UCD Smurfit MBA Blog

Archive for December, 2011

During our ‘Performance-Driven Marketing’ course we had the pleasure of working with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) on marketing solutions within Dublin airport. This kicked off with an initial ‘design thinking’ brainstorming evening. Design thinking uses creative thinking-in-action design principles to solve management problems. Some of us are taking an optional course in ‘Design Thinking in Business’ next semester and are looking forward to exploring it some more. I knew that brainstorming with this bunch of MBAs would produce some pretty interesting and innovative ideas. I’ve previously seen the class make very short work of a task to come up with 100 uses for the paperclip, which included such innovative uses as lock-picking and creating snow shoes for mice. Their creativity would put MacGyver to shame. The marketing ideas generated were great and really showcased the wide variety of backgrounds in the class. Being a keen technologist (nerd), I pitched ideas involving smartphone interaction using geospatial location-based services.

To really understand how our ideas would work in the environment, a group of us arranged to take a trip out to Dublin airport to meet the client and get some additional inspiration. The security team at the airport run a tight ship and rightly so. Some of us discovered that, while a student card will get us a 10% discount in Boots, it’s not enough to get us through airport security. For our particular expedition we might need something more along the lines of producing a DNA sample or a signature from the pope, or solving a series of cryptic riddles. Once we got through security (well most of us) we were given a full tour of terminal 2. The economic timing may not have been ideal but terminal 2 really is a fantastic foyer to the country that we should all be very proud of. It’s great that the MBA gives us the chance to learn new ways of thinking and to apply what we’ve learned by working with organisations such as the DAA.

- Dave Byrne, FT MBA 2011/2012

Like many of you this week, I heard the budget announcement. It was further proof that tough times are still ahead. The lightest note was that corporation tax was standing firm (a sigh of relief). That was a clear sign that Ireland is committed to keeping business here, and that it is interested in gaining more business from abroad.

It seems like every other person on the morning commute has a tin can in their briefcase(a metaphor that I use to emphasize the fragility of business in our times). I thought about what business could do to help other businesses. What could my background in eCommerce do to help the Irish economy?

With that, I’ve decided to try something new.  I want to offer an eCommerce solution to the Irish people that focuses more on benefits for the people and the economy. I’ll be willing to give you professional advice and consulting that could help you bring your idea to life. I’ll do it, just to help to bring business into Ireland and because Ireland needs the jobs and movement in the economy. So if you or someone you know is has a good idea for an online or eCommerce-based business idea, and needs some help thinking it through, get in touch with me. I’ll give you consulting at no cost, and if it’s a good enough job-generating growth idea, I’ll walk you through the steps that you need to take to bring your project to fruition. Just mention that you read the Smurfit MBA blog.

- Michael Munevar, PT MBA 2011/2012

Twitter: michaelmunevar

We had our last class of the semester today.  Looking back, it has been a roller coaster ride for the last 4 months. Initially, it was a challenge for me to comprehend the abstract aspects of business, particularly marketing. I couldn’t agree more with Damien McLoughlin’s (our marketing professor) remarks on females excelling in marketing. To push the button to switch on the right brain takes a lot of effort for people like me who have always had a digital mindset of looking at things.  But I can’t be happier at this stage for having taken that effort to broaden my perspectives and learning that everything in business is not “black and white” as I used to believe.

I have learnt so much in the last four months that I wonder if the quantum of learning is equivalent to my academic learning of years. At one time, particularly while writing journals and assignments one after another, I felt like giving up. But there was support from my own study group and colleagues in the class and above all it was my own determination that kept me going. And here I am looking forward to the challenges of the next semester. Although restless to go back home for Christmas, I am as eager to return for the rest of my MBA, a fun-learn ride of a life time.

- Nihar, FT MBA 2011/2012

“Our inward power, when it obeys nature, reacts to events by accommodating itself to what it faces- to what is possible. It needs no specific material. It pursues its own aims as circumstances allow. It turns obstacles into fuel. As a fire overwhelms what would have quenched a lamp. What’s thrown on top of the conflagration is absorbed, consumed by it- and makes it burn still higher.”

Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius.

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