Haas Undergraduate Students Blog

We've Moved!

2011-08-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

The Haas Undergraduate Students Blog has moved from Blogger to Wordpress. New posts will appear exclusively at http://haasundergrad.wordpress.com/. The new RSS feed is available here. Thanks for reading!

New Student Directory and On-line Portal (Part 1)

2011-07-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

We wanted to let you know that the Haas Undergraduate Office in partnership with Haas ECSM (Enterprise Computing & Service Management) will be replacing our traditional paper version of the New Student Directory with powerful on-line portal called CampusGroups. We will start using the new on-line directory and portal during this upcoming Fall 2011 semester. Here is an exclusive preview link

All "Class of 2012" seniors and "Class of 2013" juniors will will automatically get access after we launch the service this Fall. If new technology sounds interesting to you, please consider being a part of our Testing and Training Team.You would get to work closely with me as we test the portal before official launch.

I will mark all future updates regarding your new portal with the "technology" tag on this blog. If you like this blog and you like to write, please consider becoming our blogger. Here is more information on that opportunity. Go Bears! -Dinko

Similar screen will appear when browsing directory function. Click here for more screen shots.

Student Organizations: Student Human Resources Association

2011-05-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is a sixth article in our series that profiles undergraduate student organizations. You can click on the "label" below any article to view other articles in the same category. If you are new to this blog, the list of sponsored Haas undergraduate clubs is here and their event calendar is here. I am posting the article below for Jeanie Fang, President of the Student Human Resources Association.

On Friday, April 22, 2011, the Student Human Resources Association hosted their biannual Networking Luncheon in the Wells Fargo Room. The luncheon was designed to give students the opportunity to network with professionals one on one. Once professionals and students got their lunch (three different Italian pastas, salad, drinks, and cookies), they sat down at a table and began networking. There were 10 tables of six to eight people and every 20 minutes students would rotate over to the next table. This way they were able to have a solid 20-minute conversation before moving on to meet more professionals. Halfway through the luncheon, Professor David Levine gave a presentation on “How to talk to a CEO, lessons from the poorest woman in the world.” SHRA then raffled out some prizes.

The luncheon had a wonderful turnout with 30 professionals in attendance. There were representatives from a variety of different companies including Google, O.C. Tanner, Intel, Stanford Hospital, Deloitte, and many more. In addition, there were also representatives from different universities to speak with students who were interested in pursuing an MBA in HR or a certificate in HR (PHR, SPHR, GPHR).

Student Organizations: Asian Business Association (ABA)

2011-05-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

This is a fifth article in our series that profiles undergraduate student organizations. If you are new to this blog, the list of sponsored Haas undergraduate clubs is here and their event calendar is here. I am posting the article below for Glen Chen, President of Asian Business Association.

Strengthening Relationships
ABA is a tight-knit community of people who enjoy learning and having fun. We strive to always strengthen relationships within the club and to foster ABA Love. On March 12, 2011 the Special Activities Chairs, Jamie Lee and Karl Yang, organized Buddy Runway, a creative buddy event inspired by the hit television show Project Runway. Buddy groups formed teams and were challenged to make costumes from different recyclable materials. There were a total of three rounds, and the three teams competing followed themes and guidelines for their costumes. Some notable costume items included garage sale signs, various foam paper, and lots of aluminum foil. Team representatives also modeled their costumes for a panel of judges composed of ABA alumni. Buddy Runway was a great opportunity for ABA members to meet new people through our buddy system.

Contributing to Our Community
ABA recognizes the importance of giving back, even beyond the scope of our own community. The Social Chairs hosted the Eighth Annual Mister Business Pageant on April 1, 2011. This years theme was "In It To Win It," and eight contestants from various business organizations on campus competed for the coveted title of Mister Business. Participating groups included Alpha Epsilon Zeta, Alpha Kappa Psi, Berkeley Consulting, Delta Sigma Pi, International Association of Student Communicators, Latino Business Student Association, and Phi Beta Lambda. Haas Professors Dave Robinson and Alan Ross and Executive Director Erika Walker composed the panel of judges for the evening.

Over 300 attendees packed the sold-out Andersen Auditorium, supporting the contestants of their respective business organizations. The thunderous cheers and laughs underscored the excitement and fun of the pageant. Through segments such as the formal segment and the talent segment, contestants demonstrated not only their personality and charisma, but also their talent and business knowledge. In the end, the event brought together the business community at Berkeley, and also helped raise money for the Red Cross's Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief Fund.

Mister Business - The Hosts and Social Chairs

Mister Business - The Contestants

Mister Business - The Judges

Buddy Runway

Student Organizations: Berkeley Women in Business

2011-05-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

This is a fourth article in our series that profiles undergraduate student organizations. If you are new to this blog, the list of sponsored Haas undergraduate clubs is here and their event calendar is here.

On March 15, 2011, Berkeley Women in Business co-hosted the Annual Spring Networking Mixer with the Freshman Sophomore Business Club and the Latino Business Student Association. The event provided an opportunity for students to network for last-minute internship opportunities in a relaxed and social setting. We had a night of food and fun! The event aimed at allowing students to explore different industries within Corporate America by bringing together a diverse array of sponsoring firms.

The event comprised of a social activity, where professionals and students competed as a team at a table against other teams in a test of creativity, resourcefulness, and critical thinking. The Penny Game really tested the skills of the participants. Groups of students worked in teams with each of the professionals to use their business skills to build the sturdiest tower using the least number of materials. Each team was given 100 pennies to allocate on spending for construction materials for their towers or saving to put on top of the tower. The tower that could support the most pennies by the end of the weigh-in won the game. It was a great way for students to get to know the professionals they were working with in a more interesting and intimate situation than a normal networking event. Congrats again to the winning team!

This year, the event did not only cater to students seeking a career in business related fields, but also in law and government. We had several organizations who promoted fellowships and internships, which will allow students to gain experience in the government, law, and non-profit sectors. Ernst & Young, PwC, Deloitte Consulting, City Hall Fellows, Abercrombie & Fitch, Google, and Hitachi Consulting all had representatives at the event. Afterward we had time for dinner and socializing. It was a great event!

Posted for Michelle Schurter of Berkeley Women in Business.

Behind the Camera: Diane Dwyer on working in Television

2011-05-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

You have seen her covering everything from the earthquake to Japan to the Winter Olympics. NBC Bay Area News Anchor Diane Dwyer is a Bay Area native and has been working in the television journalism industry for over 20 years. What you may not know is that Ms. Dwyer is a graduate of our Haas School of Business and is a current Haas professor teaching UGBA 167: Media Consulting.

Recently, I was lucky enough to sit down with Ms.Dwyer at the NBC Bay Area studio to talk about everything from her days at Haas to her work as an anchor. I think many will find Ms. Dwyer's journey inspiring with her no-fear attitude to taking risks in finding a career and going beyond the beaten path of business. Afterall, my motivation for interviewing individuals like Mr. Sandy Alderson and Ms. Diane Dwyer is to encourage students to seek the career they want even though it may not be under the ABCs.

C: Being a Haas alum, what advice do you have for current Haas students?

D: I graduated from Haas when we were down in the basement of Barrows Hall that is very different from how Haas is today. My advice for students is to reach outside of Haas. I love the new electives that Haas offers such as Sandy’s class and my Media Consulting class which are more off the beaten path of Business. What I wish I did as a student was taking that random History and English class and learning those different perspectives. English in particular is a class I suggest students continue to take because knowing how to write as a businessperson is vitally important no matter what business you end up in.

My other piece of advice for students is that if what you’re doing is not working, you’re young so don’t be afraid to change it. I mean, I went to b-school, my father was an accountant so that was the path I was going to take but I then realized that wasn’t the path wasn’t for me. It is hard to change when you have invested a lot of time, money, and effort into one career and switch but I’m so glad I did. My math background and my accounting and finance background have served me very well in television and journalism but I don’t think I would have had happy and as rewarding a career if I stayed where I was. The first couple of years out of college are the best. It is an easy time to take risks because you don’t have a mortgage, kids, and all that stuff going on.

C: With a background ranging from financial services to television journalism, can you share your story of how you ended up where you are today?

D: Well after college, I spent a year working in corporate and investment banking with Chemical Bank. I was able to spend three months in New York, which was fabulous, and with my great education at Haas the work came easy for me. Later, I went to work in the San Francisco office of Chemical Bank. It was interesting but within couple of months of working I knew that this wasn’t what I was going to do for the rest of my life. It just wasn’t a good fit.

After I quit at Chemical, I went down to Palm Springs for 3 months working for free at this television network and from the second week I knew this was the career for me. I was engaged, challenged, and loved what I was doing. I got my first television-paying job in Butte, Montana and actually experienced their second coldest winter on record. After Butte, I relocated to Chico for a short time but I really wanted to come home to the Bay Area so I took another risk and quit that job. Essentially, I moved home without a job. I did part-time political consulting work and finally landed work for KTVU. After about a year of part-time, they (KTVU) hired me full-time.

What I can say is that I found my way into the place I wanted to live, the life I wanted, the career I wanted but I didn’t take the traditional route.

C: What courses have you taken at UC Berkeley and Haas in particular do you believe have helped you most in the field?

D: Well as a Haas student, I took the basic statistics and accounting. Especially with the financial meltdown, having this background in accounting and statistics has made the difference. I remember doing a story on the San Francisco SPCA and interviewing a woman who was receiving criticism on the way she was choosing to allocate the organization’s funds. When the cameras went off, her assistant came up and suggested that we talk about the newly-built hospital to address any criticism about the costs associated with building it. During the interview, I got into the financials and she said that hospital generates $4 million dollars annually to support SPCA. Immediately what crossed mind in which I communicated to her was, “Is that revenue or net come?” We went round and round and then she admitted that the cost of the hospital is $5 million, which means they were operating at loss. I believe that at my level, most journalists would have the knowledge to delve deep in the way I did but I believe this experience is a testament to my business background.

C: What are the key personal characteristics one should possess to be successful in this field?

D: You have to have a huge sense of curiosity. When events are taking place, having this curiosity innately will motivate you to learn more. Second, you have to be a great writer. My advice for Haas students is to take as many writing classes as you can whether it is Marketing or English. The better writer you are prepares you for any field. Lastly, you have to be a person who loves getting behind the scenes and acting as the eyes and the ears for the public. There is a responsibility that comes with being in this position because you are able to find out some things that shouldn’t be taking place or help get people safe. There are days when I don’t feel good like when events are occurring like the earthquake in Japan but most days are great.

C: How do most people enter the field of Television Journalism?

D: The field has changed so much since I’ve started---I mean, CNN had just gotten on air. What has started since then is this huge interest in business news. Prior to these networks airing extensive financial coverage, the only arenas where people could access business news were on the radio or in the newspaper. If you have the business background, you may seek opportunities to work for these networks. On another note, the evolution of newspapers has given rise to citizen journalists. I’m still on the fence about how I feel about these individuals but more content can’t be a bad thing. The key is finding what is worthy among the masses of information.

C: Students at Haas often talk about “ideal courses” that go beyond the ABCs. Do you have any suggestions of courses that Haas could offer?

D: The more courses Haas could offer staying on the cutting edge, the better. If we could provide at the undergraduate level a class where you are admitted by submitting a business plan then are given the opportunity to launch a business in that semester, that would be great. Theory is important but the real part is important as well. I think that is why Dean Rich Lyons has brought in people like Sandy and me because we have that real-world experience. I think Rich Lyons is doing an incredible job and has really opened up the box of ideas so I am impressed.

C: How can students make their resume standout when applying for a position in the television journalism industry?

D: If I’m examining a resume, I look for sincerity. I don’t want to see all these key words but I want to see what’s real. I know that I am the exception but I believe that seeing one thing a person has done well versus a large amount of internships shows passion and strength of character. Once you get to where you want to be in organization, you will need to explain why you’re different and that may build on what you provided in your resume.

C: What would you say are the best and worst parts of your job?

D: The best parts are that I am constantly being challenged, getting new information and able to learn new things. I am a great conversationalist because of what I learn on the job. I can talk about anything from unicycling to the Olympics.

The worst parts are the crazy hours and prioritizing job and family. As a mother of two and wife, as much as I love getting that information, traveling to other places is no longer what I want to do. I work on Saturday and Sunday, which I like because it lets me do my job as a mom. There are a lot of divorces in this industry because trying to balance is hard. There also have been so many cutbacks with the economy. It is hard to lose friends who are finding it difficult to get back in.

D: Besides being a reporter for NBC Bay Area, you are also an entrepreneur. Can you tell me more about Dwyer Media Strategy?

C: Around the same time I started looking around to teach at Cal, I was looking into getting some media consulting work. I am currently working with three really good companies that connect with me. I provide media strategy, marketing, branding, and signage design. It is very different from my journalism career but I have learned a lot in the process. I have found a place where I can do what I love, manage to have all these jobs and still get to be a mom. For women, as you go out there in the real world, the more you can look at how much you like the job, try to look long-term and see if this job will fit in the life you want in the future.

After the interview, I was able to tour the NBC Bay Area studios further. Here are some photos from my tour:

I would like to thank Ms. Dwyer and everyone at NBC Bay Area for being so welcoming. It was truly a great experience. Please note that UGBA 167: Media Consulting will be offered in Fall 2011. As you choose your classes, why not take Ms. Dwyer's class?

Good luck on finals everyone!

If you have suggestions or ideas of content you want to see in the Haas Undergraduate Students Blog, feel free to shoot me an-email!

Cheers,

Catherine J. Limcaco

Class of 2012

Go Bears!

C.Limcaco@Berkeley.edu

Future Business Leaders of America - Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA- PBL) Event

2011-04-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

This is a third article in our series that profiles undergraduate clubs. If you are new to this blog (congratulations new admits!), the list of sponsored Haas undergraduate clubs is here and their event calendar is here. Today's post is about FBLA-PBL or Future Business Leaders of America - Phi Beta Lambda.

After a week of intense chalking, flyering, and class announcements, the evening of Friday, March 11, 2011 quickly arrived. The beautiful and large Wells Fargo Room was nicely arranged, with small and close clusters of chairs at the perimeters of the room. As the officers and the marketing committee bustled about getting everything in order, the room quickly filled with PBL members, non-PBL comers, and the speakers for the night, all dressed in business casual clothing, setting the professional mood. Until ten minutes after the hour, the room was abuzz with conversation, both casual, as people were getting to know each other, and formal, as many engaged the speakers to learn more about their professions. At about 7:10p.m., our hosts, Tim and Ancy, graciously proceeded with the event and made their opening remarks and introduced the speakers, making up for their technical difficulties with charisma!

The speakers then took their positions at their respective stations, and everyone was split into groups, rotating every fifteen minutes for three rounds in order to more intimately talk and network - SPEED NETWORKING!! All of the speakers were extremely friendly and knowledgeable, willing to answer all questions, and offered much insight into their professions. The night featured representatives from many companies, including Google, Oracle, GreeneSearch, Corridor Group, Confihealth, Kaiser Permanente, and Northwestern Mutual. It was an extremely successful event filled with engaging conversations, delicious appetizers, and professional networking.

