Learning Key Terms and Swear Words – Why I Chose CBS
By Matthew | February 9, 2012
“MBA programme where? Copenhagen?
Is that in Belgium or the Netherlands?”
That was the responses from most of my friends and family and, till today, I am either in either Finland, Germany or
Switzerland. In fact, as a snowflake fell right into my eye as I quickly tried to walk to the metro the other day, I myself wondered, why Copenhagen? Especially with weather where you don’t get to see the sun for days and -10 degrees is no longer just the temperature in your freezer back home.
But then I get to class and I look around at my classmates who represent 25 different nationalities, speak a variety of languages, hail from different parts of the world, and who bring with them work experience that covers all industries you can think of in 5 minutes. And then I know why Copenhagen, why Denmark. And why the MBA…
The reasons does however sometimes get a bit blurry, especially when you have yet another deadline for a 10 page paper, have to try and get concepts like ‘Economies of scale’, ‘ratios’ and plenty other silly terms into your head for an exam, try and organize a meeting with your A-board group, never-mind having to keep track of all the groups you are part of and you ask yourself: what am I supposed to learn and take away with me again? Then a new course starts and you remember concepts like Porter’s 5 forces or the elements of a business model, the impact of variable costs and you smile to yourself and say: yes, this is why I am doing the MBA.
But it gets hard at times; you get bored of the routine, seeing the same people, being in the same building every day, you miss your friends and family, having to familiarize yourself with yet another course outline, new lecturers and you get frustrated with the fact that even after four months, you still end up buying yoghurt instead of milk!
But then you finally catch the dry Danish humour, you start getting annoyed at slow cyclists and you find yourself giving directions to tourists. And you realize that it is not just about the classwork and getting a top grade in all your subjects…the learning is outside the lecture rooms, outside the building, getting to know your classmates in a pub or a coffee shop, learning and embracing a new culture, competing against classmates at a VCIC competition, having a laugh with them (or them laughing at you) and you realize once again that this is why you are doing it. It is a learning curve which you only get to embark on once, and it’s up to you to lean into the curve and get the most out of it. Both inside and outside the lecture rooms. You even learn whilst copying the latest set of slides in the printing room – even if they are Russian or Spanish swear words.
It is worth the long days spent in a multitude of group meetings, racing against the never-ending paper deadlines and cramming for yet another exam. At the end we will leave Copenhagen with a bunch of new friends we’ll spend years visiting, we will be more tolerant, patient, have a fantastic sense of humour and knowledge gained from both books and classmates.
That is why the MBA programme and why Copenhagen Business School.
Jolene is a client services manager from South Africa with an educational background in marketing.
Topics: A normal MBA day, Living in Denmark, Outside the classroom, Studying in an international environment, Why I Chose CBS | No Comments »
”It´s good to be Norwegian in Denmark”
By Masami | January 27, 2012
So states a well known and long running commercial for leisure cruises between Oslo and Copenhagen. Denmark has indeed been viewed as a choice destination for Norwegians (often in search of cheap beer and cigarettes). In this article, however, I want to draw attention to some cultural and behavioral differences which characterize us fellow Scandinavians.
Business conduct
Denmark is a highly successful trading nation, which is exemplified by their high living standard despite a lack of abundant natural resources. This has obviously fostered a code of conduct in business, which differs from its richer, colder neighbour Norway. Danes are natural deal makers, they love a good bargaining match! Norwegians feel slightly embarrased if anyone tries to bargain down prices. The lesson to be learned is: ”When in Rome…” While Danish businesspeople are not exactly viewed as highway robbers in Norway, they do have a reputation for slacking their moral obligations in business transactions. For evidence, see the ”Danish Language” clip on youtube, where a milkman cynically exploits a ”communication problem”.
