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By INSEAD MBAs, for the INSEAD community

Sept./Oct. 2002 Volume II Issue II

THE INSEAD CITIZEN


ALSO LSO IN IN THIS THIS EDITION EDITION .
Profile - P Turner INSEADs sad habit Ask Ms. OB Fairytale & more Singapore Rocks! Dear fellow MBAs, On May 29, 2002, a group of enthusiastic students from the September 2001 promotion published what they thought was the first ever INSEAD student newspaper. Since then weve learned from Patrick Turner (page 2) and other alumni that the first INSEAD student newspaper was published as early as 1977. Though it seems we wont get to call ourselves pioneers, wed still like to do our part to make sure that this praiseworthy initiative should not be lost. As a result, you find in your hands, or on your screen, Volume II Issue II of the INSEAD Citizen (with pride we can tell you that this is the first second issue of a newspaper in INSEAD history). We have tried to follow the format of the last issue, that is to provide you with a mix of serious articles about the issues that impact us as MBAs and not-soserious articles about the social stuff. Since the INSEAD program lasts only 10 months, we hope that the Citizen can be a source of tribal knowledge, passed down from one promotion to the next. As such, please let us know about any topics you would like us to cover. The theme of this issue can be described as drinking from the Holy Grail with responsibility. This may sound puzzling, but if you read through the newspaper this will become clearer. We hope you enjoy the fruits of our electronic looms. Yours sincerely, The Editor 2 3 5 6 10
Wharton career service depends on student involvement heavily, which is characterized by the second-years mentoring first-years on one-to-one basis as well as forming numerous clubs of interests. Students have a louder voice in career services, especially in the sluggish job market.

ANYBODY

AN N IN IN - D DE EP PT TH H LOOK LOOK A AT T R RE EC CR RU UIIT TIIN NG G A AT T L LE EA AD DIIN NG G B BU US SIIN NE ES SS S S SC CH HO OO OL LS S B BY Y CH HA AO O


Wharton student at the University of Pennsylvania, the director of career management of Wharton was mocked during the Wharton Follies musical. No wonder the two schools paired of career managers at business schools has never caught so much attention as it has today. For Wharton, the Vice Dean, who is referred to as widely respected by Gwillem or popular by another Wharton

NEED A JOB?

Wharton: club-mania
Pekka Hietala, the dean of MBA at INSEAD, is no longer the most favorite subject for mockery at the graduation Cabaret, a schoolwide variety show done by students. For instance, at the last September Promotion Cabaret in June, Mary Boss, director of Career Management Service (CMS) of INSEAD, was mimicked twice by different students, while in the previous year, the Cabaret almost reached its climax as a huge but beautiful donkey named Pekka appeared on stage. Great MBAs think alike. According to Gwillem Mosedale, a

Percentage of Spring 2002 Graduates Currently Unemployed

% of Spring 2002 Graduates Currently Unemployed

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% INSEAD LBS Wharton 34% 20-25% 23%

Sources: CMS for INSEAD, the Wall Street Journal for LBS and school website for Wharton. Wharton figure excludes students not conducting a job search.

to the Alliance. Anyway, although the students didnt mean to be rude, the role

student, has made career work a top priority. (Continued on page 4)

A VI VI IIN NT TE ER RV VIIE EW WS S MA AR RT TIIN N GE EN NT T II L L, I N NS SE EA AD DS ST TU UD DE EN NT T A AN ND DF FO OU UN ND DE ER R O OF F Q QU UIIT T


As you might remember, right after the summer break, the Citizen sent out a mass email requesting that students let us know if they did anything exciting or out of the ordinary during the summer. One of the most interesting responses we received was about Martin Gentil, a student in the January promotion who is in the process of forming an NGO (non- governmental organization) called quit. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Martin to discuss his effort and was also invited to attend a meeting of the NGOs advisory committee of INSEAD MBAs. Citizen: Martin, could you start by giving me some background information on quit? Martin: While I was a student in Lausanne, I noticed that tourism in the developing world is growing rapidly, but that many of these countries do not have enough local hospitality industry workers to meet the demands of these growing industries. It seemed obvious to me that if citizens of these countries could be trained in hospitality, this

INSEADERS,

SUMMER AND AN NGO


boom in tourism could help to reduce poverty by providing long-term employment. The point of quit is to help set up hospitality schools around the developing world, providing students from less privileged backgrounds with the world-class hospitality education necessary to take advantage of the growing opportunities in their countries. Citizen: Are any of these schools in operation yet? Martin: Back when I was a student in Switzerland, we had one school operational in Ethiopia, operated (continued on page 5)

The INSEAD CITIZEN

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PROFILE: PATRICK TU R N E R
BY AKSEL AND PILAR
Read on: the professor teaching you everything about how to be a successful entrepreneur in todays uncertain times has been up, down and around and is here to tell us what we can learn from his rich experience. His passion is contagious and unlike many of his peers, the guy once sat where you do now. Patrick completed his MBA at INSEAD in the late seventies and has since started companies, written a book about Elgars Enigma Variations and is now on the quest for the legend of the Holy Grail. long time to figure out that these guys were earning far more than I was. Gradually I started to develop this feeling of being intensely fed up, not so much with the job, but with the UK. It was clear to me that if I wanted to change anything, I had to get out of the British circuit and into a more international one. That ruled out the UK business schools so I confided to a senior manager I trusted at ICI about my plans and he agreed that what I was doing made sense as long as I did it at either Harvard or INSEAD. INSEAD was attractive because (a) it was outside the UK and (b) it was a 10-month course. I had actually heard of the place before as one of my mates at university, Lindsay Owen-Jones (now CEO of LOral) left Oxford directly to go to INSEAD. Back then Lindsay explained to me that in order to go to INSEAD you needed to speak English, French and German and I didnt have German. But some years later, while I was in the middle of being fed up with the UK and my salary, one rainy Sunday, I came across an ad buried in a part of the Sunday Times that had it not been raining I would have never read, that said that the INSEAD language requirements were now English, French and either German or Spanish, and I did have Spanish. So it was on. Actually, I wasnt sure just how much I was going to learn as there was a certain scorn towards business schools in the UK in those days. However when I arrived here it took me about three days to realize that this was going to be something special. CITIZEN: What do you think are the differences between being a student now and back then? Patrick: One of the main differences is that back then there was only one promotion, so there was no transfer of tribal knowledge from one promotion to the next one in the way you guys know it today. The buildings were substantially smaller, the area where Pascale sits, Amphis A, B, C, D and E and the North Wing all existed, but where the stairs are to go to the