Posted by Dinko L. for Victoria Kam

Winner of Class of 2012 Cohort Competition

2011-04-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Class of 2012 Undergraduates,

The cohort competition has come to an end this year. Many of you have had the chance to participate in various activities and challenges and earn points for your cohorts. I truly hope you have enjoyed mingling with your fellow classmates, and I want to thank you all for your participation in Cohorts Picnic, Food Drive, Do You Know Haas Competition, and other social events held by HBSA this year.

As promised, the cohort with the most amount of points will be awarded with the following prize: Individual Photo Shoot with Professional Photographer Jim Block.

Please join me in congratulating students from SPROUL cohort! After numerous challenges, they lead the pack with 873.5 points, and are way ahead of everyone else! They have done a great job attending events and actively participating in them.

Sproulians, your reward awaits you - same extremely high quality pictures as Haas publications and brochures. You'll get to own these photos FOREVER as .jpg digital files and use them anywhere you like

(LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Please check your e-mail now for further details. This photo shoot is scheduled for Tuesday, April 12.

Again, congratulations SPROUL! Everyone else, keep it up and stay connected - there are more competitions to come next year and you can show incoming juniors how it's done!

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Yuliya Sas.

Photographer Jim Block will be taking individual photos of the Sproul Cohort on Tuesday April 12.

Free Workshop Fundraising for Social Change

2011-03-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

I wanted to remind everyone that sign-ups for the " Fundraising for Social Change" workshop will begin today at noon. Please sign-up if you are interested since we need at least 20 registered participants for this workshop to happen.

Even if fundraising does not become your main career, many Haas students and alumni get involved in non-profit causes and derive a lot of personal satisfaction in helping others. It's no surprise to me that our fourth Haas Defining Principle is "Beyond Yourself." Now, here is your chance to learn how social enterprises and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) operate and to learn about the fundamentals of fundraising in the non-profit sector.

When: Sunday, April 3, 2011
Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location: Haas Room C220

For sign-up instructions and more information please review Karren's e-mail sent to your CalMail address. For questions, please contact Karren Bautista Tanisaki at (510) 642-1421 or email kbtanisaki@haas.berkeley.edu This workshop is restricted to Haas undergraduate majors only.

E-Business Case Competition Sign-ups and Training Videos

2011-02-28T11:48:00.000-08:00

Sign-ups This Week

The Haas Undergraduate Office will begin sign-ups for the 12th Annual E-Business Case Competition sponsored by Cisco systems, Deloitte Consulting, and the Schlinger Family Foundation today (Monday, February 28 at noon). Sign-ups will end on Friday, March 4th at noon. If you are interested in this competition, please visit our website for important logistical information.

Update (since first published)
If you are signing up your team in the Undergraduate Office, please prepare and bring the following information for ALL team members on your team:

First and Last Name
Berkeley.edu e-mail address (CalMail)
Major
Date of Graduation

On-line Training Videos

Some of our case competition videos are available for your viewing through a special website. Videos from the Fall 2010 Investment Banking Goldman Sachs competition, the Spring 2010 E-Business competition and a few of our external case competitions (traveling teams) are now available for your viewing. These videos are a great tool for you to use as you consider involving yourself in case competition, or just to see the fabulous work that our students have produced. To get to this website, we ask that you drop by the Undergraduate Program Office (S450) to pick up an instruction card with the website and login information.

On a personal note, in my opinion it is OK to sign-up as a team, get a copy of the case, and decide as a team how to proceed. If the case is extremely difficult, we do have teams who drop out and that is understandable. But most cases that I have seen are extremely interesting. They include recent Cisco partnerships, the Internet, or exciting new technologies. Good luck to all of you who decide to participate!

Photo: Our on-line video library includes the last year's winning presentation by Prateek Madapurmath, Kunal Modi, Sahil Takiar, and Prashanth Vijay.

Undergraduate Marketing Association Event: Get Intern-Connected

2011-02-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

We have asked Haas-sponsored clubs to tell us about the events they are holding each academic year. Below is a post received by Nika Saki on behalf of the Undergraduate Marketing Association (UMA).

On Wednesday, November 17, 2010 the Undergraduate Marketing Association hosted Get Intern-Connected. At this campus-wide event, a wide range of companies, including NBC, Fox, Merrill Lynch, Sephora, Pepsi, and Kaiser Permanente, were each represented by past interns. Students had the opportunity to speak with past interns about their experiences. This allowed them the opportunity to research potential internship paths - hearing both the pros and cons. Further, the past interns detailed the application process and gave advice based on their experiences. This event was very successful and we plan to continue hosting Get Intern-Connected every semester.

All Work and Play: Mr. Sandy Alderson on working in Sports

2011-02-06T13:06:00.000-08:00

Students of Haas in particular have a special affinity for the spring semester. Whether you are a departing senior or rising junior, the feeling of anticipation for the start of the spring semester is strong. This Spring, Haas students will not only be enjoying new classes and but will be partaking in the recruiting and internship season activities.

It is presumed that many Haas students will pursue the areas of accounting, banking, and consulting---the ABCs. Although these industries provide great opportunities, I want to introduce a different industry for students to explore: sports.

This past Fall 2010 semester, I took UGBA 167 Sports Marketing with Mike Rielly and Sandy Alderson. As an avid sports fan, it was an amazing learning experience full of visits from top industry professionals and daily open discussions on anything from Tiger Woods to Visa’s World Cup sponsorship. Through studying cases on international franchises and group projects, the class delved in-depth in many ways to communicate to students how the sports industry functions like any other industry under the ABCs.

The first half of the course was led by Mike Rielly, the Vice President of the Golf and Sports Consulting Division at the Creative Arts Agency, who has over 20 years in sports industry. Prior to joining CAA, Mr. Rielly worked in a senior position with the first sports’ agency, IMG.

The second half of the course was taught by Sandy Alderson, an industry veteran who has held top positions several teams in Major League Baseball. Mr. Alderson began his career in sports with the beloved Oakland Athletics and, a couple of years later a World Series, joined the San Diego Padres to be CEO. On his final day of teaching, Mr. Alderson shared with my classmates and I that he will not be teaching next Fall because he will be the new General Manager of the New York Mets. Though we were disappointed, we are all very excited for Mr. Alderson.

Since Mr. Alderson will be leaving for New York soon, I asked him to join me for an informational interview to help Haas students understand what it is really like to work in the sports industry. By the time of the interview, Mr. Alderson was already at work in his new office in Manhattan. Thankfully, he was gracious enough to share some time with me through a conference call.

Prior to beginning your career in sports, you were working for the Farella Braun & Martel Law Firm in San Francisco. What about the sports industry encouraged you to make the shift in careers?
Well if you go back to 1980, there wasn’t the sports industry as we know today. What attracted me to the Oakland A’s was purely an interest in baseball. Today, the size and complexity of the industry in terms of the revenues and the types of participants in advertisers and vendors that are fully engaged is different than when I first started. It is a far more complicated, mature, and prominent industry.

As an alum of Harvard Law School and Dartmouth College, what courses or activities do you believe prepared you for the field?
I did not have any inkling when I was in college or law school that I would be entering the sports business. In retrospect, there wasn’t anything that I did purposely that prepared me. The legal education was very helpful, though not necessary, and provided an analytical framework for decision-making and so forth. Certainly classes in economics and other business classes, which are available at Haas, were great. Sports management classes would have been great to take but they weren’t available at the time.

What would say are the key personal characteristics needed to be successful in this field?

A real interest in sports. At the entry level, the compensation is not all that attractive. It is like every other business in many respects. An understanding of accounting, economics, and marketing are all valuable as well.

How do most people get into this field? What are common entry level jobs?
Internship with a variety of departments within a franchise, league, or sponsor. Also, it could be in a form of an internship with an agency that represents athletes or advertisers. Internships are important. Making contacts are really important. Getting involved in sports is similar in getting involved in any business or any job. It takes energy, commitment and effort.

What should one consider when creating a resume?
The resume is important and one must be able to somehow demonstrate interest and experience. Another thing that is important about a resume is that is gets to the right person within an organization. Each organization is slightly different in the way it assigns titles and responsibilities. However, information is available online. In my capacity at Berkeley, I’ve counseled students in past on where to send a letter to particular organization with some confidence.

What opportunities for advancement exist (in regards to a sports franchise)?
These organizations are not that large unless you’re taking about sponsors such as PepsiCo or Anhauser-Bushch. If you get your foot in the door and do good work in whatever capacity, people will notice. Then there may be an opportunity to move up or laterally based on ability. Often young people will enter at a sales level and to the extent that they’re successful at the sales capacity, there may be other opportunities. I’ve definitely seen that in the past.

What types of publications would list job openings in this field?
Sports Business Daily and other more targeted resources such as Baseball America and the section of employment opportunities on MLB.com

What advice or suggestions do you offer for someone considering going into the field?
Well at Berkeley, I would definitely recommend taking the undergraduate course of Sports Marketing. In addition to giving students an overview of the sports industry, the course also puts the student in contact with a professor who may be active in the sports field and an access to speakers who come from different areas of the industry.

What related fields should students consider looking into?
Entertainment but keep in mind the sports industry is tremendously diverse. You have leagues, franchises, agencies, sponsors, vendors--just so many different business participants in the industry. There are many different ways of being involved in the industry by not necessarily being part of a team.

I would like to thank Mr. Alderson for taking the time to contribute his insight to the Haas Undergraduate Blog. Please note that UGBA 167: Sports Marketing will be offered in Fall 2011. I promise you that the course will be worth taking whether you’re a sports’ fan like or a fellow Haas student.

If you have suggestions or ideas of content you want to see in the Haas Undergraduate Students Blog, feel free to shoot me an-email!

Undergraduate Food Drive Competition "8 Cohorts for Charity" Results

2010-12-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

We would like to express our gratitude and thanks on behalf of the local community who will benefit from the numerous (778!) food items that you have donated to Alameda County Food Bank. You have truly demonstrated that Haas students can go beyond themselves!

We are ready to announce the results of the competition:

BLUE senior cohort won the first place with 209 (!) food items donated. Great job! Please check your e-mail to find out how you can pick up your San Francisco Soup Company $5 gift certificate.

Below is the tally of cans donated followed by the final point count for each Junior cohort. Sproul is currently in the lead for the main prize - professional photo shoot! Bear is just 163.5 points behind, and Axe follows with just a 67.5 point difference.

2012 COHORTS POINT COUNT:
SPROUL - 120 items - 873.5 points
BEAR- 124 items - 710 points
AXE - 76 items - 642.5 points
TELEGRAPH - 74 items - 582.5 points
OSKI - 12 items - 375 points
CALIFORNIA - 31 items - 312.5 points

GOLD Cohort - 132 items

Total: 778 items!

Here are a few pictures of students who had the patience to smile for my camera. Of course, there were SO MANY MORE of you. This post is based on an e-mail message sent by Yuliya Sas, Haas Business School Association President.

Business Social hosted by HUBBA, LBSA, and P4

2010-11-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

The Haas Undergraduate Black Business Association (HUBBA), the Latino Business Student Association (LBSA) and the Partnership for Pre-Professional Pilipinos (P4) held a Business Social in the Multicultural Center on Tuesday, October 19, 2010.

Representatives from various firms including KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, Gap Inc., Macy's, Google, Wells Fargo, Bridgespan Group, Hitachi Consulting, Target, Prudential, CBS Interactive, Abercrombie and Fitch, Altria, and T-Mobile were present and helped make this event a major success.

The event served as a great networking opportunity for many of the members of the organizations and students. In order to exercise teamwork and innovation, all participants played a game called Tycoon Wars. Students along with representatives from different firms and organizations broke into groups and created a prototype out of a limited selection of materials. Afterwards, each group divided themselves into buyers and sellers, allowing participants to peruse other prototypes and market their own product. A common theme within the prototypes were eco-friendly, student-oriented products. The time and dedication HUBBA, LBSA, and P4 put forth for the event led to the production of a rewarding and fun evening.

Posted by Dinko L. for Ashley Villanueva.

An Evening at the Haas Gala

2010-11-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

The crowd of over 400 Haas alumni, donors, students, and supporters received the Dean’s performance with a standing ovation. Guitar in hand, Dean Lyons courageously belted a personally written tune in honor of Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Warren Hellman (BA 55). Dean Lyons never ceases to surprise us, so why should this night be any different? And then followed Mr. Hellman, whose notable lifetime accomplishments are inspiring, yet also a bit overwhelming. How foolish of me to not expect that the founder of Golden Gate Park’s annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is one of our own. Oh, and did I mention that Diane Dwyer, NBC Bay Area News Anchor, was the evening’s comedian? Dwyer hosted the program and ensured everyone in the room was laughing. Not only are her jokes entertaining and on spot, but she even teaches an undergraduate Haas elective on media consulting—complete with a lecture at Bear’s Lair for pizza and beer. Sign me up.

Undergraduate students with Dean Lyons

Dean Lyons on stage

The Haas Gala is an annual event that recognizes members of the Haas community and celebrates the school’s excellence. The event was at the San Francisco Palace Hotel and was a night full of mingling, dinner, awards, and dancing. I had the opportunity to attend with several undergraduate students to show our support of the Haas School. And yes, I do have a fantastic video clip of Dean Lyon’s performance…

New Blogger and Self-Introduction

2010-11-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

My name is Jeremy Au, and I'm a new writer for the Haas blog.

I am a junior doubling in Business Administration and Economics, and I also happen to have an international background - an Australian who grew up in Singapore. I also lead The Berkeley Group, a student-led organization that provides pro bono consulting for nonprofits in the Bay Area. So my interests are in consulting, social impact and international business.

Over the course of the year, I will be blogging about the great events that go on here at Haas. Stay tuned!

Go Bears!
Jeremy Au
Haas Class of 2012

Lunch with the Dean

2010-10-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

You don’t have to have lunch with the dean to know he’s a cool guy, but he gave undergraduate students the option last week as he discussed the undergraduate program and made himself available for questions.

In his presentation, Dean Lyons addressed the current financial situation that the UC system is facing and the inability to provide any forecasts for next year’s fees. He spoke to the changes the undergraduate program has been implementing including reduced class size, experiential learning opportunities, and a wider variety of class offerings. Hopefully you will soon notice these efforts if you have not already. I personally appreciate the variety of electives currently offered, which includes specialized courses in marketing, finance, and entrepreneurship.

Among several other topics discussed, there were two that I found most interesting. First, Dean Lyons addressed the issue of diversity and increasing the diversity of our campus among students and professors. What I noted in particular was the importance placed on making the Haas campus welcoming. Well, wait—how welcoming can it really be for a lower-classman intimidated by the black suits, MBA students, and clean bathrooms? Dean Lyons was obviously referring to factors beyond this outer surface, arguing that if students don’t view Haas as welcoming, they won’t apply. The possible talent that is lost hurts everyone involved—affecting the learning environment including you’re your own experience at Haas.

