An AIM Ghost Story

It's that time of the year when those not in the living realm receive our collective attention. Yep, the three day stretch of October 31, November 1 and November 2 are celebrated as Halloween, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day respectively. (Halloween is not an official holiday in the government nor a recognized special day in the Roman Catholic church.)

It's only fitting to feature the most popular ghost story about the Asian Institute of Management:

A Professor died of a heart attack a few years ago in one of lecture rooms on the third floor of the main building. There are voices; shadows and cold spots can be felt in that specific room where the professor died. His car remains in the faculty parking area even until now.

There are several websites and blogs that have featured this story (here's an example) and I'm not quite sure where this story originated or when it started.

If we look at the facts, "one of the lecture rooms on the third floor" could mean several rooms (the third floor has the most number of lecture rooms, including the degree and non-degree programs). But I wouldn't be surprised if happened in the SGV Caseroom in the third floor where MBA classes are held-- professors would get a heart attack if they saw finance exam scores like mine. :P

Seriously, this is interesting if you ask me. I'll ask around and investigate if this is a legit ghost story or just a hoax. Wish me luck.

Do You Want a New Laptop Bag?

In the spirit of the Diwali season, you could take home a NEW premium JanSport, Hedgren or Timbuk2 bag courtesy of Bratpack, one of the leading bag stores in the Philippines.

How do you get the bag? Very simple: The person who submits the most interesting "bag story"-- about how useful their bags were in their travels, or how they used their bags to express themselves, or even how they used their bags to complete their fashion style-- in one hundred words or less will be the winner of the spiffy new bag of their choice*. All stories will be ranked and the winning story will be determined by a panel of three people, including myself.

Submit your unique "bag story" by posting a comment on this blog post, along with your email address. Only those based in the Philippines are eligible and people can submit as many stories as they like.

The deadline for submitting your story is on November 18, 2008. The person who submits the best story will be notified by email. The winner must confirm the within 3 days, otherwise he/she forfeits the prize and the bag will be awarded to the next ranked entry.

So what are you waiting for? Your "bag story" could get you a high-quality laptop bag, a trendy messenger bag or even a classic backpack from Bratpack!


* - The bag models from JanSport, Hedgren and Timbuk2 may be different from the pictures shown in this blog post.

Diwali 2008

Diwali came a little early here at the Asian Institute of Management as the AIM Student Association (AIM SA) organized a variety show to celebrate the Indian festival of lights.

The show opened strong with a nice musical and dance history of Bollywood, then proceeded with Hindi and Tamil song numbers from students from the various MBA cohorts. There was also a nice dance number from our exchange students, dancing a nice Indian dance. In between numbers, there were also fashion shows from the MBA Cohort 3 folks. The best number of the evening came from the Punjabi dancers who got everyone to dance Punjabi style! But the evening's show stopper was our very own Sanvij Balakrishnan, who did a mighty good Michael Jackson impression, with Moonwalk and all. :)

This is my second Diwali celebration here in AIM. And like last year's celebration, the evening was a great night of talent, delicious Indian cuisine, dance and free flowing drinks. Happy Diwali to everyone! :D

Location, Location, Location

Property experts agree that the three most important in determining the desirability of of a property are location, location, location. So when it comes to the Asian Institute of Management, it has more or less taken advantage of its prime Makati location in the heart of the Philippines' business district for the last forty years.

However, the situation may change for AIM-- a change of address to be exact.

Media has picked up the story on the possible move of the institute to two possible new locations. The potential move is a land swap deal with Ayala Corporation , the donors of the land in which the current campus is built on. This deal is motivated by the institute's strategy to be the "management school of choice for those that want to operate in Asia" and aggressive revival its brand. If AIM pushes through with the move, it will get a hold of the capital gains of the Makati campus (PhP 3 billion) and use this to pay the institute's debt and create a new campus.

According to the story, AIM has sent a survey to the alumni asking for their inputs on the two options for the new campus. The first option is the Zuellig property in Ayala Avenue, Makati, not far from the current campus (around less than a kilometer). This option foresees a high-rise building for the new location.

The second option is the Nuvali area in the province of Laguna, one of the major development projects of the Ayala group about 33 kilometers south of the current campus. This site could feature a 5-hectare university-type campus that would have low-rise buildings. As part of this option, the AIM Conference Center will be retained in its current location in Makati.