ON THE HOLY GRAIL


cafeteria, there was a wall. There was no restaurant or canteen on campus, but there was a canteen down by the chateau. The library was more or less where the travel agency is now. For coffee every morning there was a dear lady called Madeleine who used to have a little table outside the library with an urn selling croissants, coffee, etc. Since we were only 231 students, we were just about enough to know most people at least by face and most of those by name, so probably the overall atmosphere was a little more intimate or cozy. Even back then we lost one of our students in the very sad habit promotions have of losing people in traffic accidents. The mix back then was different too: we were 30% French and 30% British, the rest everything else. As far as women are concerned, there were only 4% to 5%. One of the pleasures I derive from being here these days is to see how global the place has become. In the last years, for instance the North American (USA and Canada) contingent seem to dominate the percentages. National week has changed. We only had National Dinners, and it didnt involve the highly organized events it has evolved to now, which in my opinion are one of the glories of this place. The way people blend. How they are proud of their nationality and proud to share aspects of their culture, but at the same time very receptive to learn from other nationalities and cultures. CITIZEN: What do you like about being a professor now? Patrick: I get an incredible kick out of it! I think there are two aspects to it. This is going to sound corny, but there is a very definite feeling of putting something back, of having had a career that would have been different had I not been to INSEAD. Also there is the feeling of communicating a certain experience and a certain enthusiasm if you like to the next generation coming up. The other part of it is that being in class discussing a case or whatever with such a highpowered, dynamic, highly intelligent group of young adults is an incredible privilege. From the students point of view you must feel something similar, to be working with such a group of people. Lets talk about REP for instance; at the beginning of the course I describe the project and I know damn well some of them are thinking You want us to do what? And then time passes in what seems like an instant and you are on the day of final presentations and you have people coming with projects that I think even they cannot believe they have produced. To come so far so quickly. So you think to yourself, Well, yes OK, they are bright, but if they have come this far you must have actually contributed something to it. Its also tremendously challenging, because you cannot get away with anything, you really have to make sure you are up to the kind of standards the students expect and that is demanding. CITIZEN: So how come then you write a book about Elgars Enigma Variations? Patrick: Because ever since I was very young I just loved classical music, but I discovered Elgar relatively late for an Englishman. I was into my 20s when I got hooked in a big way. When I listen to Elgars music it just gets to parts of me that others cant reach even today, although I know the pieces backwards and I own ten different recordings of the same piece. The Enigma Variations are called that because there is a puzzle attached to the work, and reflecting on that, one fine day I came up with what seemed to me to be a plausible solution. The original idea was to write an article, but the more I was writing, the more it just kept coming, and it developed into a book. And now I get a check from Amazon once in a while. It all comes from a very deep passion for his music. CITIZEN: Which of the conductors do you prefer for Elgar? Patrick: That is almost impossible to say. Elgar is internationally renowned and many talented and famous conductors like Bernstein, Sinopoli, Haitinck etc. have conducted his works. Maybe by and large the English conductors tend to be more suited to perform Elgar as they are able to grasp the English spirit better. Maybe if life had turned out differently, the answer to your question could have been me. When I got out of school I got offered places to study modern languages at Oxford, and Spanish (Continued on page 9)

We settle in his sunny office and he pulls out the INSEAD CITIZEN version of 1977, called Playboss, and as we skim through it, he comments on the differences between being an INSEAD student now and then. CITIZEN: Why did you want to do an MBA and why at INSEAD? Patrick: Similar to many of you, I wanted a career change. In my particular case, after completing my Spanish and French studies at Oxford University, I got a great job as an export manager for ICIs South American operations. This meant that three to four times a year I would be put on a plane to places like Rio, Buenos Aires and Santiago, which was great. On the circuit I would meet people from Hoechst, Rhone Poulenc and other major chemical companies and it didnt take

The INSEAD CITIZEN

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INSEADS

PE ET TE ER R CL LIIF FF FO OR RD D E EX XP PL LO OR RE ES S T TH HE E C CO ON NN NE EC CT TIIO ON N B BE ET TW WE EE EN N IIN NS SE EA AD DS ST TU UD DE EN NT TS S A AN ND D D DR RU UN NK KE EN N D DR RIIV VIIN NG G


2002 was a nightmare year for many at INSEAD. In May, Jeremy Palley died in a horrific car accident while traveling home through the forest. This was a tragic loss of a great person with a wonderful, bright future. Only one week before there was a huge crash in which two of the then September promotion lost control of their car and ended up smashed into a tree (the wreckage can be seen in the picture on right). Both were in a coma after the accident but thankfully are recovering well right now almost four months later. In April 2001, one participant crashed in the forest while racing to the airport to catch a plane to an interview. He has been in a coma for a long time and is still hospitalized. In 2000, we Thankfully, two fellow INSEADers escaped with their lives after losing control of their car in the forest. This accident occurred one week before Jeremys death. had a participant who crashed late at night in the forest and was found compared with 110 Italian, 95 road network in the directions of the next morning by an early pasGerman and 61 British. Within Thomery, Bourron Marlotte, Reserby. Luckily, he escaped without France, the Fontainebleau area is closes, Barbizon etc. Mr. serious injury although he did have extremely prone to accidents. A Oprendek of the Commissariat to endure the graduation ceremony startling statistic obtained from claims that most of the accidents with a heavily bandaged head. the local Commissariat de Police occur late in the evening or in the in Fontainebleau highlights the early hours of the morning. He All of these crashes were in the fact that 12- 15 people are killed puts the problem down to people forest and involved bright young each year on the roads through driving too fast, and with a false MBAs. But why? the forest surrounding Fontainesense of confidence, through the bleau. These statistics only acforest. In autumn the leaves can count for Avon, Samois, Vulaines, be severe especially on a wet It is well known that France has a Bois le Roi, Samoreau and Hericy. day. In winter the ice can be dismal record for road accidents. In One can only imagine how high dangerous. The plethora of wild 1998, there were 152 French road the figure is when you include the animals including boars and deer fatalities per million inhabitants, that are inclined to graze by the roadside at the same time as THE INSEAD CITIZEN most INSEADers head home from Our Our Code: Code: this paper do not reflect INSEAD policy. the various parties are another danger. Of course, if you are WE aim to provide the INSEAD student Contributors Contributors to to this this edition edition include: include: community with a forum to voice their traveling with speed you stand no interests and concerns as well as a place chance if one of them makes a Aksel van der Wal Editor for sharing experiences and opinions, and dash into your path! Avi Turetsky Publisher learning from each other and about each Peter Clifford Man. Editor other. Chao Hu Staff Writer With the constant stress and At the same time, we acknowledge that Pilar Junco Staff Writer strains surrounding the deadevery issue has at least two sides, and we Beryl Marjoline Staff Writer lines, which go hand in hand with will therefore strive to maintain a balanced Lye SGP Reporter life at INSEAD, many participants discourse between different opinions and Marc Gingras SGP Reporter claims, and whenever necessary, give right make the drive home from school Arndt Brockmann SGP Reporter of response. or a friends house when really they should have been in bed For more information or to join us, please The citizen will focus on constructive dismany hours before. This, of contact: INSEAD-CITIZEN.Fb@insead.edu course and on issues not individuals. course, gets worse during the Therefore any criticism will be built on Advertising Information: Information: lead up to exams and throughout facts rather than merely opinion and when- Advertising ever possible, will be accompanied by the enduring recruitment period. The INSEAD Citizen is published 8-10 alternative suggestions. Another factor specific to INSEAD times annually by the INSEAD student is the fact that a huge number of We will maintain complete editorial inde- community and is distributed via email to the participants are accustomed pendence while striving to improve the 900 INSEAD students and 11,000 alumni. to living in the large business INSEAD experience in a mature and objec- Starting with the next issue, the Citizen will accept advertising in order to finance its centers around the world. Here, tive manner. hard copy distribution on both INSEAD they either use public transportacampuses. For more information, please tion or if they drive, it is generally The INSEAD Citizen is an independent contact Avi at:: initiative of the INSEAD MBA student comwithin the city limits, and is cerabraham.turetsky@alumni.insead.edu munity and is distributed free of charge to tainly nothing like tackling the the INSEAD audience with permission of or +33.6.84.97.38.97. twisty roads surrounding INSEAD.
the MBA Office. The opinions expressed in