The other topic Dean Lyons presented was the new “privatization” model proposed by Judy Olian, the dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Business. This self-sufficient model maintains funding for the MBA program through tuition, private donors, and cost containment strategies. The reason Dean Lyons mentioned the new model at UCLA is because he wanted to assure us that a similar change would not be possible at Haas, primarily because of our undergraduate program. Few business schools have an undergraduate program and it would be unrealistic to charge undergraduate students a different amount upon entrance into the major. This isn’t to say a ‘private’ model would not be preferable for the Haas MBA programs, but for now we need not worry—our public education will stay as ‘public’ as it is today.

While Dean Lyons did not actually eat during ‘Lunch with the Dean,’ I appreciated the event and my free lunch. If you want to continue to hear from our dean, follow him on twitter-- twitter.com/richlyons.

2010 Singapore External Case Competition

2010-10-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

Haas External Case Competition, Fall 2010
NUS:DBS Case Competition, Singapore
Aside from a slight flight scheduling mix-up, our flight to Singapore went smoothly. Cathay Pacific's new 747-400s are a joy to ride, shortening the 13+3-hour ride to Singapore through extensive food & entertainment options. Our first meal in Asia, Arisen Ramen in Hong Kong airport, reminded us of what we've been missing out on in America.

The contrast between Singapore proper and Berkeley cannot be understated. Its regimented aisles of flowerpots and perfectly trimmed shrubbery, ready to be converted into emergency runways within 30 minutes, are on the far opposite end of the spectrum from Telegraph's colorful urban life. Our hotel, situated in the heart of the city, found us near major shopping centers and tourist attractions - an auspicious start to our week abroad.

Our ambassador, Meghna, welcomed us with gifts and advice; more importantly, she took us out to eat at Timbre, a Singaporean pizza restaurant. There, we enjoyed specialty pizzas (Peking Duck & Sunny Side Up being our favorites) and Heineken. We met several of the other teams there, including the Finnish giants from Aalto, who purportedly swim under frozen lakes for personal amusement. However, taking the advice of Haas External alumni, we left in order to visit the Night Safari as soon as possible.

The Night Safari in Singapore is unlike any zoo we had visited before (with the exception of Li Sha, who is a native). It takes the form of a tram ride through an artificial rainforest filled with exotic creatures, from lions to tigers, giraffes to hippopotamus, leopards to hyenas - a uniquely concentrated panoply of animals. At one point, we were able to disembark and explore on foot: the steel double doors and dim lighting recalled Jurassic Park to mind. The bat exhibit was incredibly intense. They surrounded you and flew about you, never making contact yet always within arm's reach. That soon cured us of our sleep deprivation and jet lag.

The next day, we went on a scavenger hunt throughout Singapore, which turned out to be a sanctioned excuse to try out all sorts of Singaporean delicacies. Hainan Chicken Rice was the first on our must-have list, and it exceeded even our loftiest expectations. Sam Mai declared that he would marry it at the earliest opportunity. We also enjoyed their shaved ice, chili crab, and other famous foods.

Afterward, we headed over to the NUS campus, where their new business school facilities just opened. It is an impressive construction of steel and glass, very shiny and modern. We left a note wishing them all the best, and took a picture with our advisor Erika Walker.

On the third day, we had the opportunity to visit DBS, an Asian financial services firm which sponsored the case competition. We actually visited their trading floor, where we found impressive arrays of screens manned by furiously typing traders. Following a presentation on DBS' future growth and target image, we headed over to Universal Studios at Sentosa Beach. It is largely similar to the LA version, albeit with somewhat fewer rides and much shorter lines. We ended up spending much of our time with the team from the University of New South Wales, an Australian University.

We also took a picture with the Merlion at Sentosa, representing CAL. The sculpture is actually quite impressive, and apparently tourists can go inside and climb up to the top for a fee, much like our Statue of Liberty. What's more impressive is that there's something like 5 or 6 of them around the city, of which we ever only saw a couple. Supposedly the one we took pictures with is the biggest and best - at any rate, we were impressed.

The competition arrived the following day, and we spent 8 hours furiously preparing our powerpoint deck and presentation. Despite our best efforts, we failed to place, yet we gave it our all and definitely learned from the experience. After we were eliminated, we enjoyed a couple more days of tourist fun, and then it was time to return home.

This case competition was a unique opportunity for experiential learning. The Haas External program is exceptionally well run and a seminal part of all of our college careers. More than just competing abroad, or even travelling to another country, the greatest benefit for all of us on the fall Haas External team was the friends we made and the relationships we formed with the other schools there. In fact, on the last day, we swapped school t-shirts with UNSW, soccer player style. It was truly an honor to have represented UC Berkeley and the Haas School this semester, and all of us on the team encourage continued participation and support for the program.

Go Bears!

-Louis Kao, Sam Mai, Li Sha, Catherine Shyu

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Louis Kao

Cohorts Challenge on Memorial Glade

2010-10-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

The Haas Business School Association has been working effortlessly this semester to create a bond among incoming Juniors through friendly competitions. The four cohorts of Oski, California, Telegraph, and Sproul all came out for the First Cohorts Challenge on Memorial Glade that included a series of activities. Some activities got physical with tug-a-war and some were mentally stimulating with a game of business taboo. No matter what the actitivity was, the goal of each was to create a bond amongst members of cohorts as well as the entire Class of 2012. My personal favorite game was having to line up with my fellow cohort members according to birth dates without SPEAKING. Though we (California Cohort) did not win, we enjoyed the fun throughout the day with our fellow cohorts.

2012 COHORTS POINT COUNT:
SPROUL - 172.5
TELEGRAPH - 162.5
CALIFORNIA - 147.5
AXE - 122.5
BEAR- 10
OSKI - 10

Cheers,
Catherine Limcaco
Class of 2012

Dean’s Speaker Series, Haas Events Galore

2010-09-22T20:12:00.001-07:00

As undergraduates, we have access to extremely exciting and interesting opportunities on the Haas campus. I have recently been impressed by the access we have to events that I had always imagined were limited to Haas MBAs. A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of listening to Mike Lewis, author of The Big Short and Liar’s Poker, speak about the current financial situation, his career, and personal thoughts for business students today. I admit that I have only read sections of his books in the long hours I’ve spent in airport bookshops, but I was thrilled to receive an email announcing his visit. I had heard that Lewis lived locally and has children enrolled in nearby schools, but it is not often that he gives “talks” or visits universities. Listening to his conversation with the co-faculty director of the Center of Responsible Business Kellie McElhaney, was a real treat. Most importantly, it gave me an introduction to the many events and opportunities that are available to Haas students.

Mike Lewis’s visit was part of the Dean’s Speaker Series, which brings distinguished individuals who are leaders in business and other organizations to Haas. Future guests include John Chambers, Chairman & CEO of Cisco, and Donald Knauss, Chairman and CEO of Clorox.

I also had the pleasure of watching a free screening of Inside Job, by Oscar-nominated director Charles Ferguson earlier this week. The film provided a very clear and revealing investigation of the 2008 financial crisis, and I found it to be extremely engaging and well done. This event was co-sponsored by the Center of Responsible Business and is one of many events on their full calendar. The Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation also has a calendar full of events worth exploring. So… mark down some dates and take advantage of what Haas offers, because it may be one of these events that catapults you into a new area of interest or stimulates a conversation or thought you had never before considered.

HAAS takes Sproul and California Cohorts Out to the Ball Game

2010-08-31T19:35:00.000-07:00

As classes begin and the tension rise incoming students lucky enough to be a part of the Sproul and California cohorts were able to have a escape for a night of have fun courtesy of the Haas School of Business. For the past week or so students have been vying to win tickets to see the San Francisco Giants take on the Colorado Rockies by "like-ing" one out of the four comments on Facebook that recognized their respective cohort. The cohort that received the most "like-s" would go on to win tickets for the baseball game.

The top two tech-savvy cohorts were Sproul and California (which I am a member of) and attended the game on August 30,2010 at the beautiful AT&T Park, the future site of Cal Football.

Students were able to meet one another prior by rounding up at Downtown Berkeley Bart then descending together for San Francisco.

Although the San Francisco Giants did not win, the true winners are Sproul and California for they were able to bond, eat the delicious garlic fries, and (of course) be students of Haas of School of Business!

Congratulations Sproul and California!

Cheers,
Catherine
Haas Class of 2012
Go Bears!

Summer Travels Before Fall 2010 at Haas

2010-08-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

For the first time in several years, newly admitted Haas undergraduates were no longer required to complete summer session classes preceding the fall semester. And for me, this change was almost better news than my actual admission into the program.

My name is Alicia Salmeron and I am from Orinda, a small town just fifteen minutes over the hill from the Berkeley campus. Both of my parents came to the Bay Area from Barcelona, Spain, so foreign countries and cultures have always captivated me. My passion for traveling and international affairs has always influenced my summer plans, and this summer was no exception. I decided to spend 8 weeks in China, a country that had seemed incredibly intimidating and foreign.

My time in China can be split into three parts.

The first few weeks, I worked as a TOEFL and SAT tutor for a Chinese agency in the bustling export city of Shenzhen. Shenzhen is located in south China, directly north of Hong Kong, and was the first special economic zone (SEZ) established by Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms of the 1970s. In 30 years, it has been transformed from a fishing village to one of the busiest ports in the world. I can’t say Shenzhen is the most exciting place for a college student to spend the summer; however, I was constantly learning from the Chinese students I taught and the expatriates working for international companies that I interacted with.

For the second part of my summer, I worked as a private English tutor for a Chinese family. My homestay-styled set up introduced me to Chinese family life. These were also the weeks I managed (in reality was forced) to pick up the most Mandarin.

Birthday dinner with host family and friend

The last couple of weeks of my stay were dedicated to traveling China. I traveled through Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guilin, and Hong Kong. Before returning to San Francisco, I decided to spend a week in Thailand to explore Bangkok and relax on the islands of Ko Tao and Ko Phangan.

The Great Wall

Prior to my summer travels, China felt overwhelmingly foreign. This rapidly growing economy is a central player in global business and management, and while I had never envisioned myself working there, I’ve decided it can certainly be a possibility. In Shenzhen, I was also employed by an audio transcription agency that makes English learning tools for Mandarin-speaking businessmen. It amuses me that my voice will be listened to by professionals throughout China seeking to communicate to their English-speaking counterparts around the world. The experience engrained in my mind just how essential it is to effectively communicate and understand differing cultural practices in today’s global economy.

But the summer has now come to an end, and classes for Fall 2010 begin tomorrow. TOMORROW! My first class as a Haas undergraduate will be UGBA 106 (Marketing) at 8am. This will also be my first 8am class…ever. I’m slightly terrified, but very much excited.

As always, go bears!

Alicia Salmeron
Haas Class of 2012

Oh, Thai beaches and sunsets...

Haas New Student Orientation: Welcome Class of 2012!

2010-08-23T22:53:00.001-07:00

Before I entertain you all about the Haas New Student Orientation that took place on August 23, 2010, allow me to introduce myself: My name is Catherine Limcaco and I am upcoming Junior Transfer Student. My interests include Marketing and Finance and my ultimate career goal is to work for the National Basketball Association. I am transferring from Skyline College in San Bruno, CA and I look forward to keeping you all up-to-date with all the exciting things going on at Haas.

On August 23, 2010, incoming Haas students were invited to a day of festivities designed to help students get acquainted with their new academic stomping grounds. The Haas New Student Orientation began at 9AM sharp with a formal introduction led by Ms. Erika Walker, Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions. Following Ms.Walker, Dean Rich Lyons spoke to students about his experience as Haas alum, the impeccable relationships Haas has with recruiters, and the Haas student life.

Once Erika dismissed students from general session, each student went on his or her way to attend the fantastic workshops led by Haas Staff, Career Center Representatives, and Haas Alumni. Ultimately students had to choose 5 workshops out of 7 to attend. Although I found it a bit difficult to narrow down my choices, I was very much satisfied by all the workshops I attended.

Workshop #1: Planning on Graduating? (Presenter: Barbara Felkins)

Ms. Felkins navigated students through the Haas official website to make sure that each student was aware of degree requirements, dates and deadlines, and the academic resources Haas has to offer.

Workshop #2 Starting Your Business Career (Presenter: Ed Free)

Mr. Free is one of the two Career Center Reps that gave students advice on how to build relationships with your current employer, how to find a field right for you, and how to present and prepare yourself when it comes time to find a career.

Before workshop #3, Haas students were able to enjoy lunch that was provided to them and learn about several Haas organizations. There was nothing better than meeting your fellow students, eating great food, and enjoying a day under the sunshine.

Workshop #3: Winning Resumes (Presenter: Ed Free)

I have to say I was a big fan of Mr. Free that I just had to attend another one of his workshops. In this workshop Mr.Free focused on resume writing. Mr.Free emphasized that resumes should be stories relevant to employers and helped students write these "stories' with different tactics and advice.

Workshop #4 Why Companies Want You (Presenter: Paul Savage)

Paul Savage from The Career Center talked to students about how the recruitment process takes place and other opportunities at UC Berkeley to meet potential employers. Or if a student has yet to find a position or employer they would like to work for in the future, Mr. Savage talked about informational interviews and information sessions that are great ways for students to learn about different fields and industries.

Workshop #5: Building Your Haas Student Alumni Network (Presenter: Meg Roundy & Haas Alumni)

Under the guidance of Associate Director Meg Roundy, a panel of Haas Alumni from companies such as Apple spoke to students about their experiences as Haas students and what they learned along the way that helped them find careers after graduation. The Haas Alumni Network is one of the largest of any university and Haas is the only school that allows undergraduate into the Haas Student Alumni Network so I encourage my fellow Haas-ians to get activated immediately.

Once workshop #5 ended, students met with their respective cohorts to receive unique gifts and some delicious ice cream. The gifts provided to students will undoubtedly be the envy of many of our fellow UC Berkeley students. When I got back to my dorm, I was full of glee as I showed my roommate my official Haas backpack, Haas tote full of goodies, Haas New Student Directory (one of my favorites), and an official cohort t-shirt (GO CALIFORNIA!).

As the festivities came to a close, I remembered the question asked by Dean Rich Lyons during his speech during the morning general session: Are leaders born or are they made? As I stepped down the steps of Haas, I took a look back at Fisher Gate and though I did not have a definite answer to Dean Rich Lyons question, I felt a surge inside of me to become a leader in more ways than one.

Cheers,

Catherine

Haas Class of 2012

Go Bears!

Class of 2010 Commencement Photos

2010-08-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

As promised, we are making the Class of 2010 Commencement photos available to you. They are uploaded to your Facebook group. You can join the group here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9575166924

Let the photo tagging begin!

Congratulations again from everyone here at the Haas Undergraduate Program Office!

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If you don't have Facebook, please use this link to see the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2567&id=100001402592491&l=51ed64411a

Please note that these are NOT your "individual graduation portrait photos." Those are handled by a different photo studio.

