Ooops, again or A winter week in Oslo

Saturday morning I woke up with this feeling of gnawing forgetfulness inside: something important was supposed to be “scheduled” for today, but what was it? I had only slept four hours since my Canadian roommate Mo and her Team had to leave for the airport at 4:30 am and I was pretty tired. When I got up it turned out I was also pretty hung over and a bit shaky – and I actually thought I had not drunk that much… I could not remember, and to bet safe I decided to go through all my documents. Since I didn’t bring much stuff, it didn’t take me long to figure out that my flight back from Oslo to Hong Kong was on that same day- to be precise in 3.5 hours- and not on Sunday as I had convinced myself all week! And I was still undressed in the hotel in the centre of Oslo!

Before continuing to describe yesterday’s happenings I should maybe fill you in with some backgrounds. But no worries while reading on: the story had a happy end since I am sitting at my laptop in Hong Kong writing this: I made it to the airport on time largely due to the fact that I had expected to move due to room consolidation for the last night (=have to minimize the school’s expenses) and thus had everything packed already.

Anyways, as said, some backgrounds: I spent the last week at the NIBS (Network of Intl. Business Schools) case competition hosted by the BI/Norwegian School of Management (NSM) in Oslo. I left Hong Kong on Saturday and flew to Oslo via Amsterdam: at the end of my 20h-trip I was picked up late the same day by my coach by car. Nice thought but she is sometimes a bit disorganized when it comes to orientation. Made it to the hotel finally and trying to avoid jetlag fell into my bed.
The “rest” of the team -or better said: the major part- John, Nicolas (Nico) and Matti-Pekka (MP), arrived the next day bringing some essential Fazer chocolate, winter clothing and the necessary accessories… (not that I care about fashion, but Oslo was pretty d*** cold!) The competition started on Monday with a case on “Big Pharma” (or with Irish pronunciation: Big Farmer); pharmaceuticals vs. biotech; the first time I had done a case on a whole industry. This was followed by WestJet (Ryanair-type-of airline in Canada) and Apple (iPod/ iTunes/mobile technologies).
For those non-business students (and I believe that there are quite some of you in the readership): a business case study, i.e. a case, is in its basic form a 20-50 page long factual text (with often lame literary aspirations of storytelling) describing the history and current situation of a company/industry, its environment and factors outlining considerations for future developments. A case team, usually consisting of four students, has four hours to identify the key problem described and propose a solution to this inferred problem. What happens in practice is that four tired people are locked in one room with a computer, calculators and a flip chart with the goal of coming up with creative, out-of-the-box-ideas which after the preparation have to be presented in a 20 minute “show” in front of a judge panel. But what it comes down to in the end is organizational and sales skills: an analytical, comprehensive approach of problem solving, clear argumentation, belief in the idea and convincing presentation skills as a team. This of course assumes that you understand what you are reading and do not completely miss the problem- also a problem as such.
At NIBS there are eight teams in two separate pools with each team competing against every other team of that pool in three “duels”; the top two teams of each pool proceed to the semi-finals. Half of the teams are from European universities (Dublin, Oslo, Leuwen, Helsinki), half from North America (Concordia, Memorial, Bishops, Tennessee). Not getting too much into the case solving, we lost two and won one This one can see as invalidating any of my sarcastic comments above- as we did not make it to the semifinals… what a pity, since I would have so liked to do another case or two…(=
Slight critic for the competition as such: all cases were Ivey cases, the majority of the judges were BI faculty members which sometimes seemed to be judging by academic criteria, e.g. usage of academic terms (which is not the major point in a business presentation). And it has to be added that the contrast between the finalist teams was striking, at least to me…

That put aside the week was a nice experience: we had a lot of evening program (and little free time) - the usual dinners/partying but also surprisingly ice-skating and tobogganing as well as a Norwegian evening (with a lot of Aquavit) and a crazy city tour with an elder eloquently dressed lady whose humor was in a dry and sarcastic way socially critical but hilarious. I wish Finns could be as proud and make fun of themselves occasionally! (or wait, didn’t they do that already with Conan meeting the president?) I saw a lot of presentations and met new people although I have to say that after the month here my enthusiasm for the get-to-know-game was slightly suppressed. I shared my room with a Concordia student which was a bit exhausting since we always had different prep times and neither of us could sleep properly. And last but not least it was great to have three friends to spend a week with-knowing them, feeling free to crack jokes (and we generated some really bad ones), having fun without feeling for solid ground, making me feel almost at home! Sweet!

Oslo has not changed much since I last visited it in 2002 –the contrast for me was only sharp in terms of journey origin. Oslo is expensive (we all knew that), but it is also dirty and there are beggars and drug addicts in the streets and the metro stations! Hong Kong is clean and I mean really clean: people are fanatic about cleaning everything all the time, e.g. the side on the children’s playground is polished every morning; but ey, labor is cheap. There are no beggars or drug addicts in HK- or at least you don’t see them (an efficient police state?). And I was pretty sick of all the bread after sometime… rice keeps fit and slim! ( ; Waiting for the true culture clash when coming back to Finland!

Post the morning sensation of having almost missed my flight- which of course would have been completely my fault- how typical!- I threw all outliers into the suitcase, said a rushed ”bye” to “my guys” ( : and left for the airport. I was there at non sharp and had even time for a coffee before boarding at 12:30. Effective scheduling!
Arriving in HK I was dazzled by the warmth and the spring air. When approaching our place it occurred to me that I maybe should have let the guys know that I was to be back a day early- didn’t have time to inform them! Got “home” at around 12:30, the place looked –put extremely- as after a bomb explosion and I scared the hell out of them waking them up (they thought our landlord was coming to show the place to some prospective buyer- that I what happened last week). I felt really bad when they said they would clean everything right away (which they had “planned to do all week”) and actually started cleaning…. And now everything glitters and shines *bling, bling* we can eat off the floor! (Erkki told me to include this) Well, maybe I resemble a horribly strict matron? I hope not!!!

Please add to my “I will never”-list: I will never fly through Amsterdam again! (since I have already once forgot a flight through Amsterdam but never anywhere else, and the second time was close).

Some expressions generated in our “creative sessions” during this past week I’d like to remember:

To be included in future case presentations: In-dubitably (John), indeed, pardon me *all in heavy British, but preferably Irish accent*. Apple iPod: Living the iLife à Nico: the (h)i(gh) life. Concentrate on (h)ardware. GSK (Glaxo) = aahhh…JSG (?) The Bull’s i (MP)à This is the core of the Apple. [This strategy should bring] A couple of bucks (John).

S*** is all over France (only Nico can say this). Pringles should have a hole fo the other side [of the package] ( helo?). She’s a cake. Not my filet. Desesparaite houseb******!


Our tour guide: “ Norwegians get born with skies on their feet… well, not literally luckily for the mothers”; “We sometimes get wolves in the suburbs of Oslo- It seems they are illiterate signs forbidding them to come into the city recreational areas haven’t kept them out”; ” [upon spotting two women in mini-skirts and heavy make-up]and on your left hand side two (Eastern) European representatives of a age old trade- apparently they do their job better than their Norwegian competitors… and now back to Oslo” is this sarcasm or rather tasteless- not if coming from an "aristocrat" lady...)