tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119876542024-09-10T16:31:38.396+01:00Comments on international events, economics, finance, Europe, business schools, venture capital, technology and a lot more from a French MBA student in London.khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1157641761410457482006-09-07T15:47:00.002+01:002009-10-26T08:16:28.686+00:00

We came back in London a few days ago. That was a big shock! After two months in Asia, we had completely forgotten about the grey weather, utility bills, how to cook and grocery shopping... let alone work. The trip was of course fantastic. People, landscape, food, weather, transportation, hotels... we experienced the good, the bad and the ugly but those two months will, without a doubt, stay in

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1155720397985497672006-08-16T10:10:00.000+01:002006-08-16T10:47:41.540+01:00

We are in Myanmar since a few days now. After roughly one week in Laos, where we visited Luang Prabang and Vientiane, we flew to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. What a change from the other three countries. Yangon is a big city of 5 million people and it doesn't look like a typical South East Asian city. Actually, it reminded us more of Delhi than Bangkok with its traces of British architecture

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1154588395796689602006-08-03T07:30:00.000+01:002006-08-03T07:59:55.820+01:00

We are in the capital of Cambodia since three days, after a visit of Angkor. We took a plane from Bangkok to Siem Reap. Siem Reap is used as a base to visit the Angkor complex: about 1000 temples on a 400 sq km surface, most of them build between the 9th and the 12th century.We visited the main temples in two days but you can buy 3-days or even 7-days pass. Unless you are a real fan of old stones

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1154062046945760492006-07-28T05:32:00.000+01:002006-07-28T06:05:27.886+01:00

We are now Level 1 Open Water PADI certified, which means that we can scuba dive to a depth of 18 meters without an instructor... That's right mister!We did not really plan to pass the PADI but after reading about the crystal clear water of Ko Tao, we decided that we should really scuba dive to enjoy the fishs, corals and other wonders of the sea.So after Chiang Mai and the mountain trek, we flew

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1153226530965943992006-07-18T13:26:00.000+01:002006-07-18T13:57:13.663+01:00

After three nights in Bangkok, we took a plane for Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. It's a complete change from Bangkok: the city is much smaller and quite welcoming with more bookshops and temples that you could ever visit.We did some sightseeing in the city but our main objective was to arrange a trek in the jungle and we are actually just back from a three days trek where we visited the

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1152713048928405712006-07-12T14:56:00.000+01:002006-07-12T15:04:08.943+01:00

After a long flight with a three-hour connection in Dubai, we landed in Bangkok on Tuesday. After spending some time at the Bangkok Airways ticket counter to arrange our next flights in the region, we took a cab for Siam Square and managed to find a correct guest house: the A-One-Inn hotel which is relatively correct for the price (600B).First impressions of Bangkok: the most modern city I have

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1152399006906604042006-07-08T18:22:00.000+01:002006-07-08T23:50:06.920+01:00

Yep, this time it is the end... Yesterday was Congregation day for the Full-Time MBA Program. The closing speech from the Dean Laura Tyson concluded two years of education at the London Business School for me. I hope never to read another business case from now :)It was a fine day. We were all wearing nice gowns and all went on stage to shake the hand of the Dean and receive a piece of paper

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1151947328133514462006-07-03T18:18:00.000+01:002006-07-03T18:26:40.363+01:00

Yes I haven't blog in a long time but I've been quite busy, and not only for the World Cup.Anyway, the game against Brazil was fantastic and if Zidane keeps on playing like this, we have a good change to go to Berlin on July 9th. Of course, the Portugeses are serious people and they sure know how to play football but they were not that convincing against England. We'll see...Couple of pictures

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1150623536734816012006-06-18T10:26:00.000+01:002006-06-18T10:39:47.190+01:00

You may have heard about this commercial from the Belgium branch of the UNICEF. It shows the Smurfs (Schtroumpfs in French) village being bombed from the air. The objective is to shock people and motivate them to give funds for UNICEF projects in Burundi, Congo and Sudan.UNICEF discuss about the commercial here and the few versions that I have found (digitized from TV) are of low quality since

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1150499146052965182006-06-16T23:52:00.000+01:002006-06-17T00:05:46.076+01:00

Want to know how good is your internship compared to others? Well, Forbes has an article about Ultimate Internships with top law and consultant firms and investment banks. In addition to compensation ranging from $15,000 to $18,000, the interns are offered a lot of perks such as social events in top bars and restaurants or week-ends retreat at top class hotels.If you are lucky enough to be

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1149933696401137932006-06-10T09:21:00.000+01:002006-06-11T09:11:45.390+01:00

I must admit my days are not so busy right now. However, they are now going to be filled with football, although there is so much you can take and I'm not going to watch games such as USA vs Czech Republic... (No offense intended here). France is playing Tuesday vs Switzerland and it is the evening my future employer has selected for a networking event... What to do? Watch some football or go

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1149184789438162252006-06-01T17:40:00.000+01:002006-06-01T18:59:49.570+01:00

So we are now well engaged into the last and final term of the MBA. I'm taking two classes this term and although the Project Finance class is quite interesting, my other elective is an Accounting one and I'm wondering why I choose it.I know I wanted to have a better understanding of Accounting issues before graduating but when I’m seated in class, listening to the teacher talking about IFRS

