tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10883306260279305542024-02-02T10:05:17.748+00:00The Life at Cass BlogOpinion and Comment from Alumni and Students at the Cass Business School in LondonPranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-78810480611887700272009-08-24T19:12:00.003+01:002009-09-10T13:27:19.120+01:00Gartner's Tech Hype Chart.An interesting view by Gartner.<div><br /><p><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/gartner_hype_cycle09b.jpg" /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-51958169832342201812009-08-20T15:07:00.005+01:002009-09-10T13:30:33.999+01:00BBC producing film based on the fall of Lehman Brothers, due this Autumn.<blockquote>The <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/british_broadcasting_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" class="tickerized" title="More articles about the BBC.">BBC</a> said on Wednesday that it is producing “The Last Days of Lehman Brothers,” a TV movie “inspired by the real events” of that September weekend, for its BBC Two channel...It isn’t clear when “The Last Days,” written by the BBC scribe Craig Warner, will come out, other than sometime this fall. </blockquote><div><br /></div>Watch online: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mq34n/The_Last_Days_of_Lehman_Brothers/">BBC iplayer</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-32743621999332669982009-08-20T12:48:00.006+01:002009-09-10T13:33:36.462+01:00iPhone vs Android Apps.App costs on Android vs. iPhone<br /><br /><blockquote>Android and iPhone Apps Cost About The Same, Except For Games And Dictionaries <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/06/android-and-iphone-apps-cost-about-the-same-except-for-games-and-dictionaries/">#1</a></blockquote><div><br /></div>The effect of competition<div><br /><blockquote>Washington Post figures the Apple App Store is cheaper in some instances because competition between the huge amount of similar apps has driven prices down. The Android market has much less apps available that Apple offers. At this time, the Android Market has about 6000 apps compared to 65,000 on the App Store. <a href="http://androidcommunity.com/android-apps-cost-as-much-as-iphone-apps-or-more-20090807/">#1</a></blockquote></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-55951569199951931752009-08-09T22:00:00.006+01:002009-09-10T13:38:21.136+01:00Carbon Emission Comparison: Eurostar vs. Indian RailwaysRail travel is always projected as being the more fuel efficient transport - when compared to air travel anyway.<div><br /></div><div>So anyway, this Sunday evening, a bug caught me and I began to wonder: Is it more fuel efficient to travel by high speed trains that are modern in design and run in western countries, or if it is cheaper in face to travel by slow moving mass carriers, such as trains in India.</div><div><br /></div><div>At the face of it, it seems slower mass transport is bound to not only be cheaper, but also more fuel efficient and thus more 'green'. But lets not hypothesise over it, lets get some actual numbers out.</div><div><br /></div><div>According to the Eurostar website: The carbon emissions per passenger distance travelled for the London-Paris round trip are <b>11 grams</b> per passenger kilometre.</div><div><br /></div><div>So lets see: there are no exact figures calculated for Indian Railways - at least none I want to depend on, so let me calculate it myself. I got access to the <a href="http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/deptts/stat-eco/Stat_index-06_07.htm">Annual Statistical Statements 2006-07</a> which is the latest year for which stats are available.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I focused on two classes of stats:</div><div><ol><li>Total passenger kilometres (col.13 on pg. 12 of <a href="http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/deptts/stat-eco/statistical-stmt-0607/st-12.pdf">pdf</a>)</li><li>Fuel consumed for passenger services (col.3 on pg.4 of <a href="http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/deptts/stat-eco/statistical-stmt-0607/st-27b.pdf">pdf</a>)</li></ol></div><div>The reports may appear confusing if you're unfamiliar with Indian Railways. They're divided into several zones (it is in fact the fifth <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways">largest network</a> in the world) and stats are computed for each zone separately and then weighted averages calculated.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway - so here are the figures I managed to dig out.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><blockquote><div>Total Passenger Kilometres: 694 billion kilometres ('a') = 694,000 million km.<br />Total fuel consumed (equivalent in coal): 759,140 tonnes ('b') = 759.14 million kg.<br /><br />Coal used per passenger kilometre in 2006-07: <b>1.09 grams<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">Indian Railways: 1.09 grams<br />Eurostar: 11 grams</span></b></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>So effectively, Indian Railways is 10 times more carbon-efficient than the Eurostar's most efficient journey.</div><div><br /></div><div>--- But before you say 'yay' read this:</div><div><br /></div><div>If you would believe the <a href="http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/whitepaper/chap-1.htm">stats offered by the Indian Railways</a>, it is in fact the safest rail network in the world with the lowest accidents per million km:</div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>Japan Railway Group: 0.65</div><div>Germany: 0.91</div><div>France: 0.84</div><div>Italy: 0.73</div><div>Indian Railway: 0.55</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Of course this doesn't take into account fatalities or fatalities in suburban rail networks: with <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Mumbai_trains_claimed_more_than_20000_lives_in_5_years/articleshow/2957738.cms">20,000 people dead in Mumbai</a> in rail accidents between Jan 2003-Dec 2007.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not surprising. Youtube is full of videos like this one.