Inspired, Motivated, Devoted - IMD 2008 MBA:-)

F.G.H. = Finally Going Home

2008-12-24T22:38:00.003+01:00

Transitting at Dubai Intl' Airport - the city I came more than a month ago, probably the most global city in the world with aournd 90% foreigners in the city. You do feel want to go home because everybody is going home:-)

Finally, Going Home!

Home is not where you live but where they understand you. ~Christian Morgenstern

He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” ~Maya Angelou

E - the END

2008-12-19T23:12:00.003+01:00

IMD campus in snow

“There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.” - Tennessee Williams (American playwright, 1911-1983)

Prof. George Kohlrieser introduced this quote to us at the beginning of our Leadership Finale Day on 2nd Dec 2008, just one day before the graduation. It was quite an emotional day filled with thanksgivings, public appraisals, reconciliations, reflections and surprises. He also kindly gave each of us an English copy of his award-winning book “Hostage at the Table”. Being in a Catholic seminary for 8 years, a Ph.D. in psychology, a Police Psychologist and Hostage Negotiator, 10-year hosting of “Matters of the Mind" - a radio call-in talk show in the US, and a past president of the International Transactional Analysis Association, he drew a lot of examples from his rich experiences in this fascinating book. I highly recommend it to the readers, even your non-English friends & colleagues (it is now available in French, Romanian, Hungarian and Chinese with German, Russian and Korean editions to be published soon).

On a personal note, I just finished my last interview and am now on the train from snowy Zurich to warmer Lausanne. Since 6 months ago when we first attended On-Campus Recruiting company presentations before discovery expedition to Kenya, each of us has gone through numerous interviews, followed by Dings, hiring freezes and of course offers. In fact, these six months at IMD (ok, we’ve officially graduated two weeks ago:-) had been an even more practical and more challenging part compared to the hundreds of real business cases studied through the building blocks. During expeditions, ICP and job searches, we have been exploring new geographical territories (for me – East Africa, East Europe, North America, Middle East) and we have been exposed to the tough macro-environment (my six final round interviews opportunities in different countries were killed one by one within 10 days due to the crisis). However, with the professional assistance of career service team (Katty, Celine, Julia & Barbara) and our individual career coaches, mutual supports from within the class, constant encouragements by family & friends around the world, we made it – so far so good! In the midst of economic crisis, IMD 2008 MBA class still had a very high percentage of job offers upon graduation and the number has been going higher and higher each day as some of us are still in the process of interviews. Now we all deserve a good break and I am confident that we will all get there, sooner or later.

On 16th Dec 2008, as many faculty and staff of IMD paid their tributes to the longest serving full-time faculty member Prof. Xavier Gilbert (37 years with IMD) during his “graduating ceremony”, one colleague shared the following “bon mots” (good words) of Prof. Gilbert, “It is precisely during times of adversity that companies cannot afford to neglect their people. Look at it this way: Why is a company in trouble in the first place? Is it really only the fault of the economic environment? Were the employees perfectly competent? In reality, being in trouble points to an urgent need to learn.”

Even the last two weeks post-graduation, there still have been a lot of happenings: round after round interviews, round after round farewell dinners, house after house hand-over inspections (I went to four apartments in a single day receiving and giving helps) and of course the Christmas parties. Together with Mathieu Pointeau (French), I also attended my first IMD MBA Info Session as an alumnus. But as we say in Chinese, “the most glamorous banquet will also come to an end” and Mathieu has already introduced you the new diary authors from MBA 2009 Class. Like movie sequels, you never know what does the new episode like until you go and watch it. Of course, you can learn some real options techniques from Finance Prof. Arturo Bris for better forecasting!?

A Time for Everything – by King Solomon from the Book of Ecclesiastes (Old Testament):

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

D - Dubai, Desert, Deflate

2008-12-06T20:58:00.006+01:00

I was in Dubai a month ago, my first visit to the Gulf Region. During the flight, I already saw massive yellow coloured the navigation map after Istanbul. Indeed, that's the theme colour of Dubai - the booming hub between Europe & Asia. Desert is seen everywhere, even the green plants are dusted by the sand. One of the interesting experiences we had there was "Desert Safari". I was expecting to see animals running in the desert. Instead, we were put on a jeep and driving towards the centre of desert.

After arriving at a stop point, the driver double-checked everything and began to deflate all tyres. "What are we going to do?" "Oh, we're going to enjoy the sand surfing!!!". That's the essence of a desert safari. Somehow, I related it to the leadership development approach during IMD MBA. The course was built in such a way to "destroy" you first, from inside out, challenging you on where you're most proud of and then "build" you up, through reflecion, counsellig, practcing. It's also a good analogy to the current economic situation. In a crisis moment, we'd better get back to the core, down-to-earth and be releastic.

"What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Pilot, Writer and Author of 'The Little Prince', 1900-1944)

A.B.C. - Andover, Boston, Cambridge

2008-10-13T00:46:00.004+02:00

After 4 weeks of industry & company analyses, 2 weeks of first round On Campus Recruiting, we have finally travelled to the market where our issue analysis focuses on – the USA. Our client is a global leader in the dental industry and our mission for the International Consulting Project is to improve the Sales & Marketing effectiveness in the US market. Although two of our team members have healthcare industry experiences, it was still quite a challenge to understand at the beginning the unique business model, complicated multiple stakeholders and fragmented diverse customers. Our hard work paid off and we gained enough credibility from the client to carry on the field research in Andover, Boston for 7 days. All the planning was communicated during the stressful interview weeks and we got almost everything settled by lunch time Wednesday 1st October: logistics, agenda, working approach and visas – yes, Natalia and I are visiting the USA for the very first time.

By taxi, train, airplane and rented car, the team of 5 safely arrived at the Residence Inn after 18 hours of travel from Lausanne. There were only a few hours for rest before the busy schedule starting Thursday morning. Despite the jetlag, we decided to meet at 7:30 am to quickly discuss the first day agenda. Driving to the company US headquarters, which is located in the same industry park as the hotel, we were amazed by the beautiful colours of autumn reflected onto the glass buildings, very different from what we used to see in Lausanne. Arriving in the office, first thing we were informed of: change of agenda! The team was asked to present our Phase II – Company Analysis and discuss it with the Business Unit VP, Marketing VP and Senior Marketing Manager. This sudden change eventually turned out to be a very fruitful and long interaction with the client’s US management team to build a good foundation for our remaining days here. In the afternoon, the team interviewed managers from training, sales and we started first round brain-storming to identify sub-issues and possible solutions. The jetlag effect kicked in around 6 pm (which was 12 am Swiss time) so we called it a day.

The second day which was Friday was even busier. We started from a WEBEX meeting with managers from different functions and then participated in a Sales teleconference. In the afternoon, the team had to split for multiple tasks, calling dental labs, meeting VIP customers, discussing Sales & Optimization, etc. We had to finish the team debriefing by 6:30 pm because there was a client dinner planned at 7 pm. It was a great opportunity to know more about each other at a personal level. As our Faculty Director Prof. Ralf Seifert shared before, in a consulting project team, the manager’s main task is to communicate with the client and continuously align the objectives and outcomes.

Over the weekend, we had some time to visit downtown Boston which is famous for its Harbour, Harvard Business School and Happy shoppers. So some of us went for whale watching, some went for Sunday shopping [which is almost impossible in Switzerland], but we all went to the Harvard Business School in Cambridge. It happened to be the 100th anniversary of the business education here and we walked around in the night campus [see photograph above].

Someone once summarized the difference between school and life as follows: “In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.” I would argue a successful school could combine both – Real World, Real Learning – a perfect explanation of the philosophy of our ICP or International Consulting Project, since 1980!

The Straumann team from Massachusetts, USA.

No. 1

2008-09-27T17:38:00.002+02:00

IMD tops Economist Intelligence Unit's MBA rankings, but are the good times about to end for business school graduates? http://mba.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=2008rankings

IMD has been ranked the first in the world in the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest survey of full-time MBA programmes. It is the first time the Swiss school has topped the annual ranking. IMD took the number one slot from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, which drops to third, while Spanish school IESE claims second place. Stanford and Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business round off the top five. The highest ranked Asian school was Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 11th.

IMD is one of the most international business schools in the world. Ninety-seven percent of its students come from abroad—with around half of those from outside of Europe. One of the reasons for the school's triumph has been the success of its careers placement service. IMD students can expect to earn a basic salary of US$130,000 a year on their graduation—compared with pre-MBA salaries of US$79,000.

Indeed this year was a bumper year all round for MBA salaries. Columbia in New York, for example, reported an average leaving salary of US107,000, while London Business School's graduates can expect US$120,000-a-year. But with the banking crisis leading to job losses in financial centres around the world, this might be the best it gets for business school graduates for some time.

Bill Ridgers, editor of Which MBA? commented: "The financial services industry has for some time competed with consultancies to be the leading recruiter of MBA graduates, offering huge salaries along the way. But with recent failures, a lot of talented bankers are suddenly out of a job. It is likely that current students are likely to find themselves graduating into a buyers' market and salaries will start to reflect this."

To add on to this press release, we just had a 2-week first round on campus interviews with some 60 global companies in altogether 822 interviews for the entire MBA class. A big thank you to our fabulous Career Service team. Bonne Chance!

from Under-prepared to Over-prepared...

2008-09-21T22:47:00.005+02:00

Since last Sunday, I had altogether 12 interviews with 9 organizations (focusing on Marketing or Strategy function) and it was only the first week of our On Campus Recruiting. Before that, I actually had an informal interview with an Executive Board Member of a leading industrial company based in Switzerland. It was not only informal, but also unusual. The setting was an bench at the meadow where we had outdoor lunch buffet at IMD, the weather was sunny, and the timing was after lunch. The interview was centered around my motivation & interest, or rather how have I aligned both, one of the trickiest question and the dynamics was not leading to enough "chemistry".

After the interview, I immediately contacted my career coach, an alumna graduated 10 years ago and now a seasoned Executive Coach (of course, she's assigned by our fabulous Career Service Team). She quickly responded and arranged a debriefing session with me, analyzing the interactions of the interview, giving feedback, pushing for preparations, and of course, I was under-prepared. My coach extended the session for an additional 30 mins to help me practice. I was really grateful for that and felt ready for the coming interviews.

Some companies already notified us about the results of 1st round interviews, both good & bad news. One of the rejection letter I received saying that I was a bit "over-prepared", in context of the particular company / headquarter country culture.

The lesson learned, preparation is always necessary & good, but execution has to be adapted according to the context. Look forward to the week II interviews!

Crisis & Conflict

2008-08-04T21:50:00.006+02:00

Shepherd - "SupaClean Chemicals? My sheep are thirsty and if they can't drink the water from the river because of your factory leakage, where can they get water?"

SupaClean - "We'll be able to confirm the safety of the river within 2 hours. Can they wait?"

Shepherd - "You don't understand, they are not like human beings, they just can't wait."

SupaClean - "What about you and your family, where do you get drinking water?"

Shepherd - "We only drink alcohol!"

....

That's just one of the telephone calls we've received last Monday (28 July) after coming back from summer holiday. Nice surprise! It's part of the Crisis Management Simulation & Workshop run by Tom Curtin and his team from Green Issues Communications as a start of the second half of our MBA program. It was so exciting & emotional that I couldn't easily forget the "silly" conversations I had with "local communities" who complained to the company after the crisis happened. However, in real life, things could get even worse and we just got a glimpse of what it takes to assume the leadership in crisis management. The next day, we had the chance to hold a press conference in front of BBC presenters to practice Public Relations after crisis, video-taped with immediate feedback.

Not to destroy us but to equip us, we had another 2.5 days of negotiation workshop following the crisis simulation, again run by globally acclaimed experts from Conflict Management (CM) Partners . To negotiate with principles, based on interests and with perseverance.

One of the questions we were asked at the beginning of this workshop was "why children are generally better negotiators?". My understanding is that children are generally fearless, more focused on the things they desire (normally no idea about options) and more persevering because they have more time than their adult counterparts. Unfortunately, as an adult, we have learned about all kinds of fears and we are too complicated to have no option.

"The correct strategy for Americans negotiating with Japanese or other foreign clients is a Japanese strategy: ask questions. When you think you understand, ask more questions. Carefully feel for pressure points. If an impasse is reached, don't pressure. Suggest a recess or another meeting.” John L. Graham, Professor of Marketing and International Business, University of California, Irvine

What a mountain has taught us?

2008-07-13T21:12:00.003+02:00

(on behalf of the Kili Trio)

06:00 of 7 July, 5895 meters above sea level at the Uhuru Peak, after 6 hours of hiking from Barafu camp (4600 meters), Peter Nielsen (Danish) & Bevan McKenzie (New Zealander) have successfully reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. It has been a long journey since they started from Machame village 5 days ago. Up & down, up & down, all for better acclimatization, and all is worth the 15 minutes' breath-taking view on the "Roof of Africa". It was too cold to stay there long so they started descending. I met them at Stella Point (5745 meters) and continued my way to the summit which happened after sunrise. So the Kili Trio of IMD have all made it to the top, with the help of mountain guides, porters and support from the MBA class, special thanks to Randy Balisalisa (American) who shared with us his first hand experience of reaching Uhuru Peak in 2006. Being in the real world, the marvelous mountain, what have we learnt?