SAD HABIT

Then of course there is the devil drink. INSEAD is famous for its energetic and fun loving participants who are quite skilled in the art of organizing parties. The demographics usually mean that the party takes place somewhere at least a 10 20 minute drive from most participants houses. The culture at INSEAD has always been to drive to these parties. This, together with the fact that there is free flow at many of them, makes for a lethal cocktail (excuse the pun) on the twisty and winding journey home. Many INSEADers (and a confident breed we are) convince both themselves and their friends that they are fine, that they are perfect to drive, which, of course, on many an occasion, could not be further from the truth. Nobody has seen the tragedy closer than Sylvie Normand from the MBA Office. She has been very close to the families of the accident victims over the past couple of years. Sylvie, a mother of four, describes: I love meeting participants parents but please dont ask me to meet them in the hospital lobby! Sylvie sees drink driving as being a huge issue at INSEAD. But she is not only worried about the drivers but also the passengers. She pleas with anyone accepting a lift home from a party If you have already had too much to drink yourself it can be very difficult to know if the driver taking you home is capable of driving safely. She urges all participants to be very careful and, if there is any doubt at all, to stay put rather than take a chance. One initiative picking up momentum is the Be Smart Drive Safe campaign presently being organized by a group of participants at INSEAD. The aim of the campaign is essentially to both create awareness about the issue and then to follow up with subsequent action. So far, the group has solicited the services of a professional design company to draft three posters. One of these - Be Smart Drive Safe card (see page 7) - has been included in all of the welcome packs prepared by the MBA office for this years September promotion. The second poster is being (Continued on page 7)

The INSEAD CITIZEN

Page 4 C ONT D FROM PAGE 1


Mania and Finance Mania, at which recruiters participate in career fairs. Basically if a Wharton student was born anarchic, he doesnt need the career service at all since he could get everything done with the help of the fellow students. Without much fussing, these fellow students also include the 70,000plus Wharton alumni. This enormously resourceful network is also functioning actively at the moment of market downturn. So far there are no rumors about how Wharton attracts recruiters. Other American schools have invented fancy practices. For instance, according to the Wall Street Journal, HBS dreamed up the most generous assistance $400 travel grants to defray the cost of the students job search. Wait and see how Wharton will compete in terms of a creative placement approach. At present, Wharton students are very impressed by the career treks organized by their career services. The career treks include meetings with recruiters across the United States as well as other venues such as London. Due to geographical difference, INSEAD only organizes treks to California, a tradition (or a vestige) that probably originated from the Internetbubble era. Ngo Vinh Tuan, a French Wharton student who told Citizen, I love my school, before offering any other comments, also voiced his concern about the Wharton career services: I feel Wharton is not trying hard to help international students to find jobs, especially for students from Europe. Sounds really French to American ears, isnt it? He wishes that both Wharton and INSEAD could take full advantage of the INSEAD-Wharton Alliance to locate Wharton students in (Continued on page 8)

ANYBODY

NEED A JOB

Actually, the former Wharton career director encountered acute discontent before his recent resignation, as described by one Wharton student. The new director, Peter Degnan, a former senior investment banker (in his telephone interview with Citizen) felt the job was very challenging while offering great opportunities. It is believed that Peters finance industry background is highly compatible with Whartons strength in Finance. As Peter put it: I speak the same language (as the recruiters), and he is quite determined to assist students in finding any possible ideal job. Noteworthy, the new vice dean was partly approved by the students as well. Wharton students selected representatives in the search committee for the new career director, ensuring that their views were the number one priority of the career service center. This move reflects the spirit of student autonomy, which is typical of Wharton. With a promotion size

of nearly 800 students each year, the school has 1600 plus students to take care of in terms of placement. Thus, the career management office is keen to take advantage of the resources of students themselves. Every firstyear MBA student at Wharton is assigned a mentor during the term. Career-related consultations such as CV writing and mock interviews are all done with the help of the second-years. Whats more, the numerous clubs provide specialized help for people of same career interests. If all else fails, at least organizing such clubs is a good way to execute (or practice) leadership to decorate ones CV! According to the descriptions of Wharton students, it seems that the school is totally psyched up, as every activity on campus has a psychologically-challenged name mania. There is Resumania, during which the second-years give one-to-one feedback to firstyears. Other manias include Consulting Mania, Marketing

IN SEARCH OF HIPPOCRATES FOR MBA S


The boundaries between Old and New, East and West, Government, Civil Society and Business are crumbling In the face of these challenges business is now reconsidering its traditional role of maximizing profits. This is having, and will continue to have, a profound impact on the way business is conducted This is not the latest speech from Jose Bov, but it was the central theme of the last Global Forum on Management Education (Bangkok, June 2002). Held twice a decade, the forum is the worlds largest conference on Management Education, gathering bschool deans from around the world (including INSEAD). This year, the participants explored ways of building a new breed of business leaders who, not only know how to run successful corporations, but also are ethical and socially responsible. The search for socially responsible and ethical business leader is not new. Most of the top MBA schools have introduced Business Ethics courses in the past 20 years. But under the acceleration and complexities of globalization, these courses are showing their limits. Business ethics courses are mostly limited to theoretical knowledge about ethics and providing the frameworks and tools to manage potential ethical dilemmas. Can we go beyond and be more pro-active? INSEAD students are well aware of the new challenges brought by Globalization. In this new world where the private sector has an increasing importance, we know the potential opportunities and power that an MBA diploma brings, but we must also understand the potential responsibilities that are associated with it. Can we, INSEAD students, define our own principles, our own code of business ethics by which we think INSEAD graduates should conduct business? If we, INSEAD students, were able to define our own code of business ethics, we would be the pioneers among top business

