Stupid Cupid?

Ta Da! As ya'll might have already heard-GE announced a joint venture with cable giant, Comcast: a $37.25 billion deal that will give the cable company 51% ownership of NBCU and 49% owned by GE. Looks like Cupid might need a little more practice before Valentine's Day comes along...

I honestly don't know what to think about this move. I understand NBCU might be considered the "ugly duckling" of GE, an "odd" unit among the company's core competencies including energy, capital, and healthcare-profiting this conglomerate in these bad economic times. But has GE forgotten the stable foundation on which NBCU is still on? Remember the Friends era? What about Seinfield and Cheers? Perhaps also take a look into the results of the Time Warner/AOL merger...happy ending? Maybe not so much...

Sure, the media unit might be suffering more than the others, but I believe NBCU is what makes GE diverse and full of fun, profitable potentials. In these economic times, why decide to give up a potentially still profitable opportunity? Shouldn't we be keeping our options open? Why not take advantage of other competitors shrinking, and start turning around the unit? Are we forgetting that the ugly duckling still matures as a beautiful swan and lives happily ever after in the end?

And then there are the consumers. What happens to us? Isn't our buying power shrinking enough in this industry? Of course I don't have cable in my apartment, so I'm not so worried about possible rising cable bills, but what about our beloved Hulu.com? The popular online video streaming partnership with ABC and Fox has given NBC content more availability to consumers, generating huge buzz for shows like 30 Rock and The Office. So what if NBC decides to charge for its content again? Consumers are already used to watching their favorite shows for free online, wouldn't charging for content just turn consumers away to cheaper alternatives?

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in Washington. Hopefully someone will notice the seriousness on the rise of Internet video content. Regulations seriously need to be put into play before cyberspace takes over the media industry because this merger will possibly create one of the largest media conglomerates in history. Hopefully this will challenge NBC and create more unique opportunities that NBC might not have with GE. I suppose it will also be interesting to see how Comcast choses to play its cards.

I understand the media industry has rough playground rules, but does this mean GE absolutely needs to pull out?

I-Core Survivor

I'm extremely proud to say: I'm DONE with I-Core.

I can now finally say that I'm an "I-Core Survivor!" (at least that's what the shirt on my back is saying...) To those unfamiliar with the I-Core process: it's basically a semester consisting of four core business classes; Operations, Marketing, Finance, and Strategy that prepares Kelley students with the fundamentals of the business place. It's intense, it's exciting, it's challenging, and it's over...!

This entire process has been incredibly rewarding and a great learning experience. The full semester project-aka the "business plan"-dominated these past few days for me. One would expect to despise spending 8 full hours consecutively in the crowded main library with your teammates for 3 days straight without proper sleep and meals. But I really learned a lot about this experience: maybe not as much about the curriculum than about myself.

Although I definitely wouldn't volunteer to relive this experience, through working with my incredibly talented teammates this semester, I've learned so much more about my strengths and weaknesses.

For those that have yet to experience I-Core: All I can say is to not get wrapped up in the stress of it and just to enjoy the experience. I know it's easier to say so now that I'm on the other side of the situation, but seriously-enjoy this experience while it lasts, because this "bitter-sweet" phase of your business career will be one of the most rewarding learning adventures you'll experience!

Proctoring Fun?

Proctoring for exams is always interesting, seeing how different students respond to different situations.

All day today, I'm proctoring for "The Computer in Business" practical exam. Students are required to work with the database system of a mock company and provide useful information with Microsoft Access. Though they’re probably better database systems out there, Access is the easiest to learn with. I admit, that whole thing is pretty intimidating, as you're under time constraints to work with tedious and detail-oriented situations. It’s not easy, especially considering most students taking the course are freshmen.

A young lady almost had a panic attack in my first round. Poor thing. She was working on her exam when Access decided to crash on her. She was about to pull her hair out and burst out into tears. I asked her calmly if she had saved while she was working. She said “occasionally.”

Tip of the day: when working on anything on the computer, save while you work-not just “occasionally.” Good thing she wasn't too far along with her queries and Access retrieved most of her work. Can’t image what she’d do if it didn’t.

The Best Strategy Ever!

By far the most boring class I’m taking this semester is Strategy. It’s incredible how all my classmates focus in this class for an hour and half twice every week. Strategy, namely Management, is a seemingly interesting and engaging topic, with various exciting case study discussions. But for some reason, staying awake in that class is a goal I strive for every Tuesday and Thursday.