</div><div><br /></div><br /></div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-77814136091992283642009-08-09T11:23:00.005+01:002009-09-29T14:50:50.337+01:00Forbes: Cass MBA 6th Best 1yr Program in the WorldForbes now ranks Cass Business School's 1 year MBA #6 in the world right behind INSEAD, IMD, IE, Judge & Said - putting us ahead of the likes of SDA Bocconi, Cranfield and HEC.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/03/best-business-schools-09-leadership-careers-nonus1yr_slide_7.html">#1</a></div><div><br /></div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-50827633963719328922009-08-06T15:10:00.007+01:002009-08-06T15:29:09.187+01:00What happens when Twitter and Facebook collapse simultaneously?So, Twitter has been down for over half an hour now. They've acknowledged this on their <a href="http://status.twitter.com/post/157160617/site-is-down">status blog</a>.<div><br /></div><div>Many users (including me) are reporting problems with Facebook too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Is this the apocalyptic scenario when the world's social media collapses?</div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe this is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack">Denial of Service</a> or hack attack? What are the implications if the world's personal information lands up in the hands of some hackers, or even worse, an authoritarian government. After all, is it just a coincidence that this happens one day after Ahmadijenad was <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=ahx5HwHrrE4Y">sworn in</a> as Iran's President? </div><div><br /></div><div>Update @15:28 BST. Livejournal is now down as well.</div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-42102030992048196682009-08-06T14:13:00.005+01:002009-08-06T14:34:48.828+01:00London's best street food: Whitecross Street. [TimeOut]This week's TimeOut has an article on London's best street food and Whitecross Street behind Cass is featured.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/features/8332/5.html">www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/features/8332/5.html</a><br /><br /><em></em><em></em><blockquote><em>Whitecross St, EC1Y (<a href="http://www.timeout.com/external_link/?http://www.whitecrossstreet.co.uk" target="_blank">www.whitecrossstreet.co.uk</a>). Old St tube/rail or Barbican tube. Speciality food market 11am-5pm* Thur-Fri; some stalls operate on other weekdays as well. </em><em><br /><br /></em>* Be aware that although the official opening times are from 11am to 5pm, we’ve found that most of the stalls pack up and leave soon after the lunch rush is over and the hordes have returned to their offices. We’d recommend getting there by 2pm for the best and freshest grub.</blockquote><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQSjQwlH3Y_i-9c0WMhz7iJPbCpoto6Lik9wvLGe_Wi5wF3z9jynEbA00SuLFBOATzCngD7UVFKeh-gjNp329DdVJTehmn-HdPrFM_JJR2O1UiKo_FlG2Lp14NgBvF_6Ps0fJ8Efo0ct9R/s1600-h/wsm.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQSjQwlH3Y_i-9c0WMhz7iJPbCpoto6Lik9wvLGe_Wi5wF3z9jynEbA00SuLFBOATzCngD7UVFKeh-gjNp329DdVJTehmn-HdPrFM_JJR2O1UiKo_FlG2Lp14NgBvF_6Ps0fJ8Efo0ct9R/s320/wsm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366842014596657522" border="0" /></a>Image from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackbeltjones/3120703972/">moleitau</a><br /></div><blockquote></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-81915654189162743202009-08-05T16:58:00.008+01:002009-08-05T17:13:17.075+01:00The Best Business Books Ever (as chosen by Fortune Magazine, NYT, FT and Businessweek).<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMjnoHYyqj3Ccu2raAPNisaH9sb4doupGogg4NNNffUHfIDeW9tHy4ZzEsNr-A4CzZu_GeDkjKv0ZBnCt-EQy8-rEJnuLUqKtY3abFC250aqJgAE6pCXbw4s0HmDn2lYDfQFOaK9LIWaLM/s1600-h/bookpic.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMjnoHYyqj3Ccu2raAPNisaH9sb4doupGogg4NNNffUHfIDeW9tHy4ZzEsNr-A4CzZu_GeDkjKv0ZBnCt-EQy8-rEJnuLUqKtY3abFC250aqJgAE6pCXbw4s0HmDn2lYDfQFOaK9LIWaLM/s320/bookpic.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366512215300363298" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/03/21/8254826/index.htm">The Smartest Books We Know [Fortune Magazine] </a><br /><br /><a href="http://executivesuite.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/the-best-business-books-ever/?hp">The Best Business Books Ever? [NY Times]</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/93846fda-6ab4-11dc-9410-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=0efdf834-e6a8-11db-9034-000b5df10621.html">The Best Business Books of All Time [FT.com</a><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/93846fda-6ab4-11dc-9410-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=0efdf834-e6a8-11db-9034-000b5df10621.html">]</a><br /><br /><a href="http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/06/investor_books/index_01.htm">Must Reads for Investors [Businessweek]</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Image from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/betta_design/2200198472/">betta design</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-43995844349750043722009-08-01T14:49:00.014+01:002009-08-02T00:44:31.548+01:00Collective wisdom and information overload.<strong><span><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><strong><span><strong style="font-weight: normal;"></strong></span></strong></span></strong></span></strong><strong style="font-weight: normal;">Something about ants from the oldest magazine in the U.S.</strong><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><br /></strong><a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mindless-collectives-rational-decision-making">www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mindless-collectives-rational-decision-making</a><br /><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><blockquote>...these findings “underscore a nonintuitive point—getting lots of information about a problem may not help decision making if you have only limited computational capacity to process it. You might do better with a strategically limited set of information. The trick, of course, is knowing what information to use and what to exclude.”