By Sylvain Guyoton
students to abide by a code of business ethics? How should we integrate the alumni? How do we enforce the code? What form should it have? Would it bear legal responsibilities? These are some of the complex issues that need to be addressed in the implementation process. But there is one thing that you should keep in mind. The implementations of professional code of ethics like the ones in medicine or CFA have not been created overnight. They are the result of an evolutionary process. For instance, in the United States, the first code of medical ethics appeared in 1847. This major breakthrough was the result of a series of efforts that had started back in 1808 with the Boston Medical police, the first institution in the US to define their own code of medical ethics. The traditional world is crumbling. In a global world, future MBA graduates carry increasing Power. Should it be time for us to set the foundations towards greater Responsibility?

schools. If properly communicated, this initiative could send a powerful message to our recruiters, to the INSEAD community and to the outside world. If properly sustained, it could be the example that leads other business school students to adopt their own code of business ethics. Ultimately, INSEAD could be recognized as having initiated a major transformation process. Other professions have implemented their own codes of ethics. Physicians developed, on the basis of the oath of Hippocrates, their code of deontology in the 19th century. Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) too have their own code of ethics. A code of business ethics would not totally abolish misconducts, but it will be a guiding force towards more professionalism, integrity and social responsibility. Now arises the question of feasibility - can such a multi-cultural group as the INSEAD student community find common grounds? Can we oblige future

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MBAS & NGO S


CO ON NT D D F FR RO OM M P PA AG GE E 1
through a partnership between Terre des Hommes, a Swiss NGO, and the Lausanne Hotel School. The school had approximately 100 graduates, 97% of whom are now employed in the hotel industry in Ethiopia, as well as in the Gulf. Citizen: What are the next steps for quit? Martin: This summer, a group of INSEAD students spent two weeks with me discussing exactly that, how we can take the idea of quit and make it practical, developing a realistic business plan, from a standpoint of both maximizing our impact and maintaining our financial sustainability. We are now in the process of hiring a director, a soon retired professor from the hotel school, and we are starting to negotiate with NGOs in a few target countries. The basic format that we are going to use will be to provide expertise to schools that are funded and run by local NGOs. We will partner with them, offering training and oversight to maintain the standards required by hotel industry employers. There are a large number of NGOs already who work to alleviate poverty in the countries we target, and in general they are interested in partnering with us since we can help them to provide education that will lead to long term improvements in the economic situation of the people they are trying to help. Citizen: Are you in discussion with any NGOs currently? Martin: Yes, we are looking at opportunities in Morocco, Cambodia, Egypt and Ethiopia. Some of the countries are clearly easier prospects than others, since, for example, Egypt already has a mature tourism industry that we can rely on for expertise in helping to oversee the schools. In other countries we will have to fly in experts to conduct exams and perform regular quality checks. Citizen: Tell me about the help you received from the INSEAD MBAs. What can an MBA contribute to an NGO? Martin: I know that usually the words MBA and NGO dont go that well together, which is unfortunate, because MBAs do have valuable skills which can contribute to nonprofit organizations. In our case, the MBAs were especially helpful by applying different business and strategy frameworks to the project. Citizen: So the five forces analyses really are useful? Martin: Many of the frameworks are. Unfortunately, many NGOs arent run that well from an organizational standpoint, with volunteers assuming that their good intentions are enough. Oftentimes what results is a significant waste of resources that could go to helping people. I tend to be a dreamer too, so having the MBAs was very useful to keep my plans realistic, making sure that all the pieces could be put together and that we had all the facts before proceeding. Also, the other students were able to view the organization from a business perspective, analyzing its environment and exploring the ways to maximize its resources in performing its mission and in maintaining its financial sustainability. Sustainability is key. Citizen: Tell me about that. How will you keep your organization sustainable? Martin: The key to sustainability is to make the organization be selffinancing to the greatest degree possible. We would like to get a broad base of supporters, small regular donors, rather than one large sponsor. By relying less on a single sponsor, we can reduce the risk of having to close shop if we lose the sponsors funding. I learned that lesson with the original school in Ethiopia, which was forced to close when it lost its major sponsor. The hotel schools will be selffinanced by their hotel and restaurant operations, the fees that NGOs who sponsor students will pay, and to a lesser extent by donations. Students will not be able to cover their education costs, as they will essentially be street children or orphans without financial resources. quits mission would be to conduct feasibility studies, train the staff, provide the curriculum, perform quality checks and oversee examinations. We would need to do these things in order to maintain quality. To perform its mission, quit would rely on its network, made of hoteliers, hotel school students and professors, business people and hotel chains.

Ms. OB
INSEADS S A AG GO ON NY YA AU UN NT T A AN N -SWERS SWERS A AL LL L YOUR YOUR B BU UR RN NIIN NG G Q QU UE ES ST TIIO ON NS S

Dear Ms. OB - Ever since the first day at INSEAD I have developed a huge crush for Dean Pekka. At night I cant sleep. In class I fantasize about running my hands through his straw-blond hair. When I spot him on campus I fluster and feel like fainting. But until now I have not found the courage to approach him. How can I ever get to pekk him up? Yours, Pekka -passion Dear Pekka-passion - Have you considered failing all your courses so that you can get to meet him personally? When you get to the meeting impress him with your knowledge of Finnish culture. Just a thought

Citizen: So that they can get their proper credit, who were the INSEAD MBAs who worked with you Ms. OB this summer? Martin: Nicolas Floquet, Hernan Rein, Rasha Al-Saleh, Jonathan Hutchings, Michelle Lim, a partner, Debora Rolino Novaes and one PhD, Olivier Chatain. Indevor, through Nicole Vanderbilt and Sharath Jeevan helped us in organizing the week. And finally, Nick Barneville, from the marketing department provided us with an office and his support! Citizen: One last question. How can interested students and alumni help out? Martin: Well, were still getting organized, but anyone looking for more information can contact me by email at martin.gentil@alumni.insead.edu. However, we will certainly present the result of our work during an advertised event before leaving INSEAD.

Dear Ms. OB - When I decided to join INSEAD it was not just for my career: I had been assured that after a year here, my single-hood would end and that on top of the MBA I would surely earn also an MRS. After meeting all of the eligible guys in my promotion though, I have discovered that the decent ones are hooked up with the likes of wives, fiances, girlfriends and other partners. The reasons why the rest of men are still single and should probably remain like that, are fairly obvious, especially if they used to work at IT consulting. What should I do to get a good husband steal one of the reserved hubbies or settle for the leftovers? Yours, girl -aboutabout-campus Dear girl-about-campus - You must either be damn ugly or simply too blind to see the forest through the trees. Every female with minimal attractive features will be able to pick up a decent husband at bschool! Girl, did Bill Gates look cool when he went to Harvard? Come on, put your best frock on and pull up to the shy software designer next time you are both at Freddys and free the Fortune-500-CEO inside of him! And hands off the taken guys, you cannot be that desperate. Yours, Ms. OB (Continued on page 9)

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AN ISSUE O F T H E CITIZEN

The INSEAD Citizen reaches a highly attractive audience of 900 students, 11,000 alumni and a significant number of visiting executives. For more information, contact Avi Turetsky at abraham.turetsky@alumni.insead.edu or +33.6.84.97.38.97.

