Maiyo James Hood, Director Supply Chain Management,YUM!

Peers Made the Difference

Alumni of HKUST-Kellogg EMBA, talks about the life-long advantages
of gaining an MBA

I have been in China for 16 years. My goal has always been to come 
and do business in China. I went to a business school at Washington
University in St Louis-Olin in 1985 and 1986 for a BBA. After I graduated,
I stayed for a while in the US and then went to Beijing in 1988 where I
worked for a trading company for five years. Then I moved to Hong Kong
in 1993, and worked for a manufacturing company for 2 years. Then I
started a company with some friends for two years before moving to
Shanghai in 1997. I have been working for YUM! Restaurant China since then.
   
A EMBA was something I had always considered. But there is always a
trade-off. Back in the early 1990s, some of my friends, in their 30s, took
positions in different Asian countries, then they gave up their jobs and
went back to the US for MBA. Some came back, some didn't. But China had
changed a lot in those two years and pretty soon they lost their networks and their momentum. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to find a programme somewhere in Asia, which could offer the best qualities of a US programme with some China aspects.
   
I also wanted to find a programme where I could be with the right classmates, not only in terms of background, but the level of education, experience and language. EMBA programmes contain a lot of management theory but I wasn't so interested in that. The people who sit together with you in the classroom are the people you can really learn from, in my opinion.One benefit of the
Kellogg-HKUST programme is the mix of students - there are students from
multinational firms, from private ones, investment funds, venture capital
funds, entrepreneurs. 80 percent of them come from places out of Hong Kong,
and most of the expatriates can speak Chinese.
   
Another reason for taking an MBA is reputation and the alumni network. I give these factors all equal weight and the Kellogg-HKUST programme met my criteria. The programme has been ranked number one in some world rankings, with an alumni network second to none. It is truly a global programme.
   
The faculty mix is also very important. Our professors are from HKUST and Kellogg-HKUST professors are from all over the world. Professors from Kellogg
also have varied international backgrounds and they delivered half the programme. The HKUST professors lecture more about China from an Asian perspective, while the Kellogg professors are more focussed on the US and European experiences. The programme is balanced and works well.
   
I pushed my company for three years, before they finally allowed me to go
and take a EMBA. Three executives from our company are actually on the programme. The HR Director, the Head of Hong Kong KFC and myself.  My role in China is to teach people how to learn, how to think, and how to manage projects. So because of that I did not want to choose an EMBA programme in mainland China.  In my view there were not so many benefits in going to a local programme.
   
The campus is very beautiful. It is on a hill, overlooking the waters of Hong Kong and is very relaxed. We stayed there on weekends. During the SARS crisis, the staff really went out of their way to give us the best options. We did remote learning. They managed to set up remote learning from the US to six different places at the same time in only two weeks. We did not lose of any time in our
modules.
   
Most of the participants joined the EMBA programme for themselves, not for the degree. A lot of young people want an MBA because they think it can give them a better job. But when you are 35 or 40 and are already a promising executive earning a good salary, you do it for other reasons. You do it because you want to learn something or because you want to start up your own business. Or you have been in some position for four to five years and you want something new. But it is also an advantage for your life, not only for your career.
   
The most important thing you learn from an EMBA, especially at the age of 40, is how all the parts fit together. When you talk to the marketing department, you can say, aha, now I know what you are talking about and I can challenge you
if I need to. You also feel you can do anything you want now. I am confident that if I quit my job tomorrow, I can start up my own company. I have no fear, because I have a good alumni network to support me.

“For an MBA, especially in their late 30’s and early 40’s, you
understand how all the parts fit together.”