My Favourite English Band!

While I still am a little dizzy after last week's news from London Business School, I want to move on and change topics.. though not too much.

Today's picture shows the cover of an Album by an english band I discovered while was living in London 3 years ago which is called Saint Etienne (french it may sound). It is so-called "conceptual" because all songs of the album relate to the same concept: Every song tells a story of people living in a building which is hipotetically situated in an East-London neighbourhood. It is a great album. Hope you enjoy it!

Aaaaargh!

Aaaaaaaargh! This is the first sound that came up from my mouth after reading the email from the London Business School.. Their decision is to.... keep me on the waitlist!

There are good news though: If I do not make it into this year's class I am guaranteed a place for the MBA starting on August 2009.. that means that I will not have to go through the application process again..

There will be a review on June 27th which will determine whether I will make into this year's class or I will have to wait a year.. So it seems that my journey hasn't ended yet.. Yet good things are never easy to get!

Back where it all started..

I am writing this post from the very same place where I started my application, in a Hotel room in Gijón by the Cantabric sea .

It has been more than 8 months since I started and tonight or more likely tomorrow I am going to get the final response (unless I am waitlisted.. which would be really painful). I am trying to keep my nerves down yet it is somehow hard!

Throughout the last months I have learned that taking an MBA is not that important, yet an email that I will receive within the next 24 hours will surely determine my personal and professional life for the next 2 years..

In the meantime I will enjoy some Sidra and Cabrales which will help me go through the last moments of the whole application process!

Macbook vs Macbook Air!

Some months ago I took a decision: I need an Apple. My old HP laptop is ageing and I won't replace it with a Vista-powered PC nor will I go for an old-fashioned Windows XP. So I have one only choice: Switch to Apple. This is the easy part of the dilemma..

Now comes the real pain: Do I buy a Macbook or go for the ultra-slim Mackbook Air? There are some pros and cons.

• With 1000€ I can afford a powered version of the Macbook


• Macbook is already a mature product (which has a backlash: I might be replaced soon..)


• Macbook Air is intended to be a 2nd computer (like owning an Audi and then a Porsche..)

Reason points to Macbook, yet my heart wants me to go for the Macbook Air! Its slim body, elegant keypad, ... It is a hard decision to take. I will keep you informed!

MBA turns 100 years!

I have come across an interesting article in the ft.com in the analysis section. It is about MBAs, but is not the typical pro-MBA stuff.. It rather asks whether MBA programmes, which turn 100 years this month (Harvard is the oldest school awarding MBAs), really add up to the whole business community. It gives some pros and cons.

Among the cons it mentions that they can be far from reality sometimes (publishing paper with titles like "Baynesian methods in strategy"... who the hell reads that??) . Then it mentions that MBA "democratize" the board-rooms as MBA do not understand of social classes (this applies more to US than Europe).

Overall I think is a good article worth reading for those interested in the programme. And for me is just a help to wait for the long awaited D-day! (May 21st..)

Mobile Marketing "Made in Barcelona"

I have found out a company located in Barcelona called DAEM Interactive which specializes in Marketing over the Mobile. They have a very interesting approach that I would call "push" marketing (guess there may be already a technichal name but I do not know it).

Let's put an example: As I walk along a busy city street I see an advert in a wall that displays a pair of shoes I fancy. If I want more info I just have to take a picture of the ad using my camera-phone and shortly afterwards I shall receive info about those shoes such as price, retail shops, wallpapers, etc.. The idea looks really interesting to me as it is the user who drives the action rather than the marketer. Moreover it takes advantage of technologies already available in the market (camera-phone, MMS, GPRS,etc).

If I had to bet I would say that this kind of marketing will work out and succeed.. And, surprisingly enough, this idea doesn't come from Finland nor Japan it comes from and it is been fully developed in Barcelona. Take a look!