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

Stefanos in HK - Meet with insead buddies but...

So it was time again for Trip Nr5. Since Janurary Taiwan, Philippines, SIngapore, Vietnam and HK have been visited. Next week we have to travel again to Singapore and manila for a week and in the end of April to guangzhou.

First time in my life i went and watched rugby, the Rugby sevens in HK. I didn't find it extraordinary but this is because i am not accustomed with Rugby. I am a football fan and a big one at that. I cannot wait for the EUro 2008 to start, although watching the games from Japan is not a win-win situation. ANother loss is the Champions league final in Moscow, due to limited day off i won't be able to attend although i have tickets....

Now back to Hong Kong. It is a great place overall. Shopping is a pleasure there and it is cheaper than Japan. It is amazing that even Japanese products are cheaper in HK than in Tokyo. Lesson Number 1! Never buy anything again in Tokyo.  The alumnis there are quite active and always up for a meeting. I was so happy to meet some of my classmates and especially my old roommates.

both of them are doing fine and lcing their lives and building their future. unfortuantely i didn't have enought time and hong kong was bustling with visitors due to the Sevens. Check my pictures online when i upload them.

My return to Tokyo on Sunday wasn't as good as i hoped. My trip form the airport lasted 2.30 hours due to a combination of rain and traffic. Lesson Number 2 never take the bus, prefer the Narita express (90 minutes instead of 120+++). nfortuantely like all my previous trips there is asuprise for me in the end. My Windows mobile enabled phone from Softbank crashed and i lost all of my phone numbers and email addressess i had stored. I went to the softbank center and i was waiting for 2 hours to fix it. nada! in the end i will have to contact everybody and ask for their numbers again. of course there will be some losses.

SO i spent 3 hours on sunday(missinga party at yoyogi park) backing up my data.

Cheers! long live the digital revolution.

Insead came to Japan this Friday

Happy Easter to everybody! I hope you celberate Easter because in Japan we don't. TOday is not though a working day for me since my mom is visiting me(I took a day off).Last friday like i had informed you, my readers, INSEAD came to Japan for an information session.

Zanat0s of course couldn't be away, Through the power of facebook and my blog i brought with me 2 alumnis and 8 people at the event. For me as an alumni the  event was a bit boring(why? because i have been already to insead and i know what Karla will talk about).

But on the other hand talking to people about insead and inspiring them to follow a better future is what drives me. I like looking into shining eyes, eyes full with the desire to succeed(and maybe go to INSEAD).

Basically the session starts with the firm hosting us, in this case AT kearney. Then Karla takes over taking about the INSEAD program. The class structure, the program structure, the application process, the financing capabilities, the career options and above all the life there. The students can jump in with their own questions and entertain the hosts.  A lot of time is spent thought on the application process; GMAT, essays and internview with the alumnis(yeap that includes me).

It is very interesting to hear what official INSEAD employees tell to the prospective candidates. I never attended this kind of session as an applicant so i didn't get any of the marketing pushs. I can say honestly whatever you hear in the presentation is true. Insead is by far a life changing experience and ti comes in 1 year package.

Now, where do i come in? As an alumni i can know the students questions, their anxieties, their strategies and their targets. I have been there and now i am on the other bank looking back at them/ A person like me can give them the answer they are looking for and help them understand better the situation at hand. There were 6 of us there most recent alumnis(Eris jsut graduated in December) so we could give them the insider tricks.

OOPS i forgot. before us, Jake Cohen gave a class about Accounting and Mergers and aquisitions. That was a strange deja vu as i had already done the case he was teaching.....

In the end i was bombarded with questions about INSEAD by different students. lets see how many of them will become alumnis. I am off now to go shopping once again.

My next blog post will be a brief description of the iNSEAD program and the second post will be another to do list before INSEAD!