Social conduct
My experience with Danes in festive settings, is that they often sing, to the dismay of those around them. They often sing loud, victory songs meant to break the spirit of people nearby. Having played in soccer tournaments against Danes (who unfortunately always won), they seem less inhibited than Norwegians. Perhaps its the ice and snow that makes us less gregarious than our southern brethren or perhaps it´s simply that they drink more alcohol than us. In any case, when Norwegians ask the question: ”Why?”, Danes will counter with ”Why not?”. Norway was once the inferior part of the Danish-Norwegian Union which dissolved in 1814, maybe this history still inhibits us in party settings. At least they have no oil to sing about.
General conduct
Norwegians and Danes are basically the same, despite speaking quite differently. Our culture, law and societal makeup share many important values and principles. But as Norwegians we have to face the fact that Copenhagen is part of continental Europe and much more in tune with developments and change in the Euro area. Danes seem to embrace leadership responsibility and form groups which actually function well! In Norway we are so used to our space and omnipotence that group interaction can often be viewed as a hindrance, rather than a facilitator. There is clearly much to learn here…
So, why do Norwegians flock to Denmark and specifically CBS to get their education? The school is acknowledged by the business community as one of the top educational institutions in Northern Europe and one which teaches relevant management practices. It is not, therefore, only the promise of cheap beer that attracts Norwegian stundets, but an education and experience which will be valuable in whichever path they choose.
Fredrik is a former Relationship Manager with experience from Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Nordea. In his spare time he is an avid race cyclist.
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Competing in Los Angeles
By Matthew | January 23, 2012
It was a cold December day and everyone was preparing for the last exam of 2011. I was looking forward to finishing the last test of the year and after that skiing, Christmas, just simply holidays. However this day before the last exam was the beginning of an exciting and challenging journey. With half a days notice my VCIC group, that is Vibeke, Mike, Richard, Nick and myself decided to apply for a case competition with USC Marshal Business School in Los Angeles. I not only liked the idea of participating in the competition but also was very excited to have the chance to travel to California. I have always wanted to visit the West Coast of the United States and here was the possibility to do so.
To our delight and surprise, we were selected to compete with seven other prestigious business schools. Hence, we will be on our way to LA from the 21st until the 26th of February. We would like to thank the MBA program for their support. And we will certainly try to meet all expectations and propose thoroughly researched, creative and innovative solutions to a panel of industry as well as academic professionals.
We are traveling to Los Angeles not only as a team of five students but also as the face of the CBS Full time MBA class of 2012.
The journey has already begun as we have started to work on the first of three presentations. We will be giving our best and hope to bring back the trophy to our class. The next few weeks are going to be exiting but hard work, as we want to show that the CBS MBA’s are graduates worth keeping track of.
Felix is a manager from Germany with an educational background in business administration, specializing in hospitality management.
Topics: Events and networking, Studying in an international environment | No Comments »
How is an international MBA in Copenhagen?
By Masami | January 19, 2012
January the 2nd, after a nice vacation home with my new partner ( of course my brand new Financial Accounting book), feeling quite proud and responsible because I read 6 chapters of the book (out of 14) Oh! I’m so serious … I’m back in Copenhagen, amazing but no flight problems this time, back to “real life”. First day, I do nothing, just checking e-mails and a little bit of chatting, after New Year’s Eve (little sleep) and none last night due to my cheap inconvenient flight (international flight 2 hours, airport 1,5 hours from my house and flight at 07:35 a.m). I don’t even go to the store, I feel relaxed, I’ll have the time tomorrow… I was so wrong!
We start a new class on 3rd January, and even though the class is quite short, we spent only about 45 minutes after 2 hours of presentations and 2 breaks, we go through the three first chapters of the book and we spend the whole afternoon doing homework, yes homework to be handed in next morning, as at the elementary school, but those take for hours. I’ m glad I slept properly yesterday! So this is the learning strategy, you read the book and learn by yourself, self –study, then you look at the solved examples and do the exercises, we work as a group to compare results and try to help each other, that happens every day during the week, and by Thursday I am so sorry for not having read the whole book during Christmas, I don’t have the time anymore! Every day is the same, classes, homework, chatting on Skype about homework around 1 a.m. and little sleep, yes 1 a.m., 2 a.m. even 3 a.m. you rely on your class mates and call then up to ask for help anytime that you are struggling with something, I wonder how people managed in the pre-Skype era. There is no time to do anything but reading and homework, and discussing them, my fridge is empty but I don’t have the time to go to the store, or eat.
