June 2008
6 posts
Why I LOVE & hate Oxford University...
So this morning I headed over to the business school with the best of intentions! I have this looming assignment due on Monday, however it has seemingly suffered from an endless sequence of really great distractions. As I sat down in the Common Room @ SBS, I overhear a conversation between two folks across the way. I wasn’t purposefully snooping…in the Common Room the acoustics carry...
Asymmetric Information
I have been brainstorming with a colleague about the future of intellectual property in the digital age. One thing that has emerged is the idea of free flowing IP…where IP seamlessly flows from the point of origination (i.e. within an Academic Institution) to the place where its implementation will create the greatest utility. This whole process happens regardless of geopolitical and...
LS9 Modifies Bacteria to Produce Oil
With oil flirting around with $140/barrel, this headline stood out while skimming the news today. Looks like a company out in the Valley funded by Vinod Khosla (LS9) has genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to excrete crude oil. They allude to using “synthetic biology” techniques, however it isn’t exactly clear how or what they are doing. Will be interesting to see how they...
Business in China
Feels great to have finished up my last case study for Eric Thun’s Business in China…it was a fantastic class!!! The final piece of work involved a fairly recent and interesting case study of Wanxiang Group. They are a leading Chinese auto parts manufacturer exploring their strategic options at an interesting point in the auto industry. The case starts with them considering a move...
Last Class of the Term...
So this morning I finished my last full-term class of the Oxford University MBA program!!! To prove that I actually learned something we wrapped up with a bang. Our final assignment for Private Equity pretty much drew upon everything we have learned during the MBA program. Last week we got the assignment along with a 400 page prospectus. In one week we were supposed to value the company, analyze...
Chris Moss is a Rock Star!!!
Just finished sitting through an amazing presentation by Chris Moss. He has had an amazing career working at Virgin with Richard Branson, Orange, 118 118 and quite a few others. Anyway he was @ Oxford giving a presentation to the High Performance, Peak Strategy, blah blah blah course…but despite the hyperbole he was really worth it. A lot of what he said makes intuitive sense, yet we...