Porsche Factory

Today we visited the dream factory!

What is brilliant about Porsche is they have a design and marketing background but support it with a great product.

My favourite is the 356 by far. So simple, so elegant, so beautiful...

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/PorscheMuseumVisit#

Expectations

This last couple of months have been a roller coaster ride. The key aspect has been managing the 'expectations' of each step of the way. Many would argue that it all comes down to ones personality to worry about what the future holds and hence develop expectations upon too little knowledge. After some conversations that I have had over the past weeks, it's good to know i'm not alone.

Clearly it is dangerous to develop an expectation of what the future holds. But this is natural. While you can't predict everything going into each day or each step there are a set of details that one can digest to develop an opinion or expectation into the short term and long term future. In some cases your expectation is that you can't predict what will happen and your expectation is that you won't have a defined level of expectation. But more often than not you have a stab at what that future aspect is. What happens when you develop an expectation that isn't met - positively or negatively?

- Is it better to lower expectations to ensure they are always met and hopefully positively influenced?
- Is it a matter of expecting / guessing better? Developing knowledge to formulate views better?
- Try not to develop expectations. Eg Don't judge?
- Accept that expectations will rarely be met and thus make an expectations but don't get disappointed when it's not met.
- Fight to ensure that your expectations are met.

After all there is nothing greater than having a high expectation of something and it being exceeded. Wouldn't that be nice for everything!

I guess it comes down to different situations. The answer is then perhaps a combination of all options. Either way what has been interesting is having the time to sit back and look at each of these times to evaluate the delta change of these expectations and real situations in the hope that intuition will be optimised and better 'expectations' can be made.

Schoenen Abend.

Singen Weekend

I had Friday (2nd of Oct) free to do some work which was good. It meant I had a little time to head to Singen (am Bodensee - Lake of Konstanz) for the weekend to visit my Oma and aunty. It was great to see them after what's been about two years. My visits always end up being a combination of hearty food, lots of coffee, walks around the area and lots of German listening. My German still isn't good enough to discuss things in two much detail sadly. A highlight of this trip was a walk up the Hohentweil with Gabi, my aunty. It was quite steep but provided a great view over Singen, across to Switzerland and the Bodensee. The big industries of Singen could also be seen easily - Alcan, Maggi and also a car axle manufacturing plant. I mention these because Singen is a very industrial town also.

The train ride from Mannheim to Singen is very spectactular. The line winds its way along the Rhine Valley into the Schwarzwald, the Blackforest. The last time I did the journey was in the middle of Winter so very cold, wet and not so green as the grasses and trees were dormant. This time the views were very green and beautiful. There are large areas of forest but also plenty of agriculture scattered along the train line. The large farm houses with their huge all encompassing roofs are very typical of the area but look great. It's a very clean and tidy part of the country. On the train there were lots of people ready to go hiking for the day. In fact it was a public holiday. Only Germans would put their public holidays on the weekend! Hopefully I get a chance to come down and do some walking also. Riding the train also gave me a good chance to catch up on emails and this blog!

Class

From now until Christmas we are studying core business subjects. We started Financial Accounting and Macroeconomics for Open Economies as our subjects for the coming five weeks. Now, after Decision Analysis we have two great Mannheim based lecturers who also share their teaching time at Wharton and Stanford Uni's in the US. This alone was impressive! What became also very apparent was that each of the two subjects are being taught in two very different styles. Financial Accounting is being taken as a very intense somewhat strict learning experience while Macro Economics is being taken in a more relaxed way. Both are advisors to high level European policy making so we get exposure to stories at all levels which adds significantly to our learning. What I am really enjoying is the fact that I am learning formally what I have seen in the past with Palmerston Projects and reading the Financial Review. For me it is fascinating and most enjoyable. As long as I keep staying on top of the work i'm happy!

Goldman Sachs / Deutsche Bank

On Tuesday and Thursday respectively after class this week we had presentations by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. Luckily for me the Goldman presentation was taken in English meaning I understood what was going on and got a great insight into how they have structured their investment bank. We were given a little insight into the Financial Crisis but GS faired so relatively well that they weren't too concerned with the situation! I had a good chat to the recruiting officer after giving me confidence in the job market for when I graduate next year.

