MBA Student of 2010 Class Got Global Sources Award

Apr 18-2013   

Global Sources Intranet 

Global Sources awards new BiMBA scholarship to former media saleswoman September  8, 2010.        

Meet Global Sources' 7th BiMBA Scholar, Yifei Xu. Sophie is a graduate of Beijing University of Technology with a bachelor's degree in economics, major in international economics and trade.

Despite the many awards she has received in the university—academic scholarships and honors for being an outstanding student leader—she, like most young people, didn't know what to do with her life.

She applied for several jobs until she focused her attention on Beijing Youth Daily Agency, one of  China 's pioneering newspaper publishers. It was then swamped by thousands of applicants all vying for a chance to gain entry in the industry. It was a tough competition, Sophie says, but she made the cut. She was accepted as secretary of the president's office, an initially "monotonous job" which later proved to be interesting as she had first-hand access to political and sector updates in the media industry.

After three years, she transferred to the paper's operating company, Beijing Media Corp. as an account executive. In her first year, she achieved personal sales revenue of RMB30 million, 46 percent higher than the job requirement, and 48 percent above the average level of other team members.

Now, she knows what to do with her life. "In the five years of my career, I have always made sure to be well-prepared whenever I acted on my choice," Sophie said. "Through my studies at BiMBA and in the next five years of my career, I hope to develop the skills to advance cross-media integration, to create more efficient and effective media solutions for advertisers."

Global Sources is facilitating her higher-level education. The Company is delighted to have selected Sophie as the latest recipient of its Beijing International MBA (BiMBA) scholarship at  Peking   University , one of the Top 3 schools in  China  as ranked by national and international academic organizations.

"We are deeply committed to education, particularly in investing in future leaders who would advance our mission of facilitating global trade," said Craig Pepples, Chief Operating Officer. "As heir to  China 's economic success, the new generation will soon chart the future of  China 's economic miracle. Through higher education and international exposure, we are sure they will exercise this great responsibility clearly and wisely."

According to Philip Chatting who was part of the committee which screened applicants for the BiMBA scholarship, Sophie was selected for her strong interest in multimedia and her experience in creating advertising packages for her clients. "Sophie's interest in this field and objective to find an efficient media solution for advertisers is in line with the Company's community development initiatives. Her interest in further studies shows she is aligned with another core value of Global Sources—continuous improvement through education and ongoing learning," Philip said.

Global vision and a local mindset
Sophie will embark on a one-year program at BiMBA. The goal of the program is to "cultivate corporate leaders who are familiar with China's market environment as well as international business practices and are thus empowered with a global vision and a local mindset," according to the school's website. "It is committed to active participation in high level dialogues with local and global leaders, discussing  China 's present reforms and future development as well as the reconstruction of a global new order."

Said Sophie: "As a woman born and raised in  Beijing ,  Peking   University  has always been my dream college. As one of the most famous international MBA programs in  China , BiMBA is an excellent place for undertaking a systematical study of western management practices while integrating them with Chinese cultural, social and economic approaches."

She is thankful for being selected as a Global Sources scholar: "Being in the media industry, of course, I was familiar with Global Sources and its online, face-to-face and print approach to advertising. I'm delighted to be a scholar of such a visionary company."

Global Sources' BiMBA scholarship program at  Peking   University  is just one of the Company's corporate social responsibility projects for education. It maintains scholarship programs at  Tsinghua   University  in  Beijing , and offers internships and career opportunities for Kearny Alliance scholars from  Hong Kong   Baptist   University  and Thunderbird School of Global Management.