2010 Commencement Address

2010-06-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

Sabrina Simmons, BS 85, CFO of Gap, returned to her alma mater to speak at the commencement of the Haas School's undergraduate class of 2010.

The full text of the 2010 Commencement Address is available here.

2010 McGill Case Competition Part 4 (Pictures)

2010-04-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

Montreal in Pictures

And of course, this post would not be complete without the pictures of the Haas/Berkeley Team.

2010 McGill Case Competition Part 3

2010-03-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Well the advisors got a sneak peak of the case before presentations and we are really excited, the case was about the Cirque du Soleil. The main question, "Can Le Cirque find a new model of complementary relationships that will be as profitable as its relationship with MGM Mirage?"

I was able to sit in on 5 of the morning presentations. The strategies and suggestions ranged from cruise line involvement to new technologies that would give the audience to experience more sensual involvement with the production, to a Michael Jackson show. As the morning progressed it was obvious that judging this competition was going to be difficult.

The Berkeley team was awesome, they used the room, they told a story, and their ideas were innovative. I was so pleased with their first presentation. The judging was a bit tough, but their answers were on point and seemed to take care of the concerns. Their three pronged strategy included expanding into new regions, opening up a nightclub in Las Vegas, and adding a reality tv show that featured the training and experience of the acrobats.

The afternoon arrived, I watched the other 4 schools and watched our team again. There was another set of judges to respond to so the pressure was on. Since I couldn't talk to the team I couldn't ask how they were feeling or if they had been able to sleep at all during case prep. They looked great as they entered the room for their second presentation. They were even better the second time, they had taken the questions from their first presentation and were able to incorporate some of the missing information into their recommendations for their second presentation. I was so pleased at their delivery!

So now the waiting game. We had the dinner, awards for the scavenger hunt and then finally the awards for the case. Unfortunately we did not place, Wharton was 3rd, HKUST was 2nd and Thammasat was 1st. It had taken the 12 judges 2 hours to make the decision, and we were all told that at least one judge had each team in the top 3-so it was not an easy decision. I can say that we were disappointed at the announcement but as always the team took the news graciously and quickly got up to congratulate the winners. I was so proud of their performance, they were winners in my eyes, I couldn't have asked for anything more from them. GO BEARS.

So we enjoyed the rest of the evening. I thank Jenny, Nikita, Wynn and Gannon for a fabulous week.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2010 McGill Case Competition Part 2

2010-02-25T20:38:00.000-08:00

In years past today would have been spent snow tubing and sugar shacking (which is basically an excuse to pour really good maple syrup on everything.) But due to the lack of snow we went instead to the Olympic Center and the BioDome. The Summer Olympics were held here in 1976. One of the host business students mentioned that the City of Montreal just finished paying off the debt for Montreal Olympics in 2004.

We went up the Olympic tower which was built at an angle over the Olympic Stadium. There was an elevator that we took to the top and had a spectacular view of Montreal, it's port, the city and the surrounding area. Montreal is a very flat city on the St. Laurence River with a small amount of shipping still taking place. During the winter there is very little access by water due to the snow and ice. Most of the industry in Montreal is banking, IT and the pharmaceutical industry. After walking the streets with the team we were amazed at the number of boutique stores and shops that seem to be doing well, very European.

The BioDome had four different ecosystems and a sampling of the animals that lived there. The difference in temperature from the outside to the inside of the rain forest was quite shocking, there were many students who were very happy to have that temperature instead of the cold of Montreal.

We finished the day with a great team dinner. The food here is amazing and the number of restaurants in short walking distance makes the decision where to go even more difficult.

Tonight is the night before receiving the case. Our presentation times are 11:50 and 4:50, we are the last team to present on Saturday.

Good luck to Jenny, Nikita, Gannon and Wynne. GO BEARS.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2010 McGill Case Competition Part 1

2010-02-24T12:23:00.000-08:00

We are in beautiful Montreal the second largest city of francophones outside of Paris. The city boats a lively Jazz scene, avid hockey fans and of course the home of the McGill case competition. This is a very special competition this year, McGill is celebrating it's 10th anniversary and has only invited the schools that have won or placed in the last 10 years. Those schools include: USC, Wharton, U of Washington, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, National University of Singapore, Copenhagen Business School, Simon Fraser University, UC Berkeley, Thammasat and McGill.

Our trip so far has been good, we have had snow, sleat, rain and sunshine. Today was the student scavenger hunt, which included a coded message to find the clues around the city. As some of us advisors realized if you didn't know much about hockey, or the number of provinces and territories in Canada you might not get very far. I hope that the teams faired better with help from their Mcgill ambassadors. Tonight we will have our opening ceremony, the team order selection and a tour of the National History Museum of Montreal.

Tomorrow we will be visiting the BioDome. There had been plans to go snow tubbing but due to the lack of snow in the Montreal area they had to change venues.

Our team, Wynne Chu, Jenny Zhou, Nikita Maheshwari, and Gannon Shih have been having a great time so far with all of the networking, activities and of course the karaoke singing that is all part of the fun at case competition.

On Friday the case will be released and the fun will start for real! They will have 24 hours to strategize. The team will give 2 presentations, one on Saturday morning and one on Saturday evening. The judges will deliberate and announce the winners at the dinner on Saturday night.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2010 USC Case Competition Part 2

2010-02-21T10:06:00.000-08:00

On Friday the divisions for competition were chosen, and the 30 teams were put into 6 different rooms. Our room included the University of Melbourne, Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterey Mexico (ITSM), Pennsylvania State University, Escoal de Administracao de Empress de Sao Paulo Brazil and of course Haas!

The case involved Disney/Pixar, and was based on a Harvard Business case which had been updated with additional information that was furnished by Disney. The questions were centered around Disney's acquisition of Pixar and whether there should be a merging of the companies or should they remain autonomous. Based on this answer, the next question dealt with Disney's direction in the marketplace.

The Haas team did a great job. Their energy was high, their story was strong (great slides with Disney and Pixar characters infused throughout the presentation!) and they all presented well. At the end, the advisors from the room thought we would advance, but that did not happen, it was the University of Melbourne who made it out. The team took it well and we all stayed to watch the 6 teams present in the finals.

The schools that made the finals were: University of Florida, University of Illinois, National University of Singapore, University of Melbourne, Queen's University, and the University of Manchester. At the end of the day the winner was University of Melbourne, second place University of Illinois and third place National University of Singapore.

At the dinner that evening, Kevin Meyer the EVP for Corporate Strategy/Business Development and Technology Group from Walt Disney Company gave the key note address and entertained questions from all of the participants.

Although the day was very long for all in attendance, the energy after the dinner was high and the networking continued. All of us had a wonderful week meeting new friends and engaging in a wonderful case competition experience.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador.

2010 USC Case Competition Part 1

2010-02-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

Day #1.
The Haas team of Scott Holcom, Jasmine Guo, Linda Li, and Michael Su were welcomed enthusiastically last night by our USC hosts. With so many activities planned for the week, we knew it was only the beginning to a great experience for all.

Day #2.
Our day was full of fun, sun and lots of walking by the beach! Our team was divided into different groups for a scavenger hunt along Venice Beach, and Santa Monica. The goal for each of the teams (and the advisor team) was to take pictures of specific locations or objects and to turn in the camera by a predetermined time. While this may sound easy the places we needed to find, the tasks needed to be performed and the short videos that we had to make (i.e. a re-enactment of "Baywatch"!) were quite a bit to do in 3.5 hours. By the end of the day we were all very happy to have accomplished the great scavenger hunt expected of us.

After a bit of a break we were bussed to Universal Studios for dinner at the Saddleback Restaurant. While this is not a remarkable eatery, it is the home of the mechanical bull contest! Each team was asked to have one member ride the bull, the team that lasted the longest will be the first to pick their division for case presentation (and you were wondering why we would do this to our team members...) Michael volunteerd for this, and he did a great job of staying on as long as possible. We will see tomorrow how our ride stacked up against the other schools. More tomorrow.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador.

Crunch Time

2009-12-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again, when I stay up until 4 am cramming for finals and finishing up projects. Fortunately, the entrepreneurship class I'm taking only had a final group presentation, which we managed to finish by Tuesday morning. The remaining groups presented today, and one of the groups even brought Peet's Coffee for everyone!

There were some really great venture ideas, such as Bear Cleaners, which is just getting started. They offer affordable rates on cleaning for students, whether they live in a dorm or an apartment. Reservations can be made at bearcleaners.com.

The last accounting midterm was on Wednesday...not sure how I did but at least that's over. The only 2 finals left for me are Microeconomics and Organizational Behavior. I needed a scantron and blue book for those, and conveniently, the Haas Undergraduate Office had them both for free! That, and giant candy bars. Not sure if they're still handing them out, but you should go and check it out! Even if you don't need anything, getting free candy is always nice. :]

Good luck on finals to everyone!

Rally for the Haas Canned Food Drive!

2009-12-02T19:45:00.001-08:00

Last week Haas received over 150 cans in support of the canned food drive for Alameda County.

Great thanks goes out to all those who donated money for the purchasing of these cans: Barry Kahn, Margie Massey, Melanie Brossus, Ed Calvelli, and Bob & Susie Baeyens.

As you can see from the picture below, we're now at 80% capacity. Which means we're 20% lame-o. I guess it'd be a lot easier to measure if cans were pouring over the top. As for now, you'll have to take our word for it.

The canned food drive ends this Friday, December 4th, and it would be great to see that last 20% filled out before the cans are collected. That's less than 100 more cans!

You don't want those cute children on the barrels to go hungry, do you? Of course not. And it's nice to give with an open heart without expecting anything in return. I guarantee you'll be surprised at how much unexpectedly comes your way. Many times the personal joy one gets from giving generously outweighs the joy of the person receiving.

If you're interested in donating, look for deals at Safeway and Costco, where you can find a variety of cans for under $1. Or for a more convenient alternative, use your Cal One swipes at the Bear Market, where you can find a variety of cans for under $12.

Come on guys, if we can lead the country in business innovation and education, I think we can manage to donate a few more cans :)

2009 Hong Kong Case Competition Part 4

2009-11-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

The 4 finalists presented today at Shangri-La Hotel in Kowloon. The top three teams were all impressive, so the judges had a difficult time deliberating. After the presentations and a cocktail reception, the winners were pronounced dinner the closing ceremony: third place went to NUS, second to USC, and Melbourne came in first. After the announcement, teams took part in a costume presentation. Since we did not have costumes, we taught the audience the Cal cheer and the importance of beer pong in American football culture. Finally students relaxed, mingled, and enjoyed being part of this wonderful event.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Paul Lee

2009 Hong Kong Case Competition Part 3

2009-11-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

The finalists were announced during dinner, and, unfortunately, we were not among them. The team was disappointed, but we knew the competition would be tough. NUS advanced from our group, and the other finalists were USC, Korea University, and the University of Melbourne.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Paul Lee

2009 Hong Kong Case Competition Part 2

2009-11-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

After 26 hours of intense work, the Cal team donned their presidential red ties and emerged to present their case. If they were tired, you couldn’t tell. They were calm and composed throughout the presentation and used the full 20 minutes. The judges asked pertinent questions during the Q & A session, which the team did a good job in answering. All in all, they did a marvelous job.

As the first team to present, there is a 3 hour break/nap before we return to hear the judges’ debriefing. At the debriefing, only teams not advancing to the finals will be debriefed on their performance, and the finalists will be announced at dinner tonight. Stay tuned!

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Paul Lee

Top Dog in the Courtyard

2009-11-03T23:52:00.000-08:00

I spent most of Halloween weekend studying for my accounting midterm, which I managed to squeak by on Monday. Note to self: do NOT wait until the last minute to start cramming 3 weeks worth of information. Also, do not forget your calculator next time.

After finally getting through the exam, I was glad to see the Top Dog stand in the BoA courtyard. Even though I had gotten out a little before noon, there was a already a HUGE line stretching across the courtyard, filled with hungry students waiting for a free Top Dog. Fortunately, the Top Dog guys were quick and efficient and I only had to wait for 5 minutes or so. Sitting down with my Top Dog and bag of chips, I felt like this was my reward for making it through my midterm. Students were mingling in the courtyard, talking with each other as well as various members of the Haas faculty and staff who showed up as well. Unfortunately, I had to hurry to my Organizational Behavior lecture, so I wasn't able to stay very long. But judging from the number of people happily socializing in the sunny courtyard, I'd say that the other students were enjoying this reprieve from classes as much as I had.

2009 Hong Kong Case Competition Part 1

2009-11-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

On a breezy Tuesday morning in HKUST (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), the teams came together to find out their groupings. There is a record 21 schools competing this year, which led to a slight disparity in that one of the 4 divisions would have an extra team:Division A with 6 teams and Divisions B, C and D with 5 teams. After a short presentation of rules, the raffle began in alphabetic order and very quickly Division A became even more formidable as NUS and Simon Fraser, the other 2 teams that placed last year, found themselves in Division A. When our name was called, all but the first slot of Division A was taken. Brian Campbell calmly sauntered up to the podium, reached for a ticket, and, of course, picked the final slot for Division A.

So luck of the draw has all 3 teams that placed last year in Division A. We will be the first team to present tomorrow at 1pm. Undaunted, the team is excited to get started and are already working away in their room; they have 26 hours to prepare.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Paul Lee

2009-10-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

Went to Financial Accounting (UGBA 102A) this morning, only to be reminded that midterm number 2 is coming up next Monday, right after Halloween weekend. Looks like I'll have to cram in studying in between handing out candy to children on Saturday. Thankfully my Microeconomics (UGBA 101A) second midterm is on November 10, and my other classes don't have another midterm. Studying for accounting means reading the textbook and going over the homework problems, so hopefully it won't be too taxing.

Tip for incoming/prospective students: Keep track of test and project dates so you don't find yourself being blindsided by due dates.

New Blogger

2009-10-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hello, as a new blogger for the Haas UG Students blog, I should probably do a little introduction. I'm a junior currently pursuing a simultaneous degree in both Business Administration at Haas and Japanese in the College of Letters and Sciences. I'm currently enrolled in UGBA 101A, 195P, 102A, and 105 at Haas. I'll mostly be blogging about my experiences and daily life at Haas, so feel free to drop me a line if there's a particular aspect of undergraduate life as Haas you guys want to hear about.

Class of 2011 Orientation Photos

2009-09-17T13:58:00.001-07:00

Dear Undergraduate Class of 2011,

We have uploaded the photos from our New Student Orientation, and we are sharing them with you. The link to this album is below. Please feel free to TAG the photos and share them with your friends and family.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109530&id=9172004914&ref=mf

If you like our blog why not become a Haas blogger!

We are looking for Haas students who are interested in writing about the Undergraduate Haas community. You don't need to an expert. Please contact Carlos Torres at carlost@berkeley.edu if you are interested in this exciting social media opportunity.

2009 Thailand Case Competition Part 4

2009-08-23T23:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Here is an update from our last days in Bangkok.

