Last 28 October, we attended a social mixer session at Harry’s Bar organized by the NUS MBA Marketing Club. The session was with Guy Charusadhirakul who is the senior manager at eBay for Marketplace Development. I hadn’t been to a social mixer at NUS before, but I can definitely say that it surpassed my expectations. I came out learning a lot from the session and it was also a good chance to network with an industry professional and seniors.
During the session, Guy openly shared his work experience at eBay as well as the opportunities that he benefited most from while at business school. He talked about his interest in the technology sector and how he was able to realize his passion by taking up an internship in the same industry during b-school. He encouraged us to get involved in consulting projects with companies through the management practicum, especially for career-switchers.
Although Guy worked as a General Manager, he is currently in-charge of the cross-borders business at eBay. One of the challenges faced by a business such as eBay is that sellers are not very prompt about shipping out orders and hence lose customers. In addition, package tracking and delivery are perennial challenges. Moreover, international currency rates are constantly changing, hence it's become increasingly difficult for a buyer who is, for example, based in China to purchase from a seller based overseas (e.g., in America) using the online marketplace. Besides, many buyers are not even aware that e-Bay offers access to direct small business sellers and not only casual sellers. One of the advantages of selling through eBay for a small business is that it saves the initial setup costs.
Overall we had a good interaction with Guy and the seniors; all with good food and great wine!
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