Debate Point

Business School vs. Social Sciences

2010-04-20T10:52:00.049-03:00

I have a degree in International Politics, I have been years in the Social Science School, I had meet people there and I spent many hours in different classes about History, Politics, Global Economy and even Sociology. In my thesis I made an analysis of the changes in the global balance of power during the XIX century with the 1898 Spanish-American War as an example of this new realty and the emerge of the United States as a global power.

For 5 years I have been working in Marketing, all I know about business I learned it doing my job, so I decided to attend to an MBA to change my professional profile from International Politics to a business related degree.

I have been in this MBA for only 2 weeks and I already find a big difference with my years in Social Science School, probably I'll have a different perspective after I finish my Master but right now this is what I think.

MBA: Lack of reflection, Lack of deep debate
International Politics: Lack of action

Why does someone study Social Science and why does someone study Business? This is an open question with thousands of possible answers but I will tell you my opinion.

What I felt during my years in Social Science School was that most people there wanted to understand what's going on in our planet, to think about world's future and past and to analyze global realty. They weren't there to learn how to do something, or to gain some particular skill. That's why during classes was common to have long debates about former empires and wars, and the causes of changes in societies, sometimes endless debates without arriving to any conclusion because of the understandable high complexity of world's realty. People finish their studies with a huge knowledge about the international system logic but without a particular skill.

What I felt during this first 2 weeks in my MBA was the exact opposite, people attend to a Business School to get tools and skills to progress in their professional careers. In case they have their own business, to increase sales, market shares and profits. In case they are in a big company, to get better jobs and higher positions. It's also common that students uses an MBA as a way to extend their networking. But nobody wants to understand anything deeper than how to do bussines or improve in the bussines world. So I guess when you graduate from a Business School you know how to do stuff, you have business technical knowledge but society looks the same to you than before you started studying.

Because of all this I think that Business and Social Sience are absolutely different but both can contribute, in different ways to your personal growth. My tip would be, study both!

My Inca Trail Survival Kit

2010-04-13T15:58:00.012-03:00

I did the Inca Trail a couple of weeks ago. The views are amazing and I really loved the experience. I truly recommend to do it.

Here is my survival kit. I hope by writing this to make you enjoy double the whole experience.

Flashlight: you need one for two reasons: there is no light at the camps (so you need it to go to the toilet) and there is no light on the trail. If you hit the road at night, you are going to need it.
Two small bottles of water: drink small quantities of water. And don't drop the bottles! (see next tip). You can buy this two bottles on the first day of the trail. Local people sell them along the way.
Water purification pills: at the end of the second day, the fresh water is over :). You can use some facilities to extract water and use this pills. You have to wait two hours before you can drink the water.
Baby tissues: Imagine yourself walking three days in a row, sweating, with no showers. You arrive to the camp, and you really going to love to clean yourself with tissues.
Three t-shirts: cusco and surroundings are really humid places. If you hang a dry t-shirt inside your tent, it's going to be wet by the morning. All the sweaty t-shirts must be used during the day, because you walk so hard that your body heat compensates the humidity. Try to keep your things dry!
Two pants: try to use the first one as long as you can. You can use the fresh one on the fourth day on Machu Picchu.
Medium/Small backpack: The smaller the backpack, the better. The perfect backpack is really small, but with the belt on the waist, so you can distribute the weight in different points of you body.
Plastic bags: As I said before, the place is really humid. All your clothes must be wrap up with bags. Everything must be in a bag. You can carry an extra set of bags, in case you want to use them to isolate your shoes from your socks.
Sleeping bag: The smaller, the better. Try to use a mountain sleeping bag. You are going to sleep 3900meters over the sea with really cold weather.
Walking stick: the path is really irregular. Goes up and down all the time. Sometimes you need the stick to equilibrate yourself. If you slide sideways, you're going to end up 2000meter below.
Poncho: Buy the best poncho on Cusco. I bought one for u$10, that saved my hole trip. It was really big, so I could cover my backpack and myself with it.
Sunscreen: The sun is really strong. If it is cloudy, use it anyway. (60factor). I used 30 because I wanted to get a sun-tan :) ...(shallow ... right?)