Kilimanjaro has taught us a lot of lessons and I think the key is about respect. We respect the environment even when it meant to carry additional weight before reaching the rubbish collecting point. We also saw it from the porters, the guides and fellow hikers. If human beings don't protect the environment, this World Heritage will be destroyed soon. We also learnt to respect our own bodies. Being it a headache due to mountain sickness or the constant thirst leading to dehydration, we responded accordingly by taking medicine or drinking water. If human beings don't take care of our bodies, they will not collaborate with our minds. Of course, the respect has to be built up among the people as well.

"Pole, Pole" is how people greeting each other in the mountain (in Kiswahili, it means "slowly, slowly"). In practice, it reminded hikers not to rush through but conserve energy for the long journey. In theory, it reminded urban hikers to slow down, taking time, enjoying scenery and savoring nature. I personally benefitted a lot from it. Having headache since Day 2, I had to take pain killer and even lost appetite the next day. With walking poles, I really did it "pole, pole". Fortunately regained appetite before the summit night, I woke up early to start the slow journey. My mountain guide David said I probably set some "pole" record of reaching the peak in 8 hours. Before leaving for Kilimanjaro, Dr. Weiju Hsieh (Taiwanese, a seasoned mountain climber) gave me her insight, "a mountain is not to be conquered, but rather to be experienced and appreciated". So pole as I did, I was happy to enjoy the mountain Safari ("safari" means "journey" in Kiswahili).

This uniquely intimate experience of hiking, camping together for 7 days also taught us to be tolerant because we had to share a lot things taken for granted in a normal environment, e.g. space, clean water, hot water, noise, etc. During spare times, we also shared knowledge & fun including an alternative pain killer which is a card game called "Casino" introduced by Peter's uncle. I learnt something new about the 5 icons of Denmark, Karen Blixen whose memoir "Out of Africa" (the original title in Danish is "My Africa") which turned into a huge success in Hollywood (we actually visited the Safari where the movie was shoot during discovery trip in Kenya); LEGO = Play Well (abbreviation of the two Danish words "leg godt"); architect Jørn Utzon was awarded the project of the Sydney Opera House in 1957, author & poet Hans Christian Andersen whose fairy tales were read out to Peter (my colleague, fellow hiker) by his grandpa; the national bird of Denmark, mute swan. As to the "down under" New Zealand, I asked Bevan for a silver fern souvenir after his successful promotion of the country's symbol. Sir Edmund Hillary who just passed away early this year, is a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.

In remembrance of this extraordinary life, it is appropriate to end with his quote, “You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated.”

Pole, Pole, Karibu Kilimanjaro!

P.S. thanks to Aoife Hegarty (Irish / Rwandan) who kindly lent us her IMD umbrella.

Love, Money, Life...

2008-05-22T13:26:00.007+02:00

Since last Friday, the 7 Chinese in our class initiated a fund-raising on campus for the people suffering in earthquake in Sinchuan. We received many warm supports from many friends and strangers until this Tuesday. All the funds will be proceeded to China Education Development Foundation to rebuild the schools in Sichuan for the thousands of students there. A big thanks to the love from IMD community!

There is money out of love, and there is also passion for wealth - a little surprise for our second last week before the building block final exams, we met Warren Buffet in the MBA auditorium yesterday afternoon. Organized by family business research centre, our Organizational Leadership Prof. Ben Bryant and Entrepreneurship Prof. Benoit Leleux gave us this opportunity to interact with Mr. Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway and Mr. Eitan Wertheimer of ISCAR group. For the richest man in world, success simply means how many people would hide you in case of danger. At the age of 77, he still goes to his office at Omaha every morning because he enjoys it as part of his life...

Summer is coming soon, just before 3 papers, 4 exams, 2 weeks preparation and 1 discovery expedition in Kenya!

Humility & Humanity

2008-05-01T15:18:00.005+02:00

We've had the "International Political Economy" course for a few sessions where Prof. Jean-Pierre Lehman always started with a "Literacy Test" about the regions we were going to discuss in the following four hours. The topics range from history, politics, economy, literature, etc. It is during such session I realized how ignorant I am of the "Globalized world in 21st century". While most of the class think we are the most international MBA, these literacy tests revealed the truth. There are 7 or 8 colleagues who are ahead of the class in terms of global knowledge.

As Prof. Lehman said, "How often in your lives have you found yourselves or are you likely to find yourselves in an environment of 90 persons from 44 nationalities, with no one dominant, for almost an entire year?"

With such diversity, there is certainly different viewpoints & conflicts. What Prof. Lehman has been trying to facilitate is an open and free environment for discussion. It is a challenging & rewarding experience at the same time! I hope in the end, we would be able to settle in a common ground, which is probably the evolving humanity in a historical context.

Design, Debate & Deliberate

2008-04-17T22:58:00.002+02:00

The three new courses we had in Building Block II is about Design - Innovation & Product Design, Debate - International Political Economy, and Deliberate - Strategy. All of them are highly interactive and engaging that we almost forgot 2 weeks ago we were still struggling with the exams. Today, we got the results! Overall performance is better than previous classes, according to faculty feedback. Thank God, i survived through it...

Looking forward, we will have our last team formed by next Sunday - International Consulting Project and more details will be shared then. At the mean time, our program coordinator Celine is busy preparing our discovery expedition in Kenya this summer and many colleagues are sweating for the MBA Tournament preparation.

Exciting April...

Spring in Lausanne

2008-04-05T17:09:00.002+02:00

Survived after the whole week of exams, some ran as long as 6.5 hours (Finance interim exam). Thanks to our Program Coordinator Celine who kindly organized (or planned as part of the learning experience in IMD) our first-exam party, it was MAD (the famous clubbing compound)...

No much time to take a break, we had a meeting with entrepreneurs for start-up project today when the 2nd pit-stop is just two week away. Over the weekend, we also had to finish some group work for the NEWly assigned study group. And from Monday, three brand new courses will kick off plus the existing finance, accounting, etc.

The good news is, spring is coming! I didn't have time to take a beautiful picture of the blooming city but I will do it soon.

Rushing for a Chinese-speaking dinner now. Bon weekend!

Saving Hearts - Where Hope Comes to Life

2008-03-14T21:30:00.004+01:00

"Baby Heart - International Children's Heart Foundation (ICHF) & Dr. William Novick", this fresh marketing case published before last Christmas by Prof. Domonique is definitely one of my favorite cases in Building Block I. Dr. Novick flew from Tennesse to share with our class of his 15 year's journey at ICFH which is very touching. Being one of the 500 plus children heart surgeons in the world, he had the burden for young patients around the world.

As a class, we've tried our best to contribute ideas of how to sustain this NGO in the long run and how to marketing it creatively. In the end, a CHF 1,500 was also presented to Dr. Novick as a small contribution.

We have one more week before exams and I will update soon after.

Good night!

Good-bye, Prof. LPO!

2008-03-11T19:49:00.006+01:00

Time flies faster at IMD! This is already the 10th week into our Building Block I, a whole week of exams have been scheduled at the end of March which leaves us only the Easter weekend to take a break or take a deep dive!

Anyway, most groups survived happily after last weekend's 1st Integrative Exercise which we dug into an interestingly long case of Two-Wheeler market in Pakistan. What's amazing is that Richard's (American) wife Tanya who was a Pakistani availed herself to share with us live experience of her home country. Where else can you find more dynamic exercise than this?

Some updates on-campus, selected interviewees after round 1 application for Class 2009 are already here. LPO (Listen, Pay Attention, Observe or Learn, Practice & Organize) course which spells for Leading People in Organization will finish tomorrow. Prof. Maury is someone you can't forget because he always starts the session by playing some music 15 mins before the class. Today he played two versions of a song from Elton John and asked for critics. It turned out to be his own performances in between 31 years - the lesson learned: how to sustain a life-long learning?

As many groups are working on the leadership essay and trailblazer projects, we'll definitely have more learnings to share. Ciao!

Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Professor!

2008-03-04T21:43:00.006+01:00

It was a very emotional day last Friday 29 Feb 2008 and my colleague Mathieu Pointieau (French) has faithfully & truthfully wrote it down in the MBA Diary: http://www.imd.ch/programs/mba/programstructure/diary_detail.cfm?articleId=4171. Enjoy Reading!

P.S. attached is a "painting" from Prof. Ralf Boscheck who just finished our first module "Economics & Industry Competitiveness Analysis" last Friday (7 other modules are still on-going). Tomorrow a new module "Innovation & Product Design" will kick off!

IMD 2008 MBA Story so far...@ YouTube

2008-02-24T14:27:00.003+01:00

Thanks to Paul, now we have the first video clip on YouTube from Class 2008. Enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkM0UGGW4Bc

Meanwhile, as the IMD MBA Diary explains, from now until early April, life is going to very very tough with integrative exercises, many assignments and exams. Cheer On:-)

Accounting / Risk / Poem

2008-02-18T00:53:00.006+01:00

During the accounting class on Wed, Prof. Stewart shared with us a beautiful poem as the closing of this session on Risk Managment:

Risk - Author Unknown

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental

To reach out to another is to risk involvement

To expose feeling is to risk exposing your true self

To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss

To love is to risk not being loved in return

To live is to risk dying

To hope is to risk despair

To try at all is to risk failure

But risks must be taken

because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing

The person who risks nothing has nothing and is nothing

The person may avoid suffering and sorrow

but cannot learn, feel change, grow, love, life

Chained by attitudes he/she is a slave, and forfeits freedom

Only a person who risks is free.

New Year, New Challenge

2008-02-10T17:41:00.000+01:00

The 4th day of Chinese Lunar New Year (Vietnam, Singapore, Korea, etc. use the same lunar calendar) or so-called Spring Festival, many inter-groups meetings are going on, thanks to Prof. Ralf. There'll be 6 industry analysis presentation on Tuesday, each combined of two different industries, e.g. Steel & Commodity Chemical, Pay for Contents & Free Media. Each study group has spent hundreds of hours on our individual presentation, the story lines, the contents, the graphs, the colors, etc. After a pre-run on Friday afternoon, now we have to merge the presentation with our neighbouring group to find out the common characteristics of both groups and come up with a combined presentation & report.

This is one of our first major group projects and has presented a lot of new challenges. Different groups adopted different approaches, each has its pros & cons. And it's not easy to avoid being frustrated, no wonder more & more colleagues have signed up for the PDI (Personal Development Initiative) and talked to professional psychoanalyst. Managing emotions, balancing group task & individual reading, we'll keep learning!

新年进步！

Banana, Bicycle & Watch

2008-02-02T15:40:00.000+01:00

"Watch out the banana tree while riding your bicycle along Lac Leman...", this is just an old game when we used to play at primary school - making a sentence with the given words, in this case, banana, bicycle & watch:-) I always thought it was just a fun game to play with your own imagination.

However, it can be as creative as a good marketing plan. That's why we've decided to include the 3 words for the coffee brand marketing plan. Some group did it seriously, some group forgot about it during the disucssion. Of course, it's interesting to see how creatively these elements have been incroporated in a serious marketing plan, especially when the presenter was not aware of the game.

* Banana flavour coffee
* Coffe Boutique in high streets of big cities, e.g. where the watch shops locate
* Sonsporing a bicycle team in Tour de France

How do you like this marketing plan? Creativity comes "out of the box" thinking!

The Drawbridge Story

2008-01-26T15:02:00.000+01:00

With 44 hours lecture per week and many pre-course reading, group assignments, individual papers & start-up project on hand, it's quite challenging to digest everything, not even to mention pondering upon what we've learned or debated. Thanks to our extremely efficient MBA officers, we have monthly assignments & readings bound nicely before the start of next month. My target was to write down the key learning points on the 1-page assignment for each of the 4-hour module (total 8 modules during Building Block I from Jan - Mar 2008), hopefully, I can remember & try to apply 1 or 2 of the key learnings everyday.

During the leadership class last week, Prof. Jack told us a very simple "Drawbridge Story" involving 6 characters: Baron, Baroness, Madman, Lover, Boatman, Friend. Since the leadership module is very experiential, we were asked to do a quick ranking test "who is most responsible for the outcome of the story?". Jealous baron, lonely baroness, irresponsible lover, greedy boatman, self-righteous friend & the madman, sounded interesting! After that, each study group had to reach a collective ranking based on consensus. To give an example of the group diversity, my group during Building Block I includes a Canadian, Indian, Italian (San Marino), Russian, Mexican, Swiss and myself, Chinese.