The INSEAD CITIZEN

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IN S EARCH

OF

INSEADS HOLY GRAIL -

BY

A KSEL

We all know the story of the Holy Grail; The cup used during the last supper which is rumoured to have the ability to provide eternal life. Like all living organisms, INSEAD is also looking for its Holy Grail to provide itself eternal life. However, there seem to be some differing opinions, which is very common in the quests for the Holy Grail, of what INSEADs Holy Grail is. According to the MBA students, and personally I kind of favour this point of view, it is the MBA students. According to the INSEAD administration it is the executive program and the recruiters. For an illustration of the ongoing discussions between the students and the administration please refer to the fairy tail of the cloggie student taken up in the box, that I found in my pigeon hole one day. Hereby I want to extend my gratitude towards this unknown student for really understanding what the Citizen is about. Below we have collected some statements to start a discussion between the administration and the students in order to find a common ground in the pursuit of INSEADs Holy Grail. We have also taken up some possible reactions to these statements. Statement 1: The new rules laid down by the administration about hanging posters in the school are a good thing. Reaction: The administration seems to have forgotten that the executives enjoy being in a student surrounding again and all that comes with it, therefore a banning of posters in school actually diminish the INSEAD experience of the executives. Statement 2: The administration acts very sensibly if it cancels social/national activities, even if it would be one of historic importance for INSEAD such as an former president of a country coming to lecture, because recruiters are on-campus. Reaction: The administration seems to have forgotten that INSEAD students are highly intelligent and responsible people who are capable of making decisions whether or not to go to a recruiter or a national event, as they know best what is in their self interest. The above are just some possible statements and reactions, but, as we want to have a constructive and objective discussion, we encourage everybody, both students and the administration, to provide us with their views about the interactions between the MBA students and the administration. Please send any comments to INSEAD-CITIZEN.Fb@insead.edu

FAIRYTALE ...
Once upon a time there was a cloggie who came to INSEAD with dreams about being emerged in an international pool of diversity. As he did not want to be a free rider he decided to actively contribute to this pool by taking part in the organizing committee of the cloggie national week. As part of the activities of the cloggie week he came up with a brilliant idea, so he thought, to reenact the worldwide known cloggie TV format of Big Brother. Although Big Brother had some negative publicity in certain countries, the overall view was that it was an interesting psychological experience to see how human beings react under closed surveillance. Furthermore, the negative publicity generated, came from the level of the participants, so the student was confident that given the high level of INSEAD students population this would really turn-out to be an interesting experiment. Knowing that the INSEAD administration has strict rules about on-campus activities he prepared himself for the Hercules task of obtaining approval for the event. He got out his sleeping bag and set up shop in front of the administrations office in search for the 8 autographs needed. After 48 hours of high- speed car chases, stalking and life threatening climbs through the windows of the MBA office he finally got all the autographs. As anybody can imagine our young hero had a field day. Gleaming with pride he went to his fellow cloggies to tell them they could start working on Big Brother. With the energy and enthusiasm the cloggies are known for, a team of seven started working on the project day and night as time was running short. Through their tremendous effort, and as it is supposed to go in fairytales, they were able to get everything in place. Satisfied the cloggies got into their large beds and start dreaming sweet dreams about cheese and tulips like cloggies do. While the cloggies were asleep something was stirring in the forest of Fontainebleau. We can see a shadow coming out of the forest. It looks like a woman with a very big nose. As this woman has just one goal in life, that is to make other peoples life miserable, and is very myopic in the sense that she can

see no farther than the Fontainebleau forest, she decided to pay a visit to the people of the INSEAD administration while they were asleep. As this evil woman had magical power, she made the people of the administration have nightmares about the upcoming event. In these nightmares the good reputation of INSEAD was ruined by articles in Le Monde as a result of the Big Brother event. So the next day when the cloggies woke up in their best mood they were summoned in the office of the Viking and he told them that

although they put a lot of time and effort into the Big Brother event, it could not take place. The cloggies were of course flabbergasted and could not believe what they heard. They started to shout and plead and even offered the Viking a pair of clogs, but the Viking only repeated his words with an even icier voice. Nothing else remained for the cloggies than retreat and cancel the whole event. This is indeed the only fairytale in history with a bad ending.

The INSEAD CITIZEN

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.. INSEADS SAD H ABIT


C ONT D FROM PAGE 3
printed this week and the third will follow shortly. The objective is to keep the issue high in everyones minds at all times. The administration is also playing its part in working with the campaign team and INSEAD has sponsored the design and printing costs of the first three posters. Dean Pekka Hietala and the MBA Department have terrible memories of the accidents of May 2002 and Pekka pleads with all MBAs to please, please think twice before setting out in your car be it your own condition, with respect to alcohol or tiredness, or that of the weather and the road conditions. His concern was also demonstrated when he invited Marjette Wiechers (a member of the campaign team) to communicate the urgency of the issue at his primary address to the incoming September promotion recently held in Amphi A. Marjettes presentation was quite shocking in content but then the history of INSEAD and road accidents is a rather disturbing one, to say the least. Mark Green, another campaign team member and a fellow group mate of Jeremy, talks about the campaign so far: We are very happy with how both Jets (Marjette) presentation and the first Be Smart Drive Safe communications have been received by the incoming promotion. Our next step is to secure sponsorship for the design and printing of three new posters together with rolling out our action proposals. The first of these proposals is to encourage all people living together to share the responsibility of driving by designating a driver when traveling by car to a party. The second is to enhance the bus services on offer at the larger of the INSEAD parties by offering more buses traveling to more locations. The third is to get an agreement with some of the local taxi companies to offer their services after midnight on nights when social events are being organized. Presently, it is almost an impossible task to get a cab in the Fontainebleau area after 11.30pm. The BdE has been involved too and they plan to use the bus services offered at the recent party during Dutch national week to set the standards for gaining their official support for future events organized by participants. However, there is a long way to go, as the majority of people attending the Dutch week party decided to ignore the bus services on offer and take their car anyway. Although these efforts are a great step forward and must be commended, it is still up to each of us as individuals to reflect on the responsibility we take on when we get behind the wheel of a car a responsibility to ourselves, our passengers and all others on the road. So if youre exhausted or have had a few drinks . do the right thing! Let us not have to experience the nightmare of May 2002 ever again! To add weight to this message, I include the following letter from Iris Palley (on right).