I wish you the best time!! it is unbelieveable!
Enjoy it!

Falkland Islands: The British Empire Strikes Back

2010-04-12T14:49:00.013-03:00

The UK has interests, some of them innegotiable. That's the conclusion I can deduce after the Argentine-British mini-crisis initiated after the Desire Petroleum oil drilling announcement.

The Falkland Islands is an important issue for Argentina and Great Britain, these two nations feels this south atlantic islands as part of its territory and exploitation of strategic natural resources in this region is a sensible topic.

I can certainly say that what happend during the first months of 2010 was the highest tension between Argentina and Great Britain since the 1982 war, and the british policy on this matter seems to be as determined as is used to be in the early 80's.

Back in 1982 Argentina invaded the Islands and recovered sovereign on them, some people, including argentine government members thought the UK will never send troops to this distant territory located at a 14.000 km distance from London. We know what happend was the exact opposite, the UK supported by the NATO powers recovered the Islands after a 74 days war.

Nowadays, 28 years after the conflict the British interest in this archipelago remains the same, the following article published at dailymail.co.uk clearly explains how committed London is with the Falklands and how decided is this european nation to use, if necessary, the force to protect this overseas territory.

Argentina threatens to ban firms operating in the Falklands as Royal Navy sends attack submarine (dailymail.co.uk - March 17, 2010)

Argentina upped the ante over the Falkland Islands today by threatening to ban firms operating in the British colony.

Companies were warned they face having to choose between the Falklands and Argentina under proposed new legislation.

Argentine MPs are set to debate a bill imposing a 30-day deadline on firms to axe ties with the Falklands or face being kicked out of the south American country.

The move, led by Argentine cinema director and politician Pino Solanas, has the backing of the country's former Chancellor Rafael Bielsa.

Supporters of the new bill said they hoped to target firms like Barclays, a shareholder of British firm Desire Petroleum which is currently drilling for oil in the Falklands.

The search for oil has reignited the Falklands Islands dispute.

Today it was reported a Royal Navy attack submarine has been sent to the Falklands to boost security amid mounting speculation oil has been discovered.

The Ministry of Defence has refused to confirm the sub's presence there, saying it does not comment on submarine operations.

HMS Sceptre, a Swiftsure-class nuclear powered submarine, is said to have been sent from southern Africa to make Argentina think twice about laying serious claims to the Islands.

It is the oldest seagoing vessel in the Royal Navy.

The vessel is equipped with Spearfish anti-ship torpedoes and took three weeks to reach the Falklands.

The British military has four vessels stationed in the area on a routine, rotating basis: a Naval destroyer, a patrol vessel, a survey ship, and a Royal auxiliary ship.

HMS York, a Type 42 destroyer, is partolling off the island's capital of Port Stanley.

HMS Scott, a survey vessel, is also nearby and the fleet has air support from a squadron of RAF Typhoon fighter jets based on the islands.

If the report about the submarine is true, it would be an addition to routine forces there.

The submarine, which was built in 1978, is 82 metres long and is equipped with sonar, attack and search periscopes, collision avoidance radar and electronic warfare. In addition, she has five torpedo tubes capable of firing the Spearfish.

Desire Petroleum, currently drilling for oil, is expected to announce next week if it has had success.

In the past month Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has reasserted Argentina's claim to the Falklands and asked for the U.S. to intervene.

The Argentine government has also tabled a UN resolution condemning Britain for allowing oil exploration off the Falklands.

Former Argentine Chancellor Rafael Bielsa last night urged successor Jorge Taiana 'to do everything in his power to increase the cost of the search for oil'.

Experts claim there could be as much as 60 billion barrels of crude oil under Falkland's waters.

Argentina has renewed claims in recent weeks that Britain is illegally occupying the islands.

The archipelago, which it calls Las Malvinas, remains an emotive issue for people in Argentina. Bringing up the issue of sovereignty offers a way for a populist president to whip up public support.

Argentina has claimed the South Atlantic islands since Britain established its rule in the 19th century and invaded the Falklands in 1982.

After a two-month war, they were forced to withdraw their troops. But Argentines still maintain they have claim to the archipelago, which lies 300 miles from its coast.