The Deutsche Bank presentation on the other hand was held in German. I think I understood about a third of what was going on! Rainer Neske, the Global Manager of Private Wealth, spoke about a variety of things but gave a good insight into the market. He fielded some hot questions about banks which I thought he handled well. I can't imagine it would be too much fun fielding questions from pesky finance and business undergrad students! The Deutsche Bank presentation ended with a great 'meet and greet' session in the foyer. There are so many aspects to a bank's structure as I learnt with Goldmans and again with Deutsche. Although speaking with the Investment Bankers was, I had a really interesting chat with the inhouse consulting group. Not only was she a lovely person, but got me very excited about that area of the banking industry. I will look to apply for some summer positions and also for their graduate programs at the respective banks. I look forward to getting as much insight from a variety of organisations (not just Finance) over the coming months. I plan to keep making things hard for myself by leaving most decisions open for as long as possible with regard to industry.

Tim and Alina - To visit

I had a lovely weekend visit by Tim and Alina. They are working in the UK and travelling Europe each time they save enough to leave the hospital! When I travel there is nothing I appreciate more than having access to a kitchen, a washing machine and the internet. Only after that is a bed is a priority for me! Unfortately my apartment is just too small for me to have offered them a proper bed but we made do. Friday afternoon / night was the tour of Mannheim - it doesn't take long! The highlight was heading to Heidelberg for the Heidelberg Herbst. For me it is great to have people to visit because I can be a tourist too! Heidelberg is great at the best of times but when 100's of 1000's of people decend on the town it gives it a great atmosphere. The Hauptstrasse was chocker block with food and art/craft stalls as well as music. We found plenty of places to have a beer and Zwiebelkuchen (onion quiche), the Autumn specialty. We watched the traditional street parade which included music and flag twirling! All very German but fun. We climbed up to see the view over the city from the Schloss (castle). We timed it close to perfection as the sun was setting throwing glowing colours over the old stone castle. It was beautiful to look over the bustling city from the relative quietness of the castle. Heidelberg is a understandable tourist attraction due to the combination of the Neckar River, the castle, the old city and the green hills that enclose the whole lot. Tim and Alina couldn't find Mannheim in the Lonely Planet but were able to read a lot about Heidelberg! Just before the sun set totally we quickly headed back to the Steingasse and each bought a litre Vetter (local beer) each to drink on the Altebruecke! We were treated with buskers, a setting sun and great home brew! For me it was extra special to be with mates from home. Throughout the streets there were plenty of small stages playing all sorts of music. We did a bit of a music, flammkuchen and beer crawl before catching the tram back to Mannheim! A cracking day. Sunday was a little quieter! Tim and Alina had been to the Market on Saturday while I was studying so had bought a lovely selection of goods for a picnic which we devoured in the Luisen Park. We were lucky to have such nice weather to sit in the park, eat, drink and read. After the long picnic I got Alina and Tim on bikes meaning we ended the day cruising the streets on Mannheim. At one point we were in the Jungbusch area which, politely said is a very cultural and 'interesting' area. It would be fair to say we passed through there as quickly as possible! That's Mannheim! We finished the day with some beers with MBA kids. Monday was an early start to get Tim and Alina on the train to Bonn and me to school. I was very sad to see them leave - my last organised contact with Australia!
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/GransburyRogersWeekend#

Schneckenhof

The Uni of Mannheim students have a famous party series held in the Schneckenhof (snail court yard or something!). In winter the party moved to the dungeons under the castle. It was one of the first times I have had (because I had been away for all the weekends so far) to meet my classmates. Furthermore up until this evening I really hadn't had many opportunities to speak German as the common denominator is English for everything to do with the business school. Beers were only a E1.50 so it was an agreeable night indeed. It didn't take long to figure out who the party players are and who wasn't so much. After a huge show at the Schneckenhof we sampled some further Mannheim nightlife afterwards in the city. The rumour mill has not been churning as much as in the first weeks of St Mark's but there was activity!

Decision Analysis

Our first 'proper' subject kicked off with Decision Analysis. The lecturer, although he got off to a slow start (I think we all had very high expectations) was very good. We looked at many techniques for making business decisions including doing lots of modelling. The case studies were our first chance to work as a group which, after the week of team building and cultural awareness went really well. The interesting elements of this subject were the topics that allowed us to look into reasons poor decisions were made and also the criticisms of decision analysis. Looking at both sides allowed me to reflect on many of the decisions I have had to make in my life. With the insight from the class I can see where and why I have made mistakes, how they came about and how to avoid them in the future! Our assessment for the class is a case study preparation where we get to choose a big company decision, modell it and also give a perspective of different decision analysis approaches. Having this subject up front and tkane within one week really jammed with case study team work gave everyone a lasting impression of the issues going into the rest of our studies and our future careers. Hopefully anyway!