When we think about an international MBA we relate it to our past Erasmus experience, at least I did, it is normally a very pleasant and nice one, little study, it is basically good excuse to go to a different country, meet new people and travel and party a lot. Well …… Forget it! It has some similarities, you become a poor student again, your budget decrease dramatically, not driving a car any longer, you “drive” your bike, you meet a lot of people and a huge difference, you need to study or work all the time, the courses are very intense and demanding, and the social part is more related to group work than to bars. Ok, don’t worry we also party, not every day as at Erasmus, but at least every 2 or 3 weeks, in fact you will feel like a teenager again! Specially after an exam…
Classes are really light, pretty easy, they are close to an interesting discussion with friends than to a formal class, normally we just have 3 hours of lectures, and we have breaks every hour, so that’s really not the tought part of it, but don’t get it wrong the intensity of work is very high, the pressure hardly eases, and in theory you should take a few hours a day preparing for next class, thanks God, you can also survive without doing so everyday however you will feel very guilty because most of the people do. The level of effort demanded is also very high, even if the classes are easy the level of the learning is expected to be pretty deep and wide, so exams are challenging and you need to learn many things in a very short time.
There is also this Danish grading scale from -2 to 12, and you pass with a 2, but a 2 is not what it would be a 2 anywhere else. A seven means you understand everything, you apply the theory, you don’t have errors; a ten, means that you are better than average and a 12 basically means that you are at the same level as the teacher (or better). Don’t worry, most of the students pass without any problem; students are carefully selected before they enroll in the program.
Regardless of all those little “worries”, everybody at the MBA is very happy, and we would all sign up for it again, you meet wonderful class mates, interesting people from all over the word, we learn a lot from each other, and it is one of the best ways to get out from a routine and stable boring life, that we sometime miss. I am convinced that after the MBA we will all have developed in a positive way, and our approach to life will be richer even if we are not aware of it yet. One thing is sure, if you have done a MBA you will be ready for any kind of hard work, prepared to spend many hours working at tough problems and able to get around any bottleneck that may arise, you will be able to write a report about anything and manage to work with any team that you are part of and arrive for long periods without sleep. I think that this is really the most crucial change.
-Eva
Eva is a Spanish business analyst with educational back ground of Economics & Business administration.
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Burning the (Clean Midnight Oil)
By Thuli | January 16, 2012
Connex Investments Team (L-R): Michael Tong (USA); Richard Hungerford (Canada) and Nick Ariens (USA)
Three Full-time MBA participants will pitch their innovative Cleantech business idea, Connex Investments, to a judging panel at the Venture Cup Idea Competition finals set to take place in Århus at the beginning of February. They will be one of eight finalists in their category, Clean Technologies, and one of the forty ideas that made it to this final stage (out of nearly 400 that were submitted).
Connex Investments is a culmination of afternoons and nights spent in a study room at the Raavare building at Porcelaenshaven, where the MBA participants take their classes. In between the studying, Nick Ariens (American); Richard Hungerford (Canadian) and Michael Tong (American) bonded over their passion for entrepreneurship and wanted to combine their Project Implementation, Clean Technology and Portfolio Management skills, respectively, to bring something new to the market.
Filling the Gap The trio sees a gap in the fast growing Cleantech market, where there are so many ‘amazing new technologies’, but companies (that are constantly under pressure to be energy efficient and environmentally responsible) cannot implement them for lack of funds and/or specialized knowledge about retro fits. At the same time, there aren’t many funds that can provide investors with an opportunity to invest in a ‘pure green’ investment as the Connex Investments team calls it.
