Wednesday, May 28, 2003

At Insead, as at other schools I imagine, you can be exempted from required core courses if you pass an exam.  This week, two exemption exams were given: IPA (International Political Analysis) and IPIC (Industrial Policy & International Competitiveness). The IPA exam was amusing.  A multiple-choice exam, you had to answer 16 of 20 to be granted the exemption.  I knew something was up the moment I opened the exam and read the first question.  A few chuckles built into full, unrestrained laughter as the thirty students in the room looked at each other in disbelief.  It read: 1.  The doctrine of democratic multilateralism is most closely congruent to: Institutionalism Neo-functionalism Transnationalism Constructivism There were about six of these questions, and since I guessed at all of them it's unlikely that I will pass.  The rest of the exam, though, was easy for anyone who reads The Economist on a regular basis.  Iceland part of the EU?  Yes.  Sweden in NATO?  No.  Largest country in the world with a Muslim population?  Indonesia.  Basic stuff. The IPIC exam was a bit easier - also multiple-choice, but the passing grade was 17 out of 25.  It was essentially all macroeconomics and trade policies - comparative advantage, strategic industry policy, free trade effects, GATT/WTO, etc.  Again, you could have passed it from reading international business press on a regular basis.  Not that I'm complaining; if you read this stuff you already know what they are teaching, but if you don't I'm not sure why you are studying here...   2:37:48 PM    comment []

Ingemar Dierickx's Quotes of the Day from Negotiation Analysis Bonus!  Two classes' quotes today! "People who know nothing but talk a lot - deadly!" "My only mistake is that I allow students to confuse me!" "Getting To Yes: well-written, and totally against what I believe you should do in a negotiation." "When you hear someone say, 'Let's have this done and over with,' it reveals quite a lot about them.  They hate negotiations, and they are willing to make compromises between money and pain." "A negotiation is a snapshot picture of the balance of infomation between two parties.  Negotiation is about managing this balance of information skillfully."  (for the ne plus ultra example, read about Teddy Roosevelt's negotiation with Moffett studios) "A dogmatic person's curiosity is limited to asking questions to confirm what they already know." This section is about how to get information: "You are more likely to get answers to questions you ask than questions you do not ask." "If you all could just ask the right questions, I could end this course right here.  But I can't, because you are pathologically argumentative people." On time: "Time balances information asymmetries.  If you are in a deficit, just wait." "Why are there so many Chinese in a negotiating team?  Apart from the obvious, that there are so many of them..." More miscellaneous quotes: (while hazing a student who was buying a plot of land)  "If your opening offer is 60, what's the probability that the final price will be less than 60?"  student: "I was just trying to be fair!"  Ingemar: "The notion of fairness, applied to this situation, is meaningless." "'With all due respect', a classic irritator phrase..." "Managed care is oxymoronic... like British cuisine, military intelligence, or American culture." (on hearing a student's chuckle at one of his botched past negotiations) "You think this is funny?  You'll make the same mistake hundreds of times in your life, which is why you will all work as wage slaves until you are 65."   2:02:31 PM    comment []