If you ask me, the first option is a place not too different from where AIM currently is, but in a busier intersection with few amenities around the area. It can be seen as a downgrade of sorts, but it's still in urban Makati so it's not a drastic adjustment. The second option is definitely a bigger change, something like the Los Angeles Lakers moving to Alaska or like Angelina Jolie committing herself to a convent. But this type of major shift worked for IBM's strategy in the 1990's and Arnold Schwarzenneger's career, right?

I honestly like the current location of AIM-- it's very convenient (Greenbelt is just across the street), good surrounding environment (not to busy streets), and very accessible. This place is also good for having interviews with companies because most of the large corporations' offices are just a short cab ride away. And despite its flaws, it's easy to fall in love with the current campus. It's too bad all this may change

The Day I Griped About Grades

I woke up this morning recalling the dream I was having just before I awoken. Interestingly enough, it was about the only time I complained about grades here are the Asian Institute of Management.

To give you an idea, I'm not really conscious about my grades, so I rarely complained. Of course, I don't want to just get red marks left and right-- I definitely want to excel on things that I like to do and enjoy, but with things that aren't really catching my fancy, I tend to look at them like a chore and would just come up with mediocre results.

Going back to the only time I complained , it was during the start of this year. Prof. Nani Roxas, our Operations Management (OM) professor, just released an exemption list for the midterm exams and I was not in his list. I would have been fine with it until I saw the set of folks who were exempted. The list raised questions because there some a handful of exemptions that seemed to make little sense.

So a few days after the list, I went to Prof. Jun Borromeo, our CAN group's mentor, in his office. I griped about that I perceived as a highly questionable in OM.In true professor-like fashion, Prof. Borromeo asked me if I would be bothered with the list if I was exempted. I replied I probably wouldn't. He then asked if I should be in the list and I firmly said if my benchmarks were some of the people who got in, then I should been exempted as well. Prof, Borromeo then explained to me how subjective things are and maybe I had a distorted perception of how I performed in OM (or something to that effect). I left the office after that.

I then thought about things and I realized the folly of my move. I realized the futility of certain things and business school and I started to care about grades even lesser. But that was one of the most liberating thing that happened to me in school-- I started to pick my spots better and just ignore the things I can do little or nothing about, including professors' perception of me in class. It also gave me focus on things that I want to do and enjoy and just avoid failing on subjects I don't like.

In retrospect, did I adopt the right mindset? Let's just say my grades took a beating, but I enjoyed school more and it made me look forward to going to classes. :)

The Root of the World Financial Crisis: Unethical Practices

Dr. Peter Schier, Co-founder of the Penang Global Ethic Project and Former Country Representative of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Malaysia, posited a very interesting take on the global financial crisis: We have to point the finger at unethical practices that led to one of the worst financial crunches the world has faced in recent history.

Dr. Schier's lecture was the concluding activity of the World Religions, Universal Peace, Global Ethic Exhibit at the Asian Institute of Management. The talk centered on the "profit at all costs" mindset at the micro-economic level has led to bankruptcy at the macro-economic level and that mindset has a high potential to destroy the social fabric of society. The fund managers that toppled the dominoes of the financial world definitely tip-toed on ethical boundaries and now we have billions of Dollars eaten up by the financial crunch. Heck, it may have affected opportunities for us MBA graduates this December.

Prof. Mayo Lopez with Dr. Peter Schier:

Former Philippine Senator Letica Ramos-Shahani giving her insights on the lecture:

The AIM Policy Center staff with Dr. Peter Schier:

Shu Wang, This One's for You

What started off as a friendly conversation in the library ended up as this blog post featuring one of my MBA classmates.

Shu Wang is one of the few Chinese folks at the Asian Institute of Management. It took some cajoling on my part to get her featured in this blog, but thank goodness she accepted. :)

Shu is also the is the youngest member of our class, and has been focusing the banking sector. She accomplished her Action Consultancy with one of the biggest banks in the Philippines and she has caught the attention of Citibank as of late. Shu is fluent in Mandarin, English and Filipino (she finished her undgraduate degree here in Manila).