</blockquote></span></strong><br /><strong style="font-weight: normal;"></strong><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><span><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><strong><span><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><strong><span><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR5j1aeONUJP8Ml6OC2ScNcg-_kBHmy8BB02u8kEYSyBNsbbhfMtOZLpLQgyPMMq7e_u3ayy8CLvNVyKacpeLnuiV6Vc4vpXoZ2vk0A9YPNvKPtp4MPJznKWl6QCGm4WfnFVAj5GYjM_OS/s1600-h/3724555369_38106276db.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR5j1aeONUJP8Ml6OC2ScNcg-_kBHmy8BB02u8kEYSyBNsbbhfMtOZLpLQgyPMMq7e_u3ayy8CLvNVyKacpeLnuiV6Vc4vpXoZ2vk0A9YPNvKPtp4MPJznKWl6QCGm4WfnFVAj5GYjM_OS/s320/3724555369_38106276db.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365143731765093506" border="0" /></a></span></strong></span></strong></span></strong></span></strong><strong><span><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><strong style="font-weight: normal;">Image from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/itkovian/3724555369/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Itkovian</span></a></strong></strong></span></strong></span></strong></span></strong></span></strong></span></strong><br /></div><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><strong style="font-weight: normal;"></strong></strong></span></strong><strong style="font-weight: normal;"></strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-92114099277716335522009-07-30T11:43:00.004+01:002009-07-30T12:14:31.966+01:00Privacy Practices & Policies in Online Social Networks<div>This research is really insightful and relevant to so many people. Well done Joseph Bonneau & Sören Preibusch at the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge.</div><div><br /></div><div>From the abstract of the <a href="http://preibusch.de/publications/Bonneau_Preibusch__Privacy_Jungle__2009-05-26.pdf">paper</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>We have conducted the first thorough analysis of the market for privacy practices and policies in online social networks. From an evaluation of 45 social networking sites using 260 criteria we find that many popular assumptions regarding privacy and social networking need to be revisited when considering the entire ecosystem instead of only a handful of well-known sites.</blockquote></div><div>Impressive!</div><div><br /></div><div>One of the more interesting things in this research is this amazing world social networking map listing the popular social networking sites in each country.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.oxyweb.co.uk/blog/socialnetworks-nov08.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://www.oxyweb.co.uk/blog/socialnetworks-nov08.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /></div><div>Social Network map of the world:</div><div><a href="http://www.oxyweb.co.uk/blog/socialnetworkmapoftheworld.php">http://www.oxyweb.co.uk/blog/socialnetworkmapoftheworld.php</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a summary of the results for those of you interested. The following is a ranking of the most popular social networks by their 'Privacy Score'. Bebo scores best (quite fittingly) while Badoo (unsurprisingly!) is last of the lot.</div><div><br /></div><div>Facebook is frustratingly middle of the pack when one would have expected it to have led by example.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the other hand, Linkedin ranks second, which is impressive and probably one of the bigger reasons why it is the most popular business network on the web.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>1<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Bebo (0.7)</div><div>2<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>LinkedIn </b>(0.7)</div><div>3<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Gaia Online (0.69)</div><div>4<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Habbo (0.66)</div><div>5<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>meinVZ (0.65)</div><div>6<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Xanga (0.65)</div><div>7<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Last.fm</b> (0.64)</div><div>8<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>LiveJournal </b>(0.62)</div><div>9<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>PerfSpot (0.61)</div><div>10<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ning (0.59)</div><div>11<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Plaxo </b>(0.58)</div><div>12<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Windows Live Spaces (0.58)</div><div>13<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Imeem (0.55)</div><div>14<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Facebook </b>(0.53)</div><div>15<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>XING </b>(0.52)</div><div>16<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Classmates.com (0.51)</div><div>17<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>CyWorld (0.51)</div><div>18<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Orkut (0.51)</div><div>19<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>MocoSpace (0.49)</div><div>20<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Twitter </b>(0.49)</div><div>21<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Yonja (0.49)</div><div>22<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>hi5 (0.48)</div><div>23<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>MySpace </b>(0.48)</div><div>24<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Hyves (0.47)</div><div>25<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>BlackPlanet (0.46)</div><div>26<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Eons (0.46)</div><div>27<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Imbee (0.46)</div><div>28<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Experience Project (0.44)</div><div>29<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Flixster (0.44)</div><div>30<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Friendster (0.44)</div><div>31<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>NetLog (0.44)</div><div>32<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Kaioo (0.43)</div><div>33<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Viadeo (0.41)</div><div>34<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Nexopia (0.4)</div><div>35<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>BuzzNet (0.37)</div><div>36<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Bahu (0.35)</div><div>37<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Multiply (0.34)</div><div>38<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>MyYearbook (0.33)</div><div>39<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>SkyRock (0.31)</div><div>40<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Impulse (0.3)</div><div>41<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Sonico (0.3)</div><div>42<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Tagged (0.3)</div><div>43<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>MyLife (0.28)</div><div>44<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>CouchSurfing (0.26)</div><div>45<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Badoo (0.23)</div><div><br /></div></div><div>For more details, to download the research paper and the summaries, please visit this page.</div><div><a href="http://preibusch.de/publications/social_networks/privacy_jungle_dataset.htm">http://preibusch.de/publications/social_networks/privacy_jungle_dataset.htm</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-53883467039765983242009-07-28T14:54:00.003+01:002009-07-28T15:06:31.877+01:00An MBA makes some musicSo <a href="http://www.christheo.com/">Chris Theo</a>, my classmate on the Cass MBA and an avid blogger himself (including a co-writer on this blog) just made a song and shared it with the world.<br /><br />Just thought I'd share it with readers of this blog as an example of the creativity this recession is inspiring!<br /><br /><div style="font-size: 11px;"><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fchristheo%2Fchris-t-in-its-place"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fchristheo%2Fchris-t-in-its-place" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <div style="padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://soundcloud.com/christheo/chris-t-in-its-place">In Its place</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/christheo">ChrisTheo</a></div></div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-6759880372625480302009-07-22T08:58:00.004+01:002009-07-22T09:02:10.581+01:00Photos from Wind Farms around the worldSo I looked up flickr and found a group dedicated to Wind Farms. You can find it <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/windfarms/">here</a><br /><br />I took the geoFeed and put it on a Google map and the results are below. Maybe I should upload some of my own pics of Wind Farms in Karnataka and upload to this group!<br /><br /><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fapi.flickr.com%2Fservices%2Ffeeds%2Fgeo%2F%3Fg%3D55431302%40N00%26lang%3Den-us%26format%3Drss_200&ie=UTF8&ll=35.25468,-76.682939&spn=32.604231,158.001765&output=embed" scrolling="no" width="600" frameborder="0" height="350"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fapi.flickr.com%2Fservices%2Ffeeds%2Fgeo%2F%3Fg%3D55431302%40N00%26lang%3Den-us%26format%3Drss_200&ie=UTF8&ll=35.25468,-76.682939&spn=32.604231,158.001765" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-7406485064762932712009-07-22T08:17:00.008+01:002009-07-22T08:57:18.698+01:00Global Trends in Wind Power GenerationI'm quite interested in green, sustainable ways to generate electricity and think that wind power is one of the best possible ways to do that. Looking at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power">Wikipedia article</a> I managed to pull some statistics out and make some simple graphs that show the world's top 10 producers of wind power and the trends for each country.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5FA3gOEFlFDEdhn4f6U5JATXc2JQSCMk7X7g1r_Oq8uynvxsbUQQ59gyRX-kwJVINVp4tX8v_LMZj03DqmMS6-vU0BdxDR9asCGX90alIv5w5axZUVt3SZ6XLhJf7bu6TAeuFQPFwNgdj/s1600-h/installed.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5FA3gOEFlFDEdhn4f6U5JATXc2JQSCMk7X7g1r_Oq8uynvxsbUQQ59gyRX-kwJVINVp4tX8v_LMZj03DqmMS6-vU0BdxDR9asCGX90alIv5w5axZUVt3SZ6XLhJf7bu6TAeuFQPFwNgdj/s400/installed.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361183336566486722" border="0" /></a><br />Some interesting trends here already:<br /><ul><li>The United States has already become the world's leading producer of wind power, overtaking Germany in 2008.</li><li>China's increase almost matches the US and it is set to overtake Spain in 2008.</li><li>India's progress is perfectly linear - a case of planned strategy?</li><li>Many other countries one would expect to see doing more are way down the list or missing from it altogether: Brazil (as a fast growing economy), Japan (second biggest economy in the world), South Africa & Russia are completely missing, with no installed capacity (South Africa might get its first wind farm in 2010)<br /></li><li>Egypt is the top African country on the list, at no. 23, followed by Morocco at no. 31.</li></ul>Right, all this is fine - I'm not surprised that China and India are in the top 5 wind power generators as they are growing so fast that I suppose they have to tap every possible avenue. However, perhaps some credit is due to them both for encouraging investment in this area. They didn't sign Kyoto and are averse to agreeing to binding emission targets at Copenhagen (<a href="http://en.cop15.dk/news/view%20news?newsid=1734">related news article</a>) later this year, but clearly if things progress this way then they will be much greener economies as they develop.<br /><br />I wanted to do one final check, a comparison of installed wind power capacity to the GDP of each of these 10 countries. I took the figures (again) from Wikipedia and stuck to the IMF list. I took the GDP in PPP as Wind Power is not generally meant for export and I thought it might provide a cleaner comparison between countries.