Dmitry Semykin received the MBA degree

Dmitry Semykin, Commercial Director of the Sub-agent business of Vipservice Holding, received the MBA degree in Marketing. We congratulated Dmitry and asked him to tell us what kind of advantages are provided by the MBA degree to a modern Russian manager.

Could you please tell us how did you manage to get the MBA degree? You are the commercial director of one of the most important businesses of the holding, with a tight schedule and high workload, and at the same time, the father of three small children. How did you manage to fit the MBA into your schedule?

I was thinking about receiving an additional education in the business management for quite a long period of time, but the lack of time did not allow me to do it. I am very glad that the management of Vipservice Holding agreed to cooperate and allowed me to devote three days in a month to the MBA course training sessions. I think that this decision was also influenced by the fact that, in principle, the holding encourages receiving additional business education. For example, Irina Borisovna Solovyeva, Executive Director of the Holding, has the EMBA degree. She took my initiative positively, and I began to study. It lasted a year and a half, and in the early February I received the MBA degree in Marketing Management.

Dmitry, can you please tell us what was the education like?

I studied the "MBA – Marketing Management" program, which, like the MBA training method in general, is based on the case study. It is a training technique, which uses the description of real economic, social and business cases. We had to study the specific case, understand the problem, suggest possible solutions and choose the best of them. All cases were based on real factual material. It was a very fascinating and creative process.

Everyone, one way or another, heard about the MBA: it is an effective investment in yourself, it is prestigious, it is necessary for professional and career growth. But if we move from the general to the particular: what did you personally get the from the MBA degree?

At a certain stage of his/her development, the middle manager needs to start working on expanding his/her horizons and gaining additional knowledge that would help to look more broadly at the company's activities. So, I made a step in this direction. The practical analysis of the cases, which I was doing on the course, now helps me to navigate in the business situations, which are new to me, to avoid making mistakes that had already been committed by others, and choose the best solutions in disputable situations.
From the course I got everything, what I had expected: systematization of experience, new knowledge, in-depth understanding of business processes. And one more thing, I began to understand better my immediate manager, Irina Solovyeva, her strategic solutions and ideas. Now we speak the same language.

What would you advice to the holding's employees that are just thinking about receiving the MBA degree?

In my view, it is very important to get real business practice at work along with the education itself, it helped me to understand many things and actively use the knowledge acquired.