When all 12 groups returned to the amphitheatre, Prof. Jack shared with us a comment from his artist friend. "It's not surprising that most business people would agree that the boatman is least responsible for the outcome, the death of the baroness. You may argue he's simply doing his job by asking for money before riding her through the moat. In another word, the boatman is the only one in the whole story who didn't offer an help to the baroness because of economic interest. That's typical business people, b-school students and many people in this materialized world".

We might have not thought of that while defending for the boatman, but I have to admit that is probably the reason beneath and I simply thought being greedy was not the cause of the baroness' death. The reality is the same test conducted among nurses or social workers, boatman is often ranked highly responsible for the tragedy.

However, I'm not that hopeless as I've seen 5 or 6 out of the 90 class did rebuke the boatman for being greedy. Many of the rest, I believe we have taken the lesson seriously and will try to make a difference in the community we live!

Name a Wish - The GREAT Outdoor Exercises!

2008-01-20T19:13:00.000+01:00

Wednesday morning, 12 experienced Group Behavior Consultants flew from overseas to IMD. They were introduced to the 12 study groups in the afternoon at our leadership class. The fun started!

"Gentlement's Club #1, Quest, Tangram, Bungees, U.F.O. (United Fishers Of...), The Screwdrivers, bbb7, Magic 8, 9 United, 1 World, The Country Club, 12 Monkeys", above were the names of 12 study groups presented to the entire class with a video advertising & a logo explaining the names. All the preparations were done within 45 mins! It's interesting to see how the different names correlating to each group in terms of characteristics, directions or wishes.

7:45 am, Thursday morning, all 90 MBAs met at the foyer to board on the bus leading to Outdoor Exercise Centre in an old chateau. Competitions, group tasks, each session was video-taped and followed by a debriefing with coach. Finishing the whole exercise at 5 pm, delicious Chinese dinner was awaiting us at IMD. There was a 4-hour video for each group to review & discuss which is the highlight of the day. Emotions, retrospection & questions all came out, expected or unexpected, most groups ended at midnight, some 2 am.

Understanding how drained we were, Prof. Jack Wood kindly started the class 30 mins then the usual 8 am. Each group was given 90 mins to summarize key learnings, select a video clip and present a picture metaphor. It was kinda shocking when we realized how powerful the emotions were functioning in some groups! All in all, we've tried our best to be sensitive & honest with our feelings. In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to provide feedback to group members in both oral & written forms. More than 2/3 of the class headed to the White Horse pub, due to either too many positive / constructive (negative) feedback or too much stress / psycho talks. Some even saw a few consultants there as well:-) Saturday we had the 1-on-1 session with group consultant for an hour each. They all flew back later that day.

This is our first GREAT outdoor leadership exercise and I'm happy to tell The Gentlemen's Club #1 more or less stayed true to our names with openness & solidarity.

P.S. the mokey picture is our group metaphor after the outdoor exercises & key learnings found out. We realized the problems and want to see more, hear more & talk more whenever appropriate so we can grow more in the long run!

What are you selling?

2008-01-13T23:13:00.000+01:00

What's so unique about IMD (http://www.imd.ch/)? After the orientation programme early last week, I confirm that the slogan "Real World, Real Learning" is what being practiced here.

Career Service team shared with us their mission & passion to establish the platform between us (the 90 MBA students) and potential employers (67 companies conducted on campus recruiting events in 2007 plus many posting job offers online). Class 2oo7 has done a great job, within 1 month of graduation, 96% has at least 1 job offers (preliminary results).

An interesting question was posed to us, "since the participants have an average of 7-year working experience which means a quality network around the globe, should we focus more on selling the school or selling ourselves during networking?" Of course, marketing for IMD is mainly the MBA office (career / marketing / admission)'s responsibility. However, to let others understand what kind of training we've been through here at IMD definitely helps. So my answer would be: selling myself as an IMD 2008 MBA!

Catch up in week 2...Bonne nuit:-)

Only @ V.I.P.

2007-11-19T19:02:00.000+01:00

Leadership in a globalized world is about becoming @ V.I.P. who can lead with vision, materialize it with solid implementation, and carry it on with perseverance. Above all these, the ability to adjust in an ever-changing environment is critical.

...

As a music lover, I enjoy watching the live performance of a symphony orchestra when I can observe the interactions between the conductor and the musicians. The night before leaving Singapore to China, I had the privilege to join a post-concert dialogue with the music director who is a renowned conductor. “A good conductor doesn't force his/her idea to the orchestra, but reshape the orchestra by knowing & building its character with certain degree of compromise. An established orchestra is also able to adjust to different styles of different conductors without losing its own character.” His brilliant answer to my question on dynamics of an orchestra applies well to a successful leader who often has to adjust to the fast-moving surroundings in a globalized world, with the sensitivity of discerning the environment and the ability of adjusting accordingly but never getting adrift...

P.S. an excerpt from my leadership essay.

Interesting Intern

2007-11-11T20:21:00.000+01:00

Guess what? After a 2-week holiday back in China during the 58th National Day with family & friends, I got the opportunity to do a pre-MBA intern with a retail bank in Mauritius, thanks to my future classmate Sonal's recommendation.

The Environment - Sunny & Shiny, Spoken French & Written English (here I experienced first time at meetings where all have to speak English because I am the only 1 present with basic French). Waterfront office, beachfront house with a 1-hour trip in between, luckily I don't drive.

The Team - a Uganda girl studied in Canada, a Zimbabwe guy worked in the MD's office, and our boss brought from India his 15 years experience heading the Products & Strategy (3 other trainess from Zim & Ghana who're at different projects). So bascially we've covered all the foreigners in the bank except South Africa.

Challenges / Opportunities - New field (exciting), Emerging market in a small island country (exclusive), Communication with different parties (explicit), Inniative to improve or innovate (edgy).

People / Projects - mostly are nice & warm Mauritians and I'm learning What to say after "Bonjour", diverse projects including incentive scheme, press conference, products launch, etc. - So far, So interesting!

Swiss Dr. Beat "Beatocello" Richner @ Cambodia

2007-10-29T19:38:00.001+01:00

Cambodia is a country you can’t easily forget, not only because of the impressive Angkor Wat, but also because of its painful history. I was there for a brief trip at the end of September to both the capital city, Phnom Penh & the touristy place, Siem Reap where Angkor Wat locates.

The wonderful pictures of Cambodia is abundant online, the yummy restaurants guide is comprehensive in "Lonely Planet" easily found everywhere in the country. But a few things you have to experience first hand: the horrors at Khmer Rouge killing field & S-21 Prison Museum in Phnom Penh, the "disturbing" free concert by Dr. Beatocello in Hospital Jayavarman VII, Siem Reap, every Saturday 7:15 p.m.

Swiss Dr. Beat Richner (http://www.beat-richner.ch/) has spent more than 30 years in Cambodia to provide free & high-quality medical services to the poor & needy. He's been through some tough years but he's always passionate about his mission. "As a medical doctor, I use the Cello to communicate the vision of my work - The Cello is my weapon!" That's how people fondly call him Dr. Beatocello.

"For the young audiences, we ask you to donate blood! For the old ones, money please. For the middle-aged, both blood & money are welcome!" This is something he repeated throughout the concert because the pledge is not for his own sake - every single cent / franc will all go to the foundation. He also shared with the audience some insights gained through his 3-decade service in Cambodia - why he wanted to provide such high-quality medical services free of charge?

1. This country has suffered a lot during the wars both external & internal.
2. Corruption is overwhelming.
3. The attitude / mindset of developed countries in certain degree hinders the development of the health welfare of Cambodia. e.g. The Red Cross officers told him the equipment in his hospitals in Cambodia are way too expensive considering the economic status of Cambodia.

Dr. Beat shared the principle he always sticked to that all patients should be treated equally with the best available equipments & medicines if possible. Imagine an outdated blood donation system which couldn't detect HIV will cause a disaster. The treatment of a patient shouldn't be compromised. - I fully agree!

"While we can't change the history of Cambodia & the corruption of the country, at least, we can change the attitudes of developed countries. I want Cambodian children to be treated the same way we treat our children back in Switzerland!"

Do drop by and listen to his free concert if you're in Siem Reap. Following are the concert schedule in Switzerland:

ZÜRICH, Grossmuenster , 2. Dezember,12.00 Uhr, 2007
GENEVE, Hotel Beaurivage , 3 Decembre,18.00 heures, 2007
ZURICH, Dienstag 6. Mai 2008

Tributes to Dr. Beatocello - a man I truly admire!

Quick Updates

2007-10-22T18:13:00.000+02:00

Haven't been able to update my blog due to 2 relocations, from Singapore to China and now in Mauritius. Before leaving my last job, I went for a short trip to Cambodia and I loved it, the history, the buildings, the food & the Khmer people:-) Didn't have time to jot down the trip journals and not even uploading all the photos as I was rushing back home for 2 best friends' wedding, and it's 2 in 1 'cause they married each other!

After a brief "Golden Week" (58th Birthday) of China with parents and friends, I got the exciting internship at Mauritius with Barclays, so here I'm now writing at Flic en Flac, a stone's throw away from Indian Ocean. More updates are coming soon!

BTW, the class of IMD 2008 MBA is almost complete and I will be flying to Switzerland with several others from Shanghai on 19 Dec...

The Home Song Stories & PPIN

2007-09-18T17:41:00.000+02:00

The Home Song Stories, the autobiographical second feature by (Macau-born) writer-director Tony Ayres, is a story of a boy, Tom, his sister May and their mother, Rose, a Shanghainese singer who lands in suburban Melbourne in the 60s with little English and no money. Rose's only assets are her beauty, her cheongsams and an ability to seduce men. What unfolds is a tale of epic emotions. http://www.homesongstories.com

"Everything that happens in The Home Song Stories actually happened in real life," says Tony. "I had an extraordinary, wild traumatic childhood, largely due to the erratic behaviour of my charismatic but mentally unstable mother. My sister and I were buffeted by these events, but survived, mainly because of our love for each other. But also because, in spite of everything, we knew that our mother loved us. As a film maker, I knew that I was compelled to tell this story eventually." To me, there's a clear message conveyed - Things happened in our childhood have great impacts in our personalities & behaviors. If unfortunately, we were hurt or mistreated while innocent, somehow we need an approriate channel to release the pain. Probably throught counselling, recounting the stories, open up the scars, etc. The ultimate goal as the film director said is "to accept, to forgive & to love……"

It reminds me of the unique IMD pre-course assignment: Personal and Professional Identity Narrative

PURPOSE:
The purpose of the Personal and Professional Identity Narrative is to provide you with a “working document” that will help you to orient yourself as you make personal and professional decisions in the course of your life. If you take the process of reflecting on your life seriously that the PPIN provides, it can help you to better understand the key events of your life and their continued influence.

PROCEDURE:
We are asking you to complete a 10 to 15-page draft of your PPIN before arriving to the programme opening dinner. You will be given the opportunity to re-visit your PPIN during the year, and to modify the contents as you reflect on your learning from the programme. A relatively complete working document would be a narrative of between 15 and 20 pages.

DESCRIPTION:
The PPIN will be a narrative essay describing:
where you have come from, i.e., the central influences—people and events—in your life,
where you are now in the course of your life, and
the general direction in which you feel you are headed, i.e., your sense of a provisional life plan, however indistinct it might truly feel...

The Infosys Phenomenon - by IMD Prof. Georges Haour

2007-09-07T16:57:00.000+02:00

By Professor Georges Haour (September, 2007)

As we look for models of corporate success, European and North American ethnocentric ways need to rapidly yield to being much more curious and knowledgeable about Asia’s ascending actors. The IT services company Infosys is a striking example of successful, profitable growth.

Early days of Infosys
Infosys was founded in 1981 by seven computer engineers. Their vision for the company did not have much to do with revenues and profits. They wanted to create the most respected company in India. For its customers, the company would deliver on promises and meet expectations. For its employees, it would create an open, fair meritocracy. For investors, it would provide consistent financial performance.

Infosys got its first real break from the German technology company Bosch. It moved from Mumbai to Bangalore, in order to be close to Bosch’s data center. It subsequently carried out application maintenance and software development for General Electric, Schlumberger, Siemens, Airbus and Crédit Suisse, delivering these services out of its offices in India.
In 1993, Infosys went public on the Indian stock market and shifted strategy to focus on selected vertical markets. The 1991 liberalization of the Indian economy, India’s plentiful and lower cost, skilled labor, and a time difference enabling round-the-clock operations for US/European companies, fuelled the growth of Infosys and India’s emerging software industry.
Mid-2007, Infosys counted 72,000 staff working in 22 countries. With sales of $ 3,1 billion per annum, its profitability is better than the average in this industry.