Well, this post was very much inspired by my previous post about Maya Perez. Do you think there should be more posts like these in this blog? :)

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Shameless plug: I'm giving away a FREE night-out for you and four of your friends in The Great Wii Night Giveaway in my other blog. If you feel like spending a great evening at the Red Box Karaoke in Greenbelt 3, you have until November 15, 2008 to join the contest. :)

Bad Timing

"I read the news today, oh boy..." - John Lennon, A Day in the Life

I distinctly remember last year when were still taking Economics under Prof. Federico Macaranas, he said that our is graduating on a time that's very inopportune. He shared that by the time we graduate, the effects of the then simmering United States subprime mortgage crisis would be felt immensely. And, boy, is the world feeling it.

The financial crisis , now a global issue, is big news these days. A search for "financial crisis " in Google News  would yield over 400,000 news stories on the past month alone. Newspapers here have placed global financial crisis news in their respective front pages. News have covered a various range of issues: the subprime issue, crashing stock markets all over the glob, U.S. banks' bailout, the fall of investment banking, tons of money vanishing in a snap. But these news all have carried the same message: very bad financial times are imminent.

I can't help now but relate this situation to me, post-MBA studies. Given the external issues, how would this affect what I will do after graduation?

A good portion of our class came into business school with hopes of scoring a nice job upgrade. But will the opportunities be there? The writing was on the wall early this year when the some of the members of the MBA batch that preceded us lamented that the jobs in some sectors that used to be there weren't there. Does that mean we're all screwed?

If there's one nice thing studying in the Asian Institute of Management has taught me, it is that crisis means "danger" and "opportunity" in Chinese. Maybe there are some little pockets of opportunity that need to be discovered in this messy situation. Perhaps there are industries or sectors that are impervious to the financial crisis. Bottom-line: my own plans need to change, in light of the current situation.

Expectations also need to be adjusted. If you're unrealistic at this point in time, that is bad timing.

Field Trip for Social Entrepreneurship Class

Today, our class in Social Entrepreneurship (SE) under Prof. Marie Lisa Dacanay went on a field trip to visit two social enterprises: The Community Crafts Association of the Philippines (CCAP) and the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA).

The first part was a visit to the CCAP complex in Quezon City where we were given a briefing about the organization, as well as a tour of their facility. The CCAP is essentially a non-government organization (NGO) that helps small entrepreneurs, specifically crafts producers, to get market access, training and support to professionalize the business and trigger social development. The CCAP also is focused on promoting and practicing fair trade for the crafts industry in the country.

Here are some pictures I took from the CCAP's showroom where the products from their partners are being showcased:

Nice looking products, huh?

We then proceeded to have a lunch stopover in one of the malls in Quezon City. After which, we hopped to the PETA Center to watch their production of "Mga Kwento ni Lola Basyang" (Stories of Grandmother Basyang"). There was a little issue about the play-- it was in Filipino and 67% of our SE class do not understand it. So we were grouped in to three, with at least one Filipino-speaking person, then that person is in charge of explaining or translating the play to the other two. Good thing the play is not that hard to understand and explain, so I was still able to enjoy it while playing translator to my classmates.

After the play, Ms. Beng Cabangon, the PETA's Executive Director, gave a short talk and Q&A for the class.

We all went home tired, but I'm sure we all learned something about social enterprises. :)

"World Religions – Universal Peace – Global Ethic" Exhibit at AIM

The Asian Institute of Management is host to the opening of the World Religions – Universal Peace – Global Ethic Exhibit organized by the AIM Policy Center and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

The opening ceremony for the exhibit was held earlier and was highlighted by a ribbon-cutting with Mr. Klaus Preschle, Country Representative of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, AIM Policy Center Director Dr. Federico Macaranas and AIM Dean Victoria Licuanan. Copies of the AIM Policy Center's Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project 2007 were also distributed to the audience. (Yey!)

As for the exhibit itself, it's very interesting. The thesis of the exhibit about religions all over the world is that there are certain commonalities and if only people would focus on the similarities or a "global ethic standard," then the world would be a better place. A good example is the "Golden Rule "-- or the ethics of reciprocity is present in all the major organized religions in the world.

If you have the time to drop by AIM, then check out the exhibit beside the Meralco caseroom. Maybe you'll learn something interesting there. :)

New AIM Student Association Officers

Last week, the elections for the new Asian Institute of Management Student Association (AIM SA) officers were held and now, we have a new set of students to lead the student body. An induction ceremony was hosted by the Student Services, Admissions & Registration (SSAR) department of the institute.

