Case Study: Giovanni D'Urso MBA

I spent 11 years working for international IT organisations, mainly in sales & marketing and country management, across Southern Europe before embarking on the MBA programme at Strathclyde.

I decided to undertake a full time MBA to gain insight into formal general management skills and techniques. Before the MBA, I was relying a lot on my own intuition and I knew this wouldn't be sustainable in the long run. In turn, the MBA would give me many more career possibilities to grow, not just to more senior management levels, but into new industry sectors and international environments.

I chose Strathclyde Business School as it had a strong reputation in terms of quality of managerial education, strategy focus, its ties with industry and its triple international accreditation. My MBA school research was confirmed by talking to individuals and companies internationally.

What I particularly enjoyed about the course was gaining insight from the very high quality academics at Strathclyde who mixed theory with practical examples effectively. The reflective learning process was complemented by allowing students an abundance of team interaction to reflect "real life" scenarios.

Academically, the Strathclyde MBA has been excellent, surpassing even my original expectations and has provided me with an understanding that there is no 'one size fits all' methodology when it comes to dealing with real-world issues.

I feel extremely satisfied by the broad set of new managerial skills, concepts and theories gained, especially in such an international environment, from my studies. The Strathclyde MBA has taught me to conceptualise and reflect upon complex organisational, industrial and even sociological dynamics in much more profound and strategic ways.

The MBA course itself aside, I will miss the social aspect of being a full-time student in such a vibrant city as Glasgow.

After graduation, I plan to run an international, emerging market in the IT and telecoms sector, and also be involved in more strategic activities such as merger & acquisitions and international joint ventures, as well as in a stock market flotation process.

I'd advise future MBA students to make the most of the networking opportunities that exist within the Strathclyde MBA cohorts, alumni, academia and excellent career services offered.