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiipmA_G7FKhBHimBOJ5Yef8ceNz23HCtfHCrES5J1Z9t_0qKZ-guTga2q5Ad6vBGKECXsjEhAsWDL9Eh3cyzHZHjEwlON8lUBCMyk6KCjy_WVtCfp0hNV2FKe213mb9PuyBCw0NyrEdqMC/s1600-h/ratiotogdp.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiipmA_G7FKhBHimBOJ5Yef8ceNz23HCtfHCrES5J1Z9t_0qKZ-guTga2q5Ad6vBGKECXsjEhAsWDL9Eh3cyzHZHjEwlON8lUBCMyk6KCjy_WVtCfp0hNV2FKe213mb9PuyBCw0NyrEdqMC/s400/ratiotogdp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361186744367439858" border="0" /></a><br />Right, so this is even more interesting - rather than comparing the share of wind power in total electricity generation (which is a bit skewed when comparing developed to developing countries), this comparison yields results that I think show which countries are MOST interested in generating more wind power - and indicate investments relative to their Gross Domestic Products.<br /><br />Denmark, Portugal, Germany and Spain have clearly established themselves as leading proponents of wind power.<br /><br />The rest follow in a bunch with India leading the wave, which I think is an incredible achievement given that the Indian economy is only half as big as China's and a fraction of the United States'.<br /><br />Now if only China, US and India can accelerate quickly enough to overtake other wind power producers it would form a perfect innovation adopters graph :-)<br /><br />Related Pages:<br /><a href="http://en.cop15.dk/frontpage">Cop15</a> - the conference at Copenhagen later this year<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/world/asia/20diplo.html">NYTimes article</a> on differences between the Indian and American points of view<br /><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/25386657/pollution-apology.htm">Neil Cavuto@Fox News</a> on Hillary Clinton's apology to India over carbon emissionsPranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-46161993241446735932009-07-16T16:07:00.003+01:002009-09-29T14:50:22.736+01:00Projects at CassSo we had two main projects during our <a href="http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/mba/ft/course/index.html">Core General Management Program</a> - a Strategy Project and the Emerging Markets Consultancy Week (in Poland).<div><br /></div><div>I just realised that I had given some feedback about these earlier and its on the <a href="http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/mba/ft/course/cgmp/projects/index.html">Cass website here</a>. I'm posting it on this blog for better visibility.</div><div><br /></div><div>My team did the strategy project for Fortnum & Mason. Here are my comments on that.</div><div><div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>“It was exciting to work for such a quintessential British brand. Besides it being an opportunity to apply our analytical and creative skills in a real business context, this project outlined some of the many challenges traditional businesses continue to face in a fast moving world. This project was also unique because relatively early on in the MBA, it offered us the opportunity to understand the application of theory, not just through a published case study, but through a journey of discovery. Finding an interesting company, identifying its challenges, getting the stakeholders' views and brainstorming, were aspects that magnified our independence as strategy consultants and made it an amazing learning experience.”</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>We also spent a week in Poland, consulting for an engineering design company. My comments on this project below:</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>“One of the more interesting aspects of globalization is the cultural understanding it’s brought into the core of managerial activity. Poland is a relatively new member of the European Union and Biproraf, the company we consulted, had recently been acquired by a large Italian company. This brought several variables into play that really enhanced our experience. We saw first hand how several trends - including the emigration of skilled labour, increased M&A activity and the intersection of European culture in a country with some of the least diverse demographics in Europe – were affecting Polish industry.”</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>My team's work was clearly helpful as is evident from this comment by Pawel Orlowski, Chairman of Management Board, Biproraf (Gdansk 2008)</div><div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><blockquote>“Although the team of consultants from Cass Business School had a very limited time, they successfully managed to provide a detailed analysis of our company as well as an overall transition strategy that integrates KTI Poland with BiproRaf, suggesting some useful steps in order to execute this aim. The students worked hard and we are highly satisfied with their project and the results of their analysis. Some of their suggestions were very interesting and we’re planning to implement them. For instance, the report highlight the views and concerns of our employees and we now understand how important effective communication among our team is, so we’ll concentrate more on this in the future. We’d like to congratulate the students on their success and look forward to hosting another group from Cass Business School in 2009.”</blockquote></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Any questions please post as comments. Thanks.</div><div><br /></div></div></div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-61330400234743382912009-07-11T17:27:00.004+01:002009-09-29T14:50:34.924+01:00Cass MBA for you - Just a snapshot<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; font-family:Arial;font-size:10px;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ghXPKm3Lk3U&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ghXPKm3Lk3U&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-63593264846321566412009-07-10T11:51:00.006+01:002009-07-10T12:03:45.414+01:0010K run to sponsor MBA scholarship<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Four of us from the class of 2008 are running the ASICS London 10K run this Sunday the 12th of July to raise money towards our 'class gift' - which is to raise £10,000 over a period of 3 years to sponsor an MBA scholarship at Cass Business School.