Sunday Bike Ride

I saddled up on Sunday morning after a big sleep. It was the first time I had ridden in Germany since Hamburg. Obviously i'd ridden in France and Italy but riding in Germany is always different. I took off out to Weinheim but kept getting lost due to the fact I was always running into Autobahns. Each time i'd run into the Autobahn entrance i'd need to turn away! Finally I got to Weinheim and headed into the hills. What you would imagine as typical German farm houses was all I was surrounded by. The roads were great to ride on. I pottered through the hills in the direction of Heidelberg. My motivation wasn't great due to seeing Emma off and riding alone on unknown roads. However the big downhill in Heidelberg cheered me up! I headed back to Mannheim completing the great loop along the Neckar. I'm in search of some riding buddies and good weather for the remaining time that's for sure!!

Bye Bye Emma

On the Saturday it was time for Em to head back to Frankfurt. We both headed up to Frankfurt to wander the city a little before heading to the airport. Not knowing the city that well we followed our nose around the city centre and also to the big Flohmarkt across the Eigensteig. Frankfurt had a nice energy about it. We found a great cafe for lunch before catching the train back to the airport. I had been to Frankfurt airport a few times but to see the city was cool. I saw Em off (somewhat abruptly no thanks to Lufthansa!) and headed home to Mannheim.

Week 1 Day 5 - Intercultural Competence

This course was one of the highlights of the week. The purpose of the day was to break down the many cultures and people of the group toward one common denominator. Obviously we are all there for similar goals however each of us had a different perspective due to the varied backgrounds. The session was taken by a French Professor who specialised in intercultural companies. He helped bring together the variety of cultures in Airbus for example. It's a fascinating element of business and something that can be a real problem for companies if not handled properly. The day started with a card game. The goal was to learn the game and play the game with the catch being we couldn't talk. In each of our groups, we began playing and it didn't take long before everyone understood the rules and could play together. Where it got interesting was when the top two scorers and the bottom loser was to move tables for a new round. It was upon playing the new round that the problems started. The issue was that the game had changed. A hand that would normally have won me a point didn't. It took quite some time before we realised the rules had changed. There were non-verbal fights and even someone from another group was so annoyed that she gave her team the bird and stormed off! I took a different approach and didn't fight things. This meant I lost a few hands but started to watch and juggle what I thought was a good hand until I could play to win. Each person had their own approach. We rotated again but this time people expected a rule change so each group learnt to first establish the home rules before playing the game. It was absolutely fascinating and when we took time to reflect on how this would effect our coming year it was a really powerful lesson. We spent the rest of the day doing exercises that showed each of our different backgrounds and learning more about the pitfalls of not understanding different cultures in the work place. We have the option later in the year to take an elective that focuses on this same issue in more detail.

I had sent Emma to Heidelberg while I had to go to class that day. We met up afterwards and headed out to the Bad Durkheim Wurstmarkt. It's meant to be the worlds biggest wine festival. Everything in Germany seems to be the 'World's Biggest'! In any case, it was a typical German festival with thousands of people, plenty of show rides and food. The Bad Durkheim version includes an area in the middle of the showgrounds where one can sample local wines. After introducing Emma to the German Currywurst and Pork rolls we found some lovely local wines to sample. While leaning on the bar sucking down a Grauburgunder (Pinot Grigio) we began a lovely conversation with an older couple from Heidelberg. It turned out they did much of the graphic design to the Mannheim Business School! They were absolutely lovely people and told us many stories about the area and the people. Loved it. After a couple more beers and wines we headed back to Mannheim on the hour long tram ride with a million others jammed in. Great fun!!
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/MannheimSeptember#

Week 1 Day 4 - BASF Visit

Visiting the world's biggest integrated chemical factory is like visiting another world. When you don't really know what a business does it's hard to put together the an expectation of what you will see. BASF started making synthetic dies and also gases. As they grew they invented the idea of integrated chemical production. By that they mean that each chemical reaction gives off a series of outputs. Those outputs can be used for other products. By linking it all together they can produce a huge variety of things very efficiently. BASF make syrofoam, rubber, gases, dies, plastic, fertilisers and many other products. The plant at Ludwigshafen is the biggest in the world covering some 10 square kilometres! They have their own power station, own water treatment plant and own harbour. A well worth while visit. We all left a little disappointed that we did see how the management works as that is our MBA interest point but nonetheless a good insight into the company.

Afterwards Emma arrived in Mannheim so I played tour guide around the Wasserturm and we finished the night with a lovely glass of wine at what has become my favourite cafe in Mannheim, Cafe Flo.