However, this week we’re talking about international business and building global relationships. We often hear about the benefits of outsourcing and engaging in international trade. Most companies, in interest of cutting costs, understand the vital need to outsource and offshore certain activities that aren’t a part of their core competencies. However, companies need to keep in mind the strategic goals of the business, because going global may or may not align with their vision. Ultimately, if a company isn’t strategically performing according to their core values and goals, no matter how much the company expands globally, it still isn't performing in the interest of their shareholders. As “textbookish” as this all sounds, it is true. If a company doesn’t run itself according to its values and doesn’t aim for a speciic goal, the company as a whole will not survive in the long run.

This is also true in our everyday lives. If we don’t constantly evaluate ourselves and reflect on our purpose for living, then how can we say we are the salt and light of the world? If we don’t align ourselves and clearly understand the purpose of why God created us, then why is it that we call ourselves Christians? I have to admit, I constantly battle with this. I often stumble on keeping this in my mind and in my heart. I often slip away into fighting earthly battles, trying to figure out how I can plan “a strategy” for my career. I always ask “Where do I want to work? Where do I see myself establishing a career?” I need to keep reminding myself to spend my quiet time with God, opening my ears to let him speak to me, instead of me asking him for MY goals and dreams.

I don't need some strategy class to tell me how to achieve success, the only "strategy" I need is to wholeheartedly depend on my Father in heaven.

Walmart bigger than Taiwan?

I just cannot get over this fact.

Sure, Fortune 500 companies are among the best performing companies all over the world-ever. But with revenues millions higher than the GDP in most countries, seriously?

Walmart stores, the second largest company in the U.S., in terms of revenue, is beating Taiwan's GDP by $14 million. Now that's insane. Put it in this perspective: all the sales going through Walmart this year will sum up to about $14 million more than the total value of all goods and services provided in Taiwan. I mean we're talking about a single retailer earning more than a whole nation combined. How messed up is that?

Speical Guests at the IU Vis

A very special group of people showed up today at the IU Visitor Center (for those of you that don't know, I work at "the front door of IU", representing the campus in recruitment and welcoming guests). They are representatives from the Shin-Hua Press in Beijing. Two reporters were from the Chicago area and one actually flew in from Beijing just for this visit.

IU is proud of say that a professor in our Political Science department was recently announced to be the first woman to win the Noble Prize in economics "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons." Elinor Ostrom, is an engaging speaker; even at 76 years old, she is still young at heart and full of spirit. It is evident that she is passionate about her research in economic sciences. Her studies concern with how pools of users manage natural resources as common property.

The group of Chinese reporters came to interview Elinor, focusing on questions related to China's economic public policy. As most of Elinor's viewpoints are closely related to how the public should have responsibility in engaging in public policy and public environmental development, it was really interesting to think about how, with a known centralized government, the Chinese government will think of such "mind boggling" ideas.

I had the honor to be the only student at IU to witness this remarkable event, as I was the conveniently the only student employee staffed at the Visitor Center. I had the opportunity to talk to the reporters from Beijing about my school life, promote IU a bit and brag about the Business School. Also, I got to translate a bit while they were setting up the stage : ) This was the first press interview the Visitor Center had the opportunity to host, hopefully this will increase publicity for the center too...exciting stuff!

Interviewing Season!

It's been such a long month already. November seems completely out of reach, not to even mention Thanksgiving Break...I could really use some of Daisy's tasty home-made crust pumpkin pie with vanilla bean ice cream right now...

It's interviewing season at the Kelley School of Business. Everyday so far this month, walking into the building in the cold, rainy Indiana weather, you can't help but notice the crowd in blacksuits in front of the career services office. Some smile in gratitude, feeling lucky just to be there for an interview in a bad economic environment; some smile with distress, anxious about the upcoming 30 nerve-racking minutes. For me, it's a mixture of both.

Struggling with mixed feelings, I walk into the career services office, I can feel the tension rising up in the room. Looking at each interviewee in the room waiting for their interviewer, I know everyone is trying to stay calm, despite the strong anticipation inside. It seems like for the 10-15 minutes before an interview, time stops. And until that inverviewer comes out and calls your name, does time start going by...slowly...

It's truly God's grace that I've been chosen to be interviewed by some major Fortune 500 companies-3M, Eli Lilly, GE, Texas Instruments, and Whirlpool. Each company has its own personality, something you can't get even a glimpse of just through research. It's extremely interesting to see the difference in the culture of these companies and what they are all about. With the economy the way it is, it's just such a blessing to be able to talk to these strong, wonderful companies. It seems that the ones still standing in this climate are the ones that are more than just about the profits and margins, but have direct influence on society and impact lives of many. It's incredible how much one can learn through interviews, about the company, about the interviewing process, but most importantly, about myself...