Welcome to the MBA Experience

For a year this is the blog where I documented what it was like to apply for and take an MBA at Said Business School, Oxford University. As the blog says I chronicled it all, from application to graduation. The site contains information about applying for an MBA, revision notes for many of the courses I did and the complete archives of the posts I wrote during my time in Oxford.

This final post is a guide to the archives. I hope you find it useful.

MBA Preparation
In which I read textbooks, join a gym, see Elvis Costello live and wonder about the future.

08/18/2002 - 08/24/2002
08/25/2002 - 08/31/2002
09/01/2002 - 09/07/2002
09/08/2002 - 09/14/2002
09/15/2002 - 09/21/2002
09/22/2002 - 09/28/2002
09/29/2002 - 10/05/2002
10/06/2002 - 10/12/2002


Term 1, Michaelmas Term
In which I am challenged by Oxford, Finance, Accounting and meet the class. Plus a pre-Christmas holiday in Amsterdam.

10/13/2002 - 10/19/2002
10/20/2002 - 10/26/2002
10/27/2002 - 11/02/2002
11/03/2002 - 11/09/2002
11/10/2002 - 11/16/2002
11/17/2002 - 11/23/2002
11/24/2002 - 11/30/2002
12/01/2002 - 12/07/2002
12/08/2002 - 12/14/2002
12/15/2002 - 12/21/2002

Term 2, Hilary Term
Includes Christmas in Newcastle. Joe Strummer dies and as the world gets ready to go to war I get more than a bit political. Plus marketing, finance II (son of finance), and the Oxford Business Forum.

12/22/2002 - 12/28/2002
12/29/2002 - 01/04/2003
01/05/2003 - 01/11/2003
01/12/2003 - 01/18/2003
01/19/2003 - 01/25/2003
01/26/2003 - 02/01/2003
02/02/2003 - 02/08/2003
02/09/2003 - 02/15/2003
02/16/2003 - 02/22/2003
02/23/2003 - 03/01/2003
03/02/2003 - 03/08/2003
03/09/2003 - 03/15/2003
03/16/2003 - 03/22/2003

Term 3, Trinity Term
Pausing only to write a business plan I flee Oxford for Madeira. Then I come back to a summer term of electives.

03/23/2003 - 03/29/2003
03/30/2003 - 04/05/2003
04/06/2003 - 04/12/2003
04/13/2003 - 04/19/2003
04/20/2003 - 04/26/2003
04/27/2003 - 05/03/2003
05/04/2003 - 05/10/2003
05/11/2003 - 05/17/2003
05/18/2003 - 05/24/2003
05/25/2003 - 05/31/2003
06/01/2003 - 06/07/2003
06/08/2003 - 06/14/2003
06/15/2003 - 06/21/2003
06/22/2003 - 06/28/2003

Summer in Oxford and the September Session
Summer means punting, lazing about and an eight week project for Cisco Systems. Then its back for the final exams and the end of the MBA.

06/29/2003 - 07/05/2003
07/06/2003 - 07/12/2003
07/13/2003 - 07/19/2003
07/20/2003 - 07/26/2003
07/27/2003 - 08/02/2003
08/03/2003 - 08/09/2003
08/10/2003 - 08/16/2003
08/17/2003 - 08/23/2003
08/24/2003 - 08/30/2003
08/31/2003 - 09/06/2003
09/07/2003 - 09/13/2003
09/14/2003 - 09/20/2003

After my MBA I moved to Amsterdam to live with my girlfriend, who I met on the course. I'm currenty working as a freelance internet marketer and looking for a fun job in a country where I don't speak the language.

I have a new job with Greenpeace International as internal communications co-ordinator.

My no longer MBA related blogging continues here.

There's another complete MBA Blog here, run by Lucky Goldstar to chronicle his time at Insead.

Need a beer?

A friend of mine is working on the launch of a new .co.uk company. Near.co.uk to be precise, the idea is to provide local search services. First on the list is a service to help you find a pub.

The end of the beginning

Following Friday's dinner at Christ Church Saturday was given over to our not quite graduation ceremony. In Oxford you actually graduate some time after your degree is conferred at a ceremony organised through your college but conducted by the university. As a result graduating the whole class together is impossible.

So we have our not quite graduation ceremony. There are speeches - by the Dean, by the guest of honour (George Mallinkrodt, President of Schroders), by classmates and by the course director. The best speech was, of course, that from the classmate. Spencer's speech was pretty much like this

Big Opening
Year at SBS
Inspiration
Finish

It doesn't look much like that, but trust me, it was great.

Then we stood up, walked across the stage, took the applause of our classmates and that was it. We're MBA's. No more lectures, coursework or studygroups. No more reading lists, case studies or question sets. No more class discussions, football team or conferences to organise. I will miss this life a lot.

So out into the world we go, many of us destination unknown, but as Spencer pointed out, it doesn't matter where you start - it's where you finish that makes the difference.

This blog finishes here. In the next few days I'll tidy up the website, post a guide to the archives and of course that all important link to my next project. I hope you've found reading this useful - I hope that somewhere in amongst the football, politics and pop songs I got in some useful advice.

