Exposure provides experience and experience provides learning.

This is the one lesson that I have learnt through the extensive experience I have garnered in working with students and professionals globally as well as in my own country, India. Each task that I have undertaken and each goal that I have aspired to has enriched me in its own way. I stand today as the sum of these experiences, and yearn for more. My career goals are ambitious, but I have a plan for achieving them step by step. Through this statement of purpose, I highlight my career motivations, how the Master of Business can help me meet them, and how my prior experiences provide me a strong grounding to aspire for my goals. My career goal post completing my Master s education is a position as a Business !evelopment Manager for a large global organi"ation. This ob#ective ties in closely to my extensive international experience as a student and as an intern, and is also in line with my passion for Marketing and Business !evelopment. $hile I have had only limited chance to demonstrate my interest in the area and apply it in a real business situation, my exposure has been enough to convince me of the direction of my future career. Business over the last two decades has perhaps evolved more than it did over the previous five. $hile globali"ation and international collaboration essentially remained only bu""words essentially till the mid%&'s, they have taken on a very real character with clear implications since. This has been manifested in a number of ways. (n the one hand, global collaboration models such as offshoring and outsourcing have taken shape. (n the other, the inter%connectedness of the global economy has given rise to cascading effects, like the one most recently seen in the global recession where the sub%prime crisis in )*+ precipitated a global economic slowdown. To truly succeed in an interconnected business world, the global business manager needs international awareness, cultural sensitivity, and strong functional competence. The Mbus program offers each of these through two uni,ue planks. (ne, as someone who comes in from a non%business background, I first need a strong introduction to business functions and principles. The MB)* is specially designed for graduates from non%business backgrounds seeking a strong inculcation into business. The core courses span all the functional areas of business % from +ccounting to Ethics ,Marketing, and -oundation of Management. This strong foundation and focus on imparting cross%functional business understanding makes the MB)* well% suited to my need for understanding business. Two, .ourses such as Business Ethics in /lobal Environment and .orporate social 0esponsibility is very important. .ourses such as .ritical Thinking and .ommunication and Managing *helf and relationship will give me valuable perspective. I also believe that while functional knowledge is important, a local cultural perspective is as critical for business success. +fter all, no international organi"ation can hope to succeed in a particular country without catering to specific consumer preferences in that nation. This is why Mc!onald s offers Indiani"ed versions of its popular burgers in India, and 1*B. offers special interest%free mortgages in Malaysia. This is why the course on Marketing and International .onsumer is so important. +gain, this is a uni,ue course, not found even among the curriculum of most MB+ programs, and is specially geared towards a better understanding of international business.

2ext, I would also like to highlight some key points around why I believe I am a good fit for the program. I therefore recount briefly my key international experiences and how they have shaped me.

$hile I have been an excellent student and have done well academically, it is really in the many global experiences I have had that I truly differentiate myself. -or the last three years, I have been an active member of +IE*E., the international student body, and the experience has truly enriched me. +s an +IE*E. volunteer to Tan"ania, I led 3' students as part of my pro#ect on T+/!E4 5Tan"ania /eneration !evelopment 4ipeline6, also helping raise 7',''' shillings 5#ust about 3'' +)!, but a significantly high sum in impoverished Tan"ania6 for the initiative. $orking on the issue of .hild !evelopment, I braved language issues and ad#usted to an unfamiliar culture. !elivering a lecture at the )niversity of !ar es *alaam 5the largest university in Tan"ania6, I motivated 8' students to #oin our cause. This experience motivated me to further explore global avenues for learning. +s a result, I took the opportunity to go for *ummer *chool to 9ondon *chool of Economics and :ing s .ollege, 9ondon, taking courses on -inancial Markets and *trategic Management respectively. The former course taught me, for the first time, how markets operate, how global markets are interconnected, and how different financial instruments afford different financial privileges to their owners. It opened my eyes to the vastness of the global financial system. The course on *trategic Management instead gave me learning on a different dimension % the analysis of competitive pressures, strategies to counteract them, and also exposure to common tools for competitive assessment. These course stimulated my interest in business and motivated me to explore more. Through my performance at summer school, I also bagged another internship to .0.. +sia 5a student internship organi"ation6 in *hanghai, .hina. The .hinese experience taught me about how a business works in principle and the importance of combining global knowledge with the local, and also gave me insight into .hina as an emerging business powerhouse. Each one of my international experiences has taught me to be open to new experiences, not afraid of them, for they bring learning. -inally, this statement of purpose would not be complete without me mentioning the brief but impactful experiences I have had in the domain of business development. +ssigned to work with Bharat 4etroleum, an Indian energy conglomerate which sells fuel through retail outlets, I was instrumental in helping increase sales significantly. +sked to address the reasons for the falling sale of lubricants, I conducted an extensive survey involving transporters, cab drivers, and small vehicle owners. .ollating the results and using basic analytics, I was able to determine that the key factor affecting sales was price. Bharat 4etroleum had over a period of time increased prices presuming that their perceived premium brand would keep fostering sales. 1owever, customers had become very price sensitive due to spiralling inflation in this period. +ccepting my recommendations, Bharat 4etroleum reduced the price of their engine lubricants in the city, and saw their sales for the product increase by 3;' percent in a three%month period. +lthough only a small example, I believe this incident highlights my strong business analysis skills and the ability to surface implicit customer concerns. I am confident that my experiences and the outstanding education I will receive at Monash )niversity will allow me to transform myself from a student of potential to a consummate international business manager.