INSEAD Blog by Zanat0s the INSEAD(er) @ Tokyo ! The Biggest among INSEAD MBA blogs. Insead is over, blogging not.

Military Genius - Hannibal

The following is a summary i did on an essay i found on the internet. I wish i had more time to follow my passion. originall essay can be found at www.roman-empire.net

The newly elected Roman Consuls, Gaius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paullus, who had both run on a platform of taking the war to Hannibal, were anxious to begin their tenure with military achievement. Hannibal meanwhile, still attempting to subvert Roman authority in the allied areas of Italy, was waiting for the Roman with approximately 40,000 men; Gauls, Carthaginians and Numidian cavalry. Hannibal, despite his numerical inferiority had such an overwhelming strategic edge, that he was eager to meet the new Roman challenge. Theoretically, the Roman tactic of crushing Hannibal between two large armies should have spelled his doom, but Hannibal's brilliance allowed him to turn the tables once the engagement got under way.

The Consul Varro was in command on the first day for the Romans, as the consuls alternated commands as they marched. Hasdrubal, commanding the Numidians, quickly overpowered the inferior Romans on the right flank and routed them. As Hasdrubal was routing the Roman horse, the mass of infantry on both sides advanced towards each other in the middle of the field. The Iberian and Gallic Celts on the Carthaginian side, while fierce, were no match for Roman armament and close-quartered combat. The Romans soon found that their success in the middle was pushing them into a potential disaster. Just as the Romans were on the brink of crushing the enemy center, the Carthaginian flanks were brought to bear and the pressure pinned in the Roman advance. Hasdrubals' cavalry completed the circle by forcing the rear of the Roman line to turn back and form a square. All around, the massive bulk of the Roman army was forced into confined space. Unable to continue the original break through against the Celts in the center of Hannibal's lines, the Romans were easy prey for the Carthaginians. Hannibal, with complete fury, encouraged his own men, under fear of the lash, if they weren't zealous enough in the slaughter.

Hannibal, however, still trying to win the hearts of the Italian Roman allies, once again released the prisoners, much to the dismay of his commanders. In salute to the fallen Paullus, Hannibal also honored him with ceremonial rituals in recognition of his valiant actions.

In the end, perhaps only as many as 15,000 Romans managed to escape with Varro. There was nothing keeping Hannibal from sacking Rome itself at this point, other than Hannibal. Still believing he couldn't take Rome itself, he preferred his strategy of pursuing revolt among the Roman allies.

Shortly after Cannae, the Romans rallied back, declaring full mobilization. As the land owning population was heavily diminished by losses to Hannibal, the Romans took advantage of the masses. In so doing, the Romans also refused to pay ransoms to Hannibal for any captured legionaries who still remained. While fortune would still be with Hannibal for some time, the war of attrition would only benefit Rome

Networking the INSEAD way

So people are asking is INSEAD worth it? Is it good? What about the US schools? Let me gloat for a minute and post a nice expert about networking in china

From Businessweek : http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/nov2007/gb2007118_431130.htm?chan=globalbiz_asia+index+page_top+stories

Many of China's networkers meet through an American or European MBA program. Gary Wang attended Insead, the famous French business school outside Paris. Today he runs a YouTube (GOOG) wannabe called Tudou that was built largely on connections made at B-school. His partner, Dutchman Marc van der Chijs, was married to one of Wang's classmates. A fellow alum who worked at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (WPP) helped out with public relations. And another Insead grad, Helen Wong, a partner at Granite Global Ventures, helped Wang raise $8.5 million after a friend heard him speak at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. "Without knowing all these people through Insead," says Wang, "Tudou probably never would have happened."

So yes, INSEAD is the N1 school with entrepreneurs and a huge connected network around the world. I met these 2 persons when I visited Shanghai during a course. Tudou is famous in Shanghai(it helps that youtube is banned). Will I receive the same help if I try to establish my own company in the future?

Necromonger's Point of view

Necromonger, probably the best blogger in J08 posted a really interesting post about isses which may interest most applicants. If i gave my own viewpoint here i would complicate matters, so will just build on what already has been said!

For more readers you can try his own blog! http://onwardtomba.blogspot.com/

This post is to summarize some principal possible differences between recruitment in the top Indian business schools like IIM/ISB vs. top International schools (typical FT top 10 or M7 + LBS/INSEAD). Keep in mind the following

I can write about IIM / ISB experiences based on what I've heard and read. I haven't studied in one of them previously (yes, many IIM grads do study MBA again in international schools) but I do know many who have, including a sibling.
I haven't started the recruitment season at INSEAD yet - it starts next April for me. But I've seen quite a bit so far. So if this post needs an update later, I will do so.
So, compared to the Indian Institutes, what are probably the principal differences?

