Japanese exercise & the ICA

​We started our Economics class this morning with Prof.Ralf​ Boscheck with a Japanese exercise routine led by our very own experts – Koji & Takeo – and man did we all need the stretch! most of us had slept for 3-4 hours last night with our group Industry Analysis presentations due today and a mid-term quiz on Economics...

 

Through our various presentations, we were able to learn about the Energy, Healthcare, Food Security, Material Science and Executive Education industry covering topics as diverse as Nuclear energy, Renewables, GMO’s, Fish farming (Norwegian Salmon for Japanese Sushi!), Disease Management, Carbon Nanotubes and MBA programs! A month ago, most of us had a very different perspective on Economics and probably predicted a more quantitative approach but IMD teaching and our professors are anything but predictable! And Prof. Ralf keeps us on our toes by showing us that Economics is a lot more than pure quantitative analysis and the sessions we have had so far have been quite interesting in terms of analyzing markets, competition, monopolies, regulation, welfare, etc. albeit challenging for someone like me with no background in Economics! 

It's hard to believe that we are already in the middle of module 1 which will culiminate at the end of March. My fellow blogger Natalia spoke about class diversity "A diverse bunch" and one of my classmates today was discussing the diversity in personality among our professors…..every session is entertaining, challenging and different in every possible way and while IMD professors are some of the smartest people I have come across, they are also some of the funniest and most entertaining people!

Later in the afternoon Prof. John Walsh discussed Market Research and today’s treat was a surprise visit by senior leaders from Nielsen and company, the leaders in Market research. It’s always great to see how theoretical practices are applied in the “real world” to be able to understand the bigger picture…

I have a lot more to talk about but I am running on 4 hours of sleep and I think our hardwork on the quiz and ICA presentations must be rewarded with a quick beer at our favorite watering hole, White Horse….followed by some work on our leadership paper and hopefully some sleep later tonight!

Ciao!

Vikas Menon