Hi Duncan
I am Arun, Business Development Manager in a Global Fortune 500 company providing services and solutions to Energy, Government and Defense business.
I have 12 years of experience(3 as Manager in corporate and 9 as Manager/Engineer in an oil and gas site).I am Indian National, 34, based in Abu Dhabi (previously KSA, India) and my GMAT score is 680.

My reasons for enrolling to MBA
1. Develop,enhance and polish my skill sets in all Management Modules to have the complete package and thus position myself strongly for more senior roles.

2. Position myself to diversify beyond Oil & Gas as well as beyond Middle East. I would like to work in Western Europe/North America, if I can bag the right opportunity.

3. Position myself to exploit the fruits of Industry 4.0 technologies and apply them to deliver best results


Request for guidance (considering the above)

1. Do I go for distance learning/online MBA from a top school? I have narrowed my options on IE and Warwick. Your thoughts?
2. Insead/ LBS executive MBA in UAE is attractive, but very expensive. I am not sure if I should invest more than $100,000 as we are in uncharted territory in 2020 Globally

3. Any other guidance to aid my decision making process?

Regards
Arun

[Edited by Arunbabu on Apr 12, 2020]

I think you need to focus on much more specific goals.

Hi Duncan
My specific goal is to grow up the career ladder and manage operations (a portfolio of projects) in my Corporate Organization or any similar in Energy sector.

In order to reach my goal, I need to improve my understanding of all facets of the business so that I can learn and apply faster. Among others, Finance, Economics and Analytics are areas where I have immense scope for improvement.

[Edited by Arunbabu on Apr 11, 2020]

Hi Duncan
Can you please advice
If my response on 'my specific goal' was not clear, in other words I would say that I was a Maintenance Engineer and then a Maintenance Manager in operational refinery/Petrochemicals sites in KSA and India. Since last 3 years, I have been Business Development Manager in selling same type of services which I had executed myself in past life at sites.
So while my Technical background is strong the area, I have learned a lot in Sales, BD and other commercial aspects in last 3 years and have a successful track record at it so far.

So in future, I want to lead, manage and run operations for Energy services like companies like KBR (current employer), Bechtel, Wood etc or Operators like SHELL, BP etc. That too I look forward to diversify beyond Oil and Gas space in Energy sector due to transformational shift taking place slowly, but surely. (My logic is if I am good at Program Management in Oil Industry, I can easily transition to such roles in Renewables or Govt Services or infrastructure too)

My second option is to go to consulting in Energy space.

In any of the cases above, I ready to shift locations - Abu Dhabi is current base.

So Duncan, can you please help with my earlier questions in first post.

[Edited by Arunbabu on Apr 12, 2020]

Do people who lead energy operations typically have MBAs? Where from?

Hi Duncan
That is a interesting question
In my Organization and Oil & Gas Industry, I have rarely seen Leaders with MBAs and that is exactly the the reason I came to you. In Middle East atleast, I feel Oil and Gas Industry has been lead by Engineers type professionals with higher much average age than their counterparts in other Industries. So I haven't got enough guidance on my MBA aspirations and mostly have been turned away as may be 'not required'
However, with emerging trends in Energy Sector(going Green) and big challenges posing the Oil industry, I feel I need to learn faster all facets of business to be ready.

Where from? I have not seen anyone take MBA from top 50 schools .
But I have seen lot of people (Engineers/middle management )opt for Exec MBA. While speaking to few such individuals, that decision is more or less driven by a hope that they will get a 'STAMP' which they can hopefully en-cash to get promotion or in a new interview, as compared to any specific goals

Hi Duncan
That is a interesting question
In my Organization and Oil & Gas Industry, I have rarely seen Leaders with MBAs and that is exactly the the reason I came to you. In Middle East atleast, I feel Oil and Gas Industry has been lead by Engineers type professionals with higher much average age than their counterparts in other Industries. So I haven't got enough guidance on my MBA aspirations and mostly have been turned away as may be 'not required'
However, with emerging trends in Energy Sector(going Green) and big challenges posing the Oil industry, I feel I need to learn faster all facets of business to be ready.

Where from? I have not seen anyone take MBA from top 50 schools .
But I have seen lot of people (Engineers/middle management )opt for Exec MBA. While speaking to few such individuals, that decision is more or less driven by a hope that they will get a 'STAMP' which they can hopefully en-cash to get promotion or in a new interview, as compared to any specific goals
I have spoke to individuals who have done from Insead, LBS, CASS etc (those with Middle East campus)

[Edited by Arunbabu on Apr 12, 2020]

So, if these people don't have MBAs then an MBA won't help you much.