Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of global economic activity. In emerging economies, SMEs account for over 90% of firms, 60-70% of employment and 55% of GDP. In fact, in India, SMEs contribute more than 8% of the country’s GDP and account for 45% of the manufactured output and 40% of exports. However, the growth of SMEs, especially in India and other emerging countries has slowed down over the last few years. As I see it, a good number of these companies — as enterprising as they may be — are unable to transcend the barrier of scale. Improving the scalability, performance, and sustainability of SMEs can help achieve the economic growth that is sustainable and truly global. Advisories that can solve the key issues faced by these firms — lack of short and long term growth strategy, lack of efficient marketing and sales practices, and lack of exposure to industry best practices and new technologies — are the McKinseys and the BCGs that only multi-million dollar companies can afford. My dream is to start a low-cost strategy-consulting firm that will provide advisory solutions to SMEs in emerging economies. I hope that through my initiative I will be able to create growth stories for quite a few SMEs and eventually contribute in a small way by strengthening global economy and changing the life of a few thousand people for better. My work experience at Keane, a US-based $1 billion IT services firm, exposed me to operational side of IT such as business requirement gathering, application designing, and application development. Later at McKinsey & Co., with its Global IT Services division, I worked on a few critical and high-impact projects that exposed me to strategic side of IT such as the importance of efficient an... ... middle of paper ... ...ng with business and products teams to ensure a timely and an effective implementation of our recommendations. This is helping me to learn nuances and challenges faced by organizations such as resistance to change, budget constraints, people issues, differences in priorities of different stakeholders etc. in implementing consulting solutions, an experience that will help me not only in business school but also during my consulting career to provide solutions that can also be easily implemented. I believe that with my diverse work experience and learning from IT and analytics industries and the skills I hope to pick up at business school I will be able to get into a global strategy-consulting firm as a Consultant. My experience thereafter along with my previous work and life experiences will help me make a small contribution to society through my own consulting firm.
The Small Business Administration “aids, counsels, assists, and protects the interests of small business concerns.” They assist small businesses by providing them with whatever is necessary and will not stop until they get the business to be successful without their assistance. Although they are not able to give the business all of the necessities they need, they do their best and as much as they can do. Their motto is, “Aid, counsel, assist, and protect insofar as is possible, the interests of small business concerns.”
Two organizations that show the importance of aligning a company’s business strategy with their IT strategy are Cirque du Soleil and Major League Baseball. Both of these organizations rely on digital technology to make it easier to provide to their customers better entertainment through collaboration.
There comes a time in a business owner’s career where they will be faced with the decision of whether to expand or to focus on other goals. Goals that focus on creating a healthy work environment, providing great customer service, and giving back to the community. There are a number of small business owners that have decided not to expand and have ultimately created small sustainable companies that are thriving in today’s market. Bo Burlingham discusses the principles of a “Small Giant” and the “mojo” that these small businesses posses in his book Small Giants. All of the businesses that Burlingham describes in the book are privately owned, and their primary goal is not the growth of the company but being the best at what they do for their customers. The principles discussed by Burlingham are relatable and useful when recruiting and selecting a sales force team.
University of Idaho. (2014). Information Technology Services: Appendix 1: ITS Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Retrieved from http://www.uidaho.edu/its/strategic-plan/appendix-i.
I am a person who knows how to set goals and achieve them, and have a proven track record of being able to conceive, develop and execute strategies in business and marketing. I feel certain that my strong communication skills coupled with my professional and academic abilities will be of immediate value to your company.
Santana, Joe. "Navigating IT Careers & Strategies in the Ever-Changing World of Business." IT Toolbox. 16 Oct. 2005 .
The field of information systems has grown and become more promising than in previous years. This increase demands highly skilled professionals to keep up with the quickly changing world of IS. Looking for a job in the Information Systems field opens the door for many disciplines, each with its significance in the business world. Most businesses need information systems skills to accomplish their goals. There is a wide selection of career options in the field of information systems. There are the technical positions, such as dealing with information management and hardware and software management, and the people-oriented technology positions, such as dealing with the design and operation of Internet applications (“Why Major,” n.d.).
My ultimate career goal is to be a general human resource manager or recruiter for a high-tech or pharmaceutical company. These are industries in which I foresee great potential for growth in the future. I enjoy every aspect of my major, and I look forward to the variety of tasks and obstacles I will face as an H.R. manager. The prospect of interacting with people on a daily basis appeals to me immensely in a job.
As a massive provider of consumer goods in India, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), is attempting to penetrate the rural markets where there is a massive opportunity for growth. HLL’s current operating sectors are becoming increasingly competitive and crowded. Their best opportunities now lie in developing new markets and rising to the top of that market. They are attempting to do this with a program for developing entrepreneurs, named Shaktis. Met with initial success the program now needs to grow without increasing costs.
Starting and building a prosperous business is an ambition of many entrepreneurial minds and has for
Within every major economy, a great factor in providing the energy of the core of the nations economy is the small and medium enterprises. These cluster of firms are what provide new economic activity, new innovative products and services, along with growing employment and in general a crucial system in ensuring the economy is at a stable growth level. With a majority of this activity stemming from family controlled or managed businesses, the focus on developing a global and long term perspective for these firms are ever growing in importance because of the global perspective entrepreneurship has started to take.
My long-term professional aspiration is to enter the field of international management consulting. A MBA from your school in interdisciplinary studies will enhance my understanding of all aspects of business. This will contribute significantly to becoming effective in the consulting profession. I am extremely enthusiastic about the future of International Business. I believe that there are major breakthroughs yet to be made in the field. After completing a MBA in your school, I hope to gain practical experience and exposure with a major international business firms. Eventually, I wish to establish my own consulting company providing various financial and managerial services.
Palvia P., Palvia S. & E. Roche (1996) Global Information Technology and Systems Management. Ivy League Publishing
Tony Hsieh the CEO of Zappos once said “Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.” My dream job is to own my own business someday to become an entrepreneur. “Entrepreneur is someone who has a vision of something and a want to create” once said by David Karp, Tumblr founder and CEO. To take responsibility to be the person that is the leader of my team. To help my vision come to life and be successful at it, I will need to reach my goals and gain knowledge. My wiliness to help others find their goals in life and them to accomplish them.
As suited to my challenge seeking nature I foresee my own career moving in the direction of handling higher responsibilities in the core business, initially from an advisory perspective (i.e. consulting) and ultimately from a leadership role within a manufacturing entity, preferably a start-up venture. With Asia, especially India rising on global corporate battlefield I want to be where global language and intercultural/personal skills make the difference, where technological know-how supports innovative ideas. This is where I can make my best contribution. In short, I want to be where the action and the challenges are.