Ingredients for success
One element of Infosys’ operational excellence is its Global Delivery Model, based on doing work where it adds most value – that is, utilizing the best global resources with the lowest associated cost and at the highest possible quality. Reliable telecom infrastructure and India’s low-cost skilled manpower allowed most of the work to be conducted offshore. Onsite aspects of the project are limited to those aspects requiring market proximity and customer interaction. The resulting ratio of 30:70 onshore/offshore provides a strong customer focus, as well as significantly reduced delivery costs. Thus, close to 45,000 Infosys employees are based in India.

Customer satisfaction is another key to Infosys’ breakneck rate of profitable growth. Over a 25-year period, the company has successfully completed more than 20,000 projects with a 99.998% error-free record. Over 93% of the projects were delivered on time and on budget, far above the industry average of 30%. Such high customer satisfaction rates have resulted in 95% of clients coming back to Infosys for further projects.

Building on such exceptional customer satisfaction, Infosys proactively seeks to expand the scope of the work it does with existing clients, further fueling revenue growth. Infosys fully understands that in the business of outsourced services, lower cost alone is not sufficient. Quality, reliability, speed and customer orientation are fully part of the equation.

Infosys’ concern to provide its customers with a competitive advantage led to the creation, in 2001, of the Corporate R&D unit SETLabs (Software Engineering and Technology Laboratories). This unit develops methodologies, frameworks and tools to drive efficiency in project execution and delivery. SETLabs help clients with development projects, addressing specific technology or business problems, while also looking into radical innovations and long-term strategic issues supporting business process innovation for the customers. By mid 2007, SET Labs had grown to 500 consultants and software engineers, filing numerous patent applications.

Concerning staff training, Infosys massively invests in technical and management education. Young staff joining the firm typically follows a four month course. This is carried out in Infosys’ training center in Mysore, West of Bangalore, where 6 000 employees can be trained simultaneously. This contributes to Infosys having a staff much lower staff turnover than is typical in the industry.

Today, Infosys’ market capitalization is $30 billion. Revenues have consistently grown at over 50% annually through the past decade. As a result, it took 23 years for Infosys to reach $1 billion in revenues, but only 23 months to reach the $2 billion mark.

What can we learn from the Infosys experience?
I believe that the remarkable success of Infosys suggests that following elements were key:
At the core, the creation of a widely respected meritocracy combining engineering excellence with a relentless customer orientation
A no nonsense approach: speed and frugality
A sincere and acute focus on employee satisfaction and skills development
Agility: in a highly competitive environment, adapting constantly and anticipating the future through on-going business process innovation.

Georges Haour teaches innovation management in the Orchestrating Winning Performance program . His latest book is Resolving the Innovation Paradox . This text is derived from his recent IMD case study, first used at Orchestrating Winning Performance in June 2007, and now used in several IMD programs.

Start-Ups, Shout Out!

2007-09-07T12:27:00.000+02:00

IMD 2007 Start-up Competition: Best Year Ever

Out of well over 70 ventures, 22 start-up companies have been chosen to work with IMD's MBA and EMBA programs in 2007. These are the winners of the 9th annual IMD Start-Up Competition.

According to the organizers of the competition, Jim Pulcrano and Dr. Benoit Leleux, the overall quality of the start-ups who entered the competition was the best IMD has ever seen in the past nine years. Jim Pulcrano comments: “Every year we have had a couple of stars, but this year we had many great start-ups to choose from. We had to make some difficult choices.” Benoit Leleux commented, “It was a challenge to decide which companies have the highest potential for commercial success and provide the best learning opportunities for our students.”

The IMD Start-Up competition provides a unique opportunity for early-stage companies to benefit from the support and insights of a team of dedicated and experienced participants from two of IMD’s flagship programs, the MBA and the Executive MBA. The objectives of this unique collaboration between entrepreneurs and managers/participants are two-fold: Provide hands-on learning experience in entrepreneurship and new ventures for the IMD MBA and EMBA classes Provide input and support to early stage companies, to improve their chances of funding and success.

“Life in a private company is unstructured, and IMD helped us to become more structured in our way of thinking”, comments Anil Sethi, CEO of Flisom, a start-up that worked with a team of IMD EMBA participants in 2005.

Winners of the 2007 IMD start-up competition: http://www.imd.ch/news/IMD-start-up-competition.cfm

MBA Global Career Forum

2007-08-30T04:03:00.000+02:00

Nov 19-30, 2007, Feb 18-29, 2008

Organizer: http://mba-exchange.com/

Schools: Chicago /Columbia /HBS /IMD /INSEAD /Kellogg /LBS /MIT /Stanford /Wharton

Timeline: see the diagram on top

Early Birds - What 2 Expect?

2007-08-30T03:35:00.000+02:00

As I'm counting down my last month before going back to China for a not too long break, provided the Swiss visa being issued soon after 8 weeks processing, more & more interactions with future clasmates thanks to the internet and stuffs like Skype, MSN, facebook, etc. Of course, the best is still face-to-face in a nice place for a meal & a drink. That's what i'm looking forward to - meeting up with John & Sanjay, plus our guest of honor, Glenn from the 2004 class tonight at an interesting Mexican restaurant.

Talking to Emeka this morning (very early in Nigeria:-), we've exchanged some thoughts about the career. It's now the recruiting season (2 weeks) for class 2007 in Lausanne and with a record year in 2006, we'd like to see what'll happen to the current class and of course, to us in 2008!

Record Year for IMD MBA Recruiting

When the MBA class of 2006 graduated on November 30, a record 91% had already received or signed a job offer. Many of them relied on the recruiting activities organized by the Career Services team. Some 60 companies came on campus and generated 60% of the 180 offers that have been received so far.

Everyone has changed at least one factor of their career: whether it be function, industry or geography, and over 30% have managed to change all three! With industry still typically offering the higher salaries, the year at IMD has changed the goals of many of our graduates, who found themselves accepting jobs in sometimes unexpected areas…

Tina Revsbech, Danish / Maxim Kuzyuk, Russian / Kim Nguyen, Swiss/Vietnamese, read their full stories here: http://www.imd.ch/news/Record-year-for-IMD-MBA-Recruiting.cfm

Advice to Future Participants:Tina, Maxim and Kim are unanimous: start the search early and do your research! So all early birds, there're something to expect:-)

The Man, Before...After...

2007-08-27T12:09:00.000+02:00

I went to the wake service of a friend in church (or elder brother as we used to call) on Saturday evening. Seeing the overwhelming white flowers, singing his favorite worship songs, hearing the touching eulogy, paying last respect to this amazing man on earth! Coming from China to Singapore at the age of 7, he had gone through hardships and challenges to establish his family. A loving father, he brought up 4 children and supported their eductation. A caring husband, he always remembered his wife's favorites.

10 years ago, he had a serious heart attack and survived after a complicated surgery. Doctor pronounced him for another 5 years but he prayed to God to preserve him for a decade because the children were still young. 10 years passed by, God is faithful & merciful to watch over him. Last Sunday, he came out from hospital and was baptized through water to proclaim his faith to the world. It was unbelievable for a patient like him to do so. He did it by simply obeying his promise to God. A small poem to him and his family:

The Man, Before...After...

The Man, rarely received any flower before. Only after his departure from this world, many strangers paid their respects through flowers in white.

The Man, seldom appeared so quiet before. But after his last breath, he calmed down and heard many fond memories of family & friends.

The Man, always generous to friends before. So after his own heart, family members treated all guests with his signature hospitality.

The Man, normally obscured in the crowd before. Well after all these years, today he is the centre of attention with all his favorites putting into place.

The Man, has fought the good fight, finished the race & kept the faith, now there is in store for him the crown of righteousness...

Poems - American Standard

2007-08-21T13:29:00.000+02:00

Haven't been updating the blog and was busy filling the forms of UBS, watching modern dance "The Star of Bethlehem", listenting to seminar, etc. Heard this avant-garde poet from a Mandarin musical by Singapore's local songwriting sensation Dr. Liang Wern Fook & acclaimed Hong Kong play writer Raymond To - If there're seasons.

e.e.cummings - the 2nd most popular poet in America.

Love is thicker than Forget

love is Thicker than forget

more Thinner than recall

more Seldom than a wave is wet

more Frequent than to fail

it is most Mad and Moonly

and less it shall unbe

than all the sea which only

is Deeper than the sea

love is less Always than to win

less Never than alive

less Bigger than the least begin

less Littler than forgive

it is most Sane and Sunly

and more it cannot diet

han all the sky which only

is Higher than the sky

Robert Frost - the most popular poet in America:

Devotion

The heart can think of no devotion

Greater than being shore to the ocean--

Holding the curve of one position,

Counting an endless repetition.

Who's Hotter? - China Economy vs. US Congress

2007-08-03T08:27:00.000+02:00

Jul 26th 2007 HONG KONG, From The Economist print edition

Fears that China's economy is overheating are exaggerated
http://economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9552969&CFID=13626166&CFTOKEN=47135672

New figures showing that China's GDP growth quickened to 11.9% in the year to the second quarter, its fastest since the mid-1990s, while inflation jumped to 4.4% in June from 3.4% in May, have fuelled concerns that its economy is now seriously overheating. However, a closer inspection of the numbers suggests there is no need to panic—yet.

China is always one of the first countries to report its GDP after the end of each quarter. But speed kills accuracy. Each province later publishes its own growth numbers, which have consistently averaged higher than the national figure in recent years. Moreover, if you add up the main components of GDP—investment, consumption and net exports—you also get a higher growth rate.

Thanks to such inconsistencies, many China-watchers track alternative proxies of growth. Jonathan Anderson at UBS uses one based on production (industry, electricity, construction, transport and agriculture) and another based on real expenditure (household spending, fixed-asset investment and net exports). Curiously, neither gauge shows an acceleration since 2003-04. The growth in electricity production rose broadly in line with GDP during the first half of this decade, but the economy's apparent surge since 2004 has not been matched by faster growth in electricity (see chart).

So what are Chinese number-crunchers up to? Mr Anderson suggests that the reported faster growth may partly reflect a move to correct previous inaccuracies. In the past, official GDP figures have been much lower than his own estimates, but now the gap has disappeared. In other words, the acceleration in growth may be largely illusory.

Other classic symptoms of overheating are also absent: bank lending and imports have slowed in recent years, and reports of surging wages due to labour shortages are misleading. Average wages in manufacturing have indeed risen by 15% over the past year. But HSBC reckons that labour productivity in manufacturing rose even faster, by 20%, so unit labour costs are still falling. Even inflation is not as bad as it seems. The recent jump was mainly due to the prices of pork and eggs. Excluding food, consumer prices have risen by only 1% over the past year. That is not to say that rising food prices (one-third of the consumer-price index) do not matter, but they are due to supply-side shocks, such as a pig disease, rather than excess demand.

This may help explain why the People's Bank of China has not slammed on the brakes. On July 21st the central bank raised lending and deposit rates by only 0.27 percentage points, to 6.84% and 3.33% respectively. The government also cut taxes on interest income from 20% to 5%. This will reward savers, giving them the equivalent of an additional 0.5 percentage points of interest, and thus encourage them to keep their money in the bank rather than speculating on shares.

Rates are still too low for such a fast-growing economy, but few expect the bank to lift rates aggressively to quash inflation. Higher rates would do little to dampen food prices. A better solution would be to let the yuan rise more quickly, which would curb the prices of imported foods. Hong Liang at Goldman Sachs reckons that a 10% rise in the yuan's trade-weighted value would knock 1.5 percentage points off inflation over two years.

The yuan's appreciation has already quickened this year, rising by an annual rate of 9% since April, compared with only 3.4% in 2006. Goldman Sachs predicts a further 9% rise over the next 12 months. This would not only help to squeeze inflation, it would also help to ease trade tensions with America, which complains that China's currency is too keenly priced. This week the Senate Finance Committee was due to begin drafting legislation that would allow firms to seek antidumping duties to offset the alleged “subsidy” from the undervalued yuan. The bill enjoys wide support and is likely to be passed before the end of the year. The real overheating, it seems, may be in Congress.

Life, Liberty & Pursuit of Happiness

2007-07-27T09:24:00.000+02:00

While searching for the origin of "Pursuit of Happiness" at Wikipedia, it turned out that "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. These three aspects are listed among the "unalienable rights" of man. Notice that the declaration however, does not state that one has a right to happiness, but a right to pursue it.

The phrase is based on the writings of John Locke, who expressed a similar concept of "life, liberty, and estate (or property)". While Locke said that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions", Adam Smith coined the phrase "life, liberty, and the pursuit of property". The expression "pursuit of happiness" was coined by Dr. Samuel Johnson in his 1759 novel Rasselas]. 2 of his other quotes (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson) :

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. - Chapter 41, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)

Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed. - The Rambler (1750-1752)

What a powerful wiki & wish all a pleasant weekend!

Deal or no Deal - Banks ABC

2007-07-26T10:27:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I watched the Singapore TV version of "Deal or no Deal" for the first time. Since I played a simple online game before, the whole process didn't seem to be very exciting, probably also because I was just a spectator:-)

The more exciting "Deal or no Deal" being talked about these days is obviously the take-over bidding of Dutch bank ABN-AMRO. Now there's an interesting twist with two Asian powers backing up the London based Barclays bank, one of which is China Development Bank.

