QU YUNZHU
Project Operations Management
The Reason Why You Chose GSM
I’m interested in business management and administration by studying the knowledge of economics, accounting and marketing when I was an undergraduate.
The management of Japanese companies is very famous all over the world, and there are plenty of excellent management principles created by them. Since I want to get a job at a company like them and learn more about management and administration, it's better for me to get some knowledge of it. So, I aimed at the MBA, which is also a popular major.
And one more important reason why I chose Kyoto University GSM is that the time was just right. When I came to Japan, it was just the time of submitting the application. I did not want to lose this opportunity, so delivered rapidly and took the exam.
What You Learned at GSM
I think the most important thing I learned from GSM is the way of thinking. When I studied marketing (one of the basic subjects), there were a lot of contents be related to logic. In order to grasp the fact of one certain management activity correctly, I have to found out the right causality between the fact (reason or condition) and the effect (result), and understand why I have to think like that. It was really a hard job for me, but now I often thought about one problem by this logic, not only in school or work, but also in daily life. It is easy to find out the trunk of various problems and solve it efficiently.
Another one is the ability to gather information. Nowadays, there are countless new things come out every day. The ability to gather information and use it immediately is very important to us. In GSM, there are a lot of group work and individual presentations. I think this kind of experience (collecting and using information reasonably and quickly) will be useful for my work in the future.
The Reason Why You Chose Your Career Plan
We often have the impression of Japanese companies like “the strict seniority rank” or “the tough vertical relationship”. I do not like this atmosphere. The company I chose has its history more than 60 years, but has very youthful corporate culture, and the average age of employees is just 30. The boss encourages young people to go through a lot of failures, to challenge high goals, and to surpass their limits. I like this kind of culture and decided to get the job. Now I am working with all our new members. I have never worked, but I have the experience in GSM, so it’s possible for me to understand and solve problems from the position of manager, not just from the employees. I have a lack of experience, but I think it is my advantage to have a higher level of expertise.
What Impressed You About GSM
When I was in M1, I had a chance to go to the Grand front Osaka for a field study for a subject named "Town planning and town management". Since I have never had such experience, I have been looking forward to it for a few days. We went to the local area and interacted with the director, and he introduced us directly about the development of the project, the functions, the management data about customers, and the plan in the future. Of course, there are a lot of example in a usual case study courses, but seeing with your own eyes on the same position, feeling the surrounding environment and imagining what kind of plan you would take if you were the director, is not easy for you to feel this just in the classroom and watch the PowerPoint.
In GSM, we have a lot of chance to do some field study like this, not only for the collection of report materials, but also as a hobby. It is helpful and fun.
Extracurricular Activities You Have Done
Besides the class, I often went outside for exercising or just relaxing myself. Kyoto is the ancient capital of Japan and has a rich history and culture. I like the shrine in Kyoto and I visited to about 40 shrines in the two years in GSM. The most impressive one is the Atago Shrine on the top of the Atago Mountain. It is the shrine where 900 Atago Shrines all over the country with over thousand years of history. The building of the shrine is preserved carefully, so we can feel the deep history clearly.
And one more thing I usually did after class is running beside the Kamo River. I like exercising, and I ran over 1000km beside Kamo River for two years in GSM.
Message for Prospective Students
As I wrote in " The Things What You Have Learn in GSM ", the most important things I learned in GSM were “the way of thinking” and “the ability to gather information”. I still do not know how much it works in the future exactly, but I am sure it will be very helpful. Of course, it’s not means that I can be a good manager certainly after studying in GSM, but it is my advantage to analyze the problem from the position of a manager and grasp the basic reason of one management problem.
And enjoy your life in Kyoto. It is really a nice city. You can take a walk beside the Kamo River and enjoy the fresh air, or drink a cup of Japanese tea in a traditional shop, and eat some Kyoto’s sweets such as Yatsuhashi, or visit some popular tourism spot. I believe all of them can be happy and precious memories.