MBA Student Blog

The 2010 core class officially ended last Thursday!

Before all came to an end, we literally had to “put up a fight of our lives” to prepare for the integrated final exam, and then raced against the clock to put together the finishing touch for the business plan project.

The final exam topic – Analyzing Ballard Power and alternative energy industry – was given to us a week in advance (about 3 weeks before the end of core).  The actual exam question was handed out on the day of the exam.  Before the exam, we were required to research the company and the industry using secondary information, e.g. financial statements, industry reports, staff interviews, etc.

Even though we knew the topic early, we had little time to work on it as there were four course finals plus a case assignment the week before.  It wasn’t three days before the final that we could concentrate on putting together the analysis.  Many of us formed study groups and divvy up the research and analytical work.  There are tremendous amount of information available
and it was a difficult task to narrow down all the information.

I was part of a 15 member study group team and we spent two nights together to tackle the exam topic.  Amazingly, we were able to digest these
large amount of information, and garner a lot of insights from the observations we have made.  The knowledge that we have accumulated since August is putting into good use!  We prepared an appendix with 20 sections, spanning across the functional areas of HR, Accounting, Marketing, Strategy, and Operations, for use on the day of the exam.  And with some luck, our study group made an accurate guess for the final exam question, so eventually I had all the information I needed for the final exam.

As soon as the final exam ended, most students anxiously got back into their own business plan team.  The breakouts room in the Henry Angus building were jam packed.  At that point of time, most teams have completed the necessary research, but has not started writing.  To catch up, for three consecutive days, sleep and regular meals were sacrificed. It was pure adrenaline rush from then on.  The night before the submission headline, a dozens of the team were out at Kinkos after 5am to get the project documents binded.  Yes, you read it correctly – a BIG PARTY at Kinkos!

We then had our business plan presentations on Thursday, and after that, the CORE graduation ceremony! Three months of hard work has now paid off.  In the evening, we were downing a few drinks and dancing away past midnight at the Century house, joined by our Core profs. to celebrate the accomplishment we all made in the past three months.

A few words cannot justly describe how intense and intellectually simulating the Core program is. Made no mistake, during the three months there was little time to relax, and many of us spent absolutely no time with families, wife, kids, and friends.  But as I mentioned before, with strong will power and focus on your goals, nothing is impossible.  Also, with a tightly bonded team, ANYTHING can be accomplished.  I cannot stress how important teamwork was during the Core – whether it is in project teams or study groups.  The knowledge sharing opportunities in a team situation is something that I really enjoyed and appreciated.  Those that do not know how to work with people from a diverse background will be hard-pressed to gain any success – and this is my major takeaway from the Core.

Although now I am on holiday, in the next two weeks, I will do some more blogging about my experience during the Core (most likely a three part series).  Until then, I will be sleeping and snowboarding as much as I can   😀

In case you are wondering why there are not many posts from the first year class, the inactivity is due to the fact we are in the middle of Final exams period. Last week, we finished writing 3 finals – HR, Supply Chain, and strategy. This week, we will be tackling Finance, Marketing, Macro Economics, and Managerial Economics. On top of that, we just handed in a decision brief this morning, and will be presenting our recommendations to the CEO of uniPHARM tomorrow morning. Adding to all this excitement, Clive Beddoe, Chairman of West Jet, will be visiting our class tomorrow afternoon. This is the event that I am truly looking forward to!

Despite the fast paced schedule that we are having, many of us were able to spared their time participating in other wonderful activities. About 2 weeks ago, a student exchange fair was hosted by the MBA office. The inbound exchange students of this year were gathered together to provide us first year students with very detailed information about the school that they are representing. I managed to speak to students from Germany, France, China, Hong Kong, Austria, and Finland, but unfortunately ran out of time and couldn’t meet those from India, US, UK, and Australia. All the schools has something different to offer – some schools have a really strong finance emphasis, others are more famous for marketing and strategic management.  Similar to Sauder, one thing I found in common among all the schools is the high level of diversity – it is quite common that a class is made up of students from 20-25 different countries.

A few of us were also participating in several BCC and student club events.  Just 2 weeks ago, the Business Career Center invited Francesco Aquilini, owner of the local NHL hockey team Vancouver Canucks and managing director of Aquilini Investment Group, to speak to the current MBA class.  Mr. Aquilini described in details how he ended up gaining 100% ownership of the Canucks (it was not his initial intention).  He also stressed the importance of developing the skill sets of both entrepreneur and business manager, and just having skills from one side is not enough to be competitive in today’s business environment.

And this past Thursday and Friday, many first year students toured the Frito Lay factory.  Others that are more interested in marketing joined the DDB agency tour organized by the marketing club, and gained significant inside scope on how a large, global ad agency operate, plus learning about what they look for in recruiting new staff 🙂

It is quite amazing how some of us could still find the energy to be extremely active, but motivation can go a long way.  Anyhow, it is time for me to get back to my studies and presentation preparation.  Got to be at school 7:30am tomorrow to rehearse for the presentation with my team (I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of all these senior executives)!

Hello there!

It is my pleasure to make the first blog post on behalf of the 2012 class.  My name is Sunny Yip (with pen name Sunny Rock).  I am a first year student at UBC’s Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business.

As this is my first post, perhaps I should briefly introduce myself.  I was born in Hong Kong, China but has been living in Vancouver for more than 17 years (plus about one year in Japan).  My background is in accounting and I do have a CGA designation.  My purpose to enroll in the MBA program is to broaden my skill set, and I am most interested in learning more about International Business and E-commerce.

I cannot believe it is 9 weeks into the core program already and the first final will be on Nov 8th! From what I see so far, I can tell you that all 107 members from the 2012 class have worked extremely hard to meet the challenges set out by the Core Professors.  That, of course, does not mean we only care about the notes and the textbook.  Many of us also engage in various MBA club activities and playing sports.  A balance just has to be found somewhere!

The core profs try their best to stimulate our learning.  Various methods such as case studies, assignments, team projects and field trip have been utilized to help us internalize new concepts.  We were also exposed to the concept of Design Thinking, a creative process of problems resolution championed by Ideo.  To put it briefly, we learn many new business concepts everyday and these knowledge prepare us to not only be business savvy, but also become innovative change agents for our communities.

Learning in the Core are not just confined to the technical aspect of business.  Elysha Ames last year have written a great post about the things learned during the core: people focus, not afraid to try new things, and take initiatives. I would like to add three more points to that list:

#4 Make mistakes.  University is a great place to learn from your own mistake.  The core profs recognize that and we usually do not get heavily penalized on assignments if we make a mistake here or there.  Make no mistake (no pun intended): Grades are important, especially for Consulting jobs, but it can be “overrated” if too much emphasis is put on it. It is mind-blogging that many great ideas are evolved from mistakes and failed ideas (e.g. 3M Post-it notes).  Simply put, too conscious about making mistake is detrimental to learning, gaining new insights, as well as formulating new ideas.

#5 Listen and response to criticism.  During the Core, there are many opportunities for professors and fellow classmates to critique each other’s work or behavior.  Listen to what they say and make notes to improve.  Criticism may not sound so sweet but is a very important, and valuable, learning tool.

#6 Do not lose sight of your goal(s).   Sleep is a true luxury on some days during the Core semester , and fatigue, and distraction, is a great enemy of motivation.  To maintain that motivation to reach success in Core, and of course life in general, look back on your goal(s) to remind yourself why you are here at UBC in the first place.

Overall, I am very pleased with the learning experience so far and I look forward to the rest of the core.  Final exams and Business Plan project, here I come!

Sunny