Mid Term Exams, Supply Chain & Jeff Immelt (CEO, GE)

Last two weeks have been pretty hectic. We finished mid term examinations for Statistics & Financial Markets. I am quite satisfied with my performance in both the exams.

The hectic nature of the last two weeks has primarily been due to case assignments for Supply Chain Management. The cases were pretty complex but it was fun working on them. Recently, we started the Littlefield simulation game wherein individual work groups need to manage operations of a factory over one "simulated year" (5 real days) so as to maximize cash at hand. The game is pretty engaging however we are not faring well at the moment. The game is to reinforce our understanding of the various supply chain management concepts like management of lead time, inventory, capacity etc,

This week I also worked out our group's marketing project topic and have sent it for review to Professor Wolfgang Ulaga. I'll write more about it once the topic is approved by the Professor.

Finally, it was a great moment when today (31.10.2008) Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric (GE) addressed an assembly of MBA students (us) from HEC and engineers from ParisTech. The conference was highly interesting with Mr. Immelt briefly talking about his MBA (1982) experience and his company GE. At the end of the session HEC conferred an honorary degree on Mr. Immelt which he kindly accepted. The conference was held at Paris Chamber of Commerce grand building in Paris.

In the coming week we have a mid-term examination for the Financial Accounting course and completion of the Littlefield sumulation. The weekend is to be spent on studying Financial Accounting. I just realize now that its 2:30am in the morning and I've spent the holloween night in a not so ghostly costume (pajamas :-). I will close my post here and come back in the next week with more updates.

Diwali Celebrations 2008 at HEC

The Indian contingent at the HEC MBA celebrated Diwali on 28th October 2008. Here are a few pictures from the evening party. The beautiful, colorful design is handmade by Poonam (Nitin's wife). Enjoy the show!

[slideshow id=3026418949594872503&w=600&h=475]

TEC On Campus - October 2008 Roundup!

As before, this month again I had an individual TEC On Campus session with Mr. Brinderson, CEO Brinderson Inc, followed by a day-long group session in Paris on Friday 24th.

My individual session was scheduled just after the Statistics mid-term examination. So, had to wrap up my exam quickly and run for the session organized at the BT Retail Workspace in the Executive MBA Building.

The group session was held at Ritz in Paris where we had an insightful discussion with Mr. Steven Sherwood, the CEO of CWS Capital Partners LLC, on the current financial crisis in the US, its effect on real estate activities and his views on leadership in business & personal life.

[caption id="attachment_157" align="alignnone" width="642" caption="HEC TEC On Campus Group 2008 with Mr. Steven Sherwood, CEO of CWS Capital Partners LLC"][/caption]

Aside, we also discussed deeply on topics like financial independence, personal support groups etc which resulted in some home work to be done before the sessions next month. The session overall was very intense resulting in a busy day.

The hospitality at Ritz was good as usual. I must mention that last time, due to Ramadaan, I was unable to taste the food at Ritz. This time I did have lunch there and I must say that the fish was pretty good. Dining once a month at Ritz is not bad after all!

Coming tuesday we have our mid-term examination on Financial Markets. I'll write more later on this as I have to go back to work now.

iPod Touch and Corporate Day...

It has been a long time since I posted something here. As you might understand, the work load has pretty much increased in the last weeks and assignments are a daily business now.

[caption id="attachment_147" align="alignright" width="329" caption="Apple's iPod Touch specially for HEC MBA - Class 2010"][/caption]

Yesterday, each participant of the HEC MBA Class of 2010 received an iPod Touch - courtesy Apple! As the Apple representative pointed out, Stanford is the only other business school that receives a similar gift from Apple.  With a built in wi-fi, accelerometer and a wonderful touch interface, the device is a useful and cool addition to my gadget collection.

Today we didn't have any classes. Instead there were recruitment presentations from various Company's on campus. HEC terms this as a Corporate day. I tried to attend the presentations from a diversified set of companies. Though it would be unfair to consider a single company as a representative sample of the industry it belongs too, yet I felt it would be a good exposure to start with. So, finally I attended presentations from Renault (Automotive), Soparind Bongrain (Food), Abbot (Pharma), Sun Microsystems (IT - Servers), Wipro (IT - End to End) & Amadeus (IT - Travel and Tourism).

The next big event coming up is HEC's International Finance Forum for Recruitment on 21st October 2008.

Tomorrow is another hectic day with classes from morning until late evening. Two groups are going to present their results of the Marketing case on Segway (Human Transporter) in front of the Segway representative in France.

Aside, I finally submitted my application for the Carte de Sejour (Residence Permit). I hope I am able to get my residence permit before Christmas else I'll have to spend the holidays in France ! Anyways, at least for now, we wait and watch.

Signing off/.

Celebrating Eid ul Fitr in France !

Eid greetings to all! May God bless us all with the best of this world and hereafter.

The month of Ramadan finally ended and, by the grace of God, we celebrated Eid ul Fitr on 1st October this year in France. I am not going to write much in this post but rather add some pictures to capture the experience of celebrating Eid in France especially with other MBA participants.

Eid sermon and prayer was held in the Town hall of Massy Pallasieu. I reached the Townhall at 8:45am with a Tunisian and an Indian friend. Just check out the crowd and the nice picturesque setting of the town hall in this small French town!

[caption id="attachment_130" align="alignnone" width="720" caption="Eid Prayers and Sermon at Town Hall of Massy Pallasieu"][/caption]

Following the morning prayers and a short visit to my Tunisian friends house, we came back to HEC Campus. We decided to host a short get together in the evening with the other MBA participants. A few snaps of this nice evening jaded with warm Arabic tea and sweets are below.

[caption id="attachment_132" align="alignnone" width="720" caption="Eid Celebrations at the Piano Bar at Residence Expansiel"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_139" align="alignleft" width="128" caption="Affaan on Eid"][/caption]

This Eid is Affaan's first and I am sure he enjoyed it as much as his mother and the

[caption id="attachment_142" align="alignright" width="87" caption="Affaan smiling"][/caption]

rest of the family did in India and Netherlands!

Once again wishing you a happy Eid !

Signing off.