<div><br /></div><div>We'll be running past some of the most famous buildings in London so hopefully that will provide some more impetus to finish the run in a good time!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Please help our cause by donating at: <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Cass10K/">http://www.justgiving.com/Cass10K/</a></div><div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" height="230" width="150" align="middle" data="http://www.justgiving.com/widgets/jgwidget.swf" flashvars="EggId=2006498&IsMS=0"><param name="movie" value="http://www.justgiving.com/widgets/jgwidget.swf" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="flashvars" value="EggId=2006498&IsMS=0" /></object></div><br /><div>Thanks very much.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.thebritish10klondon.co.uk/"><img src="http://www.thebritish10klondon.co.uk/Images/Index/IntroPic.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px;" border="0" alt="" /></a></div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-30900671329469304772009-06-29T11:43:00.009+01:002009-07-09T13:32:47.695+01:00Italian street festival in Clerkenwell. Sunday 12 July 2009 3.30pm.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ceqYzjMc_woNQNViziWV33565wf4axzpqHVCUgwnYEsNPL8d80r4MaisOFpnOdP_Lvw2_wy4AzNOwSDZ-aufqpbobEHjN35DQmRv7YDYOWkQspIAbdb29fOmvfxXXCja3hMhkBbVRlVc/s1600-h/26720333_d52d5bbccd.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ceqYzjMc_woNQNViziWV33565wf4axzpqHVCUgwnYEsNPL8d80r4MaisOFpnOdP_Lvw2_wy4AzNOwSDZ-aufqpbobEHjN35DQmRv7YDYOWkQspIAbdb29fOmvfxXXCja3hMhkBbVRlVc/s320/26720333_d52d5bbccd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352700102644390914" border="0" /></a><div><div>"The Procession of <a href="http://www.italianchurch.org.uk/lady_of_mount_carmel.htm">Our Lady of Mount Carmel</a> became an important annual event, and eventually became something of a street festival – with decorated floats and people in colourful costumes. It still draws members of London’s Italian community, as well as many visitors. It’s a great chance to taste Italian food, as there are stalls selling all sorts of traditional treats."</div><div><br /></div><div>More info <a href="http://italiancuisine.suite101.com/article.cfm/londons_italian_festival">here</a></div><div><br />Photos from previous events</div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonkimber/sets/72157606277651885/">Flickr 1</a></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=procession&w=70099941%40N00">Flickr 2</a></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=procession&w=25825879%40N05">Flickr 3</a></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=procession&w=11576655%40N00">Flickr 4</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=St+Peter%27s+Italian+Church&sll=51.522683,-0.087461&sspn=0.006222,0.013797&gl=uk&g=ec1y+2aa&ie=UTF8&ll=51.524392,-0.109005&spn=0.012443,0.027595&z=15&iwloc=A"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 198px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2fW5-KtqXI2rbY70OAMsR29chsJ3Ciacd7GpWiKAOmB_cnWQsx8PLy1JDDJEi76U3ePv3o8h1RSmejDCvDPJ4vEKI54_vyxQ3Al03fviJz29lAw3vsEdxgs1K9FsakFOSxBtYcot1ky9/s320/procs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356436951849540866" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Image from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefz/26720333/">StefZ</a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-80691759295436550782009-06-27T12:47:00.008+01:002009-07-09T12:04:33.546+01:00Make a short film to win internship at CERN.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfzjcRRpl2Y_n1JD47qdT0BKwX28FWubVYH1Vr_89S7rIVojCenN8ekR1HfBC4Ddmz5PvrDzbjyjNlUNzAoEKg7avCnq0oA1fBNjhdz8gdJ951BAlaOIebpN2JuSd8nCsiW5EhcfH_pj8u/s1600-h/gb.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfzjcRRpl2Y_n1JD47qdT0BKwX28FWubVYH1Vr_89S7rIVojCenN8ekR1HfBC4Ddmz5PvrDzbjyjNlUNzAoEKg7avCnq0oA1fBNjhdz8gdJ951BAlaOIebpN2JuSd8nCsiW5EhcfH_pj8u/s320/gb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351975508903511954" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.atlas.ch/contest/">http://www.atlas.ch/contest/</a><br /><br />"We want you to start by showing us your communication and creative skills by producing an original short film or multimedia piece, incorporating material about ATLAS, the biggest experiment on the LHC. The best submissions will be posted on the ATLAS website and YouTube page with full credit to the author, and enter a competition for a paid internship at CERN or alternatively win a Adobe Production Suite package."<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/frinky/847689154/">clarksworth</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-66947767776106749932009-06-17T16:45:00.003+01:002009-06-17T17:01:19.494+01:00Facebook's "Strategy" misguided by a Stanford MBARight, so before we get into a war of words let me explain what this is about. BusinessWeek interviewed Facebook's international manager (Javier Olivan) and reported it <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2009/gb20090615_255371.htm">here</a>.<div><br /></div><div>Javier is apparently an MBA from Stanford and is 32 years old. Perfect credentials those, except once you read his comments you realise how ridiculous his perceptions are.</div><div><br /></div><div>Orkut, a social networking service by Google, has been the dominant force in India for the past many years. Its nice, clean, basic and I'm on it as well - because many of my Indian friends are only on Orkut and not on Facebook.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, so in my opinion here are some reasons why Indians like Orkut:</div><div>1. It loads quick</div><div>2. You can have nicknames (and not be forced to use your real name)</div><div>3. It has seamless integration with Google Talk, an IM many Indians use.</div><div>4. It has smileys</div><div>5. Low privacy settings by default (this is important) - so anyone can write on anyone's wall, unless explicitly blocked.