Here's the new set of officers for the AIM SA and different classes:

AIM Student Association
Chairman:  Mr. Kshitij Dimri

Vice-Chairman:  Mr. Rohan Khera
Student Association Overseas President:  Mr. Nirav Shah

MM 2009
President: Dennis Bumanglag
Treasurer: Czarinah Bergantin
Secretariat: Bhavik Doshi    
Placement: Carlos Laurel, Gaurav Mehta

MDM 2009
President: Albert Masuda
Representatives :  Kitty Arambulo, Noellie Garand, Girard Marin      

MBA (Cohort 2)  
President: Franco Ongkingco
VP Internal: Siddhartha Banerjee
VP External: Dindo Ofrecio
Secretary: Bhavisha Dave
Treasurer: Bharati Rajaraman

MBA (Cohort 3)
Section A:      
President: Katherine Tan
Vice-President: Pavaanjeet Singh
Secretary: Paolo Henson
Treasurer: Clarence Lim    

Section B:
President: Ryan Gudani
Vice-President: Dr. Vinod Seetharaman
Secretary: Sandeep Kaul
Treasurer: Sheila Abalajen

Congratulations and all the best!

New Asian Institute of Management Website

The school recently launched its revitalized website and it hopes to cater to the new demands of what a website should be. The design is much more vibrant and fresh, plus the the way information is presented is more appropriate for the target audience.

I was able to lend a hand in doing some user research for the site, as well as doing the organization of information. So, if think there's something amiss, you can chime in this blog. :)

A Look at the Candidates

Elections for the Asian Institute of Management Student Association is today and here's a little recap of the candidates:

Laurice Alaan believes she is the right person for the job of AIM SA Chairperson because of her ability to communicate to various levels of stakeholders in AIM. She says she has demonstrated that she can cross boundaries between different programs and students. She intends to energize the student body with programs aligned with her "Unity Amidst Diversity" theme. Laurice is striving to be the AIM SA's first female chair.

Siddhart Jain of MBA 2009 wants placement to take top priority in the AIM SA's list. He thinks clubs and facilities need to be revitalized if is elected as AIM SA Chairperson.

For Kshitij Simri, he echoes the concern that placement for the students is the biggest issue the student body is facing. Once elected AIM SA Chair, he also plans to initiate more alumni-related outreach projects.

Kenneth Lao brings a vision of bringing a voice to the students once he is elected as AIM SA Vice-Chairperson. He believes that getting everyone involved is a priority and is a firm believer of delegating of tasks to different committees.

Nirav Shah is the lone candidate for the Overseas Students' President. His platform revolves around improving the facilities to serve the students better, such as the gym, library and dormitory.

I wasn't able to take a picture of Vice-Chairperson candidate Rohan Khera, but I did get from his speech that he wants everyone in AIM to "connect"-- from the students, the alumni and the insdustry.

During the annual Miting De Avance (pre-election forum), I posed the question to all candidates about the AIM SA's role in student discipline and everyone was in agreement that the incidents that can be contained on the class level be treated there and fairness was the priority.

So, I invite the AIM student body to vote today and make a difference in your school.

Time Flies

"Wake me up when September ends..." - Green Day

I just realized that we are already in the third week of the fourth term and a good two months till the end of classes. It's weird because people say time flies when you're having fun, but in my case, days in school are passing me by in a rather uneventful way.

Hey, I'm not saying my classes are easy. Here's my load this term:

• Understanding Consumer Behavior (UCB) - Prof. Roger Chua
• Business Intelligence (BI) -  Prof. Roger Chua
• Brand Equity Management (BEM) - Prof. Jose Miranda
• Social Entrepreneurship (SE) - Prof. Marie Lisa Dacanay 
• Entrepreneurial Finance (EF) - Prof. Richard Cruz
• Strategic Negotiation and Conflict Management (SNCM) - Prof. Nieves Confesor (My current favorite subject of the term so far)

Even with a load of six electives this term, I'm tip-toeing between ennui and being busy with things like my MRR (which as been moving like molasses the past couple of weeks). I even dropped an initiative lately, in attempt to prioritize my activities, but it has been like clearing my schedule for one big push on my MRR. I think it's similar to how you would pull the strips of a slingshot farther to get more power, but instead of letting them go to shoot your projectile, you just keep pulling and pulling.

Let's see how I'll let my projectile fly... or let time fly. :P