What Does that Mean? The answer to that is directly tied to how Connex Investments proposes to work. They will finance a clean tech retrofit project at a company. The said company continues to pay the same energy bill as they did pre-retrofit and the post-retrofit savings on the energy bill will be paid into the fund. The fund grows in this way. Investors get a return. The company meets legal requirements without breaking the bank, while simultaneously having a positive impact on the environment.
Any Expected Challenges Ahead? The trio knows that, like with any new idea, it is not an easy road ahead and this idea might be difficult to sell to investors. “It’s a different way of investing,” says Richard, “in that it focuses on energy savings as ROI. This goes against the status quo, where growth is based purely on earnings,” he adds. Over the next few months, as the program continues, they will be refining the idea.
What if…? “Winning the competition will give us more confidence in our venture. We are all entrepreneurial and our ultimate goal is to create and run our own companies. However, regardless of whether we win or not, we will gain great feedback, which can build off of,” says Michael. Working on Connex is also good practice for these three entrepreneurs who will not only need to demonstrate their understanding of business development and entrepreneurship as a skill for their Entrepreneurship module, but also help to solve a strategic challenge for a company later this year during the Full-time MBA’s final 4-month challenge, the Integrated Strategy Project.
Topics: Entrepreneurship, MBA - a one-year investment in yourself | No Comments »
More Accolades for CBS FTMBA
By Thuli | January 16, 2012
Proud Team (L-R): Michala Røder (Program Manager); Lee Milligan (Admissions Manager) and Malene Sejer Larsen (Program Coordinator)
The Copenhagen Business School Full-time MBA has been ranked no. 8 out of 30 of its Western European peers on the Edunivesral Best Masters’ Ranking.
This new ranking comes on the back of a 15 place climb up The Economist Top 100 international Full-time MBA programs at the end of 2011 and a 6-place leap to 11th position on the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report survey. The Aspen Institute placed the CBS Full-time MBA at no.8 in Europe for successfully incorporating environmental and social considerations in its management programs.
Eduniversal ranks business schools against one another and does not take the entire institution into account. According to the organization, this methodology is rigid and legitimate, and aimed at allowing students to refine the choice of their future education.
The three criteria that the schools are ranked on are:
- The reputation of the program among HR Managers
- The salary of 1st employment post-MBA
- Satisfaction of students (conducted through a survey of recent graduates)
“It’s wonderful that we are ranked so highly considering that there are many top Full-time MBA programs in Western Europe. For us this is further proof that we do offer a high quality program to our participants,” says Admissions Manager, Lee Milligan.
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Welcome to 2012
By Masami | January 7, 2012
Welcome to 2012 and congratulations on passing 2 terms of intensive training and study in the FTMBA program. For many years I have used the Christmas period to close the books and report financial numbers just after new year. This time was pay back time and I could enjoy a long Christmas break with the family. Unfortunately our Financial Accounting professor Jeff Gramlich forced me to book keeping and beancouting exercises in the first week of 2012 – what a start! Some professors motivate their students by elaborating on the importance of the exam but Jeff told us stories about creative Americans who ended up 25 years in prison due to misclassification of expenses. Everyone understood the importance of accurate Financial Accounting after that.
Christmas break gives you time to think and reflect. Is this huge MBA investment really worth it? During the Christmas break a lot of my friends asked the question whether I was happy for what I am currently doing. My unbiased answer to them was a clear “yes”. I find it very useful to get updated on managerial skills needed to succeed as a business leader. It is tough but I do it for myself. Except for peak times (exams) it has been possible for me to maintain a work life balance with more time to the family. I am also developing a much clearer picture of my next role in business.
I am looking forward to some interesting courses and specially the LDP session in Sweden together with great class mates.
“Enjoy the ride”
Esben
Esben is a Chief Operating Officer in Denmark with educational back ground of Finance.