Following is the full-report: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9549590&fsrc=nwl. Along this chain of interests, Bank B is trying to catch A but not enough capitcal, C & some others are behind B, in the hope of gaining some share of interest once B bought A. Sounds like the Chinese parable "螳螂捕蝉、黄雀在后" (tang2 lang2 bu3 chan2, huang2 que2 zai4 hou4) The mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole is behind. Luckily, there's a more appropriate business term called "Win-Win". We shall find out the result soon, after the "commercial breaks"!

Bell'Italia! - Singapore Symphony Orchestra

2007-07-22T21:57:00.000+02:00

Featuring: Arthur Fagen conductor, Gao Manhua soprano

Repertoire/ Programme:

ROSSINI - Il barbiere di Siviglia: Overture

ROSSINI - 'Bel raggio lusinghier’ from Semiramide

MASCAGNI - Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo

PUCCINI - 'Quando men vo’ from La Bohème

PUCCINI - 'Un bel di’ from Madama Butterfly

PUCCINI - Manon Lescaut: Act 3 Intermezzo

VERDI - La forza del destino: Overture

VERDI - 'È strano… Ah fors’è lui’ from La Traviata
BIZET - Carmen: Suite No. 1
RESPIGHI - Pines of Rome

Got the ticket last minute free of charge and I enjoyed the concert mixed with classic Operas & Symphonies, by famous French & Italian composers. The team is also an interesting multinational group. With the lyrics of operas translated & printed, I could understand a bit of the soprano's dramatic interpretation of all those love, jealous, murder and tragedy themes. It's impressive to hear a powerful voice accompanied by an orchestra under the guidance of a conductor. I just can't help wondering, how does a composer actually work out a symphony, are there different chords for each & every instrument? How can he/she get the orchestral effect even before composing the symphony? Sounds like a human creation.

And of course there's the difference between live concert & home theatre. In a concert hall, you observe the behaviors & communications of musicians, notice their movements & gestures, sometimes also get the unwanted noise from somewhere. It's just more vibrant & more captivating that you can feel the music in the air - Bell'Italia!

The Notes of Bainies

2007-07-14T08:41:00.000+02:00

Arriving at Flutes at the Fort 5 mins to 7:30 pm on Friday, we (3 IMD 2008 MBAs) were warmly greeted by a group of Bainies. The partner was quite impressed that we came as a group and sharp on time, asking whether this is a prerequisite to get into IMD. Most probably:-)

Though I didn't find the flutes there, it's a nice, unique place at the very heart of Singapore yet you find yourself surrounded by greenery, feeling a bit closer to the stars also because it's at the fort.
It's a celebration initiated by Bain South East Asia with its office located in Singapore for a group of 25 newly admitted MBAs. We were still surprised to see 15 Bainies out of the 80 staff of Bain SEA joining us. What a privilege! No flutes, no band of Bain, I did catch the sound full of resounding notes from them:

1！exclamation mark — every employee is energetic, passionately sharing about the strong company culture which is very unique among the top consulting firms.

2 = equation mark — each formula must lead to certain results and that's what Bain always strive to achieve for their clients, starting from day 1, to make companies more valuable by delivering targeted results. As their logo "True North" stands for a clear focus on client results.

3 ∞ positive infinity — by adopting a "generalist approach" for developing Associate Consultant, Consultant, Manager, Partner, you will not be constrained in one industry but have many opportunities to work on all sorts of projects, including Pro bono work, externship, etc.

4 * — though Bain is famous for its strong culture, each consultant has to carve out his/her own career path, under the guidance of mentors. So there's unity in culture but not uniformity in career development.

5 ∆ — a triangle is one of the most stable and balanced shapes which symbolizes Bain's promotion of work/life balance.

Above are just what I've taken away from a short night cocktail with Bain and hopefully it's not misinterpretation or misleading. Thanks to all Bainies & I've truly enjoyed the notes conveyed without flutes!

Financing an overseas MBA: Where, What & How?

2007-07-11T10:21:00.000+02:00

An interesting artile on the financial aid, again from an American perspective but I think it's also helpful for other international students. Just to clarify one ISSUE about the tuition fee. It's mostly true with many other European schools that they're increasing the program fee substantially, e.g. INSEAD has just raised the fee from Euro 45,000 to 48,800 for Sep 2007 intake. Instituto de Empresa (Madrid) also increased almost 10% to Euro 45,000. But IMD has kept the MBA program fee at CHF 55,000 + 20,000 (2-week overseas discovery trip + 10-month daily 3-course lunch buffet, the quality of which i've detailed in another blog entry:-) for a few years. I didn't apply any U.S. school, so nothing to say about that which is also not relevant for this article because it's discussing US students going abroad. Enjoy reading:

Business Week - Financing an MBA Abroad: Where to Go, What to Know, and How to Borrow?

Higher tuition and living expenses can make pursuing an MBA abroad a financial nightmare. Here's how to obtain the funds so you can sleep easy

by Erica Pelzek, http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jul2007/bs2007076_525258.htm

"You've spent a few years in the domestic workforce, hip to the ever-globalizing economy, and now your culture-savvy professional interests (inclinations?) make the idea of pursuing an MBA abroad particularly enticing.

Well, start researching schools and try not to let high tuition prices and poor currency conversion rates give you pause. With a few calculations and hearty, equal doses of research and realism, you too can join the discerning 2% of U.S. MBA students pursuing their degrees internationally. Think of your financial aid hunt—and the ensuing computations—as a refresher course in decision science...

Furthermore, though the 152-student (90 MBA + 62 EMBA) International Institute for Management Development , or IMD, in Lausanne, Switzerland carried a price tag of $60,700 for the 2006 academic year and the majority (70%) of its students did not receive financial aid in 2006, the worldly school still provides unique financial aid opportunities. An affluent alumni board doles out scholarship and loan monies from a fund; the pool, backed and run entirely by IMD grads, dished out $900,000 for needy students in the 2006 academic year alone..."

Top 10 CIAs (China, India A-list companies)

2007-07-10T05:37:00.000+02:00

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/02/0222_china_companies/index_01.htm (from Business Week - Slide Show ) a very informative & interesting online interactive library:

Ten Chinese Companies You Should Know
Whether they're catering to the growing middle class or expanding overseas, these Chinese companies are making an impact:
1. March of the Penguin - Tencent Holdings
2. Beyond Big Blue - Lenovo Holdings
3. Worldwide Connections - ZTE
4. Big Oil, Chinese Style - PetroChina
5. Worldwide Wireless Champ - China Mobile
6. Top Banker - Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
7. Electronics Retailer - Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings
8. The Google Killer - Baidu.com
9. Attention Grabber - Focus Media Holdings
10. Serious Fun - Shanda Interactive Entertainment

Ten Indian Companies to Watch http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/02/0211_indiacompanies/index_01.htm
The corporate high-achievers driving India’s hot economy aren’t yet immediately recognizable global brands. Here are 10 that could change that:
1. $2,260 Compact - Tata Motor
2. SUV King - Mahindra & Mahindra
3. Global Ambitions - Bharat Forge
4. India’s Global Site - Rediff.com
5. Software Powerhouse - Infosys Technologies
6. Acquisition Machine - Wipro
7. India Pharma - Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories
8. Wireless Wonder - Bharti Airtel
9. Energy Champ - Reliance Industries
10. Money Spinner - ICICI Bank

The Power of Network - Online vs. Offline

2007-07-06T12:12:00.000+02:00

116 days ago, BBC Gaza Correspondent Alan Johnston was abducted by a group called the Army of Islam on his way home. Since then, BBC World Service has started a worldwide campaign for this courageous journalist, both via radio & on the internet. Over the last 16 weeks, more than 200,000 of BBC listeners have signed the online petition, thousands more have added their comments to our Have Your Say website. This kind of support had inspired Alan both mentally and emotionally.

"The knowledge that so many people were showing their solidarity made Alan feel a duty to get through it to show their support was not misplaced. Typical Alan!" - BBC's world news editor Jon Williams shared about his colleague. Indeed, "for 14 of his 16 weeks in captivity, Alan had access to the BBC World Service. The messages from the listeners were an enormous source of strength - particularly those from former hostages like Terry Waite, John McCarthy and Brian Keenan."

After his release on early morining July 4, Alan was handed over to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza City. Britain said the group had played a key role in his release. Now people see the synergy of both the online & real world networking powers. Missing either one, it could be a totally different scenario. Alan's first word was "just unimaginably good to be free" after 114 days in captivity in Gaza. For us "who have not been a prisoner of some kind, for some time, it's a bit difficult to understand how good it is just to be able to do the basic things that freedom allows." A big relief to see the nightmare ends and an eventful day for Mr. Graham Johnston, Alan's father, as he waved to cheers and applause from the audience and he picked up the radio journalism award on his son's behalf from Amnesty International , recognising excellence in human rights reporting.

Now the discussion continues as people started to question the motive & hidden agenda of Hamas group which will carry on for some time. Looking at the power of network, both online & offline, I can't help thinking of our gathering this week where 17 future Chinse MBA students or partners in Singapore met up to share with one another. We will go all over the place, Chicago, Michigan, UCLA, INSEAD, Cheung Kong, MIT, etc. How could this happen? Some of us were met on the forum http://www.chasedream.com/, some were invited by friends. Another example of the synergy of online & offline networkings. Blend them well, have a good balance, you can achieve the maximized power of network!

1997 - 2007: Tales of 2 Alumni

2007-07-02T19:19:00.000+02:00

Talking about 1997 to 2007, what can you think of?

Ten years ago, I started my college in that hot summer day near the beautiful West Lake in Hangzhou, China and am now busy preparing for my new study at the shore of charming Lac Léman, Switzerland soon.

At the same year, Mr. Tony Blair walked into 10 Downing Street & reigned for a decade. But long before he was there, his pre-predecessor Mdm. Margaret Thatcher had already negotiated a deal with Beijing for the big day to come on that summer. I remember watching the ceremony of Hong Kong's transfer a few days before taking national entrance exam for university. After I got the results, Princess Diana passed away dramatically.

10 years on, Mr. Blair left for the Middle East envoy, Hong Kong is growing fast under "One Country, Two Systems" and people still remember England's Rose. What has all this to do with me, time will tell. For now, I want to introduce two IMD MBA alumni (though one of them still has 5 more months to go until graduation) who are featured on the website. They have a gap of exactly 10 years.

MBA 1997 Alumnus - Soren Skou, focusing on HR & value-added leadership at Maersk：
"It had been 10 years since Danishman Soren Skou was last on campus – he graduated from the IMD MBA in 1997. Then in June this year he returned for his 10 year Class Reunion...

While Soren hadn’t physically returned to campus since his graduation, he has still played an active role, by sponsoring two of his executives for the EMBA program and a couple of MBA ICP projects, “I wanted to support the school if I possibly could, and in doing so the company has also been able to benefit.”

From a personal point of view, Soren believes that the three most important things he got out of his MBA were: an updated tool box, a sharpened analytical ability and improved communications skills. “It was marketed as a tough program, and it was. But it was also an inspiring year and I had the time of my life.”

MBA Class of 2007 - Serena Shamash: a long-term dream： 　
...“I came to IMD for the leadership focus and the practical and global approach of the program. What I didn’t realize was how much I would enjoy being part of a smaller business school. I now understand the benefits of belonging to a tight-knit community where I can get personalized feedback and training. Additionally, the relationships and networks I’m developing are much deeper than I ever expected.”

...Following IMD, Serena plans to continue building her management skills in an international environment, working towards her long-term dream of consulting for start-ups in developing countries. “Entrepreneurship is like painting – you start with a blank piece of paper and create something out of a vision and a passion. With an enhanced self-awareness and refined leadership skills, I hope to be able to guide and inspire potential entrepreneurs in the future.”

Food 4 Thoughts, Music 4 Souls

2007-06-29T04:01:00.000+02:00

Harry's @ Boat Quay again, but this time round as an insider of the circle, albeit a bit premature. Thanks to Aaron's effort, the 3 of us newly admits have also been invited for this monthly alumni gathering at the upstairs (shown in the right).

3 from class 2006, 3 different nationalities, 3 from class 2008, similar mix. That's just a glimpse of the composition of our future colleagues. It's like a gene in IMD, not only the diversity, but also the teamwork spirit, which have been passed on from one class to the next. As Aaron recalled, two years ago, K.K. & him were in the exactly same situation, listening to the sharing of alumni from class 2004, preparing for the year in Lausanne.