In the past month, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has reasserted their claim and has objected to the British oil exploration.

She asked for the U.S. to intervene in the row, and secured backing from Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to open talks.

Both Britain and the Falklands governments have said there will be no negotiation over the islands and believe there is no issue to resolve.

The Argentine government has also tabled a UN resolution condemning Britain for allowing oil exploration off the Falklands.

President Kirchner issued a decree last month forcing ships sailing to the Falklands from Argentina to seek a permit after learning that the rig was to start drilling.

She has also secured backing from 32 South American nations supporting its claim that Britain has occupied the islands illegally since 1833.

The issue has been so emotive for her people that protests against British 'occupation' have been organised by former soldiers in Buenos Aires.

Last Wednesday, protesters carrying petrol bombs were stopped by police as they tried to storm the British Embassy in the city.

This morning, the Ministry of Defence would not discuss whether Sceptre had been deployed.

A spokesman said: 'We do not comment on submarine operations.'

Communism: Two lines in world's history

2010-04-04T05:45:00.008-03:00

Is really interesting the perspective we have about World's History. It doesn't matter how important an historical process is, what really matters is how much it means to you, to the time you are living in and how affects your personal life. For an average citizen is difficult to imagine what does 300 or 3000 years means, if it is related to you 10 years will mean much more than 100.

This little introduction is to talk about Communism, something that is a really big deal for the baby boomers and even for younger people, something that influenced the life of almost every single person on earth, something than now, in 2010 looks so important for history but that some day will be resumed in 2 lines or in a single paragraph in some history book.

Why I'm saying this, that is so difficult to understand for someone who has suffered the Vietnam War, the military governments in Latin America or simply the fear of a final nuclear war between the US and de USSR?

I'm saying this because I have been thinking about the perspective and the size and influence of former Empires. The first example I will use is something that concerns directly to the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America but that it has also influenced the entire western hemisphere and some regions of Africa and Asia. This first example is the Spanish Empire, Spain successfully controlled Latin America since the first quarter of the XVII Century until the first quarter of the XIX Century, 300 years of domination of a surface of nearly 18 millons square kilometers and the aniquilation of several languages and religions. Is hard to understand what did this Empire meant for generations and generations of native americans or europeans that were sent to the new world.
All latin american nations will celebrate during the next years the Bicentennial of their independence, countries that during this last 200 years has built its own identity and history. This 200 years period is still a century shorter than the Spanish domination of this part of the world and it seems to be much more relevant to latin american societies than the colonial times. So, if the 300 years that the Spanish's exerted sovereignty in Latin America are despised over the 200 yeras of independence of the american spanish speaking countries what can we say about Communism that influenced people life for only 74 years?

Yes 74 years, since the 1917 russian revolution until de dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Probably you will ask about China, Cuba and North Korea, in my defense I say that the "real socialism" threat ended with the Perestroika. These other Countries will, latter or sooner migrate to a market economy system.

If we think about older historical processes the size of Communism becomes almost insignificant, the Roman Empire controlled Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East for 400 years, and the Egyptian civilization developed for more than 3 millenniums.

We could continue with more examples, and we will always arrive to the same conclusion, the relevance of a certain Empire, civilization or historical process depends on the perspective of the observer, that's why I say that Communism is a big deal for us, but some day will be explained in 2 lines, because 74 years in world's history is only that, 2 lines.

Berlin: Two worlds in one city

2010-02-22T21:44:00.009-03:00

After I read the article "Glimpse into the East" written by my teammate F e d e r i c o I started to think about Berlin, the Cold War and the meaning of the Berlin Wall. The size of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was, in my opinion, the biggest in history. Not only because of the geographical coverage that was indeed global, from Latin America to Vietnam, from Eastern Europe to Zaire and from the planet earth into the outer space.

But the interesting thing is that during this conflict we had not only wars all over the world and an Space Race, we also had two ways of living, thinking and organizing societies that made life of common people, like you and me absolutely different depending in which half of the world you where living in.

So, the world was divided into two, a family from Canada or Spain had a way of life absolutely different from a family from China or Poland. But in all these examples and almost in every case your entire country and probably your countries region was all in the same "half" of the world, with this similar way of living, thinking, studying, working and dreaming about the future.