No dialogue can be possible on "revealed" truths

Moving decision-making from the public to the private sector is the best wecan do because there are more effective systemic pressures towards errorcorrection in the private than there will ever be in the public sphere. Theproblem is that no corresponding mechanism exists in politics to correctautomatically the wrong decisions on specific issues

MARK DRAGOUMIS (+1)

With or without dialogue, the anti-privatisation struggle can be spectacular, as this January 15 photo of dock workers trying to bring down the gate of Thessaloniki port shows. Dock workers continue their protests against the government's privatisation plans for the country's major ports' warehouses AS IS well known, Karl Popper's contribution to philosophy has been his insistence that what distinguishes scientific from religious truth is that the former is based on the principle of falsifiability, the latter on revelation. No matter how overwhelmingly obvious it may seem that the sun turns around the earth, if scientific evidence proves otherwise this belief has to be dropped. Galileo got into serious trouble over this issue because the Catholic Church, interpreting the scripture narrowly, thought that this was an offence to the Gospel truth. The big question, now, facing the modern world and especially Greece is whether the falsifiability criterion should apply not only as an a priori for science but to the discussion of political issues as well. It was most instructive to see on February 2 on TV an irate gang of trade unionists of the Public Power Corporation (known as DEI by its Greek acronym) brutally storming the Piraeus premises of the corporation to stop the executive from deciding to allow the participation of the private sector in it. The leader of the invaders was quite blunt in addressing Mr Athanassopoulos, the corporation's CEO. "DEI belongs to the Greek people," he said in a display of barely controlled fury, "and you have no right to sell it to foreigners. You should at least have first entered into a dialogue with us but now it is too late even for that." The time has thus come for Mr Alogoskoufis to widen the concept of "dialogue" and explain to the citizenry why privatisation is really necessary in this globalised world of ours. He must find the courage and say openly that the public sector of the economy fails, not because of the incompetence of those in charge of it, but because of their motivation. Governments are not in business to do business and make a profit. They are in business to do favours and gather votes. That is why they clutter the public corporations with thousands, useless as employees but useful as voters; that is why they give in to the claims of the unionists who demagogically identify state control with patriotism. Some in the government would like to escape this conundrum by "selling", say, OTE to a foreign corporation while keeping the management as a vote-catching device. At that point, the potential buyer asks: "Do you seriously want to sell?" End of conversation. Here then is the rub. The private sector is not inherently more capable to succeed than the state. It is simply driven to succeed because of the competition. The state is under no such pressure. State monopolies provide bad service but survive thanks to the protection extended to them by their owner who also happens to hold power in the country. Public corporations working in a competitive market sometimes do make progress but eventually tend to lose ground to their private competitors and then need to be wholly privatised to survive. The advantage of the private economy is that it is self-regulated. A car owner need not know why the price of oil is going up but when it does he will economise on petrol. Billions of interacting consumers all over the world will thus respond correctly to a price signal just as drivers respond to traffic signals. No worldwide authority could ever achieve this with the required speed, if at all. The collapse of communism proved that a fully nationalised economy where products and prices are decided by the state was a hopeless dystopia. However, in a private economy, "actor rationality", as it is called, is secured without the need to subject the actor to any training programme. The above process, one might object, is too abstract, too idealised. A perfect equilibrium where market prices always signal faultlessly to the ignorant consumers how they should behave to their best possible advantage is not of this world. True enough, it is not. However, in the real world which changes rapidly, where misleading advertisements can create fictitious demands and media sometimes dispense the wrong information, it so happens that the market process contains the seeds of its own correction. Imaginative, profit-seeking entrepreneurs start promoting the genuine article and reallocating resources for new products to meet new demands. The use of biofuel is such a response to the high price of petrol. Thus moving decision-making from the public to the private sector is the best we can do because there are more effective systemic pressures towards error correction in the private than there will ever be in the public sphere. The problem is that no corresponding mechanism exists in politics, even in a democracy, to correct automatically the wrong decisions on specific issues. A free press and an open discussion can help but the insistence on "revealed truths" does not enhance the search of the best possible solution through dialogue. The market allows you to benefit from knowledge that you have not actually acquired. No such shortcut is available in politics where any flat-earther can invoke his revealed truth about the shape of the planet and lobby for world travel to be abolished lest the travellers fall over the edge. So let us by all means have a public dialogue on privatisation principles or on everything else, based on the principle of falsifiability and not on a variety of conflicting "revealed truths" issued Left, Right and Centre

(+1) posted by athensnews.gr

The right time to do an MBA? THink again..

ok here it goes.