Well, being Asian or being human, we all like to talk about food. That actually could be a selling point of IMD, although people don't go there for food. The daily 3-course lunch buffet is said to be very effective in helping students put on weight, if we don't control our intake, especially on the highly-acclaimed desserts which are prepared by the best chef trained in the top culinary school in Lausanne. People just love it & seemingly it's not easy to be disciplined while gazing upon those sumptuous sweeties:-)

Another surprise will be the ice cream from Mövenpick provided throughout summer season, all these are included in our program fee which has not been increased for a few years! Of course, they also remember the 1 CHF breakfast croissant group delivered to the class every morning as well as the Monday pizza. Ok, so much about food and I am just comforted to know the school is really taking care of us as a whole person.

Recalled one of my favorite movies from Hong Kong director / comedian Stephen Chow, God of Cookery (1996). As a celebrity chef in the film, he told all the apprentices, "the most important thing in cooking is not what you're preparing, but whom you're preparing it for. If you are cooking it with love/passion, the diner will taste your love/passion in the dish...". In a real world where many people are only results-oriented, it's quite heartening to have someone teaching you from his/her own heart. I guess & hope that's partly how IMD prepares those delicious foods (both in class & in canteen) for our thoughts, from their hearts.

An alumnus from class 1999 joined later and he can still recall most of his classmates after so many years, not to mention those who're in Singapore. Interesting to know 10/80 are now in Singapore, a trend of the job market shifting towards Asia Pacific in recent years. According to Jacques, 1999 was & still is his best year in life because at the end of 1999, he got a degree and met his soul mate from the same class - unforgettable double-happiness 雙囍臨門!

One funny episode was when KK's colleagues from Shell - 2 INSEADers dropped by to say hello. The girl immediately found out, "hey, you guys have a problem with the female/male ratio, where have the flowers gone (the 2nd half added by me:-)?" We don't know, but we hope more ladies will join the class. But never mind, if half of the class are married or attached, then it's quite balanced.

As we called the night off and walked downstairs, the live band just started playing not long ago. The night is still young & the music is for the souls:

"There You'll Be" from Pearl Harbor

When I think back

On these times

And the dreams

We left behind

I'll be glad 'cause

I was blessed to get

To have you in my life

When I look back

On these days

I'll look and see your face

You were right there for me

……

Bon Weekend:-)

The Invisible CEO - Chief Emotional Officer (by K@W)

2007-06-28T10:04:00.000+02:00

An interesting article from Wharton @ Knowledge about the worldwide family business citing an example of a Malaysian entreprise:

Published: June 27, 2007 in Knowledge@Wharton This article has been read 1,655 Times

When your family business involves an extended network of 52 family shareholders, as it does for Bukit Kiara Properties, a leading Malaysian real estate development firm, simply pulling everyone together for family dinner can be hard work. But N.K. Tong, who co-founded Bukit Kiara with his father and is now group managing director, says there's just one person to call: "My auntie."

"When she picks up the phone, everyone comes running," says Tong. Her effectiveness at bringing people together was essential in the late 1990s when Tong and his father, Alan Tong Kok Mau, sold one family business and started Bukit Kiara. "My dad asked her to find out which family members wanted to join us, and over a single weekend she raised a fair sum of money from over 20 [of them]."

Tong's aunt plays a role some scholars describe as a family business's "chief emotional officer," an informal function usually filled by a family member or close advisor. But the topic is not as warm and fuzzy as it sounds: Not only can the emotional officer job be stressful and go unrecognized, it can also fall dangerously by the wayside as businesses are passed on to succeeding generations.

Nevertheless, nearly all family businesses have a person who plays the chief emotional officer role, according to Raphael "Raffi" Amit, a Wharton professor of entrepreneurship who studies family businesses. "Having worked with numerous families around the world, I have found there is always a confidant, either the patriarch of the family, a trusted lawyer or other friend of the family," says Amit, who chairs the executive committee of Wharton's Global Family Alliance, a private forum that brings global family business leaders together with researchers.

Family firms make up anywhere from 80% to 90% of business enterprises in North America, according to a 2003 research article in the journal Family Business Review, although other studies put the number much lower, closer to 50%. A 2000 study of East Asian firms, however, found that more than two-thirds were controlled by families or individuals...

For full article, please refer to http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1760

Corporate recruiters go back to school

2007-06-26T16:35:00.000+02:00

By Della Bradshaw - Financial Times

Published: June 4 2007 03:00 Last updated: June 4 2007 03:00

Industrial companies have traditionally favoured hiring "second-hand" MBAs - those who have cut their teeth in banking or management consultancy and want to move on. Now, this is changing.

In spite of recent concerns in the business school world that MBA degrees do not teach students skills that companies need, recruiters are increasingly giving the professional services firms a run for their money when it comes to recruiting newly minted MBAs directly from business school. These days companies such as BP, BT, Google, Pepsico, Samsung and Shell are names as familiar on the business school campus as investment banks and management consultancies.

The change came with the classes that graduated in 2002 and 2003. Following the terrorist attacks in the US and subsequent economic uncertainty, management consultancies and bankers slashed staff numbers and stayed away from business schools. Industrial companies saw their chance.

... BT is not the only company recently to commence an MBA recruitment programme. In the past two years, Ericsson and Nike have introduced MBA recruitment programmes in Europe, says Katty Ooms, director of MBA admissions and career services at IMD, where 70 per cent of the graduates enter the corporate world...

To read the full article please refer to: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7749d366-1238-11dc-b963-000b5df10621.html

Beyond Borders - chat with Nnaemeka @ Port Harcourt

2007-06-26T13:49:00.000+02:00

What are the things that are Beyond Borders? Music, Love, Gold, Doctor, Laughter, Bird-flu...

After an in-depth chat with my future classmate Nnaemeka in Port Harcourt, i can confidently add 2 more items on the list: MSN & IMD. It's magic that two people never knew each other before started chatting online because of IMD. We've surely covered more topics than the school. Cross Continents, Beyond Borders, there're things that we share & echo with each other: personal faith, family values, career goal, visa challenge, etc.

All can i say is, though we talked through MSN, I felt so real & connected to my brother in Nigeria. "Virtual World, Real Experience". I'm sure there'll be a lot more stimulating talks like this once we were in the "Real World, Real Learning" campus @ Lausanne next year. And I'm sure it will always be heartening & inspiring!

Let me end this post by inviting you to a series of http://www.ft.com/businesseducation/imd by Dr. Martha Maznevski, professor of organisational behaviour and international management at IMD. Lecture topics include how to identify the management challenges which accompany globalisation, how to manage across geographical distances and different cultural styles and how to develop and use business networks. Sit back & Enjoy listening!

Earshot...by 2 finance experts

2007-06-25T09:01:00.000+02:00

4 weeks ago, the IMD interview team together with some alumni held a cocktail reception at http://www.harrys.com.sg/boatquay.htm on a Thursday night. About 16 interviewees were invited, some too nervous to turn up.

4 weeks later, 3 lucky survivors from Singapore met up at Earshot Cafe @ the Arts House (old Parliament House), still on Thursday night. Since I am less busier (Chinese / Singapore PR, marketing engineer for an European electronics company in Asia), it's natural for me to write a short diary for the first meeting of IMD 2008 MBA class in Singapore:-)

Sanjay (Indian / Singapore PR, finance controller of a listed agricultural company) arrived with a nice tie but he immediately untie it even before sitting down. John (regional treasury analyst for an inventive company) came shortly after in his jersey as if the soccer game just finished. Later he explained, that's the culture of the company. Wow! Flexible working hours, casual dress code, allowing working at home, are these rules more conducive for innovation?

Since both of them are in the finance role, our small round table talk soon turned into money talks. "So besides buying & selling currencies, what else do you do?", "Well, There are xx accountants report to me and I have to review their reports every quarter..." It's interesting for me as an outsider to hear how they communicate with each other. Doesn't seem too difficult, huh? I guess that's because both of them are really experienced and they know how to simplify their talks by avoiding too many jargon. The real challenge for us non-finance students will come when we start the basic accounting classes next year. That's why now one of the hot topics on the 2008 class website is about the "MBA Survival Kit". Good to start early & get ourselves prepared.

The night is still young but the night is also short. We all have to work on Friday though it's refreshing to discuss with perspective classmates about our future life in Lausanne. As John put it, to make our life next year easier, we have to work harder now until the day we say goodbye to colleagues.

P.S. Good news! Sanjay has also confirmed his place in the 2008 class & I will upload a photo taken during their discussion soon.

for Alan - 100 days in captivity

2007-06-20T20:02:00.000+02:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2007/alan_johnston/default.stm

The BBC's Gaza correspondent was abducted in Gaza City on 12 March. Wednesday 20 June marks Alan Johnston's 100th day in captivity. An online petition calling for his release has over 170,000 signatures.

We are inviting anyone who runs a blog or website to do the same to show support for Alan. It's a simple but, we hope, effective way of spreading the message.

To add the button to your blog, just copy and paste the code below into your blog's HTML. You could add it to an individual blog post, or, even better, to your blog's sidebar. Please refer to the following page:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/04/how_you_can_help.html

Inspired, Motivated, Devoted - IMD 2008!

2007-06-20T19:40:00.000+02:00

Haven't updated the blog for a while and many things have happened in the past few weeks. An eventful interview at the Mandarin Oriental Singapore with a nice cocktail reception by some alumni, Janet & Lisa beforehand. Those in the same group would understand how happening it was during our day and it actually started even before we saw the interviewers:-P

Later, I met up with an entrepreneurship professor from Instituto de Empresa (Madrid, Spain). The school gave me a half-tuition fee scholarship. That meeting gave me some more thoughts on the MBA school decision. And hurray, I got the magic call from Lisa very soon due to this burning offer I shared the good news immediately with family & friends, it was a happy night! I immediately arranged the deposit payment, got in touch with other Asian interview survivors, and my boss left for Switzerland without me:-P Today (20 June), I got the confirmation from Corinne and logged on to the 2008 website. So exciting to see many "exotic" names which will be my colleagues soon next year. Look forward to seeing you in Lausanne!

P.S. though still a lot of things to prepare: housing, loan, visa, etc. I will put them aside for a while and have a good time with John, Sanjay for dinner on Thursday.

Bonne Nuit!

Shalom

The Last Mile

2007-05-14T04:04:00.000+02:00

Met or talked to a couple of alumni from INSEAD, IE & IMD, very nice people! Will meet up with entrepreneurship Prof. from IE at the end of May. Before that, I will have two more chances meeting with IMD admin committee as well as alumni.

Turned down the offer from Said & rejected by INSEAD.

Walk the last mile steadily & hope to embark on the European journey soon!

April's Fool

2007-04-04T06:17:00.000+02:00

Some update after INSEAD Singapore campus visit:

* Really very few Chinese citizens
* No more HSBC loan
* The class was ok
* Scholarship hopeful?

Kinda depressed, not because of the visit though...

INSEAD Jan 2008 Intake

2007-03-28T09:29:00.000+02:00

The standard answer from INSEAD admissions office is "No news is good news" - applicable to the period when you just submitted the application until confirmation. i.e. they will only write to those applicants missing documents. Otherwise, we shall just wait for the reviewing & notification of interview(s) if any.

Overall, the "NetapplytoINSEAD.pdf" is quite cool, a sign of the school's reputation in advanced teaching/learning technology application.

Also paste some links from the "famous" INSEADers blogsphere:

http://sideshowjudy.blogs.friendster.com/ Class of Dec 2006, Singaporean, female, Fonty campus
http://spaces.msn.com/xiaoshenbenben/ Class of Dec 2006, Chinese, male, Fonty / Singapore / Wharton campus http://hallonman.blogspot.com/ Class of July 2007, Caucasian, male, Singapore campus
http://onwardtomba.blogspot.com/ / Entering Sep 2007 (not sure), Indian, male, Fonty campus?
http://zanat0s.typepad.com/ http://zanat0s.typepad.com/brutal_facts/
http://si-si-ay.blogspot.com
http://oliviermineau.blogspot.com/

I guess from there you can link to more and more INSEADers. Don't be disturbed if you find most of them read more like a travelogue filled with Youtube.com videos or sth. non-business centric 'cause that's probably the true colour of the colourful INSEADers! Have fun...

No More Essays

2007-03-26T11:58:00.000+02:00

Finished my last application online and got everything done today, thanks to my boss!

2 month later, we'll meet Ms. Katty & her colleagues, catch up French, case study, book reading, etc. But at least, no more essays:-)

Hub Interview & fonty parcel...

2007-03-12T07:21:00.001+01:00

Finally got the long-awaited phone call from IMD. Hub interview will be held here in about 77 days later. Just sent out the last parcel to Fontainbleau. I will finish the online part in 2 weeks time. And then wait for another 3 months...

First Aid

2007-03-02T10:47:00.000+01:00

Received the 1st aid around CNY!

Eagerly waiting for "Real World, Real Learning" & preparing for "The Business School for the World".

Changing fast!

IMD: It Means Diligence!

2007-02-01T02:20:00.000+01:00

Finally submitted the last application before CNY for the round I - 1 Feb GMT, I suppose:-)

All I can do is to wait now? Relax..Prepare...