But Berlin was an exception, Berlin was the last border of this two worlds, Berlin was a city where this different societies had to live knowing that only a few streets away in any family apartment a different system was running.

This explanation is an introduction I wanted to make to a picture a took during my 2006 trip to Berlin. This photo was taken with my Konica Minolta Z6 camera using the full power of the 420mm build in zoom. The effect I wanted on the image was to show how close this two worlds were from each-other. You can see in the picture two different towers. The one on the left is the Berlin TV tower, the highest exponent of the socialism progress, it was built in 1969 as a present to the German Democratic Republic in its twentieth anniversary. The other one is the Berlin Victory column located in the heart of West Berlin, inaugurated in 1873.

This picture show us something clearly, citizens from both sides of the wall could actually see the other half of the planet, they could listen what was going on in the "rest of the world". I think this is why the Berlin Wall is an outstanding symbol of the conflict that divided the planet and as I said before, the outer space into two halves for four decades.

Glimpse into the East

2010-02-18T15:56:00.006-03:00

Berlin was the gate to the East. Was the beggining of the trip into societies that had a past we could have never understood. The east was estrictly unrelated to us because of the political regimes that lead this countries pasts decades.

We were heading into territories once ruled by one of the two sovereigns of the world, the one we didnt get to know before, the one that we were used to unattend and disobey, the other half. Yes the unglorious and misterious URSS.

And Berlin indeed was an axis of division between this two opposites ways of living, the eastern and western political regimes. Long story, short: Comunism v. Capitalism.

As you walk around Berlin, you can tell everytime time, this is a place that had suffered this permanent segregation. Of course, the remains of the wall remind you of pasts events. But the city itself reminds you of that aswell , being a blend of histories that lived side by side during decades, histories that lead into extremly different outcomes.

All combined into one huge and overdeveloped center of capitalism, modern Berlin can show you the story of two contiguous bands by getting a tour into some sort of theatrical display where you can experience the urban comunist scenario enjoying a tall vanilla latte from Starbucks.

The best example you can find, as it follows:

Right outside the famous TV Tower in Alexanderplatz you'll see the very beggining of KARL MARX ALLEE. Such a name hah!. Wait to find out that the original name was Stalinallee. Get suck into it like in a huge funnel and dive into the east. You will find yourself surrounded by a symmetrical space composition. This is above all a composition, a political statement. Lead by Hermann Henselmann as chief architect of the project, this urban structure defines a message, a doctrine to be send to all those within the iron curtain. This project was indeed part of a city reconstruction program, but at the same time was the testimony of a nations reconstruction. Against (back in those days) current art and philosophy mainstream ideas, this project intended to creat an atmosphere of wealth, power, tradition and nostalgia. And the perfect way of achieving that was no other than the Stalinist architecture style. What's best than addopting founding father's good taste for neoclasical buildings that delivered that special message of progress and tradition all in one single piece. It would not be wrong to believe that this perception of nostalgia brings the people into the feeling of a nation with a rich past and culture; and that of course brings people together into one single dogma, influenced by a political propaganda that has no backdoor.

Karl Marx alle is a great place to walk by, feel the tradition and picture yourself in the post-war east Berlin, being a citizen of a great and undefeatable empire, with centuries of legacy and tradition and a revolutionary temperament. Though it was and can be nowadays perceived as a scenography; called by his author as a "childhood illness" for his historical revivalism; this great avenue shows you a glimpse of the unknown other half of the world.

How to build easy-living cities.

2009-12-31T16:08:00.002-03:00

My friends keep wondering about all those ugly places of the city where nobody wants to go. How did they get so ruined?
City planning is not an easy thing. Most of the actions are spontaneous and uncontrolled expansions of urban landscape. Nowadays we know much more about the way cities became what they are (the origins, first growth, densification, spreading, economic changes outcomes). The thing is that the city is always a consequence of the inhabitants way of living; we say "the city is the physical expression of a society".