I mean some students have been complaining about the value of the dollar and the Euro. I guess that is life. But remember in 2002 when the euro was worth nothing. I didn't hear the Students complaining.

WHy was this paradox? Probably because they would work in the states or get paid in dollars post MBA. Why don't people want to work in Europe? I guess it has to with taxes. Taxes are evil, they are used(in most european countries) to pay for people who couldn't get a nice job in the private sector(that is a blunt statement).

Reflect back on the value of the dollar though. For the ones who have their earning in DOllars but their expenses in euros(expats in Europe) they get a rought treatment. On the other hand Expats in the USA from Europe (must feel like King).

I have my savings in Euros and i am a firm believer in the power of the Europ and Europe(although everytime i talk with british I receive shrugs). The Euro will win in the end and prove unbeatable.

In every game there is a loser and a winner. NOw Europeans belong to the winners. will this continue? look at the graph and make your pic!@

Insead coming to Japan- Chance to have a chat with Zanat0s

INSEAD MBA Information Session & Masterclass in Tokyo For all who would like to know more about Insead and they are situated in Tokyo. Read the following letter. Zanat0s will be there(come on did you expect otherwise?) See you there! Dear Alumni, I am writing to inform you of an upcoming INSEAD MBA Information Session in Tokyo , for prospective MBA candidates and to request your kind participation. INSEAD MBA Information Session & Masterclass (led by Professor Jake Cohen) Friday, March 21st – 6:30pm to 9:30pm A.T Kearney ARK Mori Building , East 32F 12-32, Akasaka 1-chome Minato-ku Tokyo 107-6032 Japan Event Hosted by A.T Kearney This event will include a Q/A discussion with alumni and a cocktail party following.  Strong alumni presence is an essential element in a candidate's appreciation of the quality and attractiveness of the school, and is therefore extremely important to us as we remain very much committed to strengthening our position in Japan .  Thank you in advance for your time and support.  We look forward to meeting you. Yours sincerely, Karla Waller Assistant Director, MBA & EMBA Programme INSEAD

Job applications, P4 @ INSEAD list by zanat0s

Original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com

So the time is here! P4 has started, Get set! Ready! Go!

 

Time to get a job, time to improve your future, will you make it? It is up to the applicant. Do not try to go after every kind of job, do not try to try to send millions of applications. Concentrate, focus, win.

I have compiled a list with detailed instructions giving an idea of what to do and what not during P4. Every person has a different agenda and different methods. Bring up the winner in you and succeed in your endeavors.

Dos: Things one should do

1.      There will be a lot of companies coming to Insead to present, especially in Fonty. One should try in advance and schedule the presentations he/she would like to attend.

My advice? Try to attend as many as possible. Why? Different companies use different techniques to attract candidates, also sometimes listening ot a presentation can give you more information about potential employment at the company in question. Most presentations last only 45 minutes to 1 hour (there was one exception when the presentation lasted more than 90 minutes…). The benefits are huge so one should try and learn through presentations.

If you do not find the presentation interesting do not stay after it finishes, let the ones interested in the job bomb the presenters/recruiters with questions.

2.      Apply before the deadline. I know it can be difficult to do this since humans try to do everything in the last moment. I know also how long it takes to write a custom cover letter and prepare the application

My advice? Try to finish all applications at least 2 days in advance. Do not rush but also do not procrastinate. It feels much better finishing an application on time. On the other hand if there are a lot of job deadlines on the same day applicants may be overstretched

3.      Limit the social activities. I know that weekends are supposed to be time to relax and go out, but students should use their weekends to prepare and study. P4 should be the period where everybody gets serious.

My advice? Get your job and then time to roll out the red carpet

4.      Check Careerlink daily. There will be job postings every day and If one doesn’t pay attention he may lose good opportunities.