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1149066647143336772006-05-31T10:00:00.000+01:002006-05-31T10:10:47.173+01:00

I'm sure you know about the UK productivity gap: the UK falls behind the US, Germany or France (more here if you want) in terms of output per hour worked. There are a lot of explanations for this such as less skilled workers, lower capital invested per worker or less effective management in the UK.This is all good but I'm pointing to another source: the average Brit spends way too much time on

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1148979222950808432006-05-30T09:47:00.000+01:002006-05-30T09:53:43.076+01:00

I guess it was only a matter of time that Faculty would start blogging. I'm not sure about other Schools but I'm quite sure MBAProf is the first London Business School blog run by a Professor. It is anonymous but I may have an idea about the author.Welcome to the London Business School blogging community and yes... we want some good gossips and stories from your side!

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1148557402320621792006-05-25T12:26:00.000+01:002006-05-25T12:43:22.336+01:00

Due to high demand :) I'm posting a few more pictures. As you may have guessed, photography is one of my hobbies. I have started more than 10 years ago during one of my first backpacking trip in Tanzania and since then, I have accumulated thousands of pictures, mostly slides. I've resisted digital camera but my Powershot SD500 is taking amazing pictures so the next step will probably be a Digital

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1148459661354524092006-05-24T09:17:00.000+01:002006-05-24T10:19:40.696+01:00

I haven't blogged in ages and I wonder if I still have some readers on that blog. We are now mid-term which means that there just more than one month to go before the end of the MBA...I still have my head banging with souvenirs from India so I'll post a couple of pictures here but I must already prepare my next trip for this summer (I know, tough life). After some hesitations between South

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1147078900242548882006-05-08T09:57:00.000+01:002006-05-08T10:01:40.256+01:00

I came back last week after this fantastic trip to India. I'll post some pictures once I've sorted them (about 600)... The trip was great: food was spicy, people were nice, places beautiful, weather was hot (up to 40° Celcius) and I really had a blast. I'll try to blog more frequently now that I'm back and that my last term is not so busy.

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1144916948488722772006-04-13T09:12:00.000+01:002006-04-13T09:29:08.503+01:00

We are flying to India tonight with my girlfriend for 20 days of vacation in the North. This is going to be an amazing trip. We are landing in Delhi, stay two days there then go to Agra (Taj Mahal), Jaipur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Udaipur and finally Bombay where we will take our plane back to London. It's going to be nice to get out of London for a bit, especially when some of my classmates are

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1144828905563779702006-04-12T08:50:00.000+01:002006-04-12T09:01:45.576+01:00

It seems there is no age limit for white-collar crime. Gordon Gekko, in the Wall Street movie, was in his 40s when he was arrested for insider-trading... Well today it's starting in the early 20s as reported by the Washington Post. Two employees of top Wall Street banks (Merrill and Goldman) have been arrested on insider-trading charges. The Merrill analyst is 23 and the Goldman associate is 26.

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1144748379321643792006-04-11T09:26:00.000+01:002006-04-11T10:39:39.393+01:00

Chirac has decided yesterday to replace the controversial CPE law by a proposition to help young people in difficult situation to find a job. This victory was hailed in left wing parties, unions and students and with their renewed vigor, some of the most extremists ones now want to tackle the CNE that was voted a few months ago (basically, the same law as the CPE but for SMEs ) but the movement

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1144234538526416852006-04-05T11:32:00.000+01:002006-04-05T11:55:38.546+01:00

I received a call from a journalist of the Guardian yesterday. She obtained my contact detail through the French Club of the London Business School. She was preparing a story on young French people moving to the UK to find a job. I guess it's a pretty hot subject right now with all the demonstrations in France about the new job law for young people.Anyway, it lasted five minutes and she basically

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1144075910710317172006-04-03T15:44:00.000+01:002006-04-03T15:52:41.326+01:00

Further to Guillaume's posts, I'm becoming an addict to YouTube. This video is from the Daily Show of Comedy Central making fun of French demonstrations.

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1143375180707022752006-03-26T11:41:00.000+01:002006-03-26T13:25:59.373+01:00

In front of La Sorbonne. What's behind the wall?... police trucksNotre-DameParisian driving

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1143102565010770892006-03-23T08:08:00.000+00:002006-03-23T20:14:14.666+00:00

Right now in France, there are large demonstrations against a new employment law (Contrat de Première Embauche or CPE) targeting the young (less than 26 years old) people. If the law is passed, employers will gain more flexibility in hiring and firing young people during a two years period. The employer won't be required to motivate the layoff anymore, which will be effective immediatly. After

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11987654.post-1142762819071033392006-03-19T09:53:00.000+00:002006-03-19T10:06:59.090+00:00

The Spring term is over. I'm not yet on holiday since I have a block week starting this Monday but an atmosphere of holiday is hovering in my head already... The end of this term also means the end of the MBA for a quite large number of students. Some are starting to work, some are travelling around the world and will start work in June/July so there is also an atmosphere of farewell at

khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17348717923118022220noreply@blogger.com0