TO THE STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND STAFF OF INSEAD: I am the mother of Jeremy Palley, who was in the MBA January 2002 promotion. Jeremy was killed in a car crash on May 18, 2002 at 7:00 a.m. on route D148 in foret domainale. He lived in Villecerf. This passage is written by the American author Mark Twain. He had just been told that his beloved daughter, Suzy had suddenly died. "It is one of the mysteries of our nature that a man, all unprepared, can receive a thunder-stroke like that and live. There is but one reasonable explanation of it. The intellect is stunned by the shock and but gropingly gathers the meaning of the words. The power to realize their full impact is mercifully wanting. The mind has a dumb sense of vast loss - that is all. It will take mind and memory months and possibly years to gather together the details an d thus learn and know the whole extent of the loss. A man's house burns down. The smoking wreckage represents only a ruined home that was dear through years of use and pleasant associations. By and by, as the days and weeks go on, first he misses this, then that, then the other thing. And when he casts about for it he finds that it was in that house. Always it is an essential - there was but one of its kind. It cannot be replaced." Mark Twain Jeremy was my only child and I will always love him dearly. I want you all to live a long and happy life. Love each other and know how precious you are to your family and friends. Iris Palley

If anyone would like to volunteer to help the Be Smart Drive Safe campaign or knows of any company who would be interested in sponsoring their noble efforts please contact Mark Green or Marjette Wiechers at: Mark.Green@alumni.insead.edu (+33 6 21 03 56 59) Marjette.Wiechers@alumni.insead.edu (+33 6 16 33 08 82)

The INSEAD CITIZEN

Page 8

A N Y B O D Y N E E D A J O B?
Europe and to help INSEAD students end up in North America. As if a footnote to his point, Vinh Tuan himself is now staying at INSEAD to apply for jobs in Europe. This sounds perfect. Sara Foryt, the INSEAD exchange student at Wharton, felt that all of the career stuff that matters is pretty much off-limits to us. We cant access the Wharton alumni database, cant use CareerTrak, their version of Future system, which means we cant interview with companies. In answering questions on this matter, the Wharton career management office told Citizen that, (INSEAD students) have all the access to our resources. Sara did highlight, however, that the (Wharton) administration has been extremely helpful and from the emails Citizen has received, it seems that all the INSEAD students are happy with their stay there, so far.

C ONT FROM PAGE 4


work for job opportunities. To its credit, LBS has made substantial progress, which is appreciated by its students. It has set up job clubs for the jobless graduates so that they can still get advice and share information. According to Chris Bristow, LBS is now being very proactive in arranging legal services for foreign students who want to stay on in the U.K. to obtain Highly Skilled Migrant Visas. This, in the long run, might significantly affect the schools ranking because MBA graduates working in the U.K. have the highest average salary in Europe. In addition, LBSs location in central London is unmatchable. The school has been approaching the local business community more vigorously than ever for recruitment. While acknowledging this, INSEAD career director Mary Boss denied the geographical location is a disadvantage for MBA placement, citing a survey, which ranked Tuck Business School at Dartmouth College as the most favorite school for recruiters. Fair enough. Compared to Tuck, INSEAD is located somewhere like in lower Manhattan or at least Le Quartieme Arrondisement in Paris. But LBS has also caught cold in this economic winter. While some of the new students at INSEAD worriedly consulted with Citizen editors for job prospects, Ramji Govindarajan, an LBS student, wrote to Citizen saying, in these tough times, they have from day one been trying to integrate our career concerns... the CMC is organizing a lot of workshops... at least I am impressed with LBS's CMC services. Understandably he is a first-year student and perhaps his newfound MBA pride hasnt faded yet, I found the career services are great and I am very satisfied. True enough, LBS has been trying to bring more companies to campus to meet the demand from the students. When the traditional MBA flirters such as investment banking and consultancy firms are not in the mood for love (or even an affair), LBS is courting the industries as well. Now all recruiters from the industries could be pampered one day in London and the next day in Fontainebleau, or equally at Wharton, commented Wharton student Vinh Tuan. Mary Boss has deployed her strategy of embracing industrial recruiters by establishing Portfolios managed by designated staff. The LBS established the Outreach Program to woo those companies. At least the two names sound professional, or simply just soothing. Another proactive step at LBS is its marketing and publicity effort. With undisguised envy, Mary Boss of INSEAD alluded to the huge spending of LBS on public relations. London is not only the financial center, but also the international media center, thanks to the imperially dominating English language. INSEADers might be among the few that sincerely lament the lost glory of French empire. Supposedly it is much easier for journalists in London to consult LBS or simply write about it, and then feed the whole world. Brand image building in general is a good strategy for career management and has benefited the school, commented one INSEAD student who has just been enlightened from the P4 Advertising & Promotional Strategy elective. Mary Boss said that a joint effort to promote INSEAD is also under way, We hope to develop an institutionalized marketing strategy. Of course there is good space for INSEAD to leverage its resources. So, its recruitment season again for INSEAD. Many P4 students are honing hard their writing skills to deluge a large number of affectionate cover letters. What else could INSEADers do? They dont have an upper lip to bite or some psychological determination of being maniac. But they seem quite composed all the same. The drama class now witnesses its largest intake than ever before, and mass emails continue to tout some fancy extra-curricula activities ranging from running with the Dean (as if he was some sort of vitamin) to savoring legal drugs in Amsterdam during the Dutch week. Besides this, nothing else has changed much. INSEAD parties as much as before. Lets hope the hormones around campus will quench all the job thirst, even just for a second!

is what you offer when you dont have enough faculty to offer a decent two-year program. This might not be music for the now 12,000 strong INSEAD MBAs, but in terms of the out-of-school-thenout-of-work proportion of this year, clearly there is no evidence which one of the two schools is winning the competition. As quoted by the Wall Street Journal, at INSEAD, early indications (incomplete) are that 15- 30% of 2002 graduates might leave without an offer. The percentage for LBS is roughly 20- 25%. Not surprisingly, the career service director at LBS also resigned early this year. Market downturn is like a double-bladed sword for business schools. While the admission officer merrily harvests from a larger pool of talent, the career managers are busy selling more of their graduates. An LBS student, who declined to be named, said jokingly that career managers of business schools should go to study crisis management. This shares audience within INSEAD. There are students from both schools who believe that career services should hire MBA graduates into their ranks, who would better understand what kinds of information the students need. At INSEAD, an Argentine student showed concern for the poor quality of company information. We have to rely on the Internet, another student added, there should be some corporate intelligence service at INSEAD after all these years, we dont need the company brochures in the library.

