MBA Alumni Profile: Ping Ye, IE

Ping Ye chose an MBA at IE for many reasons, and tells us how the international exposure and the prestigious course really make a difference.

1. Why did you decide to attend your Business School?

I majored in Spanish language & culture. In the five years professional life in a Spanish trading and consulting firm, I've accumulated empirical knowledge in the business administration area. I feel it is the right moment to do an MBA in a good business school in Spain. This will not only help me to combine the theoretical and empirical knowledge, but also strengthen my future career development.

China is a potential market with numerous business opportunities. But it's a highly difficult market. Without knowing and adapting to its culture, it's very hard for any foreign company to succeed.

But there IS a huge gap between the Spanish culture and the Chinese culture. I've worked with a lot of Spanish companies who were not able to understand the difference and adapt their strategies to the Chinese local market and thus got frustrated in spite of their big efforts. Spain started to enter the Chinese market much later than other western countries. It used to invest in Latin America where there are culture links and language is not an obstacle.

While China poses a completely new challenge to Spanish entrepreneurs. On the other side, in China people don't know too much about Spain (apart from football and bullfighting). The image of the country in the business area is relatively weak. There are few companies who can offer the right service for these Spanish companies to help them to explore this huge market. These services should be both short term and long term. Even the short term services such as interpreters are limited, we don't need to mention the long term or strategic services to help them to understand the culture and the market.

For me, the big picture is: there is demand from Spanish companies to go to China, but there are not enough resources such as human resources to help and undertake these potential business activities. I know very few Chinese local people who are able to understand the culture of both countries and have already working experiences in this "niche" market. I spent four years learning the Spanish language and its culture. I've five years business experience afterward. Now to do an international MBA in one of the leading European business schools in Spain is fundamental to leverage my career development.

2.  What research did you undertake in selecting your school?

I went to the Spanish Commercial Office in China and the Spanish Consulate.

3. Did you consider an executive MBA? If so why did (or did you not) decide to take an Executive MBA?

At the beginning yes because IE's executive MBA is very prestigious. I didn't apply for it because I think that I still need more years of working experience in order to fully make use of the education of the course.

4. What are the benefits of studying outside your home country?

The benefits are countless for me. I've always worked in international surroundings. To study outside my country does help me to learn how to appreciate different cultures, how to work with people from different backgrounds, attitudes, culture, how to adapt myself, and of course, to know more deeply a country where I have several years of working relationship. It is a kind of experience that you will never have if you study in your own country even if the school is international. I really enjoyed this experience at IE.      

5. How are you financing your studies?

I had the honour of receiving IE's AsianScholarshipwhich covered half of the tuition. The remaining 50% plus the living costs during the year were financed by my own savings.      

6. Did you apply for any scholarships? Which ones? Were you successful?

Yes. I applied for Asian Scholarship. I was very successful because the decision from IE was very nearly immediate.

7.  What are your career objectives after your MBA? What were you doing before your MBA?

Previously I worked in the trading and consulting area for Spanish firms who want to explore the business opportunities in the Chinese market. I joined my previous company when it started its business in China 5 years ago. I assisted in the opening procedures for the firm until I left for the master, when I was in charge of several Spanish companies for national distribution, B-2-B marketing, purchase, and agricultural projects in China and also in charge of marketing research for the Spanish Commercial office in Shanghai and trade mission organization for other Spanish regional governments.

After the MBA, I hope to leverage my working experience and the MBA knowledge to continue to work for Spanish firms to explore the huge territory of the Chinese market. For instance, I have joined a company in Catalua for my internship. This company is doing environmental projects in China and is hoping to expand its business in China in the near future by opening up its own subsidiary.      

8. Another short comment, in addition to these questions:

I started the MBA course from September of 2001. At the beginning of November of the same year, I received the news from my family that my father was in a dangerous situation due to his stomach cancer. I decided to go back to my country immediately. IE gave me all kinds of support re keeping my enrolment and scholarship. All the decisions were made within less than one week so that I could go back home without any preoccupations regarding the master. Today everybody is talking about ethics, this is a good example of an ethical business school who takes care of the real interests of the students.