By studying the past, we can learn one or two cool things about the cities coming
or improve what we already have

Cities should be small and dense. Horizontal expansion is extremely expensive and not ecofriendly.
Transportation should be reduced to the minimum. Working, shopping, and other activities should be practiced in the same area.
Diversification. If we go to the same place at the same time, what happens? we jam there. Instead of one mega center that makes everybody uncomfortable, small evenly distributed local "subcenters" makes everyone happy.
Stay away from white / blue collar ghettos. There's no fun in eating pizza every given day. Mix up within your community and get to know all kinds of people who doesn't have the same background as you do. A mixed socioeconomic status neighborhood delivers richer human interactions.
No Pharaonic projects. Overscaled projects tend to fail, taking money and time away. Urban improvements are usually simple.
Overlap functions. It's good to have transportations hubs, shopping and dwellings all together. This also improves human interaction, leading to social and economic wealth.
Aesthetics makes the difference. If you like something, you want it. If the place where you live and work have a nice walking view, people will spend much more time there, enjoying the place, shopping or having a nice dinner out.

After all building a city is making a way of living. Be conscious of the community where you live, help others, embrace commitment to take good care of the facilities you enjoy day after day, dive in the realization of new projects, create job opportunities and wealth sources, respect things previously done, attempt to make the difference and realize that the city is every single time the tangible expression of what you do every day.

Thinking about the Age of Empire

2009-12-30T16:22:00.001-03:00

During the last quarter of the XIX century the international system entered in a new stage of globalization. Due to the Industrial Revolution and technological advances world’s economy become one only trade network where the different industrial powers reached new overseas markets for their products. The emergence of Great Britain as the main financial center and the British Pound as a world wide accepted currency gave an additional impulse to this historical process.The industrial and technological development became the most important factor to analyze the power of a nation, demography and geography where not the main variable anymore. The endless needs of raw materials, new markets and strategically located ports forced the main industrial countries to start an extension of their empires. This new markets were not only used to sell industrial products, they become also very important for capital exports. British, German and French capitals made investments around all the globe building railway networks.

Asia and Africa

In 1870 almost all american continent was already independent, that’s why during this period the european powers focused their imperial expansion over regions where they could easily establish colonial governments, Asia and Africa. During the last 25 years of the XIX century, one fifth of world’s surface and 10% of world’s pupulation was under european domination. The european civilization was projecting its shadow over the entire planet. At the Berlin Conference of 1884 the main colonial powers agreed how to divide Africa. After this summit Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and Spain started to control massive land extensions in Africa. In the course of a generation, Africa, 4 times bigger than Europe was totally fragmented. Asia was also a scene of this expansion. The British Empire had India, Burma, Malaysia and Hong Kong under its domain. France successfully controlled Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia under the name of French Indochina. The Netherlands had also an active presence in Asia with an important colony called Dutch East Indies what nowadays is Indonesia. Due to its high complexity and big territorial extension China was never colonizated by an only country. Different european powers, Russia and even Japan divided China into exclusive influence areas where they could freely trade.

Central America and the Caribbean

The Caribbean was an strategic area. As a consequence of the emerge of the United States as a world power and the increase of the global trade the construction of an inter-oceanic canal become an important issue. France, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain had an strong presence in this area with colonies in different islands, all of them expected to control a future canal that would connect the Atlantic and the Pacific.The United States were a new power interested in this strategic region located in its influence area, the 1898 Spanish American war is a demonstration of the irruption of the US in this region and as a new colonial power.

On the way to the First World War

There is no doubt that this imperial expansion was one of the multiple causes of the First World War, the objective of this article was to analyze the historical period baptized by Eric Hobsbawm as “The Age of Empire” and not the First World War causes. But I think is important to at least mention the existing link between this two periods.

Ten reasons to donate - Pick one!

2009-12-28T13:52:00.001-03:00

I heard once that every reason is a good one for donating to charity (or any other kind of donation). For example, if you are a politician, and you want to help people to show off for your campaign, it is a good reason!

Here is a list I built with reasons for donating, just pick one and go for it:

Girls love charity
Score some points in Karma-board
Show off (politicians apply here)
Make your parents proud, so they can show off in front of their friends
Get tax benefits
Go to heaven (at least not going to hell)
Balance your evil inside
Meet people making a difference
Make a difference yourself
Feel awesome!