Well, INSEAD might not have the club manias, and the CMS system here is also different. While Sara concluded that more life (in Wharton) seems to revolve around the job-clubs, INSEAD life seems to hustle and bustle around the bar area. Although at INSEAD, there are not as many clubs, or not as much DIY work with other students as at Wharton, still every year students delve into some new efforts, such as the popular Global Leadership Series that was inaugurated only last year. If the spirit of INSEAD is not that of the club-mania in Wharton, it is not, as some people joke, that of clubbing-mania LBS has countered the market either. downturn with multiple strategies. Citizen got the impression that this school is seriously taking measThe ambitious London Business School ures to realize its ambitions. This has taken substantial steps to curb the students anxiety about employability (or year it hired Laura Tyson from career prospect in a less maniac way). Berkeley to launch a fund-raising This includes comprehensive marketing campaign, while on the other efforts, help for working permit and hand, the management of the course adjustment. Facing the challenge school has responsively evolved of market hardship, this English school according to market trends. For surely has a stiff upper lip, a legendary compliment for the English composure of instance, it has re-arranged its defying tough situations. core courses. Corporate Finance and Strategy started being taught in the first term before interviews LBS: stiffer upper lip for summer jobs this year, said LBS Career Management Center John Quelch, ex-dean of LBS, the (CMC) director, Chris Bristow, in sort of self-defined archy-rival of his email to Citizen. INSEAD in Europe, now a director Similar to INSEAD, LBS also has at HBS, once told the Wall Street been tapping into its alumni netJournal one year (MBA) program

The INSEAD CITIZEN

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.. PATRICK TURNER
CO ON NT T D D F FR RO OM M P PA AG GE E 2
and Music in London. I ended up choosing Oxford since there was a career to think about, although I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had taken the other option. If I do one day make my millions (there is still hope) I would like to hire the London Symphony Orchestra for a day in one of the London concert halls. I would not care if there is anybody listening, just to make music for a day would be great. If Edward Heath got to do it, why not me! Actually I did get to conduct an orchestra once, at the Munich Beer Festival a few years ago! This was during a trip with MBA students from my promo. cia, and as far as I am aware there are not many people that do know that in Valencia cathedral there is a chalice that is claimed to be the original Holy Grail. So I got curious and the more I looked into it so I saw possible connections between that artefact and the French Grail Romances. The chalice itself is made of three pieces: the base and the stem seem to date back to medieval times which is when the romances were written, and the actual cup has been dated back to between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D., so the top bit could actually have been used at the Last Supper, that is assuming that the Last Supper actually took place, which is a different story. So I have suggested a few possibilities about how it could have hapCITIZEN: Do you play any instru- pened. The book is about 75% ments yourself? written, although I have not been Patrick: I fool around with the able to work on it lately. Its fascipiano, if I can find pianos to fool nating! around with. It was a life choice back when I was in school. I was studying for university entrance, CITIZEN: What other interests do you have? plus playing rugby and rowing with the first team, plus learning Patrick: Classical music in general. music. But there was no way to I am getting into new composers, keep on pursuing these three like the Czech composer Martinu activities at the level I really and the French composer Poulenc. wanted to, so the reasoning was I like going to a concert occasionthat I could pick up the piano ally and listening to CDs. Very fond later, and so I gave it up in faof French and Spanish food and vour of the sports. But, life bewine. Sports more on the sideing what it is, I have never lines, although I am interested in picked up piano again. Howfollowing the Spanish football liga. ever, purely anecdotally, In Spain I support FC Barcelona, through the rowing I ended up although I have a 14-year old son representing Wales at one inter- who insists in supporting Real national rowing event. Madrid, despite the fact that he is surrounded by six million Catalans. I like exploring. I am looking CITIZEN: We heard that you are forward to visiting the Angkor temworking on a book about the ples soon. But also local places. Holy Grail tell us more about For example, I have spent some it please. very happy Sunday afternoons Patrick: Im tremendously inter- visiting the area around Meaux not ested in medieval history. When far from here exploring the villages I studied French at university I and places that were witness to learned about the legends of the First World War Battle of the the Holy Grail. When I moved to Marne. Spain I discovered that in the cathedral of Valencia there is CITIZEN: You left Britain 25 years this thing called the Holy Grail ago, is there anything you miss that sits in what they call the from Britain? Holy Grail Chapel. When you look at its history, you discover that it was actually used by the Pope to celebrate mass when he visited Spain some years ago. So you start thinking about why I didnt know that this thing was in the cathedral of ValenPatrick: The one thing I miss about Britain is that there is a thriving Elgar society with branches all over the country, which get together on a regular basis. They go to recitals or just meet to discuss Elgar. I miss that, the opportunity to talk with people that are just as enthusiastic about Elgar as me. For all the rest, not a lot really. CITIZEN: Changing topics, tell us a little bit more about your experiences with entrepreneurship please. Patrick: Back when I was a student at INSEAD nobody talked about entrepreneurship per se, it just wasnt a subject. Nobody thought about a being an entrepreneur in general terms. Except for my dear friend Mike Ullmann, who was one of the first people to offer entrepreneurship courses at INSEAD in the early 80s, the rest of us wanted to work at international companies or banks. After INSEAD I went to work for Levis, which was an incredible company in those days, it was growing very fast. Your budgets were out of date by March. I got sent to Spain as marketing director for the Iberian peninsula. Then I turned 40 and a few things happened: the companys management in Europe used to be staffed by Europeans and it changed to Americans. Then I was passed over for the job of head of the Spanish affiliate, for all good reasons though, since the guy that got the job was a Spaniard. But it started me thinking what I wanted to do in terms of career and where I was going. On a piece of paper I wrote down my options. One was to sit it out at Levis. Another was transfer horizontally to another company. The one I chose was neither of those two, it was to start my own thing. I launched a textile company in Spain. The experience was very humbling. I left Levis in December and in the first days of January I started my own company. The transformation from working in a big company with an office, secretaries and so on to an environment in which there was no company and you had to create it all, was enormous. It was cold and I remember that for the first three or four days my office space was a call centre in the Barcelona central railway station, because I was able to sit down, make various phone calls and it was warm. This was in 1986. It worked with delayed action. We proved quite nicely that sales actually take (Continued on next page)

