Friday in Pictures

The day started with Innovation professor David Robertson demonstrating a technique for idea generation. Here he is 'Decomposing the problem' as it is called; the problem being a vegetable/fruit peeler.


The problem was decomposed into 'Apply pressure', 'Remove peel' and 'Manipulate/rotate fruit' and the class was asked to create solutions for each part.


Engineers on home turf! Paolo Guglielmini [Italy] (in front) and Karim El-Koury [Austria] creating solutions for how to 'Apply pressure'.

David demonstrating a machine (lower right) that peels, slices and cuts out the core of an apple in one go. He got it on eBay.


A cup of coffee in the IMD café after lunch has become a daily ritual for many of us. Here it is Eva Hubsman [Israel], Kornelius Thimm [Germany], Johan Jansén-Storbacka [Sweden/Finland], Stefano Cazzulani [Italy] and Sebastian Guery [France]. The latter three surprised me by speaking Italian to each other despite only one of them being Italian.

Modern mom keeping in touch with her off-spring. Lisa Bridgett skyping with her two boys Julian (4 years old) and Aurelien (9 months). I am so impressed by Lisa and the other MBA parents. On top of all the work the rest of us are struggling with they manage to find time for their families.

We had Finance Professor Jim Ellert most of the day on the subject of 'Capital Structure and Dividend Policy Guidelines'. It is known stuff for the bankers and accountants in class, but most of it is a new world for me.

Looking sharp!! The period of company presentations has started. A number of companies will come and present themselves and answer questions from the MBAs. The companies will likely be the ones coming back to hire MBAs in September. Here it is (left-to-right) Cedric Jusseaume [France], Shibu James [Indian], Oren Yehudai [Israel] and Suchir Swarup [Canada/India] dressing up for their potential future employers.