We did not advance to the finals. We lost to Maastricht that won in our division and also won the entire competition. This was a case that nobody expected and nobody was able to prepare for. It was about an extremely small company that specializes in kitchen furniture, paint, and interior design called Horizon Nine. The case included questions regarding marketing, finance, operations, and ethical problems and it was very specific to Thailand. Our team did a great job, but other teams had better recommendations. Here is a picture of our team.

Our team was assigned a freshman "buddy" from Thammasat. She helped the team during the 40 grueling hours of preparation. Here is a picture with Ting Ting.

Here are the finalists from four divisions. Division A was won by National University of Singapore.

Division B winner was yet another SINGAPORE team, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore.

Division C winner in our group was Maastricht University, Netherlands. All four students on this team of three women and one man were Germans studying in Holland, and I met them a few days earlier. They were very impressive but also very likable and down-to-earth fun group that our team enjoyed talking to during social activities.

Division D winner was University of Melbourne, Australia.

All four finalists were extremely strong, but in the end the Maastricht team won the hearts of the judges who were all Thai business people. There were no academics among judges.

After talking with the advisor from Maastricht over the last couple of days, I realized how much respect and admiration everyone has for Berkeley. Apparently, last year in Hong Kong , we were in the finals with Maastrich, and our winning presentation left a lasting impression on them. It is considered a "gold model" by the Maastricht advisor and coach. Their teams often watch our Hong Kong winning presentation as part of their training. It was extremely flattering to hear that the friendly rivalry with Berkeley and the memories from Hong Kong 2008 motivated them to prepare so much more and work so much harder.

Overall we all had a great time and this was an amazing experience for all of us!

Lastly, once again here is a look at the winning team and their extremely impressive slides. Congratulations to the TUBC 2009 winner Maastricht University!

2009 Thailand Case Competition Part 3

2009-08-20T00:56:00.000-07:00

We officialy started the competition with our welcome ceremony last night. Below are some pictures from last night. This year (12th consecutive year for the TUBC competition) 13 teams are competing. They are:

University of Melbourne, Australia
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan
Maastricht University, Netherlands
University of Auckland, New Zealand
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Assumption University, Thailand
Mahidol University International College, Thailand
Thammasat University, Thailand
Northeastern University, United States of America
University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
University of Florida, United States of America

Based on a random drawing from last night, our team will be going against the Maastricht University and the University of Florida. Our hosts did a good job hiding the school names and replacing the team names with fictional company names (see picture below). We will see the finalists from each division present in the finals.

All teams will have 40 hours to work on the case. Our team will get the case at 2pm on Thursday and will need to submit it at 6am on Saturday. All rules will be stricly enforced, and during the 40 hours our team is not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. I won't be able to see our team until they present the case on Saturday morning. We all wish them a lot of luck.

2009 Thailand Case Competition Part 2

2009-08-19T08:05:00.001-07:00

We are in Thailand. It took us about 24 hours to get here since the flight was very long (about 13 hours to Japan or Taiwan for a connecting flight, and then another 5 hours to Bangkok, plus a few hours of layover and transportation to and from airport adds up to about 24 hours).

After breakfast we started our day with social activities. Our hosts arranged for bus transportation to the Rose Garden. This was a great social activity since students were divided into teams and each team completed a task that tought them something about Thai culture and allowed them to get to know each other. It was a full hands-on experience and practical immersion, and it included:
• rice husking with traditional "low-tech" tools,
• traditional weaving using coconut leaves,
• bamboo dance (teams jump over bamboo sticks to the beat of the chants - my favorite and most fun to watch),
• orchid garland making,
• Thai herbal compress where different ingredients are mixed together,
• making of pottery figures,
• painting of umbrellas, and lots of other kitchen/cooking challenges.

The garden has a few elephants, so after our busy morning, students were able to ride elephants for a small out-of-pocket fee. Some students decided to feed elephants with bananas or suger cane. After a tasty group lunch with Thai specialties, we visited a local museum called Siam Museum. After a full day with lots of fun activities, we have a couple of hours to get ready for the official opening ceremony that starts on Wednesday evening. Greetings from Thailand.

2009 Thailand Case Competition Part 1

2009-08-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

This Monday, our team is leaving for Thailand to participate in an international case competition called "The Thammasat Undergraduate Business Challenge" or TUBC. This is a case competition hosted by Thammasat University in Bangkok. More information is available at http://tubc.org/

Our Berkeley team is:

Andrew Wang (Rhetoric and Environmental Economics and Policy)
Kevin Huynh (Mechanical Engineering)
Milan Thakor (Business major - intended)
Yang Yang Liu (Business major)

I will have the pleasure of traveling as a staff advisor with our very impressive team. We will keep you updated via this blog. Until next time.

Wat Pho, Temple of the Reclining Buddha is one of the top tourist attractions. Hopefully we'll have time to visit it.

Class of 2011 has arrived

2009-07-11T21:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was orientation day for the incoming Haas class. The students I met seemed very happy and excited to be here. The Cal Band played a few songs during lunch in the Haas Courtyard while the students visited the various Haas Sponsored organizations/clubs that were there tabling. At the end of the day, all of the students received a backpack with the Haas School logo on the back, and "Class of 2011" underneath the logo. Stuffed inside each backpack was their class student directory, which has the lowdown on Haas resources, as well as the new students' pictures and their profiles. Hopefully they all realize the directory is in the backpack.

Student Directories Are Here

2009-07-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Class of 2011 Students,

Our Third Annual Haas Undergraduate Student Directory is printed and delivered. The directories will be distributed tomorrow at end end of our orientation (Friday, July 10th).

On behalf of the Haas Undergraduate Office and the Undergraduate Class of 2011, I wanted to thank the HBSA officers who created the directory and put a lot of time and effort into this huge project:

Jay Goggin
Rosetta Guinn
Carlos H. Torres
Renee Wong

Below is a little preview of what to expect tomorrow. Thanks again to our four designers and the rest of the HBSA Team who worked on this.

UFA/UMCG receives the Director's Advisory Council Award

2009-06-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

The Undergraduate Finance Association/Undergraduate Management Consulting Group (UFA/UMCG) received this year's Director's Advisory Council Award. The Director's Advisory Council Award is given to a student organization that gives back to the Haas community and helps promote a sense of community here at Haas.

This year, UFA/UMCG worked diligently with the Career Center to organize and sponsor the Investment Banking Forum, host the Management Consulting Forum, as well as co-host the Real Estate Finance Forum and a Consulting Forum. This was also the first year that UFA/UMCG launched its philanthropic arm, teaching basic finance, credit, etc. to local high school students. Congratulations!

Cal Charter Gala and graduation

2009-05-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

In April, I attended the Cal Charter Gala in San Francisco at Fort Mason, where top Alumni were given awards and support the Cal community by giving back. In this picture from left to right, is myself, Robert Haas (Walter A. Haas's grandson), his wife Colleen, and fellow Haas student Adam Melero.

We were invited by the Haas Alumni office to represent the current UG students. We had an amazing time meeting grads all the way back from the fifties! What an experience!

I sat at the Levi Strauss table where I was sitting among very influential employees. Dinner was okay ... I really did not care for it because the beef tasted gamy.

The presentation was a little long but enjoyable. We sang Cal songs...I don't know any of the words. Awkward, being a current student. The best part was the honoree of the night, Mr. Haas. He spoke about Levi, his strong connection to Cal and one other particular interesting story. As he told it, the day he graduated from Cal was the same day Stanford was holding their graduation. At that time, students only wore black gowns and black tassels. He told his parents that he would be back in a few hours. As it turned out, he stood in line at Stanford's graduation, had his named called out, and received a scroll. Everyone cheered and laughed about the story of crashing Stanford's graduation.

It was a great night with dancing at the end and mingling. I encourage all students to take advantage of these great opportunities to be a part of the Alumni network and attending fancy night galas.

I am off to graduate tomorrow. I don't think my parents will let me run over to Stanford, but I'll think about it...

Finals week

2009-05-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to wind down. Yesterday was the last day of instruction, and finals start this Thursday and continue into next week.

Group projects are finally done and over with! Four of my classes required group projects and, of course, they're all due at the end of the semester. It's been hectic these past few weeks scheduling time to meet with my groups outside of class. To me, these are more draining than anything else at school. Hopefully I get lucky next semester and only have one or two group projects.

It's sad to know that the Seniors will soon be gone. At least most of them will be working in San Francisco or San Jose, so it won't be too difficult to meet up every now and then. I've been asking my friends what they plan on doing over the Summer. Some have full-time jobs, some have internships, and some will be overseas. Hopefully some of us can get together over the break and go to Tahoe, or Vegas, or maybe a road trip to some place fun.

2009 McGill Canada Case Competition Part 3

2009-03-29T05:31:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are the finals day. I have watched the team leave to go get their case and the boys and I do a quick "Go Bears" for them in the hallway...now it is up to them. FAST FORWARD....

Saturday morning, my boys and I go to watch the teams presentation. Christina, Jenny and Michael come into the room with great poise and readiness, I already know that poor Michael is sick with a cold, so I am anticipating that he is not feeling his best. Christina gives the opening and she nails it! Jenny follows and is wonderful and Michael, even though sick is perfect. I couldn't stop smiling. The judges were not easy, and they handled the questions well.

I stayed and wached 9 more teams present including the second presentation for our team. Again, they were on, even better than the last presentation, I was very proud of them. The questions from the judges went more smoothly this time since the team anticipated their weak points of their analysis. The team was balanced in who answered each question, and they supported each other very well.

OK, so you are waiting to hear...well the finals dinner was held in an beautiful venue, and the french food that was served was delicious, oh that wasn't what you wanted to hear....

Well, the awards started and WE WON THIRD PLACE!!!! I was so happy for the team! I think they were somewhat dazed that they did as well as they did. Judges were very quick to come up and compliment their presentations. First place went to USC and second went to National University of Singapore. Yes, the only representatives from the United States were from California!!! So we all took lots of pictures, smiled and smiled some more and then off they went to play some more. I would have gone, but I had two very happy kids (they had heard the news of our win) to come back to.

So home we come to California with big smiles on our faces and one more award to add to that ever growing awards case in the Undergraduate Office.

To Christina Ting, Jenny Cheng and Michael Chen, you were a fabulous team, it was an honor to be with you at MMICC 2009.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 McGill Canada Case Competition Part 2

2009-03-27T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I can tell you that if the competition was about snow tubing Berkeley just hit the ball right out of the park. Ok, let me start at the beginning.

The drive was about 1 hour to a snow tubing area which we owned for the day. No outsiders, it belonged to all of these wild college kids, advisors and of course two cute kids (mother's prejudice!) Before we got rolling (literally) we were ushered into the hall with the roaring fire, and the sweet smell of maple syrup. This hall would be the place for our sugar shack experience after tubing.

The weather was yucky at first, a kind of snowy rain, and the snow on the ground was very icy and sllllliiiiiicccckkkk. So we all got our tubes and got on the moving sidewalk that took us uppppppp the hill. My oldest Chris was the first kid down the hill and my youngest Craig soon followed with a couple of students. I got up to the top, decided I had better go down by myself because I was going to scream all the way down, which I did. The students, Michael, Jen and Christina, were already going down hills, did a train with 4 tubes (that was very fun even when they put me in the front) and they even went down in the rafts that held up to 13 students...no I did not try that. There were some students who got tubed. This meant that others layered tubes over their heads and then in some cases gently rolled the person around in the snow until...well I would assume they said stop at some point. Luckily none of us volunteered for that one. My boys stayed out till the very end, I found the fire in the lodge to be just right after many runs down the hill.

The next experience was the sugar shack. All I can say is that you put maple syrup on everything in sight. We started with some vegetables (no syrup for these) and then deep fried bacon, sausages, ham, an egg cake (not sure how to describe it), maple syrup pie, pancakes, and a cake. All very sweet and well just really sweet. The end of the meal was a maple syrup taffy. They heat up the maple syrup and then pull it as they cool it over snow (clean I hope) and then roll it onto a stick like a lollipop. I can tell you that this was an interesting experience that you do it once and that is probably more than enough.

We were entertained by a student from Finland who led us in a song, and then it was time to get rolling. Many napped on the way home, having enjoyed lots of fun and food.

There was rest time and then our team, the team from Singapore and the advisor from Copenhagen were treated to a walk in the underground. Since the weather can be so cold and wet they have built 3 miles of underground shopping. If you are a shopper this is amazing. We walked through quickly without opening our wallets. Then off to a great Italian dinner and back to the hotel for an early night sleep.

The team is organized and ready to go. They have emailed me about their plan for the day, they have slept well and are ready to start the case. So we wish them luck, we keep our bear paws crossed and we wait until tomorrow night to see how we fared.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 McGill Canada Case Competition Part 1

2009-03-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are here, and we are anxiously waiting for today's major competition. No, this is not case day, but rather a competition that we may have difficulty winning...it is snow tubing. I am worried about our wonderful case team, Michael, Christina and Jen have no experience in this very competitive area, there lack of experience may be a problem, have no fear, I brought 3 weapons with me, my two boys (Chris 11, and Craig 8) and a handy snowball maker for pelting the enemy. We leave for this adventure in a couple of hours, so how we fair will have to be continued on the next blog...keep your fingers crossed.

Otherwise we are doing great! The team has had a chance to see Montreal with an intense 4 hour walk through the downtown and surrounding areas. The weather has been holding steady at a balmy 4 degrees C, so we have been lucky not to battle any sub-zero freezing temperatures. Last night we had our welcome dinner at Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History which included a tour and a brief history or our northern neighbor.

At the dinner the order of the presentations was done and we are number 7 of 12 teams. We will present at 11:00 and then again at 4:30 on Saturday. At this competition every school presents twice to a different set (7) judges and the top 3 schools are chosen after those presentations. So Michael, Jen and Christina have their work cut out for them with 2 presentations and a 22 hour case prep.

Since I know you all would like to know which schools are attending here is the list:

USC
University of Auckland
Thammasat (Thailand)
Queen's University (Canada)
National University of Singapore
Copenhagen Business School
Corvinus University of Budapest
Helsinki School of Economics
Koc University (Turkey)
Maastricht Unviersity
UC Berkeley
McGill University

More to follow...

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

Senior gift committee & etiquette dinner

2009-03-08T05:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday I went to a meeting for students interested in helping out with the annual Senior Gift to Cal. Last year, a record 45% of Haas graduating seniors made a pledge to contribute. That's an incredible number of people, and we're going to do our best to beat it this year.

After the meeting, I headed to an etiquette dinner for the Haas undergraduates put on by the alumni office. The event was surprisingly fun. Each table had at least one Haas graduate or MBA student as our host. The etiquette expert (I wish I remembered her name) was upbeat and funny at times, which set the tone for a fun, light-hearted dining experience. The Wells Fargo Room buzzed with conversation and occasional laughter. As we ate our dinner and learned about etiquette, I kept thinking to myself "oh yeah, I remember hearing that before". It was definitely a good refresher, and, of course, I learned something new. Well worth it!

