NUS - Outbound Singapore

It is all too well known that team building exercises are the best way to break ice and to get people to know each other in an informal setup. It is no surprise hence that the teams that work together accomplishing so many tasks during such outbound trips, end up becoming very close knit groups. This is the reason I love outbound trips; they let me make new friends; and fast. The NUS outbound trip to Pulao Bin was no exception. In fact, this trip taught me a few lessons that make me cherish this experience even more.

We began our “sojourn” by understanding that each one of us is unique and therefore has a preferred way of dealing with things and people. This understanding was facilitated by a session on MBTI personality assessment. This was a great beginning as it made us more sensitive to those who could be diametrically opposite in views and opinions – a crucial aspect to the success of the team.


Then we were divided into groups for the rock-climbing activity. This involved one person literally scaling the heights as the rest of the team ensured that the climber went up and came back down safely. The exciting part was when the climber had to accomplish a tightrope walk at 40 feet in the air! With the whole team cheering from below, all of us, in turns, were able to complete this seemingly impossible task. Rock solid team spirit such as that, with the people we barely knew; made me believe that there is no limit to what can be achieved as long as we try hard enough! This experience was a fitting testimony to the spirit of teamwork!

The whole atmosphere at Pulao Bin was quite pristine without the distractions of mobile phones, computers, deadlines, assignments, cases, etc. It was more like a back-to-the-basics experience that helped us look at things from a different perspective. Especially when we had to prepare ourselves for the grand finale of the outbound trip – i.e. build our own boats to sail into the ocean to reclaim NUS flags!

The Grand Finale brought out the glowing spirit of teamwork in the entire cohort. Each one of us had to venture beyond our limits and do our bit to ensure that our cohort earned enough points to buy the equipment needed to build the boat. And finally our construction team with their superior engineering skills built strong boats that carried the whole cohort into the ocean and returned back safe with NUS flags flying high!

Everyone wholeheartedly supporting and encouraging each other and working towards a common goal of taking the team to success, made me feel like I had belonged in that setup for many years now and not just two days!

The outbound trip brought out the best of team spirit in each one of us. During those two days, we networked, befriended, laughed, sweated, strategized, overcame, and at the end of it all, came out as one team...the NUS MBA team!

-Raghu
Class of 2010
S3Asia MBA Program

Summer Graduate Program-Norway

From the editor: Fatma Iskandar from the Class of 2010 shares her experiences at the summer graduate program in Norway

During my first semester at NUS, I was planning to go for an exchange programme. However, I wasn’t too keen on a semester long exchange. It was then that I saw Zahira’s email informing us of the summer exchange programme to Norway. A 2 week summer program was just what I was looking for. And so without further delay, I grabbed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and applied for the programme. The partner school (NHH) was located in Bergen, the second biggest city in Norway after Oslo, with a population of 250,000.

The entire registration process was quite a cake-walk with both NUS and the partner school staff being very helpful. Visa and housing also got arranged quite smoothly. I was all set to go for the 2 weeks of school. My journey commenced from Changi Airport on the midnight of 19^th June and the trip to Norway from Singapore took 18 hours with a short transit in Amsterdam. I received a very warm welcome from the faculty and staff the moment I arrived in Bergen.

The programme was distributed across several modules taught by different professors & industry professionals. One of the Professors, an actual Nobel Prize Winner of 2004, was awe-inspiring to say the least. And sitting in his class, even for a single lecture was an experience in itself. It was interesting to learn how the fishery system works in Norway, things like emission trading and even the economic model of oil and gas. Norway has abundant natural resources, with hydropower, oil, gas, and fish and maritime as its major industries. Another interesting factor was the fact that classroom teaching was complemented with company visits to the biggest Oil & Hydropower Companies in Norway.

My classroom was a complete melting pot of cultures with only two Norwegian students in class. With nearly all of us from diverse educational backgrounds, countries and even culinary skills, staying in one hostel was an enriching networking experience. Just to give you a flavour, I was taught by an Italian friend how to make “proper” pasta with Italian taste, while I taught her that Indonesian people like sweet and spicy pasta!

