Blog - Dream and life

From one of my most favorite online newspaper, the Chinese version of Financial Times, I found a recent series of interview of people, ranging from entrepreneurs  in mainland Chinese. one common thing among those people is they are all from villages. Here is one of the interview who is a successfl entrepreneur now. The thing impressed me the most is this entrepreneur's last comment: “我觉着，先有思路，后有出路，没有‘梦想’，如何‘成真’？” In English it says "I think, people should have an idea first then can figure out a way to do it. If you don't have a dream, how can you implement it?" It's so right, if you don't have a dream, how can implement it? So many people just take everything for granted without bothering to change it. It's their choice but it's never my life. That's a major reason I don't believe in any religion because that's a very easy way to find an excuse for people to accept things in their life. "God arrangs it!" I appreciate the fact many people who believes in religion are nice people but I am also confident that being a nice people doesn't need necessarily to believe in any religion.

For fun, the wife of one of the richest couple in China belives in a rare religion：Baha'i . But after I check the religion in Wikipedia, it sounds like an amazing one. The philosophy is much simplier and much more meaningful.

Technorati Tags     religion,chinese,china,dream,FT

Creditcard lost

While I was buying a gift for J's birthday yesterday, I had lost my two creditcard from bank RBC and BoA at Bentley College without knowing that untile I got a phone call from bank R today. Surprisingly, R's security system detected a unusual pattern of my creditcard and called to verify. I learned Bentley kids who got my card just had a good lunch at Boston Legal Seafood. Anyway, the call took about 5 minutes. Then I called bank B. This call only last 15 seconds. I am so surprised that I can finish these 2 calls since my cell is running out of power.

What I had learned is:

R's customer service is the best of the best. And seems their IT system is also very great. while it's unfair to compare with B since Bentley kids haven't use the B creditcard to buy/pay anything yet. This reminds me a tv show "Numb3r" I had seen in this July and an IT system is drawing all the spending activities of any individual at FBI headquarter so detectives can clearly identify if there is any outliner spot in the screen. Say, you live in Boston but there is a bill spent in Ohio.

And also seems US is used to hear the news about creditcard lost...

Customer service is always important. This quick response from R certainly further improved my confidence and willingness to do more business with them afterwards. And the poor customer service of those online businesses is yet another big obstacle for them to conquor the world. Actually, recent research from Forrester named poor customer service no.1 thing failed traveler's online shopping experience. For example, if I bought a ticket of Northwest airline from Expedia and I want to change the schedule later. Whom should I call?

I think this type of offline business could be a big factor to determine the fate of startup's effort to leap from early adopter to mainstream. Sometimes early adopter is so supportive for online startups that they even ignore the poor customer service but for mainstream consumers, it's key.   WIll there be a customer service outsourcing opportunity to serve massive offline business activities for startups like call center etc? Or will there be an advanced software solution to automatically do voice-recorgnation and give consumre the answer automatically?





Technorati Tags     service,visa,rbc,bankofamerica,boa,creditcard,forrester

Babson Elective Classes

Alright, sadly I didn't keep up my goal to post daily. The only excuse I could find is that schooooooooooooooooool finally started! Had 1 or 2 classes of those courses already and just 10 minutes ago I finished updating my selections. Dropped one since my gut feeling just doesn't feel there is a good fit. And surprisingly found one of the best class that I didn't pick up in the very beginning because the title is sorta boring suddently has one seat available. SO I grabbed the chance quickly so I have to drop a great "negotiation" class due to schedule conflicts... Anyway, here is what I have for the fall semester and official class description:

Entrepreneurial Finance

Instructor: Leslie Charm,

EPS7510 Entrepreneurial Finance formerly titled Financing the Entrepreneurial Venture Focuses on raising seed and growth capital from venture capital, business angels, investment banking, and commercial banking sources; and financial problems unique to the small- and medium-sized firm undergoing rapid growth. Examines actual proposals made to venture capital firms, particularly in terms of their financial viability. Course also examines financial management for entrepreneurs over the life of a business project. Includes financing start-ups, financial planning for the nonpublic smaller enterprise, going public, selling out, bankruptcy, sources of capital, and other related topics. Prerequisite: NONE This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring

 

 

Management Consulting
Instructor: Michael May

The objective of this course is to communicate the basic skills and functions of the management consulting industry and to make students aware of the key issues and factors driving the future of consulting. This will be accomplished by inculcating the perspective of the client and helping students consider some of the career and lifestyle issues inherent in a consulting career as well as to allow students to experience some aspects of consulting itself in the course. The course will be conducted using outside experienced consulting leaders and guest experts.

 

M&A for Entrepreneur
Instructor: Kevin Mulvaney

This course focuses on the strategies and process entrepreneurs and business leaders employ in various types of acquisitions or divestitures (leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, ESOPs, etc.). The course is centered around $10-500 Million revenue companies and its content is applicable for students pursuing either entrepreneurial opportunities or corporate positions where they may be called upon to acquire or divest a division or product line. We take a strategic view throughout the course discussing and evaluating all phases of the acquisition process: Acquisition planning and targeting Valuation alternatives Leveraged Buyouts ESOPs/Partnerships Financing buyouts Tax, legal and accounting issues Letters of Intent Due Diligence Negotiating an agreement International markets Lessons to be learned from failed acquisitions Managing the leveraged company Course Prerequisites: A basic knowledge of accounting and finance will be helpful in understanding valuation, income statements and balance sheet issues.

 

Extended Enterprise Management
Instructor:  Marty Anderson

 

Extended Enterprise Management Examines the design and management of complex supply chains and market demand systems in a global, rapid-response business environment. Major focus is understanding industries as large systems of many organizations that now depend on complex networked alliances. Will focus on how traditional strategies and operations are changing rapidly. Subjects include market drivers of the supply chain, role of logistics and distribution in the networked economy, information technologies that links markets to supply and demand chains. Will analyze wide variety of industries. A major objective of the course is to understand how to manage the shift from PUSH strategies to PULL strategies across the entire supply chain. Targeted at general managers. Also core to the consulting and other career paths, and is a strategic companion to OPS7572. Prerequisite: NONE

 

Marketing for High-Tech Product
Instructor:  Anirudh Dhebar

 

Marketing High-Technology Products Building on the students' knowledge of the marketing fundamentals, the course focuses on the special challenges of marketing high-technology products in dynamic contexts fraught with significant technological and market uncertainty. The course is structured around three modules: bringing new high-technology products to market, managing product maturity, and transitioning from one product generation to the next. While the focus of the course is "high technology" in the general sense, the reading materials - cases, notes, and articles - are drawn from the computer hardware and software, consumer electronics, telecommunications, and life-sciences industries. Prerequisite: MKT7000 or MBA8520 or completion of one-year or two-year modules This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring

 

The class I wish I could have but can't due to schedule conflicts is:

 

Negotiation

Instructor: Elaine Landry

 

Negotiations Explores formal and informal ways that managers negotiate differences. Treats negotiation with peers, supervisors, subordinates, suppliers, customers, outside agencies, and others as a core managerial process. Examines research and concepts developed in a number of academic fields, and looks closely at personal skills and experiences. Requires intense involvement in negotiation simulation exercises, and thoughtful application of theory and research. Prerequisite: MOB7010 or MBA8500 or completion of one-year or two-year modules This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall, Spring, Summer I and Summer II

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