My advice? Create custom alerts on careerlink and keep uptodate

5.      Do have a story and something to say. The story should be consistent.

6.      Do take it easy with classes. One shouldn’t get a lot of credits in P4. There is p5 and p3 for it.

7.      Do send emails to alumnis and ask for advice. Use the alumni network for your benefit.

8.      Do send emails to the presenters before they come to insead. Also I recommend all students to contact the contact persons in advance and ask any questions they may have.

9.      Check for opportunities also outside INSEAD.

10.   Customize your CV according to the job requirements. DO not use one general CV, it would be nice to have 3 for different reasons

DON’Ts

1.      Do not apply to all jobs. It is counterproductive, time-consuming and a losing strategy. Remember one needs only one yes. Use your resources to get a good job. Increase your chances by getting more focus.

2.      Do not send the same general cover letter to different applications. Recruiters are not stupid they can sniff  out generalized Cover letter and they will just ignore them(they must be getting hundreds per day.

If one does at least PLEASE do not send the wrong Cover to the wrong company. It will be bad enough do not make a fool out of yourself. Or even if you do. Do not send it to a competitor.

3.      Do not bomb recruiters with questions at presentations or at the after drinks. Do not monopolize the conversation, you will come off as arrogant and egoist.

4.      Do not go unprepared to interviews. One should always practice before the interview. Use your classmates or talk with the career services.

5.      Do not go at the presentations dressed irrelevant. You should respect the school and your classmates

6.      Do not in any case, apply for a job you are not interested and then go back on your word.

Zanat0s out

saturday

Mount Fuji in spring

i took it easy today. i set up all my elecrtonic stuff(almost) and i was battling the monster called VISTA. i never epxected microsoft ot do so bad. anyway i will go out now and since i am still sick with an allregy i will try not to not behave.

fun Fact / Dubious Honors by Google... Tokyo nightlife Single Man

Dubious Honors by Google! Rank 1 @ Tokyo Nightlife Single Man

Read original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com

This morning when I returned to the office I had a nasty surprise waiting for me… I learned through a colleague that for no obvious reason I topped a string of keywords.

Do this go @ google and search Tokyo Nightlife single man! Most probably you will get these results

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=tokyo+nightlife+single+man&btnG=Search

if you click on the first result or if you consider youself lucky you will end up here

Zanat0s the INSEAD(er) @ Tokyo: A post INSEAD MBA Blog about an ...

Another top rank(although one I better not have :O)!

If one google Tokyo Nightlife single at least I came Nr11! Not even close.. So now I have become a google phenomenon for Tokyo too :P

How to apply for Jobs @ INSEAD? What approach should one follow?

3 Approaches to Job applications(read original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com)

Whoa, my last posts about Wharton(Permalink) and P4(Permalink) attracted a lot of eyeball and quite some responses. I guess all of you want to know what is good to do during P4.

Moreover I would to point towards the blogging platform I use, typepad. It seems that there is no format continuity between MS word(where I type my articles) and typepad(where I publish them). Therefore I would like to apologize fi sometimes my articles seem unordered.

This post will try to address most of your fear, anxieties and dreams. Like all of you know(admits, alumni and students) P4 is your chance to take off. INSEAD thought is all about a delicate balance that has to be found in everything.

P4 probably is the period with the least parties and social activities and it makes sense. So I will try to now to give a list of DO and DON’T’S to be followed in P4. I will also give the 3 approaches to sending applications and I will also let you know which one I followed.

Before I start I will introduce careerlink and MBA-exchange the 2 sites which are for INSEAD alumnis to search for job postings and opening.  The first one is a site run by insead career services and only students(along with alumni) can find opportunities. The second site is only for European based MBA schools( IMD, IESE and INSEAD, maybe also LBS).

First Approach: Send applications according to Job Function

This is probably the best approach on a returns point of view. I knew people who would send applications only to finance or marketing related functions. This consistency is maybe the safest way to follow since employers will pay for a candidate’s skills.

