Sympathy for Jerome Kerviel

A lot of things have been happening lately - banking recruitment, gargantuan write offs, American elections, FT MBA rankings, where both INSEAD and LBS gained ground, but the most fascinating story so far has been the rise and fall of Jerome Kerviel. The best thing is that the story is far from over.

Articles about him appear daily in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the FT and the Economist. He is an unlikely hero in France. If he would have been succesfull in his trades, he would probably been promoted, and nothing would ever appear in the press (makes you wonder how much of that is currently going on). The fallout has uncovered lots of dirty secrets (and much more is coming). The burning question is how was it possible that NO ONE noticed the exposure, the profits and subsequently the losses.

INSEAD and The Economist

This week's The Economist has an article mentioning INSEAD in not so bright colours. It is called "Insead out?". Below is an abstract from it:

"...One INSEAD insider says that the school is “rattled” by the latest rankings and by all the new competition. The school is obsessed with rankings, says an employee. Much management time goes on
“gaming” the ratings to ensure a good score..."

It is quite ironic because Antonio Fatas, the dean of MBA, has addressed the burning question of rankings in his welcome to December 2008 class. And he made a particular example of The Economist business school rankings, which by the way seem to yield notably different results from other major rankings.

Rankings aside, a few interesting figures came out of that speech. The most compelling was the acceptance yield, the percentage of admitted, who enroll. Apparently, it is very high at INSEAD, second only to a major American school, reflecting a strong commitment of applicants to INSEAD. Another one was the percentage of those applying exclusively to INSEAD, which was also quite staggering.

Finally, Antonio had to deal with the question about the acceptance rate, which is usually on the mind of all applicants, at least I remember looking for it in vain all over internet.

FT Business Education

... came out today. HEC Paris leads the overall European business school ratings, which take into account MBA, executive MBA, MiM and executive education. LBS is second, INSEAD - third, mainly because these two are ranked accross just 3 categories, while HEC has all 4.

What is the meaning of these rankings? Hard to say. But does anything have any meaning in this insane universe? All that's left to do is wait and see what happens next.

NY Times on Goldman Sachs

Nothing to do with MBA or INSEAD, but relates to the firm many of us want to work for - Goldman Sachs. By the way, it was not featured as a prominent employer in the most recent INSEAD career report (2006) hiring less then 3 people out of that class. Neither did Goldman Sachs take in many interns over the summer according to INSEAD 2007 summer internship presentation.

Ben Stein, a very famous American author and entertainer, in this article questions the immaculate reputation of Goldman Sachs and its adherence to its clients' interests. Here's what he has to say in the final passage: "... Is Goldman Sachs like “Love Story”? Does working there mean never having to say you’re sorry?"!

On a lesser note, there are Duma elections in Russia under way today. Putin's party United Russia is set to win by a landslide. I've noticed how increasingly critical Western press (especially British) has become of Putin in the past 6 months. Of course, there was the Litvinenko case, then Shell and BP issues, but you have to give the man credit what he's done with general wellfare of the population.

Anyway, here are just the headlines:
The FT: Putin’s United Russia heads for victory, Opposition claims violations and pressure, Putin supporters accused of dirty tricks
The Economist: Putin's phoney elections
NY Times: Putin’s Last Realm to Conquer: Russian Culture

MBA pros and cons (short version)

Here's what I think.

Pros:

- It is widely believed that it will be a truly great year full of exciting events and personal growth, possibly best year of your life

- Opens doors to firms, careers and opportunities previously unattainable

- A chance to meet a multitude of extraordinary people and make new friends for life - that one probably tilted the scale for me when I was deciding whether to go or not

Cons:

- Costly, very very costly

- Nothing is guaranteed, a lot of recruiters come to campus, but you have to apply and be rejected just as if you weren't getting an MBA. In view of the current developments, it might be even more so for those keen on banking. It has been mentioned during the finance chat that banking recruitment is currently weak and although summer internship placements were record high, full-time offers might not be as plentiful

- Limited value from academic curriculum - those were my thoughts when I first looked through the core courses - I've already covered most of that in my undergraduate years and professional degree

MBA scepticism in NY Times

In the USA MBA has always been a pass to middle management role in finance and consulting. Less so in Europe, where relevant experience was seen as key to promotion. Now it seems the situation in the US is changing too.

Two articles recently appearing in the New York Times have questioned the value of MBA. First one points out that a lesser number of those in finance, especially in quant-heavy finance, choose to go for an MBA.

The second one is about the generally diminished relevance of business education and the failure of business schools to produce the "right" kind of manager.

All that of course follows the real trashing of MBA in the Atlantic Monthly last year with references going as far back as Karl Marx! Click here is you are subscribed to Atlantic Monthly or here if you like me never subscribe to anything.

SEDIAN @ INSEAD

The idea to launch a blog came as abruptly as the decision to apply to business school: 15 minutes from start to finish. The subsequent realization required substantially more time and effort.

The intention for this website is to share the wisdom on the happenings of INSEAD MBA class of December 2008, the thoughts on the admission process (it is behind at this point), the intricacies of the job hunt and the philosophical arguments to support or disprove the value of an MBA.

SEDIAN is nothing more than an anagram of INSEAD.