Books Term 2

Reading material chewed through for term 2.
Thank god we did not have to read all books cover to cover. :O)

IHRM passed

Vacation started the 14th of December and I have been able to relax 120%.
Especially since I got the results from International Human Resource Management at the beginning of the vacation.
A nice X-mas present so to speak, now it is just Economics to go.

2 down 1 to go

"Just" the economics exam to go before vacation starts Thursday :O)

Managerial Decision Making passed

:O) and I'm not complaining.

Entrepreneurial termpaper unlocked

with flying colors as well 12!!

OK, more impressive achievement I agree >

Of course World of Warcraft was also involved in the election so to speak.
Who would Azeroth elect?

OB passed.

Music and games.

Just stumbled upon this on youtube and thought that I would share it.
As always the music from Final Fantasy (best games series ever?) is exceptionally beautiful; and yes it originates from Japan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYecLvwOiVA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UODCxAtyDo&feature=related

please enjoy :O)

Additional Reading

Thought I would post some pictures of the reading I did before the school year started.

Here are the books I read for the GMAT.


..and here are the ones for the Pre-MBA (4 days intensive brush up of accounting and ecconomics)

First semester done.

6 weeks have gone by already.
First exams are over, now it is just to kick back and wait until the results tick in.
I delivered my Managerial Decision-Making term paper yesterday so now I have almost 2 full days of relaxation until term 2 starts Monday.
So Sunday is back to reading again.
But for now not one book shall be opened :O).
Besides there are rumors that a disco/70's party will be held to celebrate the survival of term 1, not bad!

Subjects done so far:
Managerial Decision-Making
Management Accounting
Organizational Behavior
Entrepreneurial Mindset (term paper)

The material read:

Friday already?

Looks like Friday is "Blogday" for me.
I can't believe 1 week has gone by already since I posted last time.

We have already finished our Organizational Behavior (OB) class at the school, a shame really, it is a very good subject, I really like it.
During the lessons we covered some ground I've had before, when I took my academy degree in leadership, but we also touched upon some new theories I have not had before.
All in all an excellent class and we could easily have benefited from 2-4 more lessons.
Of course that is my opinion :O) and I could be biased.

So what do you learn in OB that is so fantastic, well, you learn about people, or said in another way you learn to respect other people, to see their uniqueness, to tap into their strengths and to help them turn their failures into triumphs.
Without your team you don't have anything, without dedicated employees you might as well shut down your firm.

I see the skill set you acquire in OB as particular relevant to the games industry.
As I see it, the games industry is an "arranged" marriage between the extremely creative and the extremely technical. The main resource being creative and technically highly skilled and well educated people. To get the best of those talented people to join your team, you have to know how to treat them well, you have to know how to help them pursue and expand their skillset and for that OB is incredibly valid.

To me the modern games manager is not only about schedules and pipelines, he/she is also about coaching and developing an elite team of gamedevelopes.

Shadow of the Colossus,

I was just browsing through some old screenshots and found these beautiful pictures from "Shadow of the Colossus" so I thought I would share them with you.

Now in this "PS3/XBOX360" day keep in mind that this is from a PS2!









If you plan to play only one game in your life, choose this one.
Trust me, there is no other alternative.
The game is beautiful, unique and truly one of a kind.
Actually it is not so much a game as a journey, an emotional event.

For me alas it is a game I can only play once, going back and replaying it would never come close to the original experience, but that 1 time for me was quite a powerful experience and sufficient in its own right.

Term 1 exploded

So to speak.

Almost 3 weeks into term 1 unbelievable!
Time is a scarce commodity for me now.

We have Management Accounting, Managerical Decision Making and Organizational Behaviour plus of course the Leadership Development Process and Entrepreneurial Mindset on the side.

I have never read and assimilate so much knowledge so quickly.

When I get back from school, at either 1400 or 1700, I basically read until 00.00
The good thing about this pace and intensity is that borders between fields break down real fast and you start to see connections with more ease.
The drawback is that I would like to have the time go more in depth with each subject, I often feel that there is so much more knowledge available that could be beneficial.

Cognitive Coaching

Finished the Cognitive Coaching module today.
1st day (Monday) was dedicated to a lecture by Irene Oestrich (professor in cognitive therapy).
2nd day was dedicated to coaching in teams.

It has been quite a while since I read about and used coaching so all in all it has been quite a rewarding process for me.
I do like the cognitive approach and I can certainly see where coaching can come in handy when you are familiar with the techniques.
Used correctly, it is a tool that can help you to better understand what makes people tick, identify problems and achieve goals.

I feel like I have barely skimmed the surface though and I will have to make time in my reading schedule for some of the items on the reading list the class requested from the teachers. There should be time for this before I have hand in the paper based on the module (29th Oct.)

Leadership Discovery Process

Well into session 2 of the "Leadership Discovery Process" one of the things I really have been looking forward to.

So what is the "Leadership Discovery Process"?
Well here is an excerpt from the course description to clarify:
"The objectives of the Leadership Discovery Process are to develop your understanding of yourself, your leadership style, and appreciate the difference in other individuals and to enhance abilities to work with others in (high) performing teams. Furthermore the Leadership Discovery Process gives you a framework to enhance your ability to lead through others, and provides you with conceptual understanding necessary to lead the enterprise."