In two weeks time I'm off to Amsterdam to try and be a European. It wasn't what I planned when I came here, but to my mind that was the whole point. Good luck and best wishes for all your futures.

Signing off

Martin Lloyd, MBA
Class of 2003
Said Business School

Farewell dinner

Just about to head off to the farewell dinner at Christ Church college. Doesn't half seem a long time since the welcome reception at Said Business School. The class yearbook came out today - I've been sceptical about these things before but I have to say the guys responsible have done a fantastic job and it's something I'll be hanging onto. Just one more example of the really cool things this class has been able to achieve when it's put it's mind to something.

So long Johnny

I fly a starship across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again..

Farewell to the Man in Black just about the only country singer I ever had any time for, and a man with a much better answer to questions of monochrome fashion than I ever had.

SBS Secure Final Victory

Following a season of hard work and scarce reward the Said Business School football team registered their first victory of the season against University opposition last night. On a wet and windswept Mansfield Road pitch the team came out in competitive mood for the first half, Jeroen Ariens marshalling his back line with impressive authority. Even so, a break away goal and a composed effort from a goalmouth scramble saw SBS 2-0 down before Argentine midfielder Hernan Enriquez finished well to make it 2-1 at the break.

As play resumed SBS roared out of the traps. A surging run from midfield general Dean Furber bringing a deserved equaliser within ten minutes. Ten minutes later the quicksilver skills of Duarte Da Silva gave SBS the lead as he fired home from the left hand channel. Mansfield Road weren't finished though and Wenqi Lu was forced to produce one of his best ever displays in the SBS goal to see off a vigourous fightback. An equaliser did emerge materialise though, and with the score at 3-3 both sides rolled up their sleeves and went for the win.

Initially the advantage went to Mansfield Road who forced corner after corner, but no clear cut chances. With scant seconds remaining Da Silva broke down field and his cross / shot eluded the Mansfield Road keeper leaving John Dagget to head in unmarked at the far post.

Oxford has a long tradition of victorious sides cheering their opponents, and it was with real pride that the team raised their voices to celebrate a long overdue victory. Neil Hunter commented after the game "It's a real sign of how far we've come, and a fantastic way to finish the season"

Said Business School 2003


Jeroen Ariens - Holland
Matthew Daggett - USA
John Daggett - USA
Shaul David - Israel
Felix Dohna - Switzerland
Hernan Enruiqes - Argentina
Sergey Evlanchik - Ukraine
Dean Furber - UK
Narek Harutyunyan - Armenia
Duarte Henriques da Silva - Portugal
Neil Hunter - UK
Yimin Jiang - China
Martin Lloyd - UK
Wenqi Lu - China
Bryan MacMilan - Canada
Miguel Mulet - Spain
Martin Sender - Argentina

Fantastic

Gotta love this Fedex advert

while you're at it take a moment to read this too.

Blogging isn't always free and easy

Salaam Pax answers all those questions about how he avoided arrest under Saddam in this article from the guardian.

Caught up : The Final Presentation

Today was the day for final presentations. In ten minutes you have to explain what you did on your summer project and why, and then field questions for twenty minutes. Since your summer project is done in a team of four over eight weeks that works out at 1 minute 15 seconds for every man month of work!

So we presented, and it was good. One of us though got the dates wrong, leading to much panicing and late arriving, desperate rearranging and ultimately nothing more than a good story to tell about how he came *this* close to failing his MBA on a technicality. I seem to remember writing a few weeks ago that it had all gone too smoothly to be true.

Still, I am now finished. Barring unexpected disaster in some assesment I've finished, and on Friday I'll be told how well I did.

Catch up : The Proteus Ensemble

I think it's symptomatic of spending time in Oxford that when you leave you wonder why you didn't do more things. Last night I headed out to see the Proteus Ensemble, a classical group performing at the Hollywell Music Room. (oldest purpose built music room in the world you know, once graced by Mozart...)

Anyway, the reason for turning up was that one of our fellow MBA's was playing, and being a graduate of Julliard he's really rather good. The program was a bunch of interesting modern stuff from Poulenc, Rachmaninoff and so on, topped off with a rather more traditional piece of Motzart. Wonderful acoustics, great musicians and completely free. It's the kind of thing that leaves everyone wondering 'why didn't we do more of that'

So, should you be here next year make the most of your time here - it doesn't half go quickly.

Catch up : Case study exam

I'll start with the case study exam. Twelve sides on the Clarks shoe company's turnaround proved to make for a fairly easygoing case exam. No detailed financials to pore over and nothing too complicated. Instead lots of consideration given to corporate strategy and positioning, a little bit of marketing and some operations issues to look at. I think it's some evidence of how far I've come on this course that I have now reached a stage where I was annoyed at the absence of a balance sheet, some detailed financial history and a breakdown of products by sales / pricing or whatever else.

A year ago I'd have been certain we'd been given enough information to answer the questions (we had) but the feeling that I couldn't get to the heart of the issue without being able to use my new skills was (in retrospect) a nice one.