But then .. there was light at the end of the tunnel.. the 1^st teaching block came to an end on Oct 12. (yeah I know that was a week ago.. but I've had a break and really wanted to chill out!!.. sorry guys I'm human (oops a tiny li'll mouse ) after all!!

Ok lemme start this wrap up by listing out the key company events:

1. SWX: Chairman Swiss Stock exchange (SWX) Dr. Peter Gomez, (also Dean of the Executive School (ES-HSG)) spoke to us in a day long session about
   
• St. Gallen management model,
  
• merger of SWX Group, SIS Group and Telekurs Group: challenges, methodology, and future pathways
  
• Mergers of Stock exchanges: pros and cons
2. Novartis Workshop for their Finance Development program. See my previous post (http://mba-hsg.blogspot.com/2007/09/novartis-presentation.html)
   
3. Lhoist lecture: Sr. VP, HR of Lhoist (http://www.lhoist.com/) came as a guest faculty as part of the international management course (Prof Winfied Ruigrok) and spoke of managing multicultural and globally dispersed workforces, family enterprises (Lhoist is a niche family enterprises) and attracting talent to "non-sexy" (I banking/ MC/Fortune 100) companies like his. He was earlier no. 2 man in Hilti HR division.
   
4. Roland Berger Case Study Workshop





5. Investment Banking Days (IBD), with nearly two dozen investment banks on campus with workshops/ interviews (see previous post http://mba-hsg.blogspot.com/2007/10/investment-banking-days.html). I would like to add here that BCG and Mckinsey who were not original part of the IBD also later queued up to woo candidates and had 1-2 hour sessions in the 2^nd week of IBD late in the evenings (since all IBD slots were already full)!
6. CapGemini Lecture on Outsourcing: Again a guest lecture during the Intl mgmt course (Prof Winfied Ruigrok) for a corporate Rep on outsourcing: motives, methodology and repurcussions
   
7. Credit Suisse Workshop: Again as a part of the Intl mgmt course (Prof Winfied Ruigrok)
   
   
   

   Not bad for a short 5 week 1^st teaching block! What say?

They were here to sell their Finance development program (FDP) for executives and were keen for talent from St Gallen.

The FDP is basically a starting point for high profile financial executives into Novartis and intends to groom them to step into CFO roles within a period 5-6 years..

The presentation was interesting and the program seems to be well thought out.. basically the FDP participant starts in Basel (which is the group HQ) and works there for about 15 months in different divisions and then be posted to another country as head of FRA (Financial Reporting and Advisory)..

From there to another international division (like BPA) and finally as a CFO for a company, which is when he/she will have graduated out of the FDP program.

Interesting huh? Yeah.. esp if u are a typical bean counter and like book keeping .. the responsibility , career growth and responsibility. Some guys were interested in M&A and strat planning which had other entry points…

Takeaways: just three weeks and we have the first company trying to sell itself to us.. great way to start ur MBA! And it helps to have a small batch.. u get to interact with these people one on one… so if u r keen to get in at least u could face an interview.. where u can sell urself .. and possibly land a job.