Ms. OB
CO ON NT T D D F FR RO OM M P PA AG GE 5
Dear Ms. OB - I am the obsessive sender of mass-emails from PCs that have not been logged off. I confess, I cannot stop myself from sending rude jokes and nasty comments when I see a vacated PC station when the user has forgotten to exit Windows. I even look for them. My victims only need to go to pick up a printout and voil, the damage is done. I need help, please Yours, Mass- Anonymous Dear Mass Anonymous - I want to spank you hard, red, blue and black! Strip my clothes off and dont forget the handcuffs and the whip! Launch me on a rocket into outer space together with a squirrel. Also, I seem to have lost my mind, have you found it? By the way, is the dungeon and dragons evening still taking place tomorrow? Yours, Ms. OB Dear Ms. OB - I arrived at INSEAD a few weeks ago from Minnesota and leased one of the advertised French cars. I like driving this peppy automobile: I am very pleased with its performance and even getting used to the gearshift. But boy was I shocked to discover that I am simply one among many drivers with red plates! Given that all that seems to matter here is what chateau you live in and what flashy car you park in front of it (see the display of up-scale brands stationed in the North Car Park), I am now inclined to come to school on a bike and use my car to go to supermarket. Please advise. Yours, Red-Plate Ranger Dear Red-Plate Ranger - Well at least you are not the only one with this problem! May I suggest that if the current job market situation makes you believe that you will never be able to afford an Italian red sporty number, you can hide your vehicle in the underground parking lots with all the others, including all those old 80s models some of your fellow students inherited from their uncle. Yours, Ms. OB (Pilar & Beryl)

The INSEAD CITIZEN


(Continued from page 9) longer to realize than expected. We made our first year sale prediction in the second year. Absolutely typical, but I did not know that in those days. We then expanded product lines, more than we should have done, of course seen in hindsight. One fine day the opportunity arose to sell it and I did. Around the same time, 1991, I got involved with a Swiss window fittings company with a Spanish affiliate that had lost a lot of money. I was asked to sort out their affiliate with a view to later taking an important stake in it. So we did it and then the 1992 recession hit in. The Swiss parent wanted to get rid of the Spanish affiliate and asked if I wanted to buy it. It was probably the worst financial decision I ever took. It worked for a short while and then we just hit one major cash crisis after the other. Again, typical. Eventually I had to close it down, before anybody else did. That was one of my worst experiences, those months of winding down the company. That was very bad. Again I was isolated, doing everything by myself. I made all the fundamental mistakes that I now teach my students not to do, like not running out of cash. I really learned the hard way. Which leads me back to why I enjoy teaching so much, because there is the hope that by telling you guys about my experiences, you will not make the same mistakes I did. This was however the worst period I have lived through in my life. It was hard in that situation not to adopt the point of view that you are the worlds most incompetent person and that nobody wants to know about you. However I picked myself up and started to look for another company to buy. One of the people I asked for help was a friend who was a professor at IESE, the Barcelona business school. Given that I was not over occupied at that time, I started helping him with research about European entrepreneurial companies and then he got me involved in his consulting business. Then in

Page 10
1999 I got a phone call from INSEAD asking if I would like to look after a research centre in the Entrepreneurship Department here. A few months after that I was asked to run the REP course by Mike Ullmann and I started teaching the course in 2000. CITIZEN: Do you want to get involved into a company again? Patrick: It would be nice. As I say to my students, I have managed to launch, buy, sell, and go bust with a company. The only thing I have not managed so far is to get rich with a company. But theres hope.

THE SINGAPORE WAY!


Two lonely boys come to France and discover they miss their beloved Singapore. Is there a Singapore way of doing things? The concept of "Two Campuses, One School", is it fact or fiction? One can find some strong similarities in the academic rigor required to complete the program on either side of the globe. The curriculum is the same, with the same professors teaching the same subjects, the workload, to our dismay, is exasperating, the credential of the professors and the quality of the teaching is equal on both campuses. That said, we all know that the academic curriculum is not the sole determinant in comparing the educational benefits of completing an MBA. Fundamentally, we need to look at the product itself: the students. Is there a fundamental difference between students that elected to go to Singapore and the one that chose Fontainebleau? I believe that there is a fundamental difference - although a comparison of Meyers Briggs and other self assessment test data could confirm or debunk this statement. At first glance, the composition of the Singapore campus is similar to the one of Fontainebleau. Europeans were in majority, even though with a slightly bigger percentage of Asians, and North and South Americans. So, the nonexistence of a considerable shift in ethnical background between the

By Marc Gingras & Arndt Brockmann


the name of all the other participants, and late night sessions, sweating over some problem in a cubicle often ended in the ad-hoc formation of a study group - there is a tremendous spirit of cooperation and helping each other out. That said, can the entrepreneurial spirit define a Singapore Way of doing things? I believe so. Several examples come to mind. First, the lack of reputation and funds to organizing events prompted the Singies to be innovative and creative in organizing National Weeks and other events such as the Summer Ball. We found that what we lacked in money, we compensated with personal involvement and created ambiances that remained with us throughout the week and even beyond. Each National week concluded with a party where participation by MBAs, their families, some staff and administration was very high. We will always remember the Karaoke night where Dean Arnoud sang "Hotel California" surrounded by all the lovely female participants, the petanque fields built in the patio by the French, the Bollywood dances of the India-Pakistan collaboration, the many beaver tails of Canada Daze, the Sevillanas & Salsa contest of Latin week. Second, we can look at another trait of Insead culture - logoff emails. They were very personalized and had a certain flair. They included pertinent anecdotes that candidates could all relate to. The ability to imagine storylines was remarkable. Some real master emerged, and left everybody waiting for their next "work". Something that is missing in Fontainebleau. Third, we can also look at the past performance of the Singapore campus, for example in intercampus competitions like the Business Plan Competition. Last year, Singapore took the honors with the top three positions. Furthermore, the Entrepreneurship Day organized by the students in Singapore brought forward over 30 entrepreneurs, 100 external attendees and a keynote speaker. Fourth, at the end of each period, special awards were given to professors and participants. Singapore established its own practices and developed a Singapore way of doing things. Finally, the fact that both Singapore sections won the Prices and Market games and Markstrat is a clear sign that SINGAPORE ROCKS!!! - Sorry, we had to put this one in. This brings forward a question. Should the INSEAD Entrepreneurship Chair be located in Singapore? This question needs to be further investigated by the school administration. This could act as a key differentiator between the campuses and could help attract candidates to this beautiful region.

two campuses cannot explain the differences between the students. The answer lies in the INSEAD recruitment process. First, students that elected to go to Singapore chose to move away from the well established reputation of Fontainebleau and confront the "uncertainties" of a campus in its infancy. Thus, they may have a more entrepreneurial spirit. The second type of students that came to Asia were those that submitted an application at the last minute and were unable to get their first choice of Fontainebleau due to seat unavailability. Again, a commonality can be seen between these students. They are students that are less inclined to manage processes and work in an "organized" fashion. It can be argued that these are entrepreneurial traits , or at least more "freespirited". Further to these common traits among the majority of Singaporean participants, we can also state that the facilities and the living environment play a big role in fostering the growth of the entrepreneurial attitude. The fact that the number of students is significantly smaller, the proximity of living quarters and entertainment facilities, not to mention that warm weather, is conducive to strengthening the ties among participants and reducing the barriers to communication. We never felt a separation between sections - parties, bbqs, outings were always aimed at the whole campus population. On campus, everybody knows at least

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