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now these observations, 1-5, are important and they're not even exhaustive because I haven't gone through the trouble of analysing the case in detail for Mr. Olivan, but even at first glance, once can see quite a few differences with Facebook.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lets take #2 and #5. Indians have a low expressed 'need' for privacy and they enjoy a more 'social' culture. However, when privacy is required, they'd rather hide behind an assumed nickname rather than set their privacy settings to block anyone not on their friends list.</div><div><br /></div><div>And Orkut does allow comments in Hindi (and other Indian languages) as it has support for Unicode (as does Facebook). But now, Facebook thinks it has the Ace of Spades because it has now translated its entire website into Hindi (and five other Indian languages).</div><div><br /></div><div>Reality check Facebook - Aditi Sharma says the right thing.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><blockquote>"We all write in 'Hinglish' anyway, so I don't need to have Hindi typing," says Aditi Sharma, 20, who studies in Mumbai but uses Orkut to stay in touch with high school friends. ("Hinglish" is what comes up when you type out Hindi phonetically with English characters, throwing in words from both languages for ease; for instance, "How are you?" becomes "Kaise ho?" )</blockquote></i></div><div><br /></div><div>But Javier insists that no, Indians want to read websites in their own languages.</div><div><br /></div><div>And he adds:</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote> "I don't know why people think that by having a local office you will have a better local product," Olivan says. That might work "for certain types of businesses," the Stanford MBA concedes, but not for Facebook. "The brick-and-mortar approach is not effective in doing [things] fast and efficiently," he says.</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>I mean seriously. Where is this guy from? Has he ever even been to India?</div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-79821295545243244822009-05-22T18:16:00.004+01:002009-05-22T18:22:08.544+01:00Fireworks from the HAC, Fri June 19.It's a private event on the field but you might be able to get a good view from the upper floor of the Artillery Arms.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-19423099223845029912009-05-19T12:58:00.005+01:002009-05-19T13:34:27.447+01:00HAC Open Evening (in front of Cass) tonight, 19 May.Honourable Artillery Company Open Evening tonight, 19 May 2009 in front of Cass.<br /><a href="http://www.hac.org.uk/downloads/Open_evening_19_May.pdf">Details</a><br /><br />Coverage of last year's event<br /><a href="http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2008/05/21/the-honourable-artillery-company/">http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2008/05/21/the-honourable-artillery-company/</a><br /><a href="http://thelondoneer.blogspot.com/2008/05/honorable-artillery-company-open.html">http://thelondoneer.blogspot.com/2008/05/honorable-artillery-company-open.html</a><br /><br />Apache helicopter taking off from the HAC last year<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzazVgAWwRsAo5KQqmGtgof95cY0nBt21KAKF8IXTCkY7SFbRpjSIZbcgKAlw_xdJCgHYlTYLj2NsCbSxopXQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-72519830775458302832009-04-03T17:49:00.002+01:002009-04-04T00:34:18.709+01:00New series of BBC’s The Apprentice leaves a bad taste...<em>Originally posted @ </em><a href="http://www.christheo.com/2009/04/new-series-of-bbcs-apprentice-leaves.html"><em>Blog in the life of a London MBA</em></a>:<br />
<br />
So, I’ve managed to overcome my unease at watching BBC’s The Apprentice. The problem with it was that seeing a bunch o’ city boys n’ girls arguing just reminded me a little too much of group meetings during the MBA (some of them at least). People fighting to be heard and lots of talking over each other combined with some monumentally bad ideas seen through to completion used to make for uncomfortable viewing, now it just makes me laugh. For the most part I am enjoying the series so far.<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6fu3XEtBUoETZYQI8FbWPjKm8fWw3aS9xez1UYjFipu4EcTAvQ0Un2-HLX6nKTHTGzYKAXLz6MUzOSm5J3lNWxkJu_e7bCP9Ei5WjYygtbdfA-_cdehog3hDvuULuKYgtXc2-ZuHlJs/s1600-h/the-apprentice-108%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="the-apprentice-108" border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCsMh4OcupEktwKV4LKjwr88NeWWeIoYT1jsCOfC9yShI92v4jSI85FKNnOa9EBiQsLWNDPjlTC2evLvW8El-j-tI7_SxtkmSqRVi3HYxHy8G6x3IJsvHRmIA7qtxkZ2o7Ng2_cbJRxs8/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="the-apprentice-108" width="336" /></a> <em>His beard is made of pubes</em></div><br />
The one thing doesn’t sit well with me at all though lies at the very heart of the program and that is the “greed is good” mentality that Sir Alan Sugar is such an advocate of. Meanwhile, his 15 acolytes are responsible for some of the most sickening and reprehensible sound bytes I’ve ever heard. Here a just a couple:<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><em>“…when I wake up in the morning I can taste success in my spit!”</em></div><br />
<div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em>“To me making money is better than sex!”</em></div><br />
<div align="center"><em></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>“Being successful is more important than being popular, you don’t have to make friends on the way up when you’re not coming back down”</em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><br />
<div align="left"></div><div align="left">In the current economic climate, caused at least in part by this level of blind ambition and ethical ambiguity, I find it hard to relate to any of the characters in the program. I love to hate most of them and just plain hate the rest but it is enough to keep me watching, albeit with a slightly bad taste in my mouth. I’m also somewhat convinced that these people don’t actually exist and are just some kind of manifestation invoked by Sir Alan calling upon ancient spirits buried deep in the East-end of London… Guv’nor. </div><br />
