positive feedback by both
the business units and the Executive Vice President
of Marketing. In addition, I have been awarded with
the honor of presenting the project to the Executive
Committee in April. Our long-term goal is to develop
an entire adp.com team dedicated to servicing clients
and marketing on the Internet.
The management skills I have gained from this project
have been invaluable to my career growth. I have
learned the value of qualitative and quantitative
research, experience in fiscal management and project
management, and the importance of matching corporate
strategy to Internet strategy. More importantly,
the experience has taught me the value of gathering
senior management "buy in" through the
progression of a project. I was able to successfully
gain the support of senior management by maintaining
open communication and making them part of the process.
Ultimately, this support was critical to the success
of the project, which has brought my department
and me increased visibility within the company --
a development that, in turn, has led to more important
projects. Through the success of adp.com, I am now
regarded as an effective and respected manager who
has the ability to analyze and lead complex projects
from concept to completion while gaining the support
of senior management.
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