Recruitment is a long cycle - The process of finding a job can takes months, sometimes 4-6 months. The process involves substantial amount of career coaching, CV polishing, schmoozing, meeting with recruiters, follow-ups, attending cocktails and networking sessions, and then finally rounds of interviews. Jobs are not a "given", the idea is you learn all the skills needed to "earn" one.
There is no "placement week" with "zero day placements" and everyone getting jobs in 2 days - There is a recruitment season which lasts 2-4 months, but nothing stops someone from looking for jobs much earlier.
A lot of graduates get jobs outside career services / campus placements - A pretty high percentage - often as high as 30% (could be more depending on the year, school etc.) get jobs outside placements. They do so for variety of reasons - but the most important one is that search for the right job in a company of interest. Getting jobs like this is again a long process that involves lot of research, networking and persistence.
Astronomical salaries are usually outliers - Yes, someone from Columbia this year got half a million. Many from INSEAD do get high salaries. But keep in mind that these are statistical "outliers." They do not represent typical salaries. When I read many reports on IIM/ISB I read about many "1 crore" salaries which translates to over 250,000$ base salary for associate or 3rd year analyst positions. I might be wrong, but such salaries from banks may be specially given to IIM / ISB students because I don't think any of the international schools get such salaries on a regular basis. I don't know. But the typical average in most of the top schools is around 110,000 USD.
You are often pitted against those from other top schools - There are many interesting jobs and positions often open only to a select set of schools. What that means is you are not competing for it with just your class mates, but also with those from the other top schools - you compete on a whole new level. Without mentioning names of companies, I can tell you there are specific roles that companies open only to the typical FT top 10. The flip side is you are competing with all of them. Most of the companies recruiting are high profile and have access to the best talent around the world, so they're not standing in a queue to recruit you.
Job placement is a whole lot about specific roles and fit - A lot of placement is for specific roles and positions. This makes fit very important. There is very little of "we'll come in a bus, pick a bunch of grads, and then put them anywhere in the organization." I can say that this is a critical difference between lot of international blue chips that come on campus vs. Indian company style recruitment (of which I can speak of with considerable experience).
Placement is truly global - jobs are offered around the world, and often in very interesting management rotations that take you to multiple countries.
Does it mean that it's a hopeless case to get a job? Uh..no. Most of them get great jobs in interesting companies and with pretty good salaries. But you need to work really hard to get them. In the process, you become a whole lot polished as a person. And this is a reason why some schools don't really worry you with grades (INSEAD doesn't) so you can focus on all the other critical skills you should be polishing as an MBA, and it's not all about theory and books.

At some point later I might post some interesting jobs that get offered. If you have a correction suggestion to make, please send in a comment and I will make necessary changes. I hope I answered a few questions and cleared some doubts about how recruitment typically works. This is not just for INSEAD, as I said, it holds for many other international schools as well.

INSEAD opens new US Office in NY

I just received an email from Frankie(Dean Frank Brown) where he announced the new and first INSEAD office in the states. I wellcome this move as necessary to raise awareness in the hottes tmarket for MBAs. INSEAD will never be strong in the States though since it is the country with the most MBA programs and therfore companies would prefer to hire somebody who finished a "local" degree.

The office opening will allow INSEAD to develop its brand in the Americas, enhance its alumni relations activities, build awareness within the corporate sector, and expand its executive education work. Mary Lee Rieley, Director of External Relations for the Americas, will lead the alumni and external development initiative from the New York office.

2 more deaths at INSEAD

INSEAD is fun yeah but unfortunately in 2007 3 people have drowned. WHy is that? I mean how can it be? Statistically the chances of this happenning in 1 year is less than 1 in a billion (making the assumption that for one person to die from drowning at insead is like 1 in 1000)!

I hope this will be the last entry about this kind of issue.

A short entry

Today I decided to customize ( read make more interesting) my workspace. Last night at the supermarket I had bought for my office an air refresher, some nice postcards and some silly robots just for fun.
After I had finished with the creative touches, which turned out to enrich the atmosphere I had to setup my PC, a fujitsu lifebook. It is not a power machine(maybe even subpar) but it looks cute and it is extra light. For security reasons it comes with no Wi-Fi. My relationship with technology is more than good. It is a symbiotic relationship. Like every other tech freak would do I started customizing the programs the computer ran. Of course though they didn’t work as I expected. The choices were clear either give up, ask for help, or overcome the difficulty. I chose the third and now the PC is set up according to my needs.
It took some time but it was worth it. I got the good news that soon I will have to takes visas for al SE Asia countries due to my work travels. Other than that nothing important happened today. I found a language school and had dinner with an old friend.
What is worth mentioning though is the experience of going to a presentation done in Japanese and lasting more than 3 hours. I have to admit falling asleep since I was tired and it was incomprehensible to me. Next time I will be readier

Week 1 over!

7 days, the first circle is complete. Getting ready for a new day. It is 02:46 in Tokyo, Japan. I wanted to post this entry like 6 days ago, but probably this will be my lifestyle from now on. I have to sleep soon so this post will be compact and without all the juicy details.
I have seen in such a short time so many things that I have started taking notes in case I write a book ( a distant possibility which will fade into oblivion probably) after some time. For god’s sake let describe a scene which honestly raised my standards when it comes to police work.
On Saturday around 11.30 near my “serviced” apartment (if it can be called like that, nor serviced or habitable) a policeman gave a fine two a trespasser. This sounds trivial but it is even worse than that. The violator was a girl who was cycling with her friend or sister on her bike. The 2 girls were not older than 10. Probably it is illegal(maybe for the public’s safety) for 2 people to share the same bicycle. The pious policeman showed off his credentials by literally giving a fine to the 2nd girl. If I wasn’t in Japan I would have thought it is one of these pranks to check peoples’ reactions; It wasn’t.
Back to my place now; I won’t describe it because it will ruin my mood. Just think that I do my best in order to arrive to my place with the last bus in order to minimize the time spent with my 4 spacious walls.
As for the company it has been great until now. Although I like eating Japanese, my teammates seem to prefer international cuisine. In the end I will try to persuade them with a powerpoint presentation.
What else? I participated at an INSEAD even on Friday and I am thinking of applying for INSEAD’s main spokesperson position(if there is a title like this). I got a lot of cards and people seemed interested at INSEAD. Not to brag about my ability to me emphatic and transfer my enthusiasm to other people, but due to my and other alumni’s lively performance(the brand name also helped) our booth was the busiest.