Besides the full day programme during the 2 weeks, I also had a opportunity to explore the city and its surrounding areas. The best part….the days were 21 hours long! And so we would only see the moon from midnight till 3am every day. I can only imagine how tough it must be to go through winters in that region.

Usually after classes ended at 5 pm, we would take 10 minutes by bus to reach town. A bunch of 40-odd students, all super friendly and adventurous! With them I was able to explore a lot of new things. One day we went to the fish market to taste free whale meat and salmon fish. Another day we went to watch an outdoor Russian opera. On the weekend, we went for a mountain walk- the fresh air and the amazing view from the top of the Floyen Mountain totally made it worth the tiresome walk! Another favourite with tourists was the Fjord tour in Bergen. Bergen is full of historical places, scenic hills and breathtaking Fjord with its lake and mountain.

And suddenly, it was time to go back. 8^th July I had to leave beautiful Bergen for another 18 hour journey back to Singapore. Indeed those were some of the best moments in my life.

- Fatmawati Iskandar

Class of 2010

IL était une fois..... Paris

From the editor: Salahaddine from the Class of 2010, shares his experiences about the Summer Exchange Graduate Program at ESSEC, Paris.

The journey of ESSEC summer program “Global Manager In Europe” started with an application and a selection process, the application started in early February and the deadline was at the end of March, the requirements were: Good Academic Standing (with CAP of 3.0 and above), an application form, a CV & a Motivation Letter in which one needed to explain why one wanted to take this summer program in Paris. I remember one student simply, but frankly, said, “Because….. Because it’s Paris!”

In the first week of April, the results of the application delivered to us by Delphine (the International Relations Manager of ESSEC MBA program), a very co-operative person, she provided us with a Brochure containing all the necessary information (the map of Paris’ RER to reach the school and any part of Paris, subway ticket’s prices, internet links to find housing in Paris and much more…), enough details to ensure you won’t be lost in Paris, even if this was going to be your first visit.

After we received the acceptance letter, the Visa application (for those who need Visa to visit France) was a straight forward procedure.

Our class started on 22 June and finished on 10 July. During these 3 weeks, I had the chance to meet with students from some of the world top business schools, 15 nationalities, 26 different backgrounds with one goal: mingling with new cultures, knowing Europe from its economic, social and political perspectives, knowing management practice of Europeans, their negotiation style and learning unforgettable lessons about the luxury industry (Giorgio Armani, Hermes, Bottega Veneta...)

But at the end what makes you love your classes is of course professors themselves, 12 professors with very high profiles ranging from the Dean, Judge, European parliament member, former French prime minister Advisor, former CEO of Giorgio Armani France…… these people bring you their experience and share it with you, no need for additional assignments to really grasp the material because you already did it in the class. There were no thorny assignments so we had more time to discover and enjoy Paris!!

The program was also full of other activities such as cultural visits: visit to the House of Jean Monnet, the architect of European Unity, visit to the Opera Garnier, visit to the Van Gogh museum where the famous painter spent the last months of his life before he committed his famous suicide, and the best part! Wine and cheese tasting: a collection of wine and the accompanying cheese from different parts of France;

An advice: never drink wine in one shoot in the presence of a French person, he/she may feel humiliated!!!

For them, you should enjoy wine with all your senses you should enjoy its color, its smell, the touch of its glass, the sound of its glass when cheering up and then enjoy its taste…

Paris the city of romance! Paris la Ville-Lumière (the light city), I can’t say more than what great poets said about it, but from my experience it is more than what they said…!
You can enjoy Paris day and night, it is really alive city in all its corners, tourists are everywhere and they are speaking different languages although English is the dominant one, so you don’t need to speak French to be understood.

In the brochure that we received there are many places to visit (hopefully you can manage to visit them all): Eiffel tower, Versailles chateau, Arc de Triomphe………For the night life, you have unlimited choices depending on your mood and taste: good restaurants, cinemas, discotheques…..