IE: Inland Entrepreneur

2007-01-16T08:50:00.000+01:00

"Dear MR. TANG,

Thank you for the interest you have shown in Instituto de Empresa and for participating in the admissions process for the programme..." I was thrilled when I saw this first line through email preview and was expecting the heart-broken "However". Fortunately, it didn't come out.

So far, we've finished 5 applications altogether and for those who've been decided, it's a 100% successful rate! Patiently waiting for the scholarship & source for other available financial resources.

Got my tickets home for CNY:-)

Quake Shuffles B-School Deadlines

2007-01-12T04:34:00.000+01:00

by Janie Ho and Kerry Miller

Internet disruptions caused by the Dec. 26 earthquake off the southern coast of Taiwan came at a bad time for many potential B-school applicants in East Asia, as the Round One application deadline for many top U.S. schools was quickly approaching. But several schools said this week that most applicants were apparently getting their applications in, and those that had lingering problems would be accommodated.

At MIT-Sloan, where the Round One deadline is Jan. 10, the admissions office will accept applications from those residing in areas in Asia that experienced Internet service disruptions due to the earthquake till 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 26. A spokeswoman said the school is currently in the process of getting this message out through multiple platforms to applicants in affected areas. ....

Everything is slowing down...

2007 News

2007-01-09T03:17:00.000+01:00

a couple of updates after we finally met: scored nicely in the iBT, sent out the package to Chevening, done an phone interview with Margje the MD of IMBA @ IE, looking forward to the following news @ 2007!

Admitted!

2006-12-19T16:32:00.000+01:00

Wow, after a long day year-end meeting & a quite disappointing late dinner @ a rather wooloo place, I am delighted to receive the email offer from Said Business School! Though without scholarship at this moment :-) Cheer On & Carry On!

Dr. Reynolds:-0

2006-12-17T19:51:00.000+01:00

It was 11:45 GMT, I ringed Dr. Reynold's office on time and he immediately picked it up & greeted me "Hello, Mr. Tang! Your essays were quite interesting. I will take about 20 mins for questions and you will have 10 mins to ask." The interview started off warmly & quickly.

1. Why the career transition & what your past experience had to do with the current position? (this is a very specific question as I can see he read through my entire application package).

2. What're the challenges in your current job, especially the unique persepctives of doing business in China?

3. Why you want to make another transition after MBA? What's your motivation & preparation?
4. How will you contribute to the Said Business School?

5. What books you have read on social entrepreneurship? (this is the strength of SBS)

6. Any question about the course & the program?

I asked a few questions and we ended sharp at 12:15 GMT. I personally found it was a very efficient & effective interview though it was conducted on the phone. The communication has been quite smooth thanks to the good quality of VoIP card. (remember to choose a good one if you have to call out. Yes, they do ask interviewees to call the interviewer at the assigned time & number for about 30 mins).

Guess being British gentlemen & gentlewomen, they just don't know how to stop the other party if he/she kept talking when the interviewer calls. Smart way to cut cost...

Good luck to all the interviewees & many thanks to the alumni who have shared so many insightful personal advices with me, by phone, online or face-to-face. It's a small but strong community (at least, from my experiences)!

the Tour, the Exam, the Interview...

2006-11-28T06:56:00.000+01:00

Probably last visting to MBA tours and had a good chat with IMD alumni Glenn. Also met up with IE alumni Arnd.

2 months, 2 applications.

Take a break, prepare for the exam & the interview! Look forward to the real tour:-)

Progress Report

2006-11-23T02:50:00.000+01:00

I got the phone interview invitation from Said and will be conducted in early Dec. Interesting they won't call me but leave me the number to contact. Not sure whether it's for cost-cutting or a gesture of courtesy.

My 2nd application are almost done. I'm still fine-tuning the essays & short questions. Friday, 2nd visit to iNsEaD & Sunday the world MBA tour. How time flies:-)

2nd Parcel - Real Madrid!

2006-11-13T06:50:00.000+01:00

Finaly posted out the 2nd parcel while still waiting for the feedback from the 1st one. Hope to finish the 2nd application within the next 7-10 days. Carry On!

a Counting...

2006-11-08T09:44:00.000+01:00

1個月，2個月，爲了1個夢想，期盼1次重逢！
1 months, 2 months, chasing a dream, dreaming a reunion!

Expecting... Expediting!

2006-11-02T09:29:00.000+01:00

Finally got the acknowledgement of round 1 application being received though it was actually a few days later, the benifits of flexible small schools:-)

Surprised to hear from CD that someone stayed in the U.S. for 5 years has got the early decision offer from CBS without any interview, really fast consider the submission date was Oct 14.

I need to expedite on the rest applications since I am so greedy to reserve a few more options for myself...Cheers!

168 days - things I've learnt so far

2006-10-22T19:43:00.000+02:00

Doing vs. Saying, Be Consistent, Responsibility, Maturity, Privacy, Friends & Friendship, Kidding...

1st package 小试牛刀 & 双键合璧

2006-10-19T16:35:00.000+02:00

Finally sent out my first package to Said, a lot of help from a friend of mine. Thanks & I will continue to work on the 2 essays:-P

Stanford GSB - Die Luft der Freiheit weht

2006-10-05T18:19:00.000+02:00

General Management, Personalized Curriculum, Stategic Size & Collabrative Culture - 3 main features of Stanford GSB's MBA program with one of the lowest acceptance rate in the world. 4 energetic alumni showed up, ranging from a 96 graduate who's now in Citi, a 94 graduate Joe (ABC) who was also alumnus of West Point Military but now has his own investment firm in Singapore? a 05 graduate John local scholar or double scholar (Cornell's bachelor - MAS & Stanford's MBA - PM's office), a mainland Chinese 06 graduate forrest who just married his classmate who's a Temasek scholar last Sunday. Forrest Li is now working with MTV Networks Asia:-P Thanks to Joe's referral?

370 per year, now 24,000 alumni, 100+ chapters worldwide. It's obvious that Stanford is quite different from the rest besides its extreme comptetiveness in terms of admission. It's always on the innovative edge with one of the highest faculty / student ratio 1:6. But I guess what I appreciate most about it is the "soul-searching" essay question which is really inspiring: "What do you value most in life & Why?"

I'm not sure whether I'll apply this school, but it'll definitely be a very worthy try.

Die Luft der Freiheit weht (German for "The wind of freedom blows")!

P.S. just read an inspirational bio of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice @ Wikimedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice

a fair MBA fair

2006-09-22T09:26:00.000+02:00

I took a half-day off & had the chance to meet up with Smith, BU, Owen & IE for either evaluative or informative interview. One is really disappointing but all have been benificial to my future application.

Also heard the beautiful Cindy from Hass shared her insights on essays writing & interive (be it blind or alumni, etc.). "Be Genuine, Be Specific & Be Outstanding"!

It's intereting to see how each school / program promote themselves. The most creative & comprehensive brochures come from inSeaD in a very handy size. PSU's brochure also look quite impressive though it's basically a regional school. But at least we can see they're serious about it & deeply driven to improve.

I spotted HEC-Paris' 16-month program which seems to be quite unique & solid. Coincidentally, their marketing or BDM is also an American who works for a European biz-school, same as inSeaD Singapore's Gopika who happened to be an alumna from close rival IMD. What a small & smash world!

What else? Thanks to CBS' reception @ the American Club & I attended the firt half and later joined St. Gallen HSG-MBA's 1st ever cocktail reception in a very cosy ballroom at the nearby Orchard Hotel. Extremely friendly staff & alumni, passionate staff Marie who's a master from LSE & migrated to Switzerland from her hometown Germany. That's just a glimpse of how international a European MBA can be, from its faculty, staff all the way to alumni:-)

Good luck to all, especially those who're on their ways to home after a long long Asia tour!

iMD & SAiD

2006-09-20T11:19:00.000+02:00

Wow, finally received two posted brochures from the above mentioned instituions. 1 disappointing, 1 inspiring! I really love the butterfly covered SAiD brochure with its bold yet beautiful colours used through the latest brochure. However, IMD doesn't seem to be very interested to attract potential students through this way. Anyway, students there are supposed to be more matured:-P

Just enjoyed the video production of Oxford MBA sent together with the brochure. Well done! Daytime - modern business school setting & facility for team work. Nighttime, historical colledge environment for solititude & soul resting. Plus a strong focus on entrepreneurship & finance, it looks very promising! Though I know brochure is just part of the MBA campaign, if this young schoool can do it so well, they might perform even better to improve their always fast-climbing ranking.

AS iT'S SAiD, it's a good choice!
BTW, tonight CBS & HSG info session @ Orchard*-*

Surprise!

2006-09-15T03:25:00.000+02:00

from Economist: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7911221

The balance of economic power in the world is changing. Good
IF ECONOMISTS have a tendency to trust their figures too much, politicians often pay numbers too little attention; and they do so at their peril. Napoleon dismissed Britain as a nation of shopkeepers, but its emerging might as a trading power helped fight him off. In the cold war Western strategists probably spent too much time worrying about the Soviet Union's military clout, and not enough analysing its commercial frailties. Economics does not determine history, but it does provide the backbeat. And something dramatic has been happening to the numbers recently.

As our survey this week points out, the emerging world now accounts for over half of global economic output, measured in purchasing-power parity (which allows for lower prices in poorer countries). Many economists prefer to measure GDP using current exchange rates (which put the emerging world's proportion closer to 30%). But even on this basis the newcomers accounted for well over half of the growth in global output last year. And a barrage of statistics shows economic power shifting away from the “developed” economies (basically North America, western Europe, Japan and Australasia) towards emerging ones, especially in Asia. Developing countries chew up over half of the world's energy and hold most of its foreign-exchange reserves. Their share of exports has jumped from 20% in 1970 to 43% today. And, although Africa still lags behind, the growth is fairly broadly spread: they may be the most talked about, yet Brazil, Russia, India and China account for only two-fifths of emerging-world output.

No social or economic change this big takes place without friction. The most obvious sign is the uproar about jobs being “outsourced” to India and China. The howls will get louder as globalisation affects ever-richer voters. But there are wider ramifications too. In Asia China's rise has helped push Japan and India closer to the United States, and South Korea further away from it. The once-poor world is scouring the earth for mineral rights, trying to buy Californian oil firms, accounting for ever more carbon emissions and making its weight felt in international negotiations on everything from trade to proliferation to the secretary-generalship of the United Nations.

An idea whose time has come, again
There are weaknesses in some of the growth stories. China's population is ageing and India's schools are rotten. Perhaps the emerging world won't continue to motor along at nearly three times the rich world's pace. Maybe it will take a little longer than 2040 to fulfil Goldman Sachs's prediction that the world's ten biggest economies, using market exchange rates, will include Brazil, Russia, Mexico, India and China. But these are arguments about when, not whether, change will happen. And things could speed up: even the rosiest predictions underestimated Asia's ability to recover from its 1997 financial crisis.

This shift is not as extraordinary as it first seems. A historical perspective shows it to be the restoration of the old order. After all, China and India were the world's biggest economies until the mid-19th century, when technology and a spirit of freedom enabled the West to leap ahead. Nor should it be regarded as frightening. The West, as well as hundreds of millions of people in developing countries, has benefited from emerging-world growth. Globalisation is not a zero-sum game: Mexicans, Koreans and Poles are not growing at the expense of Americans, Japanese and Germans. Developing countries already buy half the combined exports of America, Japan and the euro area. As they get richer they will buy more. The world is on course for its fastest-ever decade of growth in GDP per head, which has been powering ahead at an annual rate of 3.2% since 2000—far faster than during the great period of globalisation that ended with the first world war.

Somme where, over the rainbow
If that comparison raises spectres, so it should. A century ago Edwardian globalists were predicting ever more peace and prosperity—only to see those dreams blown apart on the fields of Flanders. The momentum behind globalisation is considerable; but pushing trade barriers lower depends on political will. It is doubtful that any American president would follow the example of the Chinese emperor Qianlong, who announced in 1793 that the then economic superpower had no interest in “foreign manufactures”, setting his country on the road to two centuries of impoverishment. But there are a few worrying omens in the air, notably the collapse of the Doha round of trade talks.

Protectionism and xenophobia should be fought wherever they spring up. But it is also worth acknowledging that these bumptious new economic powers have made the world more complicated for Western policymakers. For instance, although they have helped keep inflation and interest rates down, they have also encouraged asset prices to bubble up. They have allowed America to finance its massive current-account deficit with apparent impunity. Righting these imbalances will be tricky, even if the strength of emerging economies makes the world less dependent on America.

But the two main challenges for the West are long-term political ones. One has to do with accepting that there will be some Western victims of globalisation. Adding 1.5 billion people to the global labour force has boosted the return to capital and richly rewarded rich Westerners; but in Germany, Japan and the United States, real wages for the median worker have barely budged. None of this is an excuse for protectionism—unless you want to make everybody poorer. But there may be fiercer debates, even in America, about using the tax and benefits system to redistribute more of the winnings.