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Marketing Myopia + More
By Matthew | December 22, 2011
Christmas break at last. Friday we had our final exam of term 2, and now my fellow classmates and I have a few weeks of pause from school. The break offers opportunity to reflect a bit on the program so far.
We have read a great deal during our first two terms, and an article that resonated with me was a piece called “Marketing Myopia” by Theodore Levin. We used it in our recent Marketing Management class, and even though it was written in 1960, the content is still very much relevant. It describes the risks companies run by focusing too much their existing products, thereby neglecting to find alternative and better ways of satisfying customers’ needs. Chances are a competitor will sooner or later come up with a superior solution. I was caught by the universal and timeless nature of the message. The reasoning can be applied just as much to the seasoned business of the North American railroads, as to modern day Internet start-ups. Also, its relevance is not restricted to companies. A big part of the reason for me to pursue the MBA program is to reinvent myself by adding to my technical background.
After an intense fall, I am looking forward to find what new insights the courses of spring and summer have in store. But first things first—now I am off to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve in my home country of Sweden. Happy Holidays!
Olof is a Business Intelligence Consultant from Sweden with a background in Electrical Engineering.
Topics: A normal MBA day | Comments Off
CBS Full-time MBA in the Top Cluster of European Business Schools
By Thuli | December 14, 2011
Cream of the Crop
The Copenhagen Business School Full-time MBA has climbed up 6 places to 11th position in the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report for 2012.
The FTMBA at CBS has gone up the ratings after having shown a year on year improvement on its business management profile and increasing attractiveness to MBA employers.
The news is well-received by Admissions Manager Lee Milligan, who is currently on says, “Again we have risen in the rating of employers throughout Europe. Last year we climbed up 9 places to number 17. This year we are up another 6 places to number 11 in Europe. It is great that we are now in what is known as the “top cluster” of European Full-time MBA programs.”
The QS survey rates schools according to the employability of their graduates upon completion of their studies and focuses on the popularity of business schools according to their area of specialization and regions.
This rating will go a long way in achieving the program’s goal of attracting high quality international applicants that are looking for the best employment possibilities and a return on their investment in the CBS FTMBA program.
You can visit the QS website for a complete version of the report.
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CBS Full-time MBA: Worth the Investment?
By Thuli | December 9, 2011
- Masami Kanaguri (Japan) reflects on his CBS Full-time MBA experiences
It is three months into the 2011-2012 academic year of the CBS Full-time MBA. In an interview with the MBA information aggregator, F1-GMAT, particant, Masami Kanaguri, reflects on his experiences and the highlights of the program so far. He especailly highlights the Leadership Discovery process and Entrepreneurship programs as personal favorites.
Below is an excerpt of the interview.
F1GMAT: What are some of the classes and activities in CBS MBA that you have found interesting and valuable?
Masami(CBS FT MBA): It has just been 3 months since the program started so I am sure more and more activities will come later but activities that I find very interesting so far are Leadership Discovery Process and A-board.
The Leadership Discovery Process (LDP) is a unique course in CBS full time MBA program, which is rarely seen in other MBA programs. LDP is not about developing business skills such as accounting, marketing, or economics theories but about understanding yourself, recognizing your true leadership style, appreciating the differences in others and enhancing your ability to work with others in a high-performing team. We sometimes go out from Copenhagen area and practice on building our leaderships skills. I can feel that I am more aware of myself after several sessions and look forward to further discoveries.
A-board is part of innovation & entrepreneurship program. A group consisting of 3-4 members collaborates with start-ups in Denmark and try to help them solve their existing problems and further develop their business. There are various opportunities to apply the techniques we learn not only from innovation & entrepreneurship courses but also through other courses.
Read the full version of the article on Masami’s Experience as a Full-time MBA in Copenhagen Business School
Topics: Entrepreneurship, Leadership Discovery Process, MBA - a one-year investment in yourself, Preparing for your MBA, Why I Chose CBS | Comments Off