Ricky’s Online Business Blog

December 19, 2011 (Monday) - Evolving the business model of one goods-based trading company into one based on information. Why struggle to compete with others in prices? Be deviant and change the rules of the game to create own blue ocean. By the way, it’s a waste for companies not to tap into the “outsider” brains of MBA students for free and possibly breakthrough ideas for their business.

December 19, 2011 (Monday) - Transferring marketing ideas from mind map to words in report is taking more time than expected. Will finish in one or two days so that I can turn it in to Turnitin, or else I’ll have to turn myself in to GSM for late submission.

December 20, 2011 (Tuesday) - Submitted the first incomplete draft to Turnitin for “testing”. Result unknown. Still writing up on marketing strategies. Learning more when crystalizing ideas in words. Took one hour to draw up perceptual map alone. Work to be continued tomorrow. Good night.

December 21, 2011 (Wednesday) - Met client in their office, conducted training on email server. Now sitting in cafe in KL City Walk, drinking Vietnamese milk coffee, writing up on marketing mix. Typical work + study life in past 2 years.

December 22, 2011 (Thursday) - Finished writing on marketing strategies, having taken 3 days and many pages. Case report writing is now 90% done. Should be finishing up the final part soon

December 23, 2011 (Friday) - Case study report COMPLETED. Submitted to supervisor and Turnitit for checking. Hopefully not much change required. Now I can sleep. Good night

December 23, 2011 (Friday) - Someone told me I’m a “controversial” person in GSM. Well, it’s good to be controversial, not good to be ordinary. Stand up and speak for what we believe in. That’s how Namewee created a niche for himself too.

December 24, 2011 (Saturday) - Spent hours to settle company accounts and works delayed while focusing on case in past 2 weeks. Will start to revise for the last ever exam on Wednesday.

December 24, 2011 (Saturday) - Reading up on training needs analysis (TNA), one of the four areas to be tested on Wednesday. Studying is over soon, but lifelong learning continues (thanks to MCA). I already identified my own learning needs (or rather, developmental needs) in 2012. You?

December 25, 2011 (Sunday) - Christmas time + Study time for Training & Development = Task analysis on Santa Claus.

December 12, 2011 (Monday) - In view of classes and activities every night from Tuesday to Saturday, it’s quite a challenge to complete Case Study for at least 75% by this week. Focus is the only way to go. No time to waste time!

December 12, 2011 (Monday) - Completed SWOT and SPACE for Case Study on one client company. More reading, thinking, strategizing and writing ahead. Developing skills as con-sultant, but not interested to be one. Why earn cheapskate money for giving ideas to others, when we can use them to build up our own business and earn better ourselves?

December 13, 2011 (Tuesday) - Sat in International Marketing class of Dr Kenny Teoh, one of the most popular lecturer around. Listened to friends’ presentation on selling Tongkat Ali coffee. Stealing information for own case study as usual.

December 14, 2011 (Wednesday) - Intensive planning, intensive writing, intensive reading, intensive stealing.

December 14, 2011 (Wednesday) - Surprise farewell party for Tuan Haji Yaakob, my two-time lecturer in Case Writing, and Training & Development Management.

December 15, 2011 (Thursday) - The last class of the whole MBA is over. Worked on case study in Old Town while friends discussed issues. Learning much on opportunity analysis. As entrepreneurs we often come across various opportunities, and the seven domains model is one good method to systematically analyze and decide to pursue them or not.

December 16, 2011 (Friday) - Developing a “co-opetitive” business model for client company in case study. Let’s not be me-too but start to think out of the box. Learning how to think is one major skill we can gain in this course.

December 17, 2011 (Saturday) - Morning do case, afternoon do case, night do case, eat thinking of case, drive reflecting on case, sleep also dreaming of case, might as well marry someone called Casey.

December 17, 2011 (Saturday) - SWOT done, SPACE finished, opportunity analyzed, business model evaluated, competitive strategies proposed, now QSPM-ing. Case is 70% completed. Not a crime thinking about life after MBA. Bitter first, sweet later!

December 18, 2011 (Sunday) - Let’s imagine the joy of having fought a good fight and having run a good race. Then we will be most motivated towards the goal at the end. Case is 75% done and one day ahead of schedule. Next up, ready for submission by Christmas on Sunday!

December 18, 2011 (Sunday) - Working on Appendix C: Financial Statement Analysis. Who ask you to take General Management? Must do everything from strategy, marketing, operations, IT, now accounting and finance some more.

December 18, 2011 (Sunday) - Financial analysis completed. Now working on strategic action plan, strategy alignment and McKinsey 7S Framework. Whatever goal we have in life or business, we must make sure everything we do is helping us towards the goal rather than away from it.

December 7, 2011 (Wednesday) – I’ve been in GSM-UPM since July 2009, seen many batches of students and made many friends. But everything is coming to an end soon in this month. Going to journal the last moments, struggles and challenges until end of year. Stay tuned. Good night for now.

December 8, 2011 (Thursday) – Assignments come and go yet never ending. But Case/Project should be on top of mind and done every now and then.

December 8, 2011 (Thursday) – Reading up on “perceptual distortion” for the very last presentation (conduct training) on Sunday.

December 8, 2011 (Thursday) – Books are gold mine to those who know how to find. Theories are practical to those who know how to apply.

December 9, 2011 (Friday) – Had the last group meeting with members of my last group for the last presentation in MBA. We are to give a half-hour training on Perceptual Distortion. We will try to, no, we will do our best to give one impressive “performance”.

December 9, 2011 (Friday) – Finished preparing slides for weekend training. Going to depend less on slides but focus more on trainees. Borrowed textbook of Marketing Strategy class. Going to scan through for possible materials to use in Case Study.

December 9, 2011 (Friday) – Reading marketing strategy textbook and extracting possible models and theories to be used in Case Study. Pretending to be CONsultant for a client and learning to apply theories in real-world situation is great learning experience.

December 10, 2011 (Saturday) - Now left the last presentation (training) tomorrow, final exam on 28/12, and case submission by 30/12 (or 3/1?). Coming week is critical in order to submit before Christmas. Must have good lifestyle support and time management!

December 10, 2011 (Saturday) – Last-minute effort to rehearse for training tomorrow. It’s always a challenge to present a dry topic in a funny way and engage all audience from start to finish. The last time I managed to do so was on Digg in MIS class but many months ago. Hopefully the last presentation tomorrow will be good enough for lifelong remembrance.

December 11, 2011 (Sunday) – Mock training started in GSM. 6 groups to present half-hour each, 4 indoor and 2 outdoor. God bless my team’s indoor training later.

December 11, 2011 (Sunday) – Final presentation is done! My own performance is not satisfactory. But thanks to teammates Shannon Tam and Carrie Goh Yi Yi, we did fairly ok. All the best in your project and studies. I’m leaving GSM soon.

December 11, 2011 (Sunday) – One customer asked me on writing a lot about MBA lately. It’s because now is my last month in MBA and I want to journal these last moments of my course. So writing till end of year only. No, I’m still working..