E-Business Case Competition

2009-03-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to see this semester's E-Business Case Competition finalists give their recommendations to Cisco and Deloitte. Teams were challenged to develop a strategy that Cisco could adopt for penetrating the domestic and international small & medium business (SMB) market. I felt this semester's case competition was more interesting than last semester's Investment Banking case. The problem presented by Cisco was much more challenging. I kept thinking to myself "what SHOULD Cisco do to penetrate the small business market?" and I really had no clue where to even start addressing this issue. For some reason my mind kept thinking "China!" as if gaining market share in China would somehow take care of all of Cisco's problems. Not surprisingly, most of the finalists did mention that focusing on China was the best possible avenue to becoming the dominant player on the international SMB scene.

One group suggested primarily targeting the Middle East in order to gain a dominant international foothold. I felt this was the most "thinking outside the box" answer to Cisco's problem. They supported their decision with data and did the necessary research on Islamic Law in the Middle East and how it might affect Cisco's entry into that market. Kudos to that group. Even though they didn't win, their argument was compelling and they nicely challenged the traditional line of thinking by looking at the numbers first, rather than thinking of China and then looking at the numbers for support.

The winners of the competition were Jenny Zhou, Andrew Wang, Kevin Huynh, and Patrick Pan. Congratulations!

2009 Denmark Case Competition Part 5

2009-03-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

Our team did a great job, they were clear, told the story, and had fabulous presentation skills. We tried, but we did not make it to finals. The finalists were USC, University of Auckland, and CBS. After watching the finals, the team agreed that USC was the best-they were right, they won.

The remainder of the day was spent getting ready for the gala that evening. We were all dressed in our finest and were bussed to the palace for our dinner and dance. Wow what a gorgeous venue, the evening took on a fairy tale like feel to it with a large beautifully decorated room and amazing food.

I can't say that the Danish dancing went as planned, we tried but our group seemed to have forgotten what to do-can't imagine how that happened. The rest of the night included great dancing, camaraderie, and lots of pictures.

We all won. This entire experience was fabulous, and the team were wonderful ambassadors of Haas.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 Denmark Case Competition Part 4

2009-02-26T13:58:00.000-08:00

The case is in and the team is now preparing for tomorrow. One of the nice features of this competition is that the case is turned in on the day before it is presented so the students have the opportunity to sleep (which I hope they are doing!) and also practice their presentation (which I hope they do after they sleep!)

Tomorrow things start at 9am sharp and I will be sitting in our division for the whole day. If you don't remember who we are competing against it is: USC, National University of Singapore and University of Florida. After the preliminaries the finalists are announced, and the finals begin.

The gala after all of this is being held in the Moltke Palace, which dates back to 1702. We will have formal attire, and it is there that we will do our Danish dance, and of course enjoy contemporary music. This is quite an event. Send good Go Bears vibes to these guys, this is a tough competition!

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 Denmark Case Competition Part 3

2009-02-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

Case Reveal Day. The team was so waiting to have the case revealed and to get started, the longer we waited the more anxious and excited they got. But finally it was unleashed! It is based on a Norwegian company called Schibsted Media Company. We were honored by a very good presentation by the CEO and the CFO of the company in a video conference from Norway. The students had the opportunity to ask some questions, and to get non-case related questions answered, it was all very well done.

In contrast to other case competitions the students do their work in case prep rooms at the school. So they are assigned a student host who is available to them for the 32 hours to help with food, supplies and other needs. They have the opportunity to come back to the hotel and sleep at anytime, buses run back and forth from the school all night long. We were told that the students even have the opportunity to play on a Wii in the auditorium on a the big presentation screen if they need a break.

This competition is organized down to the minute, and our student host Niels is phenomenal. He sticks to the team like glue making sure that they are all doing ok. He reminds us of a cuter Harry Potter in looks, although we have not told him that yet. He studied at Wharton for a term and was hoping that he would get the Berkeley team as his charge. I am very confident that they are being well taken care of.

The advisors are having their own time to do things, and tomorrow we are off to conquer Sweden. With the leadership of one very outgoing faculty advisor, he decided that we needed to do some fun activity in the morning before we had to go to the Beat the Elite activity in the afternoon. Please let me explain this activity. The CBS students have been given the opportunity to study the case. The advisors from each of the teams will be set up in a room so that these CBS students can come to us for advice or direction in how they should be looking at the case. I can assure you that this will be quite an experience for both myself and the students...for you case alumni who I have traveled with, I just want you to imagine this situation that I am going into. Got Help???!!!! No, I am really looking forward to meeting with the students and discussing the case, this will be a fabulous opportunity.

So off to Sweden for a short trip and then into the classroom for some great case work. Our team will turn in their executive summary and their presentation by 6pm on Thursday and then they will have until 10am on Friday to practice their presentation. Keep up the good thoughts.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

Retreat, midterms are here, and gloomy job stuff

2009-02-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a weekend retreat! We rented a really nice house in the hills of Point Reyes. The view was spectacular. Here's a picture.

Other than that, not much has been going on. Last week I had my first midterm of the semester. I have a few more this week and next week, so I should probably be hitting the books instead of going on retreats, but getting away from it all was well worth it.

I went to another Career Fair last week in hopes of finding that perfect internship. I found some more companies that I might consider giving my resume to. I did take some pictures, but it's basically the same stuff that went on at last semester's Early Bird Career Fair. This time around, however, it was a little more, I guess, dreary. It seemed like there were a lot more vacant stations than last semester. No doubt the current economic situation has something to do with it. A friend of mine told me she got her full-time offer pulled (she's a senior). Her job offer was from an accounting firm. So much for the words "accounting" and "job security" fitting nicely together. Hopefully she'll find something before she graduates in May.

2009 Denmark Case Competition Part 2

2009-02-24T14:18:00.000-08:00

It was a balmy 39 today as the advisors and students went to their own activities at the business school. Luckily the weather was so nice that you could actually walk through the university campus and enjoy the architecture of each of the buildings instead of worrying how cold you were.

With the morning done, we were first whisked to a very important monument for Copenhagen, The Little Mermaid. As you may recall, or not, the story was written by Hans Christian Andersen (who was Danish) and not by Disney. In any event pictures were taken by this little mermaid who sits on the harbor, and luckily no one fell in the water or was thrown in the water.

Again thankfully the day was beautiful and bright and sunny because for the next hour we sat in a harbor boat taking a canal cruise. A perfect way to see the city, get some history and take many pictures. The bridges over the canals are so low that at some points in the cruise we all had to duck down inside the boat so we wouldn't be decapitated! The city has been around for 6000 years, so the history is rich and the architecture is stunning.

After our cruise we had lunch at the Danish Architecture Museum, really a wonderful place to see the newest of designs in buildings for all over the world. They have a great vision for new architecture!

At lunch we had the drawing for our place in the case competition. The following is the list of schools and the divisions that they will be in:

Division A

University of Navarra (Spain)
Thammasat (Thailand)
Sao Paolo (Brazil)
Copenhagen BS.

Division B

National U. of Singapore
Univ. of Florida
USC
UC Berkeley.

Division C

Tsinghua University (China)
Univ. of Auckland
Manchester Business School (England)
McGill Univ.

So the three American schools will battle it out in Division B. The case will be delivered tomorrow morning at 9am, and the students will go into seclusion for 32 hours following that.

Just because that might have added a bit of pressure and suspense to the life of all, the next activity for the students was to learn traditional Danish dancing. On Friday night at our formal awards dinner, the students would all be able to dance a few in honor of the host country. Well, it didn't take long for the advisors (no names mentioned) to agree that this would be a very fun activity too, so we joined the dance lessons. This was serious work, we found a dance partner and then got into a group of eight that we stayed with for the next 2 hours. We learned three dances that included lots of changes, movements and coordination. Needless to say there was lots of laughing and fun, but by the end of the 2 hours we were tired. I think we decided that we had better do these dances early in the evening while there was still the chance that we would remember them! It was great fun.

After dancing we had a great dinner, and then it was back to the hotel for some quick meetings with the teams and now some rest.

And so it begins, please keep good wishes for Marc, Erica, Tina and Cynthia as they go forward.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 Denmark Case Competition Part 1

2009-02-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

It said -81 degrees outside, ok that was at 37,000 feet above Greenland, but that gave me the big hint that it was going to be cold in Copenhagen. It is! It was about 29 degrees getting off the airplane this morning, add in some strong winds and it was freezing to me.

The events for the students for today will have to be blogged by the team since they experienced some great team bonding activities. The advisors are not a part of their activities so I will have them fill you in on the details. What I can talk about is the event that was hosted in honor of the case competition at Carlsberg Brewery. Before I get to that let me give you some details about the country.

First, we are in Denmark, it is the oldest monarchy in Europe and has a population of 5.5 million people, around 1.4 live in Copenhagen. Denmark consists of 406 islands connected by bridges and ferries. While the city has existed for more than 6,000 years, it has a really hip art like quality to the architecture, decor and clothing.

With that as context our dinner tonight was in the presence of the prince and princess of Denmark. Their invitation to our intimate dinner was very exciting, and the rules by which you may or may not speak with royalty were included in a power point presentation to the students. One important fact that all of the students understood was that since the princess is pregnant you do not go and touch her stomach! I think no matter the culture of the 12 schools participating in this event, we all knew that one before it was even bulleted on the screen.

The dinner was held at the Carlsberg Brewery and museum, we were able to see a couple of rooms and their magnificent art pieces-no touching them either! And of course beer was served from the moment you entered the room. After the prince and princess were introduced and we were officially welcomed we adjourned to the larger dining area and were seated with our three student hosts and our American Embassy representative. There were 3 glasses for beer on the table, and each one represented a new beer with each course. The meal was eclectic and good, and the beer just kept on flowing. Our table decided that the desert beer was the best, especially accompanying the chocolate mousse.

After dinner we were moved to another room where coffee, brandy and of course beer were served-just in case you didn't get enough at dinner. I think the team had actually had had enough by then-too much of a good thing. It was really a wonderful evening of networking, enjoying a view into a culture that is rich with history and art.

Tomorrow the students will have more activities to attend to, Tina, Marc, Erica and Cynthia, are having a wonderful time and I sure that they will have great stories to tell.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 UCS Case Competition Part 2

2009-02-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, our team did not qualify for the finals. We all still want to thank Sharon Hai, Sergio Munoz, Justin Chow, and Jessica Smith for representing Haas and UC Berkeley. I hope it was a great experience and that you made a lot of friends.

2009 UCS Case Competition Part 1

2009-02-20T08:51:00.000-08:00

The divisions have been decided. Our team is in the following division:

Georgetown
Concordia
Berkeley
Illinois
Melbourne

What a division. This is going to be very tough. All is going well. It has been a great trip and we have had lots of fun, just what I needed! We are staying at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel. I will keep you informed. Tomorrow, we get an idea of what the case is going to be about.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

Spring semester is under way

2009-02-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

Back from winter break and the homework is starting to pile up! My break was okay. I really didn't do anything exciting. I just watched a lot of TV and went to see a lot of movies.

Unfortunately, I did receive some sad news over the break: Professor Bill Sonnenschein passed away over the winter break while in Madagascar. He was serving as a special adviser to the President of Madagascar. Bill, as he liked to be called, was my teacher for UGBA 100, Business Communication, and UGBA 196, Communication for Leaders. He was passionate about teaching MBA and undergraduate students and believed strongly in the importance of authenticity when delivering speeches and when interacting with people one-on-one. I will miss seeing him around campus.

2009 New Zealand Case Competition Part 7

2009-01-31T02:24:00.000-08:00

Blog Post #7 from Champions Trophy Case Competition in New Zealand

We have gone from eggs, and ambulances to refrigerators and washing machines. Today the final case was Fisher and Paykel Appliances, an NZ company. The charge was to point out at the key issues that they were facing in light of the economic downturn and the need for growth. How were they going to expand and where were they going to go to do this?

Our Berkeley team did a fantastic job, their presentations as always are alive, smart and balanced. The team did a great job of working together and creating a good sound strategy. We came in third, which was a bit of a disappointment for the team, but in their hearts and mine I knew they were the winners (some others thought they should have been placed better too!). So the standings were:

Singapore Management University
University of Washington
UC Berkeley
National Unviersity of Singapore

We received a beautiful statues made in New Zealand that will always bring the cultures and the traditions of New Zealand to mind when viewing it.

Congratulations to Davis Liu, Terence Kim, Kristena Shen and Rahul Deedwania for an amazing week. It was a wonderful trip.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 New Zealand Case Competition Part 6

2009-01-29T22:03:00.000-08:00

Blog Post #6 from Champions Trophy Case Competition in New Zealand

So we went from eggs to ambulances today. The non-profit case was to assist the St. John's charitable organization which is a hybrid workforce of paid and volunteer staff (making up 80% of the 9,500 adult members). They deliver health-related services and products and run a ambulance service that serves more than 85% of the population of New Zealand. The problem was: how can they continue to serve the New Zealanders with and increasing demand in its services, develop a "one team, one dream" approach between their national and regional offices and reduce funding from the crown agencies.

Ok, so you are reading this and realize that I have not yet mentioned how we did...and I am not until I say that the team looked pretty apprehensive going in, and I won't mention the fact that one of them gave me a thumbs down (which I didn't believe) and ....it wasn't true. WE WON the division!!!!! I was so proud of the group. Sure there were some loopholes that were quickly pointed out by the finance guy (aren't they always the finance guys who do that!) but everyone was pretty impressed with their presentation.

So tomorrow here is what the finals look like:

Division 1-University of Washington
Division 2-UC Berkeley
Division 3-Singapore Management University
Division 4- National Unviersity of Singapore

It is going to be quite a difficult group. We present second out of the 4 teams. The finals start at 3pm NZ time, so keep your fingers crossed.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 New Zealand Case Competition Part 5

2009-01-29T01:44:00.000-08:00

Blog Post #5 from Champions Trophy Case Competition in New Zealand

Many egg jokes were hatched today as the teams were given a small business case dealing with a New Zealand company called FRENZ a free range egg company. Their job was to increase sales from NZ $6 million to NZ $24 million in the next five years.

The team did a good job, they received very high marks for their presentation skills and it was admitted that they were the best of the room. The analysis was not quite what this small business was looking for, they needed a more in depth plan that was more to specific to NZ. We placed third today in our division, the three teams in our room are now tied...so tomorrow is a big day for us. Below are the results for all of the divisions.

Division 1
Winner -University of Washington (total pts. 5)
2nd place-Nanyang University(total pts. 3 )
3rd place-Un. of Hong Kong (total pts. 4)

Division 2
Winner-Copenhagen U. (total pts. 4)
2nd place-Hong Kong UST (total pts. 4)
3rd place-UC Berkeley (total pts. 4)

Division 3
Winner-Singapore Management U. (total pts. 5 )
2nd place-University of Melbourne (total pts. 5)
3rd-place Thammasat (total 2 pts.)

