Chotima Kasemphaibulsuk started a new career in strategy consulting after an MBA at the UK’s Lancaster University Management School
“An MBA can change your life,” says Chotima Kasemphaibulsuk, who worked as an auditor in Thailand before deciding to pursue an MBA at Lancaster University Management School—ranked among the top 50 MBA programs in the world by the Financial Times.Now, she’s a strategy consultant, who specializes in helping Fortune 500 companies understand, enter, and expand into Asian markets.
Having previously only ever worked in Thailand, an MBA in the UK was the ideal opportunity for Chotima to get experience of Western culture and exposure to a diverse cohort—the Lancaster MBA class has students from over 20 nationalities.
Diving into MBA life, she completed an internship at Microsoft and even took part in the MBA Tournament (MBAT), an inter-school MBA sporting event held at France’s HEC Paris.
Having completed her degree, she moved back to Bangkok and now uses what she learned working with multinational companies in Southeast Asia. For Chotima, the Lancaster MBA helped create new, lifelong friendships as well as a new career path.
Why did you decide to pursue the Lancaster MBA?
Lancaster isn’t just well-ranked, the school also offers many challenging courses such as the Mindful Manager module, and the Career Advancement Program. These courses teach students how to cope with changes and innovation, while maintaining a clear strategic direction. I was motivated to learn other business skills apart from accounting and auditing to tackle the dynamic world of business and these courses were ideal.
What stands out from your MBA experience?
The MBA helped me gain practical business skills. My internship with Microsoft in the UK is a good example. Here, I worked as a corporate strategy and management consultant, with multinational MBA teams, to provide Microsoft with strategic recommendations including appropriate models. This was really challenging, and interesting, as I had to apply all my MBA lessons to a real business with professional clients.
Furthermore, Lancaster offered the opportunity to further my knowledge of European culture through an exchange with the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. I’ve also really enjoyed the extra group activities at Lancaster which let me build close bonds with my classmates right from the start. The MBAT was a great way to make new friends and understand cultural differences through playing sports.
What have you gained?
The Lancaster MBA helped me understand Western management styles in the competitive business world of today. The Business Management Challenge was particularly important for me. It’s a strategic management competition for MBA students and helped me understand business processes and effective diversity management.
As a team, we had to build a company and make key decisions regarding sales, marketing, manufacturing, human resource, accounts and finance. The goal is to finish the challenge with the highest share-price on the virtual stock exchange and a balanced scorecard. My team was the best team in the class utilizing my previous experience of Asian markets. Here, I saw how I could aid Western companies in entering Asian markets.
What would you say to anyone considering an MBA?
An MBA helps you improve your leadership potential, gain management skills, confidence, and helps you grow your network.
For me, it helped me make friends from around the world. I had a great time eating Korean, Indian and Japanese foods while living in dorms. I recently had a reunion with Japanese and Thai friends. We are always happy when we talk about our MBA at Lancaster University Management School.
I’m really grateful for opportunities the MBA has given me. If you have a chance to pursue an MBA, why wouldn’t you do it?
Student Reviews
Lancaster University Management School
An exceptional educational establishment in the North West of England.
This university has been a fantastic life experience as well as a great academic one. I first decided to go to Lancaster University Management School due to its exceptional business education facilities and have not been disappointed. I recommend the university to anybody that wants to put themselves in a strong position for a career upon graduation.
Student Ambassador
Overall, the instruction is decent, however it also depends on your department. The people are friendly, in my opinion. The sporting events are enjoyable, and there is a good sense of community. Although the city is quite remote, it is nonetheless attractive.
Lancaster University honest review
The education system in the university is excellent especially that of the Management School. The campus has great facilities for students to study and live in a relaxed manner. The students can engage in various activities through the socities.
Great opportunities to think beyond
Lancaster University provides a lot of good opportunities to think beyond.There Entrepreneurship in residence program helps students to meet and seek guidance about entrepreneurship and the challenges.Their Work in progress program help to fabricate your startup idea and further to pitch to the potential investors.Apart from that there are lot of programs like Enactus, guest lectures and guidance from seniors to help and shape your career needs.
They provide lot of opportunities to shape up your employability skills.
A top university in the UK for management science!
If you’re interested in management science studies, Lancaster University is one of the top universities in the UK. The faculty is renowned and have a sterling reputation for research in management science. Candidates specifically interested in Forecasting would find the Centre for Marketing Analytics and Forecasting especially relevant to their field. Besides, the ROI is good as the overall cost compared to other universities is less.
Great university for academia – not great for 'entrepreneurs'
Please keep in mind that my review is nuanced by my expectations of an Entrepreneurship degree :) I came to Lancaster University because it was one of the top universities to have a course in Entrepreneurship. After 4 years in this degree, my most valuable experience has been my placement and not the actual course. The course is heavily focused on impractical elements, which is a bit odd for an Entrepreneurship degree. There are some modules that involve hands-on work but the faculty support for such things has not been great. My course also involved a lot of teamwork which has been fantastic and really prepared me when it comes to dealing with the diversity of opinions. In terms of career prospects, the management school does A LOT to host events, workshops and support sessions to help you build up your employability skills. Although, I wish there was more acknowledgement of SMEs/startups as a viable career option. The entrepreneurship team which is meant to support budding businesses is really stepping up their game with tons of guest speakers, workshops and pitching opportunities. The location is a concern if you're not in STEM, Law or Accounting and Finance. Business requires networking with the broader community. However, for Lancaster students, the best bet is a trip down to Manchester or London. On the flip side, living in Lancaster is much cheaper! Overall, if the purpose of your university experience is to receive top academic education and have great facilities at your disposal, Lancaster is a great choice. But if you want to be in business and entrepreneurship, I would look elsewhere.