After we finished the program they asked us to give our feedback, all of us had different opinions but all of us agreed on one thing: 3 weeks are absolutely not enough!!!

I wrap up my program’s experience in three words: “enjoy and learn” or maybe “learn to enjoy”.

-Salaheddine Maataoui
Class of 2010

3 Words: The NUS MBA

From the editor: Anshuman is an NUS MBA Alumnus from the Class of 2008. In this write-up, he shares with us his primary learnings from this MBA program.

About Me: I am currently a Marketing Manager at Emerson Process Management. I started here in Jan 2008 as Sales & Operations Planning Manager for Asia Pacific. In Jan this year, I moved to my current role.

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I often wonder if an MBA is required? What value does an MBA bring to you? I have been pondering over this question since 2005 when I was toying with the idea of writing GMAT. Then TOEFL happened to me! One by one, many things happened and before I could realize, I was out of NUS Business School with an MBA and all set to start the second innings of my professional career.Let's see if the marginal benefit of having an MBA is worth the time, effort, money and lost opportunity of staying out of workforce for 2 years! My lessons from NUS MBA can be summarized in 3 simple words: Preparation, Decision and Communication.

Preparation: All of us solve hundreds of cases during our MBA and that is something which draws a direct parallel to what we do at work. Every day, we come to the lecture hall to discuss a case. Some students read the case many times, read related articles, apply the theory to make sense of the case and try to frame a plausible solution. All the time, he is preparing! As the case discussion progresses, he starts to connect the dots and he is most likely to come up with a breakthrough solution. MBA helps you become a powerhouse of information. On average, what you read in a week's time is more than what an average professional reads in a month, if not in a year! That's the difference. You are assimilating more dots in your mind which will someday give way to form a pattern! At work, my personal observation is similar. A curious mind is more likely to learn about things which may not be directly related to his day-to-day work. All these ancillary information someday comes to his rescue! MBA breeds this curiosity in individual which then drives them to prepare!

Decision: The importance of this word can not be emphasized enough! During MBA, action is paramount. There is never enough time or data for a comprehensive analysis. Decisions are always based on whatever information you have and whatever dots you have assimilated over time. We do it every day of our lives. Most of these decisions are not perfect but that's not the point. The point is to make the best decision possible given the time and information you have and move on. This ability is a rare commodity in the real world and one who learns this will go quite far in his professional life. I remember the "MarkStrat" game in our "Product and Brand Management" module. There was this virtual market and the teams were competing with each other like competitors in a real market. Every week (equivalent of a quarter in the business world), we had to make decisions on product attributes, new launch, rationalization, R&D Investment, production capacity, workforce, advertisement budget, inventory limits, etc etc. You could overwhelm yourself by all kind of analysis but the key was the decision, not the analysis. There was so much data available that you could literally kill yourself in the pursuit of framing the most informed decision. No analysis was enough. 13 weeks of decision making helped me understand the tradeoff between action and analysis. In your professional life, you will have to make decisions every day and there is never enough time for comprehensive analysis. There is a premium on agility and an MBA gives you more exposure and puts you a little ahead of your peers, ceteris peribus!

Communication: The 200 powerpoint presentations, their delivery, team meetings, case discussions, mock interviews and all the projects and assignment are the flavor of NUS MBA. There is a common theme to all these. It helps you become a better communicator. It helps you understand how to present minimum information and yet maximize the impact. It helps you articulate your thoughts and put them across to your peers and professors. You may feel overpowered by another batch mate on semester 1 but that will give you one more reason to learn how to do it better the next time. By the time, you are in Sem 3, you are a pro! NUS MBA also helps you appreciate team work in a multi-cultural environment. In my current job, I have to interact with people across Asia Pacific on a daily basis and I give full credit to my conditioning during NUS MBA which helps me appreciate different cultures more than ever. With the new state of the world where boundaries are falling every minute, we are all converging towards "one world". Given this reality, it helps you to be at ease with people of varying cultures to maximize your professional output.