The other challenge has to do with geopolitics. As the balance of economic power in the world changes, mustn't the balance of political power change too?
In time, perhaps. But economic power is not the same as political power. Most developing countries are still military pipsqueaks: China does not yet own a single aircraft-carrier, and its defence budget is less than the annual increase in America's. Nor in political terms is there such a thing as an “emerging block”: no alliance of interests brings all these very different countries together in the way that history and culture have united America and Europe. In Asia, for example, the rise of China is balanced by the rise of India, which America is striving to turn into a strategic partner. But there is also plainly a need to fiddle with some of the global political architecture. The IMF will tinker with the power structure of the fund at its annual meeting next week. Others should follow. The UN Security Council—whose permanent members include Britain and France but exclude Japan, India and Brazil—has long looked outdated and will soon look absurd. Similarly, it does not make much sense for the G7, supposedly the world's main economic club, to discuss currencies when China, which holds the largest official reserves, is not a member.

Making such adjustments will no doubt be awkward. But these are the problems of success. A world in which most people enjoy prosperity and opportunity is surely better than one in which 80% are mired in economic stagnation. Celebrate the riches that globalisation has brought—and be prepared to defend the economic liberalisation that underpins it.

emails flying before the tour

2006-09-13T07:11:00.000+02:00

the MBA tour is coming to town next week. a lot of emails flying around. managed to make appointments with IE. BU says they don't normally interview before application completed but I am yet to find convincing reasons to apply it besides the bold brochure & alumni Martin Luther King Jr. Hope to see more schools coming though I've already known said is not coming.

IE's response is very fast & warm, liked it! Carry on!

Top 5 - What do they care?

2006-09-11T11:34:00.000+02:00

Review of AdCom panel （Wednesday, August 02, 2006）转自一美国MBA申请者Blog
……I went to a UPenn Alumni Club event with members of the admissions committees at Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, and MIT. Most of the answers were pretty standard, but I did find a few interesting tidbits.

They polled the audience in the beginning to get an idea of work experience (most people were applying with 3 - 5 years of experience), whether or not people had significant others that would join them at school (only about 10 -15 people!!!), and how many had already taken the GMAT (just under half).Each member of the panel spoke about a different part of the admission process.

General comments - they really do read the entire package. They all agreed that they never look at stats and then just put you in the reject pile. At least two people will read your package (including all essays).

Kellogg Rep - GMAT and Transcripts
Want to demonstrate you can handle rigor of program. Will understand a lower quant score if you were an English lit major. Everything taken in context of the overall package.
AdCom is looking for improvement and trends.

MIT Rep - Work experience and recommendations
Average is 4 - 5 years of work experience, more or less years is fine but make sure you goals are clear and the "why now" comes out in your essays
Being sincere will help you to differentiate yourself if you are in a common group (e.g., consultants). Be sure to show the impact you've had and let your passion come through.
Write about your accomplishments, not your tasks
Recommendations should highlight your strengths; best way to make sure that happens - get someone who knows you well to write the recommendation

Stanford Rep - Extracurriculars
Cover extracurriculars in college through current time; try to focus on leadership, scope of responsibility, size of organization and what kinds of activities that organization does, impact you've had. Non-leadership positions can be valuable too - sometimes you made an impact as a team. Attaining a certain level of achievement (e.g., All-American) also shows your dedication and self-sacrifice. They look at context. Understand that if you are working crazy banking hours and flying every week for work as a consultant that it would be hard to get involved. However, it is therefore even more impressive if you have managed to do that.

HBS Rep - Essays
Essays are the heart of the application. Will help if you see it as an opportunity rather than a chore. Chance to distinguish yourself. Make the AdCom excited to get to know you (they'll want to see you for an interview!) Ask your reviewers to think about whether this is you when they read your essays

Wharton Rep - Interviews
Gain insight into passions, career path, why you want/need an MBA
Rehearse your story and do your homework on the school - just don't get to the point where it's just recitation and not a conversation

Every school does its interview process differently - make sure you understand it for each. After this general discussion, there were prepared and open Q&A. Here are some things I found interesting:

All schools except Kellogg were very open to younger applications, particularly women (this stems from realizing that women often want to go to school earlier because they do include family planning in their career). Kellogg didn't say they were against younger applicants, but I guess they really value work experience.

All schools are really trying to get more women. They pointed out that law and med school has reached a 50/50 representation while b-schools still hover around 30%. (as a side note, MIT has clearly been proactive about this. I got a letter in the mail from the school highlighting their focus on recruiting and training women in business).
Optional essays are truly optional.

If you come from a non-traditional background, that's great b/c it represents diversity. But, you may have to do a bit more explaining about what you do so AdCom can understand.

Types of classes: Kellogg - variety, MIT - variety, Stanford - case, experiential (a few lecture), HBS - 80% case, rest are experiential (50% of their students do field studies in 2nd year), Wharton - mix of case and lecture
……

Fear of Flying - Welcome Onboard by Veritas Airways

2006-09-08T04:15:00.000+02:00

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7884654

Welcome aboard
Sep 7th 2006From The Economist print edition
In-flight announcements are not entirely truthful. What might an honest one sound like?

“GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing. But then hardly anybody would buy our tickets and we would go bust.

The flight attendants are now pointing out the emergency exits. This is the part of the announcement that you might want to pay attention to. So stop your sudoku for a minute and listen: knowing in advance where the exits are makes a dramatic difference to your chances of survival if we have to evacuate the aircraft. Also, please keep your seat belt fastened when seated, even if the seat-belt light is not illuminated. This is to protect you from the risk of clear-air turbulence, a rare but extremely nasty form of disturbance that can cause severe injury. Imagine the heavy food trolleys jumping into the air and bashing into the overhead lockers, and you will have some idea of how nasty it can be. We don't want to scare you. Still, keep that seat belt fastened all the same.

Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not remove it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the event of a landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have occurred, because in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero. This aircraft is equipped with inflatable slides that detach to form life rafts, not that it makes any difference. Please remove high-heeled shoes before using the slides. We might as well add that space helmets and anti-gravity belts should also be removed, since even to mention the use of the slides as rafts is to enter the realm of science fiction.

Please switch off all mobile phones, since they can interfere with the aircraft's navigation systems. At least, that's what you've always been told. The real reason to switch them off is because they interfere with mobile networks on the ground, but somehow that doesn't sound quite so good. On most flights a few mobile phones are left on by mistake, so if they were really dangerous we would not allow them on board at all, if you think about it. We will have to come clean about this next year, when we introduce in-flight calling across the Veritas fleet. At that point the prospect of taking a cut of the sky-high calling charges will miraculously cause our safety concerns about mobile phones to evaporate.

On channel 11 of our in-flight entertainment system you will find a video consisting of abstract imagery and a new-age soundtrack, with a voice-over explaining some exercises you can do to reduce the risk of deep-vein thrombosis. We are aware that this video is tedious, but it is not meant to be fun. It is meant to limit our liability in the event of lawsuits.

Once we have reached cruising altitude you will be offered a light meal and a choice of beverages—a word that sounds so much better than just saying ‘drinks’, don't you think? The purpose of these refreshments is partly to keep you in your seats where you cannot do yourselves or anyone else any harm. Please consume alcohol in moderate quantities so that you become mildly sedated but not rowdy. That said, we can always turn the cabin air-quality down a notch or two to help ensure that you are sufficiently drowsy.

After take-off, the most dangerous part of the flight, the captain will say a few words that will either be so quiet that you will not be able to hear them, or so loud that they could wake the dead. So please sit back, relax and enjoy the flight. We appreciate that you have a choice of airlines and we thank you for choosing Veritas, a member of an incomprehensible alliance of obscure foreign outfits, most of which you have never heard of. Cabin crew, please make sure we have remembered to close the doors. Sorry, I mean: ‘Doors to automatic and cross-check’. Thank you for flying Veritas.”

2 weeks

2006-09-08T03:56:00.000+02:00

So many happenings in the past 2 weeks. my friend has got a just nice GMAT score, congratulations! Been to Wharton's reception held at BCG office. A crowd of 30-40, an alumni couple (very interesting background, but not going to share here personal details). I was a bit late so didn't catch the name of the male admin officer. Nothing much exciting & he sounded a bit cocky, maybe it's just my wrong perception or lack of interest. One thing for sure, they don't quite bother such a small place like Singapore & this basically one-man-show was not well prepared. They even forgot to open up the refreshments afterwards. What a waste!

BTW, I've also been doing some interesting projects for L.A.!

Feedback from SG & LD

2006-09-08T03:50:00.000+02:00

About two weeks ago, I sent out email enquiry to both Insead & SAiD. Within a week, I got a quite comprehensive but not-so-warm reply from SG. Yesterday, had a nice phone conversation with Ginny from SAiD followed by her very detailed & personal reply. I guess the difference is probably Insead had a much bigger applicant pool (several thousands / batch, 2 batches / year) than SAiD (about 800 / year). Later saw SAiD's latest brochure, very cool design & unique concept, can't help ordering 1 print copy:-) At the same time, requested from IMD, Kellogg also. Tried to make an appointment with IE for 1-to-1 interview during the MBA tour, yet to get the details. Cheers!

Who Holds Tomorrow?

2006-08-24T07:29:00.000+02:00

Haven't touched this blog for a long long time, 1st blog - May last year, 2nd blog - Jan this year, now 2006 is about to enter the last triplicate. Where does my future head? What I really want to do? What satisfies me & fulfils my purpose?

Currently, I focus on realigning my working attitude & applying for MBA programs. Give myself 4-5 weeks for the 1st try which is SAiD - Sep 28 to finish the draft, just one month before their deadline of round 1:-) But there're several things I need to sort out during this period of time, besides a P.S. which should be applicable for all schools, of course with changes here & there, finding suitable recommenders, hope my friend will also get a handsome GMAT score, etc. In between, I will attend a couple of info sessions, Sep 6 Wharton, hopefully Stanford will also come to town soon. Plan well, live well.

Let's see how...as it's SAiD or rather sung, I don't know where my future heads but I do konw who holds tomorrow!

Shalom

苹果Apple vs. Cola可乐

2006-01-18T06:55:00.000+01:00

商业周刊大幅报道纽约大学（5万学生）宣布取消所有的可口可乐自动贩卖机，起因是两年前哥伦比亚工厂的劳工被披露人权问题……很难想象这事情是如何关联的吧？请阅读吧：
BIGGER PROBLEMS? Hancock says CKC (Campus Kick-off Cola) is still hopeful that Coca-Cola will address its concerns and institute "a new and transparent human-rights policy." Tannenbaum says the university will lift the ban if Coke agrees to an investigation as proposed. Coca-Cola's University Commission has been at a standstill since early November. The five student representatives who resigned in protest have not yet rejoined. "We need to make a decision about how to proceed," says Scott Nova, executive director of the WRC, who sits on the commission. "That will happen relatively soon." A Coca-Cola representative says the company is willing and open to further discuss the issue. But Coke may find itself in a bigger predicament as time passes. In the two years since the NYU campaign began, allegations that Coca-Cola permitted human-rights abuses and environmental degradation in countries like India, Ghana, Turkey, Indonesia, and Guatemala have gained media attention and support on college campuses in particular. Three weeks after NYU announced its ban, the University of Michigan followed suit, citing questionable behavior by the company in India and Colombia. Coca-Cola says it's developing a global workplace-rights policy that it will adopt at the end of the first quarter of 2006.

PR NIGHTMARE. The cost of losing a customer like NYU, which doesn't have an exclusive contract with Coca-Cola, is difficult to gauge. (An NYU spokesperson didn't know the value of its business with Coke.) But the public-relations hit of losing such a trend-setting school might make any executive wince. "Just like Coca-Cola, NYU is a brand. We're a dream school, the school of [TV series] Felicity, and we make news," says Hancock. Soon Cadbury Schweppes (CSG ) brand RC Cola will replace Coke and Minute Maid in NYU's vending machines and dining halls. Will the preferences and buying behavior of NYU students follow? "Coca-Cola better pay attention to these students," says Tannenbaum. "They're going to be [its] consumers for the next 40 years."

golb ts1

2005-05-27T12:52:00.000+02:00

Hehe, welcome to my 1st blog - isn't it supposed to be shared by friends & searchers? Never mind, just created this molahs.blogspot.com after reading my friend KH's blog about his expat work/life in Spain. Does it mean when we work very hard then there is little life? Not sure:-) as far as I heard, KH's working there is very stressful & probably that's why their office is located at the most famous street in Barcelona - La Ramblas.

Back to my blog, especially its name. Don't want a long name but my name has already being registered. As a Chinese, I sometimes read from right to left so that's how you should read my blog name, also the 1st titile. MOLAHS - SHALOM means peace 平安！I first heard this word from a Chinese song called "Shalom 平安" & I liked it immediately.

Have a nice weekend!