Professional MBA students are business leaders who are actively building their careers with a clear vision and set goals. Most of our students are in the midst of successful careers at one of many Korean conglomerates, corporations, or multinational companies operating in Korea and Asia. Each year, a growing number of international employees in Korea are entering the program.
Students of Professional MBA Programs seek to become global business leaders in a competitive global business environment by obtaining cutting-edge business knowledge in a multicultural environment.
Class Profile (2023 Intake)
Work Experience
Sponsorship
Industry Profile
Suryun Yoon (PMBA, Class of 2021, eBay Korea)
- Why SKK GSB I decided to do an MBA early in my career because if I were to become a CEO, then it would be important for me to understand my business comprehensively, and to ground my expertise. I also wanted to expand my knowledge of finance, marketing, and strategy. I chose SKK GSB because it has a world-class faculty and opportunities to study in other world-class business schools. Moreover, all classes in SKK GSB are taught in English, ensuring global competence.
- How did the MBA contribute to your work?
If you do one job for a long time, your perspective can narrow, though of course you become an expert in certain fields. With my MBA, I supplemented my one-sidedness. I learned how to see the whole picture while honing my skills in one area. I also learned how my job contributes to the whole process of my company’s business. Then, I naturally applied my understanding to my job. Thanks to my studies at SKK GSB, I improved my communication skills with other teams because I had broadened my point of view in business.
- What challenges did you experience while doing the MBA?
The MBA lifestyle—working during the day, and studying at night—demands a lot of energy. I had to be good at keeping my body healthy and managing my time well. Luckily, I managed this, and I enjoyed my MBA life thanks to my cohort peers' positive energy and passion.
Wooree Lee (PMBA, Class of 2022, McKinsey & Company)
- How what you learned during your MBA program has contributed towards my work I’d say the most helpful things that I learned on the course fall into two groups: theory and practice. Theoretically, there were many things that I could apply directly to business situations, so I experienced their effectiveness straight away. In particular, the Digital Marketing course helped me understand the digital marketing ecosystem. This course included a lot of useful simulations, and these helped me to understand the practical impact of optimizing the customer journey, to appreciate various perspectives of performance analysis, and to learn channel strategy. Thanks to the Marketing Analysis course, I could increase my access to marketing data with R-Programming. On this course, we analyzed data from various; we used vast amounts of data, and then we found optimal clustering criteria during the customer clustering process. I found this especially interesting, and later, when I was analyzing customer data in a real business situation, I could determine the criteria for applicability and confidence of data more quantitatively. Regarding practice, the most striking phrase that springs to mind is “speak out effectively”. My classmates had a range of experiences, jobs, and backgrounds, so by discussing and presenting with them, I developed creative problem-solving skills. These skills were helpful in real business situations as I could convey my opinions more concisely and efficiently. Since all of SKK GSB’s classes are in English, it closely modeled a real international business environment, and by using my classmates’ strengths as benchmarks, I found the global nature of the experience valuable.
- The biggest challenge you encountered on the MBA course
It takes a lot of energy and effort physically and mentally to take the classes, to work on assignments, and to get through the exams, all at the same time as working. Taking this course involves a lot of case reading materials and assignments every week, so it was far from easy to balance all those tasks while working, but with motivation from my classmates, I could manage the classes and assignments without major issues. The MBA course has a lot of group assignments, and we grew together by learning from other members' strengths, by helping them with their shortcomings, and by maximizing and building on each other's abilities. This helped us to overcome our challenges.
- Advice to prospective applicants who are considering an MBA
I think prospective students should clarify their needs and expectations after graduating with an MBA.[JPB1] Even if students enroll with a strong will, some may lose sight of their original goal or withdraw because there are a lot of challenges. Yet if students clearly know what they want to achieve, then they are more able to overcome these challenges with their classmates. Remember you aren’t alone: the other students on the course are invariably keen to develop themselves even in difficult situations, and you’re all in the same boat, so everyone tends to help each other very well. I’d say that applicants who take an MBA after considering these points carefully will find the content, process, and methodology that they learn a great benefit as they grow into thriving business professionals.
Hyunseok Ji (PMBA, Class of 2022, LG Energy Solution)
- How what you learned during your MBA program has contributed towards my work In an assignment in the Product Service Design course, we selected a company, and drew a product life cycle and roadmap to propose a new business model. In that assignment, I analyzed the initial model, and successful and unsuccessful projects by investigating personal mobility companies that have various products. After that, I suggested future business strategies such as localization and subscription. Another notable course was the Project Workshop. In that course, we had regular meetings with actual tech startup managers to discuss product strategies and mid-to-long-term operation plans, and we devised improvement roadmaps. I’m certain that this experience of analyzing and discussing business models, and formulating differentiation strategies with actual CEOs and CTOs was a great help in expanding my business perspectives. These classes have assisted me a lot in the process of strategic decision-making, and have helped me to create the innovative outcomes required in my job.
- Advice to prospective applicants who are considering an MBA
In a rapidly-changing world, I believe that it is crucial to differentiate our strengths, and to develop excellent problem-solving skills. Now I am sure that I’m sure that an MBA is not only a platform for acquiring the knowledge of business and economics, but also a place to redefine our careers and directions in life by reflecting on ourselves.