Overall, I believe that Preparation, Decision and Communication are 3 skills which can take you far in your professional life. Irrespective of which industry you join post MBA, these 3 traits will always be there to keep you moving. An MBA from NUS provides you enough latitude to develop or hone on these skills. As Sheila Wang (Our Supply Chain Prof at NUS) put it, "an MBA school provides you with a risk free environment. There is only upside in the form of your learning".

So, make use of this excellent risk free environment NUS Business School has provided you and make full use of it while you are there. You'll need them later!

-Anshuman

Class of 2008

Welcome - Class of 2011!!

It is with pleasure that I welcome you all to the NUS MBA Programme on behalf of the NUS MBA Community. I am Srinivasa Varadhan, President of the NUS MBA Student Council, and would like to give you a peek into the School, the people and the experience, which all await you so eagerly; a peek into the 17 month long roller coaster ride you are about to begin!

The Program
Split across semesters, the First semester quite often seems the most challenging, particularly for those after a long break from their past academic endeavors. The interesting challenge however, is not across academics, but in getting "settled as a student". While this experience evokes emotions ranging from shock to exhilaration, everything depends on how quickly you manage to settle with the reality that your "time as a student" has started again! This 4-month long semester is the best training ground, not only for everything that will ever be required from you by the MBA program; but also and perhaps more importantly, for managing prolonged stressful periods of time.

The People
Students: the students form a close knit community which is, at the moment, waiting enthusiastically to meet you all. Let me assure you that we will provide all our support and help to you in whatever ways required, now and in the future. A large factor of a successful MBA programme will be your ability in effectively engaging with the senior batch, and in getting to know as many people as possible.

NUS MBA Student Council: This is an entirely student run body that represents the entire NUS MBA student fraternity. The Council comprises of professional clubs (Finance, Marketing, Consulting, Social Impact, Knowledge Management and Sports) and also departments for student welfare (Programme Development, Student Activities, Career Services, Communication & PR, Finance & Admin). This team will be closely working with you for all the activities through the semester and we earnestly look forward to your active participation and engagement with the Council.

MBA Office: A cluster of very vibrant, caring and efficient teams, the MBA office is the major source of support, guidance and mentorship. All the student & Council initiatives receive strong support from the MBA Office. Whether it's a personal problem or a career issue, the teams are always there, with a smile!

The School

Sprawled over a hill amidst lush greenery, the business school is an example of brilliant architecture that combines airy corridors, scenic views & water fountains with state-of-the-art computer labs, lecture theatres and a highly modernized very well-equipped library. The building with its numerous seating areas, each offering a different but equally beautiful view, adds immensely to the whole MBA experience. And of course, the new Mochtar Riady building that is currently underway and that shall be inaugurated by your batch next January, will be another feather in the NUS Campus cap.

The Alumni

Well!! This is a huge team - and each one of them is as eager to be a part of the School as you are. The NUS MBA alumni are a great source of strength and support to all of us, ready to help us out in any endeavor and experience. I am sure that all of you will also benefit immensely from this wonderful relationship and will continue to strengthen it further.

The University

One of the inimitable advantages of the NUS Business School is the fact that it's part of a 100 year old globally renowned, premier university. The National University of Singapore forges alliances with top leading universities across the globe, and offers students access to endless learning opportunities in diverse areas of interest. With close proximity to other schools of the University viz, School of Science, Arts, Engineering, Computing etc. the students have the wonderful opportunity to widen their experiential learning opportunities, and to meet a very diverse set of professors and students. Also, upon graduation, you also become the proud alumni of NUS, the benefits of which will be many and far reaching.

All these and many more are to be explored & experienced by you all, as individuals and as a batch - that would forever be proudly known as the Class of 2011! While the Business School and the University are eagerly looking forward to welcoming the next batch of students, we are sure that this would be a fascinating journey - to forge long standing relationships, that will be cherished for years to come.

With this, I would like to once again extend a warm welcome - and to join us in this ride!

With Warm Wishes,
On Behalf of the NUS MBA Students & the NUS MBA Student Council,
K. Srinivasa Varadhan
President – NUS MBA Student Council