If these skills are relevant to the job posting or if the candidate has built up these skills, he/she stands a good chance to get the job. The Job functions/skill based approach is the way to go.

A lot of you will find out that what you have done in your past will influence in a way your next job(yeap! Even if an MBA is a clean break).

If  you are open to any industry/geography and you have the skills for a function where you can add value go for it! A classmate of mine had a background in oil exploration and used his acquired skills to get the best job overall in relation to his background.

Second approach: Apply only to specific industries.

This approach has also its merits but also some drawbacks. I will start with the negative; When one plans a change in industry form example form pharma to FMCG, one question will keep popping up: “Why? Why now?”. Be prepared, be really prepared.

Applicants in this approach have the benefit of being able to apply in their home country where they can have an advantage over other applicants. On top of that changing industry and function become a bit complex(unless it is consulting).

Basically one witness this approach with the following industries(prestigious, high salaries and high demand): Fashion, Luxury, Banking companies and other famous brands(Apple, adidas etc).

Third approach: Apply only to specific geography

Here the situation is a bit tough, especially when one doesn’t speak the language. 3 questions will keep getting repeated: “why this country?”, “Are you fluent?” “Why should we prefer you over a local?”

For the ones going for the 3^rd approach get ready for a rough ride. It is true one must add more value over a local in order to be selected and it is not going to be easy. For Anglo Saxons there is no issue since they can move around a lot of countries where the language remains the same.

For Europeans working in Europe this is not difficult either since latin based languages are easy to learn and because Europe is One market(think of the euro and the grumpy islanders). Asians may find it more difficult but still they can manage although they will be sent back to Asia to grow the business there after 2 or 3 years.

Europeans or N.Americans wanting to work in Asia(that is the fashion now) face the most hurdles from culture to language(believe me I know). They are the ones who have a hill to climb.

The Holy Grail! The 3IC

So can it be done? Can the holy grail be attained? 3 changes? 3 impossible changes, industry, function and Geography? Improbable but not impossible. I am living proof of that. Let me gloat for a minute.

Of course one has to make some sacrifices in their quest for the holy grail. So it worth it? Maybe yes maybe no. You have to experience it first and then make a claim. But one thing is certain. The more a person tries to go out of their comfort zone, the more they need to challenge assumptions.

So if you want to change either industry, job or geography it can be done. But the combination of the above will surely be not easy.

Insead & Wharton, Exchange US?

The Wharton Exchange, INSEAD & WHARTON read original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com

A lot of people(mostly from the states) come to insead because of their alliance. Of course this alliance is a bit lopsided and unfair towards the INSEAD crowd and here I can explain why insead get the worse half of the deal. INSEAD is one year program instead of Wharton(2 years). INSEAD has 5 periods lasting 2 months each while Wharton has semesters.  INSEAD students go to Wharton in P4(whether January or September intake). Wharton come to INSEAD mostly in June. So what is wrong here?

First of all Wharton students come mostly after they have graduated or have finished their first year so they do not end up losing anything from their Wharton experience. Moreover their period at insead has nothing to do with Wharton’s hiring season, on the other hand INSEADers find their majority of jobs during P4. Yes students can still access careerlink and apply but I cannot know how successful this course of action is. Wharton has longer periods and the students who go there have no access to nice classes since they cannot take whole courses. There is no evidence that Inseaders going to Wharton benefit from Wharton’s biggest advantage, it is amazing relationships IN THE STATES with recruiters and companies.

Here is a story I heard from a friend who was in Wharton for 2 months. One of the classes they could choose was related to international politics. The professor started the lecture with these words: According to this sheet today we have with us 18 nationalities in the classroom. 11(or 10?) come from INSEAD.” I also heard from the same person and it was confirmed by others that Wharton people have a different culture on that overemphasizes the importance of numbers and not of empathy.

So to students and admits asking me if the Wharton Exchange is worth it, my resounding answer is “only if you are sponsored”. The insead experience is too precious to spend 20% of it at Wharton during a time where most probably most whartonites will ignore the International students. Instead try to meet the whartonites coming to Insead I P5.

Cheers,