The Road from Seoul to Madison

Sangkyun Rha, MBA 2008

Career Specialization: Marketing Research
Employment: Johnson & Johnson, LifeScan, (International Recruitment Development Program) Milpitas, Calif.

Sangkyun Rha grew up in Korea and started his career in military service as an officer. After a few years working with the government, he joined Kraft Foods as a marketing researcher. Over time, he came to the conclusion that he wanted a stronger foundation in marketing research. Two things led him from Seoul to Madison. First, Wisconsin alumni in Seoul encouraged him to give the program a closer look. Second, he kept encountering research by Emeritus Professor Gil Churchill, a legend in the field of marketing research and founder of Wisconsin’s A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research.

“I thought a lot about attending a top-10 MBA program, but I had heard that in many of those programs international students just sit back and then return to their countries saying, ‘I have an MBA and I have American experience.’ That is not the spirit of being an MBA student here at Wisconsin.

“If I had joined some other MBA program, I wouldn’t have had the chance to sit in on general, culture-focused classes which is only possible in a full-scale graduate school like Wisconsin.
I was able to present my ideas and to take outside courses to learn more about the culture and the people and combine that with ideas about corporate America. It gave me a good idea of how I could become a catalyst in the international business environment.

“I come from a culture where relationship is valued rather than just being deal-focused, which is viewed as very uncomfortable. In courses where we work in teams, sometimes there is no time to build a relationship, the team has to move on. In the beginning of the program, my comfort zone with this was zero, but as time went by, I figured out how I could contribute regardless of whether we built a relationship. I found a capability I didn’t know I had before I joined this program.

“I would like international students to know this is a responsive school. The school has a multitude of resources in terms of networks and project assistant opportunities. This is a great place, where international students can really grow and train themselves in business.”