<div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkKgYqCGVBM36qsfAhrFX2nMe7GGYzCr417qeUzzwjqnghq9k4oGEKqAOn4ZbVokoZw6IolZywgR97lcgOes_dLYpzaJm3a3JllcxUwx-6Ur1DfYaRsZLkGPKSpEQT_FUdoBImtQH0Ow/s1600-h/apprentice5%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="PD*27595776" border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7hXlomtxz6pSytPbL0d3hkGXh0c_6baOMBQFY-pEub_rI61UTeuIrGR3qXliK9OBTR4BWOt8amQxJFsr5puD1iUNf4ZKH-YcMUZUxcKHc5yjpVoZpTGDWR454G8gS2Nclzil0qD3TdQ/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; height: 237px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 395px;" title="PD*27595776" width="395" /></a> <em>This series’ contestants</em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><br />
<div align="left"></div><div align="left">In a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7963004.stm" target="_blank">video</a> on the BBC News website Sir Alan says that this series is taking the recession into account with certain tasks. One in particular is to restore a seaside town which has been hit by the recession. However, I’m not sure I’m convinced. How much economic rejuvenation can actually occur in the 2-3 days they have to complete a task? </div><br />
<div align="left"></div><div align="left">In my opinion this whole series should have have been reworked thematically to draw more attention to corporate social responsibility and steering away from the usual capitalism on steroids mentality. Additionally, I think every task should be focused on beating the recession either by encouraging investment and/or by helping struggling local businesses to thrive. Then again, ask yourself next time you decide to watch it whether or not you would trust any of these lot with your flagging business. I certainly wouldn’t.</div><div align="left"></div><br />
<div align="left">Let me know what you think… </div><div align="left"></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-15779340277289288002009-04-01T10:46:00.002+01:002009-07-09T12:20:53.426+01:00Ask your questionsA number of people have read this blog and then emailed me to ask me specific questions about the MBA. Rather than reply individually I thought it might be best to address as many of the general questions I can under this post as comments.<div><br /></div><div>So if you have a question please post here and either me or my colleagues will respond to you as soon as we can.</div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-52826481012769891172009-03-28T06:10:00.007+00:002009-03-28T09:18:25.174+00:00Info on Protests in the City of London 31 Mar - 2 AprStay safe! It might be an idea to buy your lunch early or bring in a packed lunch to avoid the crowds.<br /><br />G20 Meltdown in the City 1st & 2nd April 2009 Facebook Group<br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53674491031">http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53674491031</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcodysimms/246024687/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 236px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGVArUaDTtsbQPesS4ZFtP921VLAoY01ixmcMpP95dRScM3IbjMUkcRftzhqaYaPiuD-IKMgwn-K_fKp_o4iNwmfeFsMl7Etwwuf1njqMevzoz1kSY_XoGD2JLfx0cU2NZJ6hU1pw3E4x9/s320/TrendyAntiCap.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318117357149446626" border="0" /></a>Monitor different news coverage of the protests in real-time<br /><a href="http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/?JavaScript=1&search=london+protest">http://www.newsnow.co.uk</a><br /><br />Spoof version of the FT<br /><a href="http://ft2020.com/">http://ft2020.com/</a><br /><br />G20 Meltdown in the City Website<br /><a href="http://www.g-20meltdown.org/">http://www.g-20meltdown.org/</a><br /><br />"Lost your home? Lost your job? Lost your savings or your pension? This party is for you!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">At 12 noon, April 1st, we're going to reclaim the City,</span> thrusting into the very belly of the beast: the Bank of England. Click here (or above right) for one of the many posters sent to this website.<br /><br />The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will lead themed processions <span style="font-weight: bold;">starting at 11 a.m.</span> from the following rail stations:<br /><br />* Moorgate: Red horse against War;<br />* Liverpool St: Green horse against Climate chaos<br />* London Bridge: Silver horse against Financial crimes<br />* Cannon Street: Black horse against land enclosures and borders in honour of the 360th full circle anniversary of the Diggers"<br /><br />More information about the different protests next week<br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/5061837/G20-summit-What-to-expect.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/5061837/G20-summit-What-to-expect.html<br /></a><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/5061837/G20-summit-What-to-expect.html"> </a><br />Image from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcodysimms/246024687/">jcodysimms</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088330626027930554.post-16647461829041621432009-03-25T12:48:00.002+00:002009-03-25T12:52:44.183+00:00Cass MBA team semi-finalists in L'Oreal business competition<div>From the Cass News Page:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote>A team of full time MBA students from Cass have become semi-finalists of the <a href="http://www.e-strat.loreal.com/_int/_en/home.aspx">L'Oreal EStrat</a>, one of the world's biggest online business simulation competitions. Over 30,000 teams began the competition, with only 300 teams making it through to the semi finals. The Cass team made it through five rounds of the competition which saw each group manage a portfolio of beauty brands and compete for worldwide leadership against other virtual companies.</blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Read more <a href="http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/media/stories/MBA_LOreal_Estrat_t.html">here</a></div>Pranay Manochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092752369665745796noreply@blogger.com0