Division 4
Winner-National University of Singapore (total 6 pts.)
2nd place -Auckland University (total 2 pts.)

So tomorrow we will be released a non-profit case. While the team was disappointed with todays results I think that they understood from the judges feedback where the issues were. I know that they will do the best that they can tomorrow. With the teams tied as they are, it is any teams claim tomorrow. If there is a tie then the points will be doubled to determine the winner of the division and thus determine who will go to finals on Saturday. Keep your fingers crossed!

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 New Zealand Case Competition Part 4

2009-01-28T01:59:00.000-08:00

Blog Post #4 from Champions Trophy Case Competition in New Zealand

Today it started and I guess the most important thing are the results...but before I tell you how we did I have to say that it is almost tangible the change in energy that occurs when the competition starts. The students, advisors and all of the community who is supporting the event holds their collective breath and is nervous. With the first one done, the teams know a bit more of what will be expected of them tomorrow so the fear is a bit less. No one is complacent by any means, but they are feeling better.

And so the results for round one are:

WE WON!!!! ok, now that that is out of my system, here is the breakdown of the point system. Each team wins 3 points for a win, 2 points for second and so forth, the team with the most points on Friday goes to finals on Saturday. If there is a tie on Friday then the scores that they have received on that day are doubled. The judges feedback was very positive, their criticisms were on target and the team felt really good about what they did.

The case was a public owned freight and logistics company called Manfreight. The founder of the company was on of the judges in our panel.

Round 1 Results

Division 1
Winner-University of Hong Kong
Second-University of Washington
Third-Nanyang Unviersity

Division 2
Winner-Berkeley
Second-Hong Kong University ST
Third-Copenhagen

Division 3
Winner-University of Melbourne
Second-Singapore Management U.
Third-Thammasat

Division 4
Winner-National University of Singapore
Second-University of Auckland.

The next case which will be given tomorrow will be a small business case. We will present first tomorrow. More tomorrow.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 New Zealand Case Competition Part 3

2009-01-27T01:32:00.000-08:00

Blog Post #3 from Champions Trophy Case Competition in New Zealand

Our last day of frivolity. The morning was spent with 2 experts who gave us a briefing on the economic status of New Zealand and their "can do" attitude towards entrepreneurship and business. The country is looking for business and people to come and work here. With a population of 4 million and a country the size of Japan it is easy to see that they have lots of room to grow.

After the briefing we chose, through a random process, our divisions in which we would compete. There are three presentations given over the next three days, each one is a 4 hour and 45 minute preparation, the presentation is 10 minutes and the q&a is 10 minutes.

The following will give you the breakdown of the teams:

Division 1

Nanyang Technological University
University of Hong Kong
University of Washington

Division 2

Hong Kong UST
UC Berkeley
Copenhagen University

Division 3

Singapore Management
University of Melbourne
Thammasat University

Division 4

National U. of Singapore
University of Auckland

So we have our work cut out for us-I should say the team is up to the hard work. As we go through the 3 rounds I will report details.

After the serious stuff came more fun. We went on a 40 minute bus ride to a beach outside of Auckland. It was overcast and there was a little rain but that didn't seem to dampen the fun. The beaches were white and beautiful, the water was warmer than I had expected but still cool enough to take your time to wade into. Breathtaking scenery. What amazes me about the beaches here is that there are thousands of whole seashells that have washed up on the beach. It was great fun just looking at the different colors and sizes of shells as we walked along the beach.

There were also games of cricket, touch (ball), volleyball, soccer and then just lounging on the grass. I think everyone enjoyed the day and the get away from the city.

We came back for dinner and the students then went off to their rooms early so that they could be fresh for tomorrow. So now comes the hard part...we have made lots of friends and in true Berkeley spirit, our team of Kristina Shen, Davis Liu, Rahul Deedwania and Terence Kim, are showing with great respect the invaluable skills of being great ambassadors of the university.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 New Zealand Case Competition Part 2

2009-01-26T01:00:00.000-08:00

Blog Post #2 from Champions Trophy Case Competition in New Zealand

We were welcomed today. The group was assembled at the University for the official Maori welcome to New Zealand. The Maori people are the indigenous people of the land and have been here for thousands of years. The welcome was frightening at first, a warrior came to our group and challenged us in word and motion if we were here in peace or in protest. The dance that he did, and his facial expressions, had us holding our breath wondering if he was going to come after us. Luckily there was a captain of all of the participants who gave an offering that showed that we were here in peace. We moved on to more traditional Maori dances and rituals that were just fantastic.

After that the teams were divided into groups and were given a University ambassador that was to be their scavenger hunt leader. We (yes the advisors were sent on this mission too) were given a list of places to go in Auckland, a list of questions that needed to be answered and pictures that needed to be taken so that there would evidence of the fun. Although this activity was optional, everyone was keyed up for a day of fun, lots of sun (around 80 degrees) and adventure. I can say that the advisors started well and ended well, we explored the city, took some great pictures and of course made wonderful connections. Yes, this was a competition too, so we will find out by the pictures submitted and the number of right answers which student team won...

The evening was spent quite nicely with a bbq at the quad, from what I could see, the Berkeley team had done a fabulous job of networking and making new friends.

Tomorrow, in preparation for the competition, we will have a debriefing on the New Zealand economy, more details of the case and then on to some more New Zealand hospitality.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2009 New Zealand Case Competition Part 1

2009-01-25T01:00:00.000-08:00

Blog Post #1 from Champions Trophy Case Competition in New Zealand

"Not another one!" are not the first words you would expect from a blog about New Zealand, but once you read this you will understand why those three words became our motto today.

The trip over was uneventful, and good, we all slept to some degree, so when we arrived at 5:00am on Sunday morning-today we were feeling pretty good.

Our ambassador, George from the University of Auckland was there to greet us, and he accompanied us to the hotel on this very quiet Sunday morning. We got to leave our bags in one of the rooms and then we decided that we would go find some breakfast. George tried very hard to find a cafe or something that was open in the wee small hours of the morning, and he was successful. In the meantime we had the joy of walking through the very quiet city streets. The area has some resemblance to SF, a downtown crowded with corporations, and the beauty of the bay next to it. After eating, we decided that a little adventure would be good since we didn't have any obligations until later on in the day.

We decided on a ferry ride to a small island called Waiheke island about half hour away from downtown to Waiheke island. The quiet of the island and it's beauty just enveloped us-it was absolutely beautiful. As we walked around we tried to decide what we were going to do with our time on the island. At this time I should tell you that we were in the same clothes that we were wearing on the airplane-jeans, sweaters in some cases, basic warm clothing. The temperature was in the mid 70's and there was a soft breeze coming off the water.

The firs thought was to take scooters around the island, but alas they had sold out, and then we found a bike rental place. The owner, who was originally from Chicago gave us a deal and we rented 5 bikes, helmets, a map and of course some directions. We promised that we wouldn't have the bikes out too late since we needed to return to Auckland around noon. No problem he said.

So the five of us got acquainted with our bikes-for some this took longer- and then off we went to tour the island. At first this was a carefree ride, making sure we stayed to the left of the road since they drive on the left side. We all were doing very well, the scenery was breathtaking, and then the hills started. My oh my, these hills went from a gentle climb to monsters in a short period of time. We kept looking at the map trying to find our way down to the areas that the bike manager had told us about, and we were somewhat successful. We found the ice cream shop and the lovely Palm beach that he spoke highly of. Warm white sand beaches stretched out before us, the water was clear and blue and not too cold. We decided after our ice cream break that it was time to start heading back.

Since we had just finished tackling a very large hill (going up it of course) there was no hurry to do another hill so we decided that we would get creative with how we would get back, maybe we could avoid the hills. So Davis went to look for an ulterior path and in the process we found a nudist beach. Wow what a sight, and what a surprise...the people were very helpful when we told them what we planned to do, they said we were crazy. We quickly changed our plans and followed the route they suggested which sounded vaguely familiar to the path that the bike man had told us.

Needless to say, we rode up and down lots of hills,(hence, not another one, was said often) beside beautiful scenery and panting at every push of the pedal. We saw a couple of roads more than once-by now we had realized that the map was not accurate-and the people who we saw as we were riding were helpful when we asked directions.

So the noon ferry had left and the goal was to make the 1pm ferry, we finally did. It was grueling at the end but the team pulled through and we celebrated with lots of water and juice drinks once we retired our bikes. We figured that we rode about 20 kilometers in those 3 plus hours in 80 plus heat! No matter it was a fabulous outing. To say that we looked a mess is an understatement. But we made it back, very appreciative of our showers and change of clothes.

So after all of that we went to the registration portion of the case competition and then off to dinner with the other schools. There are 11 schools represented, this includes representation from 4 continents and 7 different countries.

Tomorrow we will have our official Maori welcome, a scavenger hunt and a BBQ. The weather continues to be beautiful.

So not bad for a first day.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

Light at the end of the tunnel

2008-12-17T14:13:00.000-08:00

It's finals week! So far I've knocked out two finals. Now all that's left for me is a paper and one more final exam. I think most of my friends were ready to celebrate after Professor Marschak's microeconomics final on Monday. After the test was over, I saw a crowd of students gather outside of Wheeler Auditorium and I could hear the collective sigh of relief. The students looked so happy as they discussed the test and the answers they got for the various problems. After several minutes, the crowd quickly dispersed as students headed to their hideouts to resume their studying.

Well, time for me to get back to studying. I can't wait for the week to be over so I can relax and enjoy the holiday break.

We got the Axe back!

2008-11-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

Saturday was the Big Game against Stanfuurd. That morning I went to a pre-game party at Bear's Lair with some friends before heading to Memorial Stadium to watch the game. At halftime, Cal was ahead 10-3. At one point in the game we were up 37-3, and we ended up winning 37-16.

After the game me and some friends celebrated our big W against those nasty Stanfuurd trees. I love being a Bear!

Speeches & Bowling

2008-11-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to F320 to hear the speeches made by candidates running for executive positions in Haas' undergraduate student government. I think there are a total of six candidates. The speeches were okay, nothing special. I guess taking Communication for Leaders this semester has made me a bit more picky because I've seen so many great speeches in that class. The elections for the student government start Monday and last a week.

After the speeches I went bowling with some friends and The Wife. We ordered some pizza and some drinks. I can't bowl! I think the last time I went bowling was last year. Is it just me, or are bowling balls always too big or too small? Anywho, we ended up bowling two games and going home. Now my hand is stiff. It's a good thing I don't have to do any writing today.

Diversity with PwC and Focus Group

2008-11-06T22:39:00.000-08:00

After classes today I went to an event titled "Diversity: Why and How". A Diversity Leader from PwC talked to us about diversity and what it means in the workplace. It was great because she focused on the general subject of diversity and trying to incorporate it into business, rather than just focusing on what PwC is doing with diversity. I was relieved to find out that diversity isn't forced in the workplace. Instead, diversity is incorporated in the workplace. She focused on uniqueness and she even taught us how to create an effective elevator pitch that focused on "what's unique about me". After going over what we should include in a pitch, she had us take a few minutes to come up with our very own elevator pitch. She called on me and a few other people in the room to give our elevator pitches and she critiqued us and worked with us to make them better.

After the event I went to University Village in Albany to take part in a focus group study. A few MBA students that are taking a Marketing Research course are doing research on tequila and what drives someone to pay more for one tequila brand over another. They asked us a lot of questions and also had us taste different tequilas and asked how much we would pay for each. Besides the free tequila shots, I thought it was a great experience and I got some sense of how much work market research takes. The focus groups are supposed to help the MBAs put together a good marketing survey with the right questions and the right language.

Now I'm going to relax for a little bit with The Wife before working on my Metaphor Speech that I'm giving tomorrow for my Communication for Leaders class.

2008 Texas Case Competition Part 3

2008-11-02T13:15:00.000-08:00

Our team did a fabulous job for their presentation. They had a great strategy that seemed to work well. During this competition the judges can start asking questions after 3 minutes into the presentation. Although nerve racking they answered them well and were able to switch back and forth between the presentation and the questions effortlessly.

Although the team didn't get much sleep during their 57 hours of study, they were very sharp on their delivery. After prelims they had us wait quite a while before they announced the winners. Well, we did not make finals, the team took the news well, but they were still disappointed. We did have the opportunity to be debriefed, and the comments were extremely favorable. The judges said that the one thing that held them back was that they had not flushed out their target market.

We did listen to the finals and that was quite an experience. There were many questions posed, and it was a very tough judging session. The team that won was the University of Hong Kong.

Our team was now able to relax and enjoy the fun. As usual the Cal team showed great networking skills and had a fabulous last night in Austin.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

I had an awesome Halloween! I started off at the Bear's Lair where me and a few friends Beat the Clock. We sat outside and shared some pizza, pitchers, and pommes frites. Quite a few people were dressed up at Bear's Lair. Speed Racer was there and so was Captain Crunch. Angelina Jolie was there, and then Lara Croft showed up and we were sure they were going to duke it out, haha. Most of us stayed there until around 7ish and then we started to leave so we could get to our Halloween parties. I put my costume on and and headed to a party hosted by some graduate students (The Wife is a Ph.D. student).

I had fun! There were plenty of snacks and adult refreshments. Everyone wore a costume! That always makes for a better Halloween party because sometimes people show up without a costume, and that's kinda sucky. Why even bother showing up if you're not going to dress up? The costumes people wore at the party were very creative. There was a Viking there with a He-Man sword whose costume looked very authentic. There was a lady dressed up as a MacBook playing a pirated movie. haha, I don't think I can describe that one in detail, but it was hilarious. I saw Pebbles from the Flinstones and there was also a couple who dressed up as Jack & Jill, and the entire night they clung to a bucket with "pail of water" sharpied on to it.

2008 Texas Case Competition Part 2

2008-10-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

It has been very quiet here in Austin as the 23 teams prepare for the competition tomorrow morning. Yesterday the students had the opportunity to meet with some Dell representatives for a Q&A session. I am sure that they would have wanted to ask more in depth questions, but they were kept to the basics.

The students; Cecelia Lau, Audrey Leung, Clifford Tsang and Milan Agarwal have been closed up in their rooms since Wednesday night, only to be released at their presentation time at 10:20 on Saturday. 58 hours of prep! Our division includes the following teams: USC, Norwegian School of Management, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser, and the University of Alberta.

The finals will be held tomorrow night, so if we make it our team will have quite a busy day. One of the biggest differences about this competition is that after 3 minutes of their presentation they are allowed to be interrupted by a judge with a question. This pattern can go on until the last 3 minutes of the presentation when they are giving their conclusion. That is a very tough format and I know that no one is looking forward to that part.

So,I wish I could say that the team will enjoy Halloween here in Austin. According to the sources here, Halloween is a very big deal. We will see what we can do tomorrow night to celebrate!

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2008 Texas Case Competition Part 1

2008-10-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

On the first day of our case competition, we have settled into picturesque Austin, the capital of Texas. The Executive Center, where we are staying is within walking distance of the campus, so we went on a walking tour of the area. The campus is really beautiful, and in many ways similar to UCB. The population is close to 50,000 students.

