RMIT Vietnam News

MBA: promotion, career boost, personal triumph

Home ❯ News

Chris Ngo, chief operating officer atCafé RuNam

Nguyen Ngoc Thanh Phuong,Associate Market Manager forExpedia and Pham Ngoc Thachsoftware developer at TRGInternational

RReellaatteedd ssttoorriieess

Handing over the keys toglobal success

MIB scholarship winnerdreams big

First students graduatefrom Bachelor of Fashion

RMIT Vietnam graduatesready for new globalmarket trends

Thursday, December 3, 2015 - 14:31

Can a Masters in Business Administration give you a promotion boost or open doors to a bettercareer? Three management employees who just graduated from RMIT Vietnam give their opinions.

Chris Ngo is living proof that an MBA can bring promotion and a great future career outlook.

Chief operating officer at Café RuNam, she has recently been promoted within RuNam Corporation –coinciding with the week of her MBA graduation.

“I will be taking care of reforming the whole root corporation, comprising established brand names includingthe Ciao Cafe chain of restaurants, the Terrace chain of restaurants, the Fly Cupcake chain, Maxim Club, NamVien and Thanh Nien restaurants,” she said.

“With the knowledge and connections I have gained from the MBA program as well as my work experience, Iam confident in accepting this new role and its responsibilities.”

Having completed formal qualifications in hospitality management in Singapore where she worked her waythrough the management of KFC over five years, Chris worked on the redevelopment of seven Coffee Beanand Tea Leaf stores in Vietnam.

She has led the establishment of four additional RuNam Café stores, taking the chain to six stores nationally,and took an MBA so she could understand the theory behind her daily decisions at work.

“Now I look at things with a different perspective,” she said.

“I wasn’t sure why and how what I was doing worked; the MBA gave me that understanding and forced me outof my comfort zone. It challenged what I knew and exposed me to the latest global issues, managementtechniques and business practices.

“I now use these to help grow the company I run.”

Chris says that as an MBA graduate, her opinions and advice to her board of directors, associates andcolleagues have been taken much more seriously.

“I communicate and analyse problems more professionally because I can consider the deeper dimensions ofissues. And I’m able to relate our current business direction to global opportunities or risks limitation anddevise strategy accordingly,” she said.

From her MBA Chris also now accesses a much larger network of RMIT alumni, a pool of talent to findpotential clients, suppliers and partners for her business.

But she points out that completing an MBA has not been simply a career move. It’s a personal triumph as wellbecause of the perseverance she needed to complete it.

“It’s not just a course – it’s a dream,” she said.

“I’ve wanted to do it all my life and I’ve reached it on my own. I feel so proud of myself.”

Nguyen Ngoc Thanh Phuong, Associate Market Manager for American online travel booking companyExpedia believes an MBA qualification definitely gives you an advantage over other candidates in applyingfor jobs.

“I took it because I wanted to enhance my knowledge to prepare myself for the next level of my job, especiallyin the area of strategic thinking,” she said.

“The Strategy course helped me to comprehensively understand different business strategies that my company is taking and understand how Ican contribute to the company's success.”

Phuong, whose undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Hotel and Resort Management from Northwood University in Montreux, Switzerland, saysthe MBA also extended her thinking in areas other than hospitality: finance, entrepreneurism and data research.

Pham Ngoc Thach, who works in software development at TRG International, believes the MBA qualification is valuable applied to hiscurrent work and will help his future career and career goals.

RMIT News - MBA: promotion, career boost, personal triumph ... https://www.rmit.edu.vn/news/mba-promotion-career-boost-pers...

1 of 2 1/4/16, 2:41

Tweet

“One reason I took the MBA is that I wanted to challenge myself while working and studying at the same time,” Thach said.

“I believed if I can overcome that pressure I can deal with future problems more easily.

“I have also applied people management and leadership principles in my current job and it has helped me a lot.”

Thach’s longer-term goal is to establish his own business; this focussed his takings from the MBA course.

“I learned a lot in almost all aspects of management like financial management, marketing, leadership and people management. I believe theMBA will help me make the right decisions in my future career.”

Like Chris Ngo, formal learning was not the only value of the MBA for Thach.

“The knowledge that I learnt from my classmates will also help me a lot in my future career. The MBA experience has enhanced my networkingand my knowledge, improved my critical thinking and my understanding of people.”

RMIT News - MBA: promotion, career boost, personal triumph ... https://www.rmit.edu.vn/news/mba-promotion-career-boost-pers...

2 of 2 1/4/16, 2:41