Kingsford Charcoal Case

For our Managing Customer Value class, myself and Jasmine were warm called to do a presentation on the brand of Kingsford Charcoal case and present an overview of the situation. Vincent and Yijun provided an analysis of the price strategy analysis. Finally Harsh and Kim represented agency 1 and Irina, Mainak and Gang presented as agency 2.

Our professor asked us (Jasmine and I) to ask questions of the two agency groups which was a bit of a unique experience. I drew on the classes' conversation to try to ask intellegent questions to understand how they were positioning Kingsford charcoal relative to it's competitors, what their vision was for differentiating our product and how they planned to build an advertising strategy to drive consumer behaviour.

Harsh and Kim had picked mediums which we thought were in line with the BBQ experience. Agency two, with Irina, Mainak and Gang, showed that they understood Kingsford's position as a market leader and planned to exploit it by emphasizing the advantages of charcoal. However, we felt that their advertising strategy wasn't as focused.

In the end, we had to choose which group we prefered and we went with Agency 1 (Harsh and Kim).

It was an intersting exercise as Jasmine and I had to have a discussion outside of the class while the class came up with it's own selection. I'm told they came up with the same decision, albeit possibly based on different criteria.

Dubai World in Trouble

I've had this article (or variants) sent to me from many different people who are concerned / aware of what is happening in Dubai.

We had just done our Dubai presentation on market entry (our project was done on Sugar Mountain and their positioning with international infrastructure to source confectionaries from around the world) and were looking at different possible locations.

We had discovered Dubai World in our research and commented on how monsterously large it was. It actually dwarfs other famous projects from the same real estate development company, Nakheel, such as the famous World project, which creates small artificial islands on the coast in the shape of the earth.

An interesting point, the financing involve is actually islamicly based, as the bonds are sukuks. But there are interesting implications when it involves default and unwinding financial positions which have islamic components. It will be an interesting lesson in understanding not only islamic financial instruments, but also a pragmatic lesson in how distressed islamic investment instruments.

I wonder how liquidation would work. One of the general tenants (as I understand it) of islamic finance is that there are not many recourses for default, however, bonds do have an equity component so I wonder if the bonds will just naturally "convert" if the bond (sukuk) holders do not agree to delaying / suspending payments.

Strategy with Anita McGahan, Fleck Atrium Part II

In another rare treat, Anita ran another tutorial based on our most recent quiz in the Atrium earlier today (around lunch time). She discussed the answers and rational for the quiz questions as well as what she was looking for in good responses.

This time the tutorial was only for two of the four sections at Rotman. The other two courses are having their tutorial now.

Next week, due to construction in extending the Rotman facilities, we've been told that some of our classes will be in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). That plans to be exciting, not only to also be in a large class with all our 265 classmates, but also to be in such an interesting "class room". I hope we don't have to pay additional "admission".

Companies Investing in Securities

Our professor, Francesco Bova, has the honour / misfortune of having us for our Friday afternoon Financial Accounting class. It's usually a good time (yes, you read that correctly).

Just now, he was asking us what types of securities would be considered as being classed as "held to maturity". He jokingly hinted that the only securities with maturities are bonds. The best question of the day:

"Does a zero coupon bond have a maturity?"

Semper Fidelis

Once a few years ago, I was having dinner with a friend. This person was certainly very successful in a traditional way and we were having a conversation about the plants around his house as a metaphor for life.

He was talking to the head house keeper about the upkeep of the house. She explained to him how she had been singing to the plants and how she felt that was encouraging them to grow. He took exception: "Why are you singing to the plants? Things grow better under pressure! You shouldn't be singing to them, you should be yelling at them!"

He chuckled as he related the story, and reflected on how history tests and challenges us and how the people who have tasted the peaks of success in life first drank deep from the cup of failure in the depths of despair. Success too easily won, he argued, no matter how tremendous, is not a path to sustained growth. The irony is that success often invokes a sense of accomplishment and complacency although the drive that accompanies true success is never really satisfied.

This is certainly true for those of us who chose to do an MBA at Rotman. We are being put through the wringer now. But most of us know that if things go the way we want, this is just the beginning. Should we be so lucky to achieve the goals we are aiming for, life will only become more challenging, more difficult and more rewarding.

There are many people here who are exceptionally bright and hard working. Everyone is being put under pressure. Everyone is being "rattled" as we are being pushed to our limits to see how far we can go. But I'm very impressed with the resilience and strength of my classmates. Clearly, they are made of strong yet malleable stuff. You can tell that in 10 years time (if not sooner) they will be rock stars and will look back and smile at "the good ol' days at Rotman".

Dany Shehab Wins Spelling Bee

On Tuesday evening, Rotman hosted its annual Spelling Bee in the Atrium where students, faculty and staff were challenged to spell different words in front of their friends and colleagues.

Section 2's very own Dany Shehab rocked the Rotman world with his stunning win at the Rotman Spelling Bee with a word I will not attempt to reproduce here.

Roger Martin Launches New Book

Roger Martin launched his new book on earlier this week in the Atrium at Rotman. "The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage".

Although many companies strive to be innovative, very few often are. Roger Martin offers an interesting explaination in that companies focus on analytical thinking at expense of design thinking. His book investigates the topic further and promises to be an interesting read.