After our walk we met for the opening dinner and the release of the case. The case is regarding Dell computers, and how Dell "should adjust strategy to respond to the changing realities that we face today." So the team is off to their room, ready to tackle the case. Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to meet with the reps from Dell to answer questions about the case while they eat Texas BBQ. Our team will present at 10:20 on Saturday morning.

Our division includes the following teams:

UC Berkeley
USC
Simon Fraser
University of Alberta
University of British Columbia
Norwegian School of Management

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

Early Bird Internship Fair

2008-10-29T17:19:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the Early Bird Internship Fair. Juniors filled the Pauley Ballroom from 12-4 to see if they could find an internship for the Summer. I snapped some pictures of the crowd and a few banners that were up.

Blizzard was there! All you gamers know who they are. Diablo II, Warcraft, WOW, and who could forget Starcraft. Unfortunately, they were only looking for Computer Science types today, oh well, maybe next time.

The Few, The Proud, The Marines were there looking for the future leadership of the Marine Corps. Truly an elite force.

And MillerCoors was there. Talking with the recruiter I found out that the manufacturers of Miller and Coors beers merged in July.

<--- Cal students in action. In addition to these companies, Chevron, Oracle, Craigslist, Cornerstone, Deutsche Bank, FTI Consulting, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Philip Morris, Research In Motion (yay BlackBerrys), Disney, and many more were there too.

MBA Panel and Dinosaur Meat

2008-10-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

Last night was MBA Panel night. Wharton, MIT, Columbia and, of course, Haas admissions officers were here to talk about what the MBA application process is all about. Each school talked a little about their individual application processes, then the audience got to ask the panel questions. With a half-hour to spare, the schools' representatives each went to tables in different parts of the room so that students could continue to ask questions or ask questions that maybe were only relevant to one school in particular. The event had a lot of yummy food (cheeses, salsa, guacamole, little chocolate desserts and these skewers that looked like dinosaur meat but tasted mighty fine). It was interesting to find out that all of the schools encourage students to apply in their last year of undergrad if the student feels that they're ready for an MBA. I was under the impression that you needed to have work experience, but they all seemed to want to dispel that myth.

Bringing Home the Gold - Back from Hong Kong!

2008-10-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

This is Sagar Gupta, a member of the Haas Case Competition Team that recently won First Place at the 2008 Citi International Case Competition (CICC) and also the winner of the "Best Presenter" award. Since many of you probably have enough reading to do for classes (I sure do...), I figured I could rather share our story (for now) through pictures rather than words. But for those of you interested in learning more about the case competition itself, Haas has already posted an excellent Press Release on the main website:

http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/news/20081024_hongkongcompetition.html

Some quick background on the case competition...
-This is the first time Haas has won CICC - the first "First Place" win for Haas at any international case competition in 10 years!!
-18 universities from around the world
-Case Company: Ocean Park - a popular amusement park in Hong Kong
-26 Hours allotted for case preparation...that's it!
-Judging panel consisted of Ocean Park CEO, VPs, Citi Managing Directors, HKUST professors, and many more...
-We had a little free time before/after the case to have some fun in the city...

I'd like to give special recognition to my fellow team mates: Wei Li, Sean Huang, and Jimmy Shi. From Cisco-Deloitte to CICC, I'm honored to work with my fellow brothers to succeed and represent Haas and UC Berkeley on a global scale. And of course, I must recognize Ms. Janet Amador, the Director of UG Admissions/Operations who accompanied us on our trip and was ridiculously supportive all throughout the adventure--thanks!

Now for the pictures!

At Citi's HQ in Hong Kong.
Left to right: Sean Huang '09, Jimmy Shi '10, Janet Amador, Sagar Gupta '10, Wei Li '09.

View from HKUST apartment we stayed at

One of the best stores Hong Kong has to offer....G2000! Clearly some of us were exhausted after a long day of shopping there...ha.

Go Bears!!!

View from the top of the Citi building (Central - Hong Kong)

Self-explanatory...

Final presentation to judges

Celebrating victory with the students from Korea University in Lan Kwai Fong (clubbing district)

Plenty more on my Facebook (if you're friends with me, of course). And of course, feel free to contact me with any questions about the Haas Case Competition Team program.

See you all back in class!

I Know What You Did Last Summer

2008-10-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

So last night I went to an Internship Panel and the event was dubbed "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Pretty clever, huh? Recruiters from Triage (consulting), Wells Fargo (banking), and KPMG (accounting) were there to talk about what the recruiting process is like for Summer internships and they gave us some tips for the eager, intern-seeking Juniors (like me) that showed up. In addition to the advice given by the recruiters, some insightful tips were given by a Senior that did his internship at Wells Fargo last Summer, and a recent Haas grad that was in her first year at Wells. They were able to supplement what the recruiters had to say. I think I learned the most by the advice on what NOT to do. That information gave me an understanding of what the recruiters' pet peeves might be, which I'm sure are shared among all recruiters. Now I'm ready for the Early Bird Internship Fair that the Career Center is hosting on October 29!

2008 Hong Kong Case Competition Part 5 - Haas Wins!

2008-10-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Yes we did it! This amazing team made up by Jimmy Shi, Sagar Gupta, Wei Li and Sean Huang won first place in the Citi International Case competition at HKUST in Hong Kong. The finals were held at the Mira Hotel in downtown Kowloon.

The teams presentation was flawless, their strategy was smart, exciting and included all of the core competences that are so important to Ocean Pacific Park. The judges were extremely complimentary of their performance and the depth of their analysis-they thought that the team consisted of MBA students.

We were honored also with an award for Sagar Gupta who won for Outstanding Speaker. Way to go!

During the dinner we were entertained with a talent show that was done by some of the participating schools. There were lots of laughs and shared fun.

So tomorrow we head back to California. It has been an amazing and enriching experience for all of us.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2008 Hong Kong Case Competition Part 4

2008-10-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

Our fourth day in Hong Kong started very quietly. All 18 teams present at the competition were busy preparing their cases until noon. Very few slept during the night, but they all looked excited to present.

The Berkeley team looked like they were rested as they entered the room (they did get some sleep!). They did a fabulous job presenting their case. The team worked very well together, seamless in their efforts. They felt great about their accomplishment. I was very proud of them.

The dinner where the finalists were to be announced started with the important acknowledgement that all of the teams who participated were winners. All of the teams showed amazing effort and creativity. The future of business innovation is in good hands.

So the great news is that we made the finals!!! We are one of four schools that will present at the finals. The other three schools are:

Simon Fraser (Canada)
Maastricht (Netherlands)
National University of Singapore

So the team can't relax too much, although they did agree that getting a good night sleep for tonight was a wise move instead of celebrating their success. So tomorrow night we will present in a formal setting in downtown Kowloon. The executives from both Ocean Park and Citi will be in attendance. It is very exciting to be in the finals.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2008 Hong Kong Case Competition Part 3

2008-10-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

On the third day of our case competition, the activities started early this morning with the drawings for the order of presentations and division groups. There are 18 schools represented and they are divided into 4 divisions. On Wednesday at 1:40 HK time or 10:40pm CA time we will be presenting our case. We are competing in our division against:

Lund University (Sweden)
University of Virginia
Korea University
Helsinki School of Economics (Finland)

Our team has done a magnificent job of getting to know other students. They really have great networking skills. After the schools were drawn, the team immediately went to shake hands and wish good luck to their competitors.

So, for now they are sequestered in their room with lots of junk food, and their collective minds deciphering the case. As an advisor I won't be able to look at the case until presentations start tomorrow. So I can't even give you an inkling of what they have been tasked to do.

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

2008 Hong Kong Case Competition Part 2

2008-10-20T01:25:00.000-07:00

This morning of our second day at 7:30 we were all dressed in our business attire waiting to leave for our case company visit. While you would think that nervousness abounded amongst the teams, it became obvious that the students wouldn't let that interfere with their social skills! They knew how to connect with each other no matter what school they represented. The bus ride to the undisclosed location was alive with chatter and laughter. Without knowing what lay ahead, everyone just enjoyed the moment.

As we drove in from the airport our driver had said, "There is Disneyland." I joked and said, "wouldn't it be funny if our case study was Disneyland." Well...it wasn't but it was a close second, Ocean Park amusement park.

As the bus drove up we were all wondering what we could do at the park since we were all dressed in suits and heels. Well we were seated in a covered amphitheater and introduced to the general manager who runs the park. He spent the next 2 hours giving us a very detailed presentation of the parks plans for expansion. The plans were exciting to see. From additional rides, and animal exhibits to a north/south pole exhibit that will have snow year-round for kids to play in. As the gentleman spoke, he talked about how different Ocean Park is from "where the mouse lives" and that in many ways the two parks compliment each other. The level of questions from the teams was high after the realization that the case that we will receive tomorrow is based on the Ocean Park expansion. What will it be about???

We did get a short run through their Halloween Bash Haunted House-not too bad, I feared the worst and didn't scream once!

After our visit we were taken to Citi headquarters for lunch and to meet their executives. Having just left an amusement park to go to the 50th floor of a downtown high rise was quite a dichotomy. The students had more of an opportunity to mingle, and the food was very good.

It is now 3 or so in the afternoon. Most students and advisors looked forward to getting back, changing out of those suits and relaxing. I knew our team was going to do some homework before the big day tomorrow when the case is distributed!!!

We are extremely fortunate to have this educational and cultural experience for our students. What an amazing opportunity for experiential learning!

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

Valuation Workshop

2008-10-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today I went to a Valuation Workshop put on by the Haas School. I'm interested in finance, and after the Goldman Sachs case competition, I got excited about learning what valuation is all about. The workshop's instructor was from Training the Street, a company that trains a lot of investment bank employees. This guy really knew his stuff and he made the subject, which I'm sure is normally quite dry, rather interesting. Since I'm only a Junior, I haven't taken Intro to Finance yet, so some of the stuff was way over my head, but for the most part the instructor was able to break things down "Barney-style" for us and that really helped convey the material. It was kinda rough being in the auditorium for 4 hours with only two breaks, but it was definitely worth it. Now that I have a better sense of what finance is about, specifically valuation, I'm psyched about taking Intro to Finance next semester.

2008 Hong Kong Case Competition Part 1

2008-10-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

The students on our external 2008 Hong Kong case competition team are:

Sagar Gupta
Sean Huang
Jimmy Shi
Wei Li

The advisor accompanying our team is Ms. Janet Amador, Director of Admissions and Operations for the Haas Undergraduate Program.

Our arrival to Hong Kong was thankfully uneventful. The weather at 6:05 in the morning was 79 degrees and 90% humidity. It was quiet, warm and stuffy. We had our transportation to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) waiting for us, and the 50 minute drive was great. The Kowloon and Hong Kong areas are rich with new and old architecture. The skyline is filled with tall skyscrapers, and the apartment complexes are close to the city. We were lucky to get here early and to meet up with our student ambassador, Vishal. He is a 4th year student at HKUST.

We decided to walk around this beautiful seaside campus, what a view! The white buildings are nestled into the mountains and sea is right below. The team decided to go out shopping. According to their report upon their return they found some great bargains.
In the evening we met up with Nicole who is an EAP student from Cal studying here for the term. She joined us for dinner. Vishal came too so we had a fun group together to celebrate our arrival in Hong Kong.

More information about our case competition programs is available at http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/casecomp.html

Posted by Dinko Lakic for Janet Amador

Mid-Terms Over...Still Interviewing

2008-10-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I'm taking a little break from reading advanced accounting (woo hoo) to post my first blog. I'm a Senior at Haas. I transferred from Santa Barbara City College in July of 2007. This is a great forum for me to share with you some of the experiences I am having here so you can get a better idea what life is like at Haas.

At this time, most students are finishing up mid-terms. Most of mine were within a two week period. I had four and finished my last one last week. I'm glad that's over because things can get somewhat back to normal. This is also the time when most seniors are going through recruiting interviews for full time employment when we graduate in May. It's really great being here because there are a lot of companies that specially come recruit at UC Berkeley because of Haas. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to interview with them. This past week I have had interviews with some of the top four accounting firms and have some more interviews scheduled next week.

It's a little hectic trying to juggle my class load and find the time to go to the Cal Career Center for interviews but I'm lucky that I live close to campus and the Career Center so that I can quickly run home to change and then head back to school.

Okay, back to the books. I'm glad it's Thursday because tomorrow is Friday. Finally...the weekend.

PowerPoint and Sushi

2008-10-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to a workshop on PowerPoint 2007 and let me tell you, Wow!

This is mind-blowing stuff. I'm so glad I went to this workshop because I otherwise wouldn't have found out how much the new PowerPoint has to offer. The addition of "smart art" is probably the coolest new feature.

I thought everything I learned was useful and will help my presentations look better so I really suggest you go out and learn

what it has to offer. I'll definitely be making my next presentation with 2007.

After the workshop a group of us gathered outside of the computer center and we decided to grab some grub at a local sushi place. Of course, this had "nothing" to do with the sushi place having dollar beers, we went for the food ...

Goldman Sachs Case Competition

2008-10-08T16:31:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the final round of the 11th annual investment banking case competition hosted by Goldman Sachs. Undergraduates had an opportunity to form teams of 4 and analyze a Visa IPO case. The top 3 teams presented to a panel made up of Goldman, Visa, and Fidelity employees.

Former Goldman Chief Learning Officer, Dean Lyons, kicked things off for the night by thanking Goldman Sachs for their continued work with the Haas school.

The case: assuming it's January 2008, should Goldman go through with an IPO of Visa? The teams gave their recommendations in a boardroom style presentation lasting 20 minutes each. All three teams were absolutely amazing and I was very much in awe for most of the night. They all recommended that Goldman go ahead with an IPO (and we of course know that they already did) and they outlined the pros and cons of an IPO, especially for the long term.

Team #3, made up of Tina Bao, Sebastian Cua, Simon Shen, and Brian Kim, was picked as the winner of the case competition. Major props to them.

I almost signed up for this case competition, but I saw a previous year's case and I knew I wasn't ready to value a company. One of the seniors told me that he learned a lot about valuation when he went to last year's Valuation Workshop. This year the same workshop is being offered on October 19, and I made sure that I signed up on the first day that sign ups were open to juniors. I'll be sure to post something about that when I go.

Cal beats ASU and the Stanfurd trees lose

2008-10-07T17:40:00.001-07:00

The football game against ASU was sweeeet! The Cal team got off to a great start, and we were able to keep ASU at bay with a final score of 24-14. After cheering for our team in the student section, my throat was a little sore and my voice was a little weak. I was in need of some refreshments.

Me and a friend went to a local Berkeley spot for some food and drinks. We talked and rambled about many things, including what we want to do after we graduate. After a few hours, a friend joined us and we somehow managed to get on the subject of reggaeton music and its metaphorical nature. "Gassolina" anyone?

All in all it was a great day. Not only did we beat ASU but the Stanfurd trees lost to Notre Dame. I can't wait until the Big Game!