Whatever your reason is, you are making another person happy. That surely pays the price. If you have another reason, please let me know.

The best thing that can happen to a billboard

2009-12-02T14:32:00.001-03:00

Just being online, like this:

(by the way... I love this billboa... sorry ... power plant)

My crusade at Confronte.com

2009-09-28T04:40:00.001-03:00

September 25th was my last day at Confronte.com.

Confronte.com is a price comparison site for the Latin American market. Or, at least, that was our first idea :).

I finished college in 2004. I met Matías Garcia because he was teaching Operating Systems and Programming at the university. He was known as one of the smartest guys there. He was part of a group that came from Balseiro University in Bariloche, to teach in UADE.

At that time, I was working on my thesis with Ignacio López (Co-Founder of Wormhole IT), and we needed a tutor. Matías was our guy :). We talked to him, and he was happy to help us.

We finished it by March of the following year (2005), and we got our degree.

The following year, Matías started working on the idea of a comparison site. He traveled to the United States for work, and he thought that building an Argentinian site of that nature, would be a good idea. He started working alone.

Meanwhile, I was working at Hewlett Packard as Telecom Consultant, specializing on the latest technologies on the telecommunications market. The thing was, that none of the actual Latin American companies were buying cutting-edge technologies. We were talking about technologies like SIP and value added services, and the companies were stabilizing their SMS platforms. So, we were doing a lot of pre-sales work, but no action. I was getting bored.

We met with Matias and Ignacio for a "catch-up" dinner. Ignacio was working at Microsoft, and he was quite happy about that (JJ). Matiu told us what he was doing, and the bug got me. I sent him an email the day after, offering my help, and he replied with a TO-DO list. We didn't talk about money, shares or anything. We just worked.

I worked in both places for a couple of months, but my brain was overheating. Matiu needed more commitment to the project, and I saw an opportunity window. I grabbed my savings and jump to the pool. We worked 24x7 ... and we truly thought that we could go for the world.

At first, we were really focus on the Argentinian market. We thought that if we could reach that market, we could replicate our experiences. The thing is, that our mistake, helped to generate value for a local group. Clarín's media group was looking for a comparison site, and we were their option. They bought our company September 22th, 2008. But Clarin focuses only on Argentina, so we couldn't develop further to other countries.

I learned a lot. From legal issues, to the importance of having a partner. I'll always be thankful to that opportunity that Matiu gave me. I hope to enjoy my next startup as much as this one.

Social Networks side effects

2009-09-22T20:34:00.001-03:00

I think we always start with curiosity about them.

We register on the web site. We first add the minimum info to be IN. We don't even put a picture in our profile.

As we begin to discover some cool features, I think we start to give up on the idea of privacy. We add some friend's picture, we complete our telephone number and address, and continue with the rest. So far, we are having so much fun.

Once we are full profiled, we don't know what to do. So if you are bored, you start seeing what's happening around you. Again and again. You click everywhere just to let the pain go.

It's the new television. You can see what's happening right here right now. You can watch all your friends' videos and be in touch with distant family at the same time. But like Seth says ... if your network is not based on real relationships, social networks lose some sense.

I think all social networks promote anxiety and frustration, because you become a follower. Since you see everybody's life events, or achievements, and you start to get bitter about getting your own. It would be different seeing status like "I studied for ten hours straight and still can't get my exercises right", or "I sent two thousand emails, and nobody is interested in my project".

I think everybody needs to spend some time offline. Stop being a follower. Think about your future without comparing yourself with others. Just do it, and you'll start to see a difference.

(ps: thank you ine ... you're so lovely with me!!)

Search Engines that don't work!

2009-09-16T22:42:00.001-03:00

It's been a while since I wrote about Search Engines that do not work. You can see the original entry here (Spanish).

The thing is we all depend so much on Google. We really care about the SEO regarding our site. Every single day.

But the thing is, once you have a person in your site, you fail to help him find other stuff. He got there, he looked at the site, he didn't find what he was looking for, he tried the “search“ box but .... 0 results. Strike 3. You're out.

Do yourself a favor. Fix your search engine. There are very few people that use the “browseable“ option.

After all ... who is not in a hurry? :)