99Colleges wrote:
Here are my comments on your career goals:
Short-term: Why manufacturing? Is it for family business? Second, you can’t control which clients or industry you work in as a consultant, at least in the short term. There are lots of variables involved.
Medium-term: If consulting in manufacturing is a path to expanding the family business, then that path may just get broken because you may not necessarily work with clients in that industry. And if that’s not the path, then the original question looms: why manufacturing? Moreover, consulting to entrepreneurship is a flogged-to-death rationale given year after year by many. I’m not saying it doesn’t work, but because adcoms have been exposed (in essays) to this career paths so much that they can easily get skeptical if you fumble even small in your reasoning. Also ‘MBA skills’ work more for short-term goals. Medium and long-term paths build more through earlier professional experience and network.
Long-term: Prima facie, looks disconnected. People rarely use resources of the company unless they’ve made billions and are in philanthropic mode.
Hi! Thanks for your reply!
Yes, you are right. I mentioned manufacturing because my family business is a industrial machinery manufacturing company.
My reasoning behind consulting was to get some experience in the industry before going back to the family business.
But then I decided to not focus on the manufacturing and engineering part (in which the company already has expertise and an established world class product line) and instead focus on the other aspects of the company which are currently not world class (HR, Marketing, IT etc).
Also, my own technical expertise in computer science can be leveraged in development of "smart" products (better sensors, better software, self error detection, etc)
So my revised goals strategy is:
(I have written it in an above answer but I'll repeat it here)
Short term goals: After MBA, go back and head the marketing division, and develop and execute a strategy to expand the existing customer base, currently in 5 countries to 15 countries. And use my IT expertise to optimize processes like ERP systems, etc (which are currently not present).
Long term goals: Become one of the world leaders in the $20 billion "specialty industrial valves" with presence in all 38 countries. Develop "smart valves" which have better efficiency, better life and higher performance, which will lead to lower running costs for steel plants, power plants, oil and gas refineries etc, thus saving billions of dollars of the world economy in the long run.
Does this sound like a connected and believable goal strategy?
Thanks for all your help!
I really appreciate it!