The Leadership Discovery Process includes modules in:

• Cognitive Coaching
• The Brain
• Team Dynamics
• Situational Leadership
• Human Understanding
• Preparation
• Leadership SIMULATOR
• Reflective Leadership

Bye bye bike.

This week has been pretty relaxing so far.
However my bike got stolen Monday, so I've had to spent some time finding a new one.
Second one I've had stolen since 2001.
Oh well s... happens.
Friday I am picking up my shiny new citybike, so it is not too bad.

ECON 201

Microeconomics as a game!
Who would have tought.

I was just browsing for info regarding microeconomic prinicples applied to games development when I came across this :
ECON 201


Sounds like and interesting idea.

Beer

Yes indeed Beer!
Today almost the entire class went out for beers at the main campus of CBS, after the lectures of course.
I had a brilliant time.
I must say the people I study with are truly fantastic.
Tomorrow it is time for the English writing course.

So far we have done 2 days of accounting and 2 days of economics (crash courses, but very rewarding, kudos to the teachers.)
If these 4 days set the standard for the days to come I am truly convinced that I made the right choice in choosing the CBS MBA.


Tomorrow it is English.
English as English academic writing.
Thought it would be beneficial to hone my skills in that direction too.

Finally started.

As the title says, I have now begun my studies at CBS.
My last day at my old job at IO Interactive was Friday 29th of August, sad to say goodbye, lots of very nice people there, but fortunately I can still join them for Friday beers once in a while.

Must say the MBA has been a blast so far.
The class is very diverse both regarding nationality and professional background, a combo that is going to be incredibly usefull during the lectures, as you'll get lots of different views and opinions.

Last 2 days have been dedicated to the accounting crash course, the next 2 will be dedicated to the crash course in economics.
Very hectic days, but very rewarding, not much time for anything but school and reading, so just a very brief update to keep the blog going. (and take a break from Microeconomics :) )

The Book List.

Here is the most recent booklist from the school.


PRE-MBA.
Accounting
Accounting for non-accounting students, J.R. Dyson. 7th ed. FT PrenticeHall, 2007.

Microeconomics
Microeconomics Robert Pindyck og Daniel L Rubinfeld, Prentice Hall, latest edition.

TERM 1.
Organisational Behaviour
Penny Dick & Steve Ellis. 2005/2006. Introduction to Organizational Behaviour [3rd Ed.]. Berkshire, UK: McGraw Hill Education.

Management Accounting
Zimmerman. Accounting for Decision Making and Control. McGraw-Hill Irwin. 6th edition.
Managerial Decision Making
Pending

TERM 2.
Economics
David Besanko, David Dranove, Mark Shanley, Scott Schaefer. Economics of Strategy. 4rd edition, Wiley 2006.
Begg, Fisher & Dornbush. Economics. 8th edition, Mc Graw-Hill.

International Marketing Management
Kotler, Philip and Kevin Lane Keller (2006). Marketing Management. 12th edition. Pearson, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River (NJ).

Human Ressource Management
· Tony Edwards & Chris Rees. 2006. International Human Resource Management. Edinburgh Gate, UK: Pearson Education Limited.

TERM 3.
Financial Accounting
Financial Accounting – A Global Perspective, 5th edition, by Libby, Libby & Short, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2007.
Ivy Software's Financial Accounting: A Management Perspective. Ivy Software can be reached at http://www.ivysoftware.com/products/faamp.htm.

Change Management
John Hayes: The Theory and Practice of Change Management (2007), second edition, Palgrave MacMillan.

Operations & Strategy Management
Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Strategies for Reducing Costs and Improving Services, 3rd edition by Christopher, M., FT Prentice Hall, Harlow. 2005

TERM 4 .
Corporate Finance
Brealey, Myers & Allen: Corporate Finance. 8ed 2006

Corporate Branding
Pending.

Strategic Management
Pending.

TERM 5 & 6.
International Business
Cavusgil, S.T; G. Knight and J.R. Riesenberger. 2008. International Business: Strategy, Management and the New Realities. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Corporate Social Responsibility
No book required for this course

International Negotiations
Fisher, Ury, & Patton. Getting to Yes (2nd ed.) New York: Penguin (1991).
Lewicki, Barry, Saunders, & Minton.. Essentials of Negotiation (3rd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. ISBN: 0072545828

Corporate Governance
Steen Thomsen. An Introduction to Corporate Governance. DJØF Publishing, Copenhagen, 2008

Mergers & Acquisitions
Takeovers, Restructuring and Corporate Governance, fourth ed. by J. Fred Weston, Mark L. Mitchell and J. Harold Mulherin. Prentice Hall.

Business Development
No books for this course.

Radical Innovation
Pending

Design Management
No book require for this course.

Get Ready!

Little more than a week to go before I start the MBA at CBS (Copenhagen Business School).
So time to get this blog started.


When I recieved my acceptance letter I got the idea to start a blog dedicated to my MBA experience.
The aim, to give me a place where I can work through the knowledge seen from a game development perspective.


So why an MBA?
Well I believe that the games industry is now dealing with production scopes that justify producers educating themselves within the traditional management field.
Furthermore, when you look at how diverse the skill set of a game producer has to be, the MBA really stands apart as the education to get, in order to "get the most bang for you buck" so to speak.

Here is an outline of the CBS MBA program: