STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS IN RIGA # 1 2 6

OCTOBER 2013 Where to live MOOC and the during the study year credit points

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Insider special: D.Dreibergs ANNIE MACHON HARDY ROCK “A successful cyber attack test would explode the financial system” Dear students,

As Anders Paalzow recalled during the presentation, there was a time when all the students had an opportunity to visit Stockholm once a year. This tradition was kept alive during the first years of SSER operation, back in early 1990s. We think it’s high time to renew it. It would also be a boost to improv- ing the bond with our friends and partners at the Stockholm school. Up till now, however, only non-Baltics students (whose tuition fee is waiv- ered by the Swedish government) had the opportunity to visit Stockholm for free once per year. They visited the school, as well as the Parliament. This initiative is created in an attempt to eliminate the discrimination so that each SSE Rigean has the same op- portunity. After all, Stockholm is a his- toric place in the history of our school, as it’s roots stem there, and a step like this seems only logical. For several years, it has been brought up in form of promises by SA people that all of the student will get the opportunity to visit SSE Stockholm. Now, it is time to deliver!

Yours sincerely, Toms Niparts and Kipras Binkauskas, The Presidential Couple Insider, October

Contents Regulars Lifestyle

4 Editor’s letter 12 Debate euro trip

C 6 Morten’s column 16 Exchange stories Norway; Hong Kong 7 Events 24 Internship reviews 10 Debate column Moocs 26 Where to live 29 Gossip 28 Beermonsters

‘Why would you want to live a less interesting life?’ [ Dzintars Dreibergs] MOOCs 10 Cultural intelligence 8 Interview with H. Lycke- borg

9 Exchange stories Norway; Hong Kong

14 Bohemian raphsody Interview with Dzintars Dreibergs 18 Insider special Annie Machon 22 Christopher book column TOP books 30 Hardy Rock 30 29 Test Business Spying Insights They Don’t Want You To Know INSIDERSPECIAL 18

3 Editors talk Striving towards... HELLO, SSE RIGEAN

some things, you are better off burning your fingers early. The misery of having to go through a reexam, Inoften concurrently with tight deadlines in other subjects, probably belongs to this rather grim bundle. It’ll teach you a lesson, they say. Even Morten once admitted that re-do- ing Macro (Y1) together with Financial Economics (Y2) is ‘a decision you’ll regret for the rest of your life’. Perhaps so. However, please don’t be too jumpy if you left yesterday’s Math exam with a feeling that it can’t get any worse. First, it can (if you’re adventurous and want to learn new swear- ing phrases, bring up ‘FA’ to Y2s). But second, learning to be serious and responsible about a deadline, an exam or a task is a course we’ve all enrolled in, and it sure doesn’t come easy. That’s why it’s called ‘Striving Towards Excellence’, ‘cause, well, you’re always striving... Enough said, since it’s actually a time for joy and fun, as the first Insider this semester is finally out! It brings with it some major improvements, perhaps most noticeably in design. Stay with us, and come and contribute if you’re in a mood to meet some amazing personalities, such as Annie Machon or Dzintars Dreibergs, or our own Hakan Lycke- borg. See you around, and enjoy! Pēteris

People who worked for this issue: Chief Editors: Pēteris Kloks, Darja Jevstafjeva. Editors: Sabina Vorošilova, Paula Rozīte. Visual and Graphic Designer: Lauma Survilo. Cover Photo: Pēteris Vīksna. Writers: Olha Novak, Maria Azina, Arnis Puharts, Anna Kuzņecova, Jekaterina Smertjeva, Viktoria Pilinko, Aleksandrs Goba, Edgaras Marcinkus, Stanislav Filatov, Krystsina Pilinko, Sanita Gila, Karl Arnold Kommel, Anna Plaudiņa, Ieva Skrīvere, Laura Sārta, Laima Melkina. Special thanks to: Christopher Rieber, Krystsina Pilinko, Sanita Gila, Karl Arnold Kommel, Anna Plaudiņa, Kipras Binkauskas, Andrius Capas, Eerik Oja, Hardy Rock, Hakan Lyckeborg, Dzintars Dreibergs, Annie Machon. Printed in BalticPrint.

4 SA GENERAL PARTNER

SA PARTNERS

5 Morten’s column

The Evil That Men Do

That is the title of a somewhat dated movie, starring Charles Bronson. What! You don’t know him??? Well he was big in my time. Big sigh... But it also represents what many, not least alumni, expect from me: Make your courses harder and more demanding, Morten, to keep up the good name of our school! I don’t have to do what the alumni suggest but looking at my pro- posed schedule for microeconomics this autumn, it looks quite demanding, I shall admit, and it confirms what I usually tell Y1 students first time I meet them: I wouldn’t want to be a student having such a schedule... M. HANSEN That said, I look forward to meeting Y1 and hope we shall have a good – but now and again also somewhat stressful – time. ‘Probably the only lecturer who can do the miracle of making And to everybody, have a nice and productive 2013-14 at SSE W32 fun’ Riga.

ays of Opportunities course with a scholar- effective, continuous- so SSER, be ready, next Dwant to thank all ship amounting 300 ly compounded’, and year there will be even applicants and espe- EUR. Their help has ‘Valuing a stream of cash more Y1 coming from cially congratulate the also allowed to organize flows’. JPT’13! new juniors who are ForeXtrading elective joining our team this course, to be held in Junior PeakTime fi- Valts Zutis, IT.com, has year: Linda Vildava, the 2nd semester with nally have 11 amazing handed over the new Gvido Blaumanis,Annija around 10 lectures and associates! Zanda, DOO Job platform t o Bērziņa, Helena Eneli a trading contest at Lukas, Rasmuss, Vasili, the organization lead- Heno,Jaak Ennuste, Liisa the end. The winner Signe, Dzmitry, Girts, ers. In addition to that, Suvorova, Benas Bizevi- will get a real trading Dmitrijs, Anita, Martin, the new website for cius, Andrius Stoliarovas, account amounting Arūnė – they are all PeakTime is in the Emilis Srage, Alena Dzer- $5,000 brilliant. We had the production phase, and miliova, Liliana Barba- first meeting and team is planned to be finished neagra, Aliaksei Astap- nvestment Game 2014, building (including free before application round chyk, Ana-Maria Tecuci, Ia traditional portfolio Mojitos) on 17th of Sep- starts. As the elections Paulina Katilovskyte and management challenge tember. ‘13 are approaching news Marina Ivolga. organized by iFund, will soon, the search for happen in the sec- the new IT.com has This year ond half of the second begun as well, and fu- Days of semester. Currently, the Opportunities event ture projects are waiting is going to take place team is working on a in line. already for the 19th cooperation agreement time in a row, this time between the organization SE Riga Charity Club and on April 11. However, DnB bank to use Shas recently held the throughout the year we their well-developed first meeting and is now will provide you with the trading platform. very eager and excited latest news, invite you JPT is working hard to when looking to the fu- to guest lectures and IFund will also organize prepare for the final ture. If anybody, who for surprise you with new various seminars for events. Currently, we are various reasons missed opportunities. those passionate about moving towards getting out the gathering, still investment, including the whole fund for the would like to contribute, Fund has managed to Introduction to Fi- event. There are some then this is the time to Icooperate with their nance, and Technical companies interested, drop an e-mail to chari- generous partner Analysis. Some of the so the only thing left is [email protected] and Tele- topics include ‘Types of Trade so that they will to go & take that money express the interest to nsider award the top-perform- firms: advantages and from them! In addition, get the latest updates disadvantages’, ‘Types of we have a I er of the Management goal of 1000 about the upcoming Accounting and Finance interest rates: nominal, applicants this year, events.

6 Events

MUST EventsE GO WHAT TO SEE THIS MONTH

23.08.– 10.11. 20 short social films from 12.10 – 28.12. Riga Jazz 2013 at the Great Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, Guild. For the traditional “Jūlijs Feders. AINAVA” Russia and Belarus. FAIR at Bergs Bazaar autumn jazz concert the Art Museum Riga Bourse Bergs Bazaar conductor Raitis Ašmanis The exhibition is devoted to 01.10. An old-fashion fair is open has chosen vocal compo- Jūlijs Voldemārs Feders, the every other Saturday from sitions from Natalie Cole, most brilliant representative EDITORS 10am to 4pm. Diane Schuur and others. of the landscape genre in Palladium Riga Latvian art. 18.10. 01.11.

SOFIA REI “BALTIC BEAUTY” EXHIBITION Spiīķeri Concert Hall International Exhibition Argentinean Ethno-Jazz Hall Kipsala Singer and Composer New cosmetic products 22.10. and current beauty trends, professional counselling, CARMEN hairdresser, beautician, Latvian National Opera makeup artist, nail and 15.09-08.10. - beauty expert competitions 26.10. and shows – you can see AUTUMN CHAMBER MUSIC British alternative rock band it all at the biggest and FESTIVAL MOTO FREESTYLE WORLD most comprehensive beauty 05.10. CHAMPIONSHIP Night of the industry project. 20.09.– 03.11. Jump 2013 DRŪMVAKAR Rīga RIGA CIRCUS 125 ANNIVER- Arena Riga 04.11. Latvijas 1. Rokkafejnīca SARY SEASON with a new Event of heavier fall music HURTS concert program. this year will offer more Arena Riga electronic and industrial 29.09 – 02.10. sound without losing heavi- Short-film festival“NAKED ness and melancholy. KING” FAIR at Kalnciems District K S uns Kalnciema kvartāls 27.10. “An event like this on one of the main roads to the heart RIGA JAZZ 2013 of Riga is a positive signal to all those visiting Riga.” 06.11. 09.10. SWAN LAKE ballet International Media Art Exhi- Latvian National Opera bition — “SAVE AS”. kim? Contemporary Art Centre ENJOY

LAST CALL CULTURE

7 Interview ‘I’m always amazed if you pass the math exam’- Håkan Lyckeborg Foto: Peteris Viksna Peteris Foto: A: Testing, testing (checks the mi- Did you had some fun haircuts crophone). Do you have a favorite mathe- when you were younger? Did matician? you follow some music culture? I think it’s fine(laughs) . Hakan, There’s this Norwegian guy Niels No, no, no, no. I was a proper boy kids may ask why they need to Henrik Abel. He solved loads of (laughs). But one student in Sweden study the difficult subject of problems, but died only 29 years once said it’s characteristic. mathematics. What would you old, practically starving to death due to being poor. A German philantro- Finally, what would you say to say to them? phist funded a scholarship to cover people who get demotivated A-a-a-h. (Silence). If you study his professorship, but the letter of after faling the difficult math nature or architecture, lot’s of math acceptance arrived in Oslo a week exam? pops up that you wouldn’t expect. after he had died. He proved the Understand the reason why you Of course, that’s very hard to explain Abel-Ruffini theorem. failed. Some students come from to these kids who are told to count schools with not that rigorous math apples, and learn fractions. What would you do if you hadn’t background, and so I’m always amazed if they pass it here. Good And they’d say you can do that become a professor? luck! with a calculator. I’ve always been fond of working with O-o-u, yes. Well, well, well, that’s wood. I’d probably be a carpenter. a big problem nowadays. In a way, calculators spoil your thinking. Do you have any hobbies? The Riemann hypothesis im- Moreover, math is about beauty, and I’ve been doing some folk dancing plies results about the distri- you can find it in every topic. for many years now. We’ve been Have you seen the Eurler’s identi- travelling to many places, and in bution of prime numbers. A ty? Ever since I first saw it in high 1990 I came to Riga for the first correct solution to it results school, it has been a piece of art to time. me. in a US$1,000,000 prize being Has the performance in math awarded by theClay Mathe- exams changed on average over Do you have a favorite as of yet the years? matics Institute institute. unsolved math problem that I’ve seen it in Sweden. It’s partly be- you’d love to solve? Have you cause of looser curriculums, differ- heard of the Riemann hypothe- ent attitude and calculators. Abel-Ruffini Theoremstates sis? Comparatively, students here are that there is no general alge- Yes. The person who’ll solve it will better in math, but I’m afraid you be famous for many hundred years. might still follow the trend (smiles). abric fomula for finding the It’s amazing how that hypothesis is roots for polynomial equation- related to other questions in math, People like your haircut, espe- sof degree five or higher. such as prime numbers. It’s all cially last year when it was even inter-connected. Even better is the more punkish (laughs). Fermat’s Last Theorem, solved by (Laughs). It was just for one year. Andrew Wiles just 18 years ago.

8 Conference

180DC RIGA MEET PARTNERS IN STOCKHOLM Laima ver a year ago, in OApril of 2012 180 When? 16th - 18th of August Matas Vala, an SSER Where? Stockholm, Sweden 2010 alumni, took the Who? 180DC branches all across Europe courage to initiate the What? Workshops & Discussions Melkina 180 Degrees Consult- P.S. They say... the next conference ing (DC) Riga branch. will be held in Barcelona... :) Since then, we have developed and recently signed a partnership agreement with ‘Civit- ta’, a local consulting firm, which will pro- vide mentorship to our project teams. But To find out more, visit we won’t stop there! During the summer, we www.180dc.org participated in 180DC International orga- nized conference for branch development.

180DC BRANCH LEADERS FINALLY MEET SKYPE TALK WITH THE CEO The conference took place in Stockholm and was hosted by the 180DC branch at SSE. The Furthermore, we had a Skype session with Nat goals were to strengthen the relationships and Ware, the CEO of 180DC, who founded the or- share experiences across branches. The con- ganization back in 2007. He combined the stu- ference was attended by leaders from 180DC dent’s need for a hands-on business experience branches all over Europe, including UK, Spain with the need of thoughtful business advice for and France. the non-profits. Six years later, 180DC is now the largest non-profit student-driven consul- tancy in the world, represented in more than 15 TAKING IT TO A NEW LEVEL countries.

The conference started with a meet & min- RIGA BRANCH PRESENTS ITSELF gle outdoor event where we got to know each Riga Consulting President Degrees of 180 other. The next day the conference was opened by Emma Lindgren, the Chief Branch Officer in 180DC Riga branch gave a presentation and Europe, who gave a short overview on what the talked about our latest developments, as did International Board of 180DC is truly about. the other branches. The conference was amaz- Joining the team of international executives is ing, and I would like to express my deepest an amazing opportunity for those involved in gratitude to all organisers, who covered all 180DC to bring their impact to a new level after travel and accommodation expenses. they have gained experience in their branches.

9 Debate column

MOOCs and Credit Points: At the beginning of September, most of us were caught by the Slippery Slope of Online surprise when the school’s adminis- tration characteristically gave a nod of approval to innovations in its Courses education practices, this time by puttingmassive open online video courses (MOOCs) on the same shelf as in-class electives. This has pulled SSE Riga in a debate in whichuniversities and experts, es- pecially in the US, ponder the future of uni education. For example, Stanford was among the first Ivy League schools to offer MOOCs in 2011, while many other (the presigeous Amherst college) deem they don’t live up to the recent hype.Ackwnoledging the benefits of online education, the Debate Column asks the more controversial question of whether ‘THW give credit points for MOOC courses’ is indeed a Prop: It’s the future anyway, so we better get used to it Prepared by debate partners Rokas Narkus (Year 5) and Stanislav Filatov (Year 5, one of the graduates who pushed this idea through the administration)

different from achievement in any other elective course and proven the absence of harms from MOOC credit points, let’s look at their benefits. From students’ point of view it gives the encouragement needed to go through the course when it gets tough, especially for the beginners in MOOCs. Furthermore, they also allow students to really enlarge their diploma with some highly relevant skills that et us start the discussion about MOOCs starting wouldn’t be otherwise available to them from the SSER with the credit points system. At our school credit elective selection. From the School’s perspective, univer- points are given as official recognition that shows sity is still in charge of the curriculum - it can choose for Lone’s achievement in mastering the course. Usually the which courses to grant the credit, how to monitor and achievement is proved by the exam, project work, series assess them. It can also see which courses are better for of assignments or just attendance. In the case of MOOCs the students. Another important aspect is the cost of run- all the students are required to upload the output of their ning MOOCs (which is close to zero), allowing school to learning process (in the form of assignments, exams, provide electives of greater quality for a lower price. project works and certificates), so theachievement is seen and proven. Moreover, MOOCs are a disruptive technology in the sphere of education whose impact one can’t neglect, so One of the key concerns, perhaps, is cheating. There is it is better that School learns how to gradually include it definitely apossibility of this; nevertheless, it is not bigger into its curriculum. MOOCs make SSER more affordable than innormal elective courses. Moreover, chance that the for students and hence, more competitive. student will be tested once more at the end of the course, Note that in this debate we try not to mention benefits of reputation effects in a community of peer-learners and MOOCs themselves (which are vast!), and concentrate student’s conscience furtherlimit the possibility of cheat- only on Credit Points. ing.

Having established why MOOCs achievement is not

10 Insider, October

rom the very beginning I want Opp: Face it - that cool professor in the vid to make it clear – MOOC is a wonderful addition to one's Fstudying experience and nobody in doesn’t care about you its sane mind would oppose that. Prepared by Edgaras Marcinkus (Year 3) What I do oppose, however, is giving the lecturers have no incentive to make them challenging formal credits for completion of these courses as I see a or to ensure that they actually check the students' knowl- number of problems with that. edge, because, hey, they don't need to ensure a certain Firstly, it is important that students do attend elective level of quality. courses and maybe learn a thing or two from the lectures; Secondly, elective courses, as they are, can be amended that is the reason why we have sign-up sheets there more on a lecture-by-lecture basis. It means that students can often than voice their opinion about the course and a lecturer can we don't. respond to it so that the course doesn't spread misery However, while it lasts. However, MOOCs don't allow it to happen, by the very because - face it - that awesome professor in the video that nature of you are watching doesn't care about you. Nor does he care MOOCs it about the SSE Riga's administration, which means that is impos- the school has absolutely no control over the content of sible to these courses, and trust me, not all of them are great. ensure that Thirdly, the reason why elective courses in a university students like SSE Riga are great is that they allow a student-lectur- actually er interaction to take place not only during the lecture, watch these but also after it ends.MOOCs don't allow that interaction lectures. to occur, because, again, a professor doesn't care about Sometimes you more than he cares about thousands of other stu- it is very dents in the course. easy to pass Many students will run after MOOCs to get free credits the tests without learning anything, which means that the school in these won't be able to force-feed any knowledge to them and I courses as suppose that's an outrageous and horrific thing, right?

11 Debate euro trip

the moment of writing this article, Y1s and Y2s have just finished their At fourth week of studies, while some SSE Riga debaters have spent two of those four weeks in almost four different countries. This will be a short sum- “THE mary of all the adventures we had while you were busy studying Maths or Int national Economics. HARD LIFE EUDC The first tournament that we attended was the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC), and this year it was held in Manchester. Not only it is OF AN the second most prestigious tournament in the world (the first place is taken by WUDC), but also it gives a unique experience of trying out the life of a student in Manchester. Seriously, who would mind living in the UK for a week? The event SSER gathered 432debaters from all European countries. SSE Riga was represented by two teams (Ruta Gabaliņa & Edgaras Marcinkus and Ieva Skrīvere & Gediminas DEBATER” Užkuraitis) and one judge (Lauma Vernere). expected, the main adjudicator team (including arguably the best debater s, forgot about my radio- ever - Shengwu Li) had prepared a set of very interesting motions. Some Upactive sandals! Asexamples: Another point to consider when This house applauds the rise of songs by female pop artists that glorify asser- visiting Israel is security check. It is perfectly normal for all for- • tive female sexuality. eigners to be inquired for some This house would provide welfare in the form of basic goods 20min about the purpose of • and services, rather than cash payments. their visit, names of the people they know in the country, who After 9 rounds the 16 best native speaker teams and 16 ESL (English as packed their bags, or whether second language) teams were announced. Unfortunately Ieva and Gediminas someone has given them a gift missed the break by one point, while Rūta and Edgaras lacked three points to before the trip that could be a be in the quarterfinals. Initially it seemed that the Baltics will be represented bomb. only by a team from Tallinn, but then our very own Lauma broke as a time- keeper. It was rough, her hands even got a bit sore from the intense clapping, but overall she represented SSE very well. The quarterfinals and semifinals took place in the Manchester United stadium, a Mecca for most football fans Old Trafford, while the finals were held in Palace Hotel.

ESL final motion: This house believes that the state should not fund any works of art or performances that the average citizen would not recognize as having • artistic merit. Winners: Lund A Open Final: This house would give more votes to citizens according to their • performance on a current affairs test. Winners: Oxford A.

ter both finals we had a black tie social with a superb three course meal and unlimited amount of wine. As a result of that Lauma and Ieva ended Afup dancing with the Chief Adjudicator, the debating God Shengwu Li. A great ending to a great tournament. t as if security questions RED SEA OPEN Buwouldn’t be enough, my Just two weeks later Ieva and Gediminas headed to Red Sea Open in Eilat, fellow travelers decided to spice Israel. In short, RSO is a debate tournament that is better than most people’s things up by seeming even more vacation.And from now on we’re planning to make it a tradition that the best dodgy: Gediminas the Respon- team in Euros gets to go to Israel. sible made his passport just a wever, it is quite far away, and the flight ticket prices are not that stu- week before the trip, which is Hodent-friendly. Therefore, we invited an alumnus, ex-debater, and a lecturer a universal red flag for shady in SSE Riga Mārtiņš Veiss to travel with us. Luckily he works for airBaltic and immigrants, while Mr.Veiss had thus can provide +2 people with tickets at airline employees’ prices. However, recently visited some aban- to enjoy such benefits, we had to listen to quite a lot of random airline trivia doned military base in Cyprus, (Veisulis is very passionate about his work, so he always enjoys sharing facts so his sandals apparently still about the length of the runway, number of this particular plane model in airBal- had some radioactive dust on tic’s arsenal etc.) them.

12 Insider, October

, those extremist bomb- ings… BecauseAhh of the security checks getting in Israel was difficult, but it was nowhere near the struggles we had with getting out of the country. Firstly, due to some Egyptian extremist bombings near Eilat a month ago the government suggested changing the plane trajectories for domestic flights. The airlines did not see it as a smart idea, so they just cancelled a couple of flights, including the one we were hoping would bring us to Tel Aviv. Thus, we had to ar- range with some Israeli debaters that they would call the airline, shout impolitely, and arrange that our flights are rebooked. Secondly, due to some holi- day (or maybe some religious reasons) the direct flight to Riga was cancelled as well. Our Plan A was going with Austrian Air- lines to Vienna, while Plan B was getting business class tickets to Warsaw. Having a Lithuanian with us made the choice easy, as visiting Poland never seems like a good idea to them. Thus, we ended up spending a day in Vienna. Shortly, it was a day full of seeing pretty buildings, drinking good beer, and eating huge schnitzels. ter all the security check we were finally let in Tel Aviv. Although it was a ck to the cold, sad, and Afweekend for them and nothing was working, we didn’t mind as our hotel rainy country was 2min away from the Mediterranean Sea, and the water was close to the air BaAfter a bit more than a week temperature of +31. of travelling we finally landed in Riga. When returning from day Drink, Tomorrow Think a country that does not have ToAfter almost two days in Tel Aviv we headed more to the South to Eilat. clouds, the rain makes you very There we were provided with 5 basic necessities for the next four days: food sad. Also the 20 degree differ- (huge banketas three times a day), drinks (open bar from 9:00 to midnight ence in temperature does not every day), shelter (a LVL 100 per night hotel room), sun (+36 degrees and not help. The only thing that could a single cloud), and water (pool, and the Red Sea in 5 min walking distance). cheer us up was remembering And in our humble opinion, we were quite good at making the most out of the that debate tournaments hap- situation: you have been in the sun a lot, if the locals compliment your tan; pen almost every week in all moreover, you have visited the bar a lot, if the next morning Russian tourists parts of the world, and there are are complaining about the students who drank the bar empty the night before. so many places we can still visit The stereotypes about Eastern Europe were established even further by us during our time in SSE. having a team name ‘Today Drink, Tomorrow Think’, and Gediminas having the most useful skill in a bonfire party next to the sea – being able to open a beer If you also want to experience bottle with a lighter (during one night he had to open at least 50 beer bottles). similar travel adventures, come and join the Debate Society. The tournament: God, and male circumcision Sessions are held every Monday But in addition to the humble life we had in our free time, the tournament itself and Thursday, 17:15, in 507. was of a very high quality. Israeli debaters are one of the best debaters in Europe, as many of them have English as their first language. Also, the judg- P.S. It is never too late to start. ing pool was very experienced, consisting of the two main judges in upcoming Mr.Veiss joined the Debate Soci- WUDC, and two judges from the next EUDC. Some of the motions: ety only in Y3. Though he still This house would ban the circumcision of males under the age of 18. regrets that it took him so long to make this choice. • This house, upon discovering irrefutable proof that god does not exist, would use a fail-safe system to destroy the proof and hide it from any • human’s knowledge. by Ieva Skrivere

13 Interview The zebra that sung the

BOHEMIANraphsody

‘Why would you want to live a less interesting life?’

interview with Dzintars had one at that time... was the Assistant Director, and all Dreibers, who earned his Looking back, I can of course see the basketball stuff is mine. (Ai- masters in economics, the creativity. I had made some gars) Grauba and (Andrejs) Ēķi s a r e Abut tradedn an established career to theater plays during secondary wonderful movie directors, but they pursue his passion in film-making. school. In SSER, I made some very simply had no idea about basketball strange performances together with (laughs). If you happen to bounce in a for- Andis Kotāns by singing the Bo- So I was responsible for making the mer coursemate, probably em- hemian Rhapsody and dressing up score script in a way that everyone’s ployed in a business or finance as a worm and a zebra. Something shouting ‘YEA-AA-H’ even though the industry, what do you say when totally crazy (laughs). result is known beforehand (laughs). one asks, what, Dzintar,are you up to? Do you think its OK not to be With the business and education I think all of them know what I’m do- sure about what you want to do background, do you think it’s ing. The first moment... Well, I don’t possible to make money in this right after graduation? industry in Latvia? think it’s a very big surprise, because Those who know are, I think, very all the students eventually had very This is an amazingly sad story. lucky persons. Probably you’d find Latvia is small. It’s easy to make different interests in life. Some are them in Biology, or something like working in architecture, or nature yourself a name in the industry, but that. Economics is a rather broad then very soon you reach a ‘ceiling’. observing, or even being sports subject with many, many possibil- commentator. That’s what is good You can get quite a bit of money in ities. Still, I enjoyed SSE Riga very the advertising and commericals; but about SSE Riga. The diversity. much. But all other schools seem Actually, some of them told me making a profitable movie is quite that if I hadn’t gone into film, they very bad afterwards (laughs). impossible. Last years are better, would(smiles). though, as more and more foreign, Should one logically think about especially Russian, films are made here, in Latvia. They come here They might then ask, why you one’s purpose, or just let the life do the choice? to save on expenses, and also get did it. I could never wanted to sit down for some funding from Riga municipal- The answer is very simple. After months, and think about it logically. ity. On the other side, technology graduation, I had no real idea what My mind just doesn’t work like that. is becoming cheaper. It’s possible to do. I went to PwC, which seemed During my studies, however, I didn’t to make amazing videos relatively the best choice at the time. Three fully believe that you can choose cheap. years later, I still didn’t have a clue. whichever field you want, and live Looking for something more creative, a good life in it. All the talks about The state provides some help to I tried marketing. It wasn’t really very pursuing what you like sounded like hold together the film industry. creative (smiles). It was more about bla-bla-bla in secondary school, Are there any drawbacks to such being confident about something and most of us just went to the a help? that isn’t possible to measure in any best school at the time, and later to Latvia has allocated 2 million lats for way. all the films, from documentaries to Then I took a pause to re-think what where the money is. animation. The biggest films, such I’m doing. By that point, I had al- as the Dream Team 1935, collect- ready made a couple of films for my What is a typical day for you ed around 0.5 million – totally not friends with the idea to make them now, as you’re making films and enough. Even though the film was laugh, to make it fun. doing what you really like? There’s no typical day in film a major success, economically it (laughs). I work on documentaries, still was far from paying off. But Had you done some filmmaking as well as advertising; you also make culture, and gather while, say, a teenager? some fiction stuff; even corporate history, and make people stay in the I had no video camera (smiles). videos. At the same time I make my country, which is very important. If own documentary films. Remem- nobody makes a film about the Yes, probably very few people ber the Dream Team 1935 movie? I

14 Insider, October

pre-crisis period, it will be a sad For example, I started a film about resembles zombying. story. We will lose the lessons from police. There is corruption and some those memories. shitty things, but also lots of ded- What kind of an advice would icated people. And its funny, too. you give to students who are You’d be amazed to hear the stories thinking of having an unortho- Can you sell almost anything to people creat after being stopped by dox career? the jury to get that state sup- police for speeding! Pregnant wife, Nike. Just do it. Of course, there’s port? Or are there some taboo toilet, whatever! a trade-off. Following a traditional issues? career will much faster lead you to There is no such censorhip in Latvia. The United States and the EU a car, a house, and stuff like that. You just have to be passionate. The are struggling to sign a FTA. One Switching the career won’t neces- problem is different: last year only reason for it is France, who is sarily take away all the negative 1 from 4 fiction films actually got blocking free trade by protect- aspects any job has: we still have the funding, even though all were ing their national film industry our routine and strange people all preparing for more than three years. from cheap American Hollywood around (laughs). But if your heart Its a harsh competition. blockbusters. Do you support sticks to something else, I see no such a state intervention? reason why continue living a less Can we specialize in some genre, The reality is that American block- interesting life. export it and reach wider audi- busters are just too popular, with too ences? good actors, to block them. It would We had an interview with Zane Currently, we lack a particular niche. be stupid to say, we don’t want to Čulkstēna last year, who works If you look back in history, it all see Scarlet Johanson naked ever in marketing.... starts with a genious personality that again! Yet some amount of the profit She’s amazingly good! triggers a new wave. But even dog- gained from tickets should go to lo- ma films from Denmark, a huge thing cal film producers. Or that cinemas ...but she was somewhat critical in Europe at the time, just managed should show local movies at least of the fact that SSER can lead to be profitable. 15% of the time. Unfortunately, this you to a career path so fast that kind of protection is also artificial. it’s difficult going back to do the Local producers have to get used to thing you actually love. Do you How can we develop this niche the idea that you’ll get in the cinema agree? ganre? only when you’ll actually produce a I wouldn’t blame the school for your Some break-out is needed. A very good, mainstream movie! lack of courage. Plus, you always strong personal statement. Latvia have the opportunity to ask for some is still quite known for poetic doc- Competitive education can often more artistic elective courses. The umentary films, made during the incentivize people to travel and administration is very open to sug- Soviet time. One example is the film work abroad, in the search of gestions. Of course, as you gradu- ‘Ten minutes older’, directed by Juris better living standards. How ate, you probably won’t be going to Podnieks. You see only the face of would you motivate people to work in Narvesen as the guy making the child and his emotions, from stay and realize that you can hot-dogs. It may as well be easier tears to laughing, as he watches have a fulfilled life here as well? to switch to arts from Narvesen than a movie in the film theater. It was I’m more enthusiastic of the idea of from an investment bank. amazingly recognized, and is still giving students the mental means studied in film studies in the US. to see these possibilities you can What qualities did the SSER give achieve here, rather than restrict you that helped you over the What would be your ideal film? them going abroad. It’s the job of years? What were the ones that I love to document the social con- the school, and education in gener- were lacking? temporary issues specific to Latvia. al. Making propoganda videos just Everything related to organizing your work, discipline, work ethics, presen- tations and deadlines has been very useful ever since. Cooperation and teamwork as well. What’s lacking? Well, in SSER you get used to being among bright minds and wonderful lecturers who talk about how to cal- culate taxes. You get out in the real life, and realize that it’s impossible to pay those taxes in the first place (laughs). And the IQ is lower, too. Finally, what’s your role in a team work? As a director, I’m a visionary and put the scriptwriting in real life. But I also have to be rather sceptical about what the scriptwriter has imagined. If the writer has portrayed a guy like Arnold Schwarzeneg- ger, but the actor looks like Scarlet Johanson, we might have a problem (laughs).

15 Exchange by Aleksandrs Goba Y3 stories Norway Norge Norwegian School of Econom- ics (NHH) X NHH is Norway’s oldest business school and a leading Norwegian teach- ing and research institution in the fields of economics and business administra- tion. NHH is a very active participant in exch Thege programs: it currently have e first impression of Norway partnerships with more is definitely the magnificent Tnatureh and especially the fjords! than 130 foreign institutions Students here are offered a great in over 30 countries, and variety of trips and cruises, which around 40 percent of the are partly or sometimes even fully school’s students spend sponsored by different student or- ganizations. at least one semester on exchange. Notable alumni include Helge Lund, the CEO of A must-see place is called Trolltun- at NHH). A price for a 0.33l beer in Klubben is around 3EUR and this Statoil; Jon Fredrik Baksaas, ga, which is a cliff in a shape of a the CEO of Telenor, a telecom- tongue (just like the one from the is the CHEAPEST beer you can get Lion King movie), which is positioned here! In the city center prices for a munications provider; Yngve over a wide river between two very 0.33l beer might be up to 9EUR and Slyngstad is CEO of Norges high fjord mountains. cocktail prices are varying between Bank Investment Management 20 and 130 EUR; therefore, all in- Studies at NHH share some similar- coming students are taking all (NBIM), which manages Nor- ities with SSE Riga, since the level way’s sovereign wealth fund. of studies is quite high. Moreover, Around exchange students are offered a 20% of vast choice of different courses in areas such as finance, business, applicants marketing, economics, strategy and, Cuba libre for are ad- of course, Norwegian main special- mitted ity, shipping economics. The main difference between SSE Riga and annually. NHH is the cosmopolitan society 20€+? Welcome to in school, since there are students from more than 50 countries. It is really interesting to get to know so Norway! many cultures after getting away from the usual Baltic culture. Since NHH is a business school, duty-free amount with them from the crazy student parties are not an airport. Another must-do thing if you exception here. :) There are numeral ever visit Norway and plan to stay student organizations, which orga- for some time. nize different shows and parties at NHH. Moreover, students in NHH are All in all, Norway is a wonderful considered to be the most active country to spend your exchange se- ones in the whole Norway, therefore, mester, since here you can not only anyone can find an organization to enjoy the beautiful fjords and do a join according to his or her inter- lot of hiking, but also get involved in ests. a lot of stuff such as different sports activities, student organizations and When it comes partying, pre-par- free salsa lessons, ties here is a must, since due to municipality regulations alcohol is get to know a lot of very expensive, therefore, students great people, find your true love, usually gather as early as at 18.00 to enjoy crazy Nordic parties and much pre-party and then all together go to more. Klubben (famous club located

16 Exchange stories

by Victoria Pilinko Greetings from the far East, Locals everyone! Here follows my short Funny. Differ- ent. A bit rude, story about how Hong Kong has at least some been so far. Please don’t mind of them. Weird it being so short, but life is out combination of being ‘very there, and sitting in front of the efficient’ as PC is among the worst things they say about you could do while amazing stuff themselves is happening. and hurrying, and being extremely Studies slow on some I don’t know whether it’s just a dif- occasions at A Beach Vacation ferent exchange attitude or maybe the same time. I haven’t got it yet, but having 6 Haven’t made courses at the same time, I feel like up my mind on vacation. It’s very easy compared You’ll Never Forget yet whether I with the right ones, your life will to SSER. Lecturers have, let’s call like them or not. So I won’t gener- it, funny accents. Locals come to alise, but just say that I’ve met a few surely be quite adventurous. lectures onehour late! So, if I’m late, very cool locals. A few. I am not missing lectures, I am just Traveling trying to assimilate with the local Food I haven’t been anywhere outside culture! I would kill for kefir, tvorozhok and Hong Kong yet, but planning to go to smetanka (i.e. biezpiens, skāb s the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, etc. The Campus krējums). Possible to find good food, And just to make non-BY students Amazing. Big, comfortable, all you some Thai or so, but for a person appreciate their passports – Be- need. But a bit too much bookings like me who doesn’t eat meat the larusians need visas even to those and queuing, though you get used selection narrows down significantly. Southeast Asian countries. *…* - to it. It gets so bad at some points that I ‘space for swearing’. start cooking… Those who know the Hong Kong usual division of tasks in the dorms Opinions expressed in the above Awesome! Beautiful skyline, unsur- between me and my sister can prob- paragraphs are my personal sub- passable views on numerous hiking ably understand what it means… :) jective observations and might not trails, crazy partying districts, and adequately reflect the reality. I am beaches, of course. And yes, the People off to have fun, m goi. sea is super warm. And yes, you can The city is very cosmopolitan, tons start biting your elbows right now. of people from everywhere, but still Beaches are awesome. of course Chinese faces dominate The City University of the scene. Exchanges are a lot of Hong Kong CityU university offers more than 130 Bachelor degree programmes within six Schools and Colleges, including Business. The main cam- pus is huge with an area of around 15.6 hectares. There is also a huge library, with the total number of seats available around 2,200 during term time, and 2,700 during exam periods. The university was ranked 104th in the world and 18th in Asia by the QS World University Rankings (2013/14), and 4th in Hong Kong. Bachelor of Business (BBA), a 4-year program, is the most popular such undergraduate program in the coun- try, with 4586 applications for the 2013/14 school year. BBA students will not select a major until Year 2 Semester A. The top 20% students (based on their Year 1 academic performance) have a free choice of majors; others face a quote and harsh competition. fun, and as long as you catch up

17 INSIDERSPECIAL

From now on, the Insider starts a new Business Spying column called the Insider Special. It is devoted to taking a closer look at a issue Insights They Don’t talked about in the elevators of Wall Street and brought up during chit-chats at CEO Want You To Know dinners, but which may as well have slipped unnoticed to you in the rain of course formulas and theory. This time, it’s business spying and busienss intelligence. You may think that as a student, you’re as far from business spy- ing as one can get. Not quite so, says Annie Machon, a security and intelligence expert. In an interview to the Insid- er, she suggests that, to keep up with security knowledge, students having a ‘CEO’ title in mind should learn the basics of cryptography, and universities should offer courses devoted to intelligence.

18 Interview

Business Spying Insights They Don’t INFO Want You To Know >Worked in British Security Service (MI5) in the counter-terrorism division investigating Irish terrorism.i >In 1996, blew the whis- tle on a series of alleged crimes committed by the spies, such as phone tapping and gathering info about senior gov- ernment officials. >15 years later, is known Annie as an intelligence expert, international speaker and political campaign- MACHON er. “A successful cyber attack would explode the financial system” An exclusive interview with a former the world, it also aims to surveil- Aren’t we too small to be signif- spy at the British Security Service lance it. icant? (MI5) who blew the whistle on the But industrial espionage is not done I’d still say it probably is happening. extensive criminality within the only by the state. In fact, in the de- It’s former Soviet Union, after all, intelligence agencies, and has since cade following the 9/11, there has and it’s definitely pretty high up on been an interna been a massive explosion in cor- the NSA list. tional speaker on intelligence and porate spies. The mercenary spies, security matters. She admits to the as they’re called. Organizations like Background checking is very im- Insider that the recent leaks by Ed- Kroll, which does due dilligence, portant when one is applying to ward Snowden are only part of the have grown massively. a senior business position. The story: big businesses do spying too. so-called due dilligence. What You mentioned mercenary spies. do you think are they checking? Edward Snowden, an American Is there any other tools the Everything possible will be checked. whistleblower reporting the sur- government can use to spy on The NSA is gathering information prising extent of government’s businesses? on your credit cards, medical re- mass surveillance, recently Infiltration. Particularly in the UK cords, all the employment histories revealed that the NSA has been recently, there’s been a big scandal of course. A full spectrum check. keen to collect key business about phone hacking. This involves They’ll even talk to your friends and information from strategic com- not only getting the messages off former colleagues, until something panies, such as the Petrobras oil the phone, but also blagging (as murky scribbles out. This includes company in Brazil. What do you they call it). Blagging occurs when your sexuality. If you’re secretly think is the extent of business a mercenary spy, knowing whom to gay, that might be used as leverage spying in Europe? call, would call up and pretend to be against you. This information can Quite extensive. One of the aims a certain employee and get some prove to be very dangerous when of national security agencies is to sensitive, perhaps secret data. The used to blackmail you. protect the economic wellbeing of private detectives would go even the state, which means that they further than that. So it’s a very Is it possible to hide something? also need to maintain competitive murky world. I think it’s very difficult. It’s certain- economic advantage. Businesses ly possible to scrape your internet should accept that that’s the way it Should relatively smaller busi- profile on Facebook, which means goes.In this globalized world, the US nesses in the Baltics and East- not only taking it down but actu- especially isn’t just trying to police ern Europe also be concerned? ally erasing the information that’s

19 to assume that nobody keeps that ganizational culture that’s pressured intelligence secrets was simply to information stored even when it’s against you. You raisie these issues make it a part of a life-long culture. out of the internet. with the management, but they of- Charles Strauss talks about this in ten just shut you off. It’s endemic. his articles on intelligence security. Any tips on how not to screw You can see it even on the scale of In this market, however, people are up? what Snowden has done. The NSA expected to hop around from com- Well, you can try to keep some info isn’t saying, OK, we’ve done some pany to company. The concept of out of the public domain, keep your bad stuff and maybe we should re- whistleblowing is going to get much FB page very, very blank, don’t show do it; instead they’re closing ranks. more common, increasingly difficult your friends and business net- I’m not saying you shouldn’t join to control, and lead to a cultural works, etc. I’d also suggest thinking these organizations; just be aware shift over the years. strongly about privacy when making of where you’re pulling yourself in business deals. Similarly, many to. How important and widespread businesses use Microsoft as an op- is spying on your main competi- erating system for encrypting even Obviously, you can’t always tors? I was once told in a guest though the NSA spieshave a very whistleblow all the small eth- lecture that Samsung guys easy way in through the back door. ics violations. At which point know all there is to know about So, if you’re really serious about should one just conform and Apple products and financial keeping your info safe, I’d suggest accept the reality? numbers... switching to open-source systems Depends on your country and the I think it’s blatantly obvious if you such as Linux. company. Becoming a whistleblow- look at the products (laughs). er will change your life, since people Industrial espionage is as old as Coming back to phones and calling, what’s the best way to achieve privacy there? This is when you become really par- anoid (laughs). The smartphones have a GPS installed in the battery so they can track you wherever you are. Most people think that if you switch it off, it’s off. It can actu- ally still be live and recording. So some will take out the battery. The problem is, if they’re really at you, they’ll have installed a second small battery that is still running for about 15 minutes. So, if you’re doing anything really confidential, make sure you leave your mobile phone at home. If you want to be secure with com- municating to another person, get brand new SIM cards and tele- phones just for that conversation. Don’t use it for anything else. Are major business leaders taking these precautions, when, for instance, discussing mergers and acquisitions? will notice it and, effectively, you government espionage. It is indeed If they’re serious about it, they become unemployable. easier now, as you can hack your should. But most leaders don’t Thankfully, sometimes they’d have way into computer systems, as think that way. Businesses should whistleblowing protections installed. the Chinese have been doing with definitely be more aware of the Having said that, none of the people American trade secrets. privacy factor. Occasionally you who have called out the corruption hear on the news about some in the London banking sector have confidential talk in a low-key motel. managed to stay in the industry. But the best way to con- Sometimes they’d even switch the They all admit being persecuted for duct it is via human sourc- rooms just prior to the meeting, or violating some certain confiden- es, the ‘plants’ in compet- close the curtains to cut out any tiality agreement. Those who ask listening through the window with questions tend to leave; the dull itor companies. There’s lasers intercepting vibrations. It ones progress up the career ladder. probably one or two in indicates that they’re quite aware of each company, quite high the spying risk. What is the underlying reason behind the policy of keeping in the organization struc- One of the reasons you left MI5 whistleblower protection loose? ture. was because they didn’t share The lack of political will almost your ethics values. What should always comes from business lobby. one do if such a discrepancy is Yet it’s culture, as well. My parents This has been happening in the oil happening in a company? generation would expect to have a industry for a very long time. It’s very difficult to change the or- job for life. The old way of keeping

20 Insider speacial

The Chinese hacking fuss rises mastercode the NSA might have the issue of how deep the gov- planted there. ernment should be invovled in protecting the better performing Financial institutions are also companies. Is it their job, or the very vulnerable to cyber attacks. company’s? Last year 53% stock exchang- It’s really the responsibility of the es were hit by hackers, and company. Of course, if someone the total cost of cyberatacks is is developing a super-new weapon, estimated to be above $100bn. it’s also in the long-term interests Might the next financial crisis be Ultimately the question of the government to step in and triggered by a cyber attack? help. Yet the stronger the govern- Might easily be, yes. Even though it’s probably is for how long ment laws become on intellectual just as likely to be triggered by the can you protect your in- property, the stronger the push-back young and eager criminals working tellectual property, and is from the hackers. Ultimately the at the top of most banks (laughs). question probably is for how long Do you remember the Stuxnet com- whether, with the internet, can you protect your intellectu- puter worm that the Americans and everything should be much al property, and whether, with the Israelis developed to attack Iran’s more open-source and col- internet, everything should be much nuclear facilities? So, these cyber more open-source and collabora- attacks can be designed as a weap- laborative. I definitely agree tive. I definitely agree with the latter on. Once you release it in the world, with the latter side. side. It may as well revolutionize the you must control it or it’ll come back whole method of production acrosss and hit you. If something like that is the planet. embedded in the financial system, it probably would explode. What may be the way out for small and medium sized com- Should business schools such as panies here in the Baltics, who, SSE Riga teach about the secu- still facing hacker threats, lack rity threats to their future busi- the funds to maintain a proper nesses? security branch internally? Absolutely, yes. In fact, my partner The Germans are using Linux on the has lectured in a lot of Dutch uni- federal level across many munic- versities and MBA classes to these ipalities. The encryption is much middle-managers who are bound to cheaper, and there’s much more get to the top one day. And they’ve support. In fact, following the NSA never heard of any of this (laughs)! relevations, all the top hacktivists and computer geeks are thoroughly looking through Linux to erase any by Anna Kuznecova , et al.

INSIDERSPECIAL21 Christopher column FINANCES “The Oxford Handbook of Venture Capital,” edited by Douglass Cumming. Oxford Books thesis students call University Press, 2012. have been asked This book has been described to me as Iby the editors “A gift from God” by a grateful thesis student. The ‘gifts from God’ of The Insider to Oxford Handbook series offers articles written in fairly prepare a list of ‘TOP-books.’This request puts your non-technical language that survey a subject such as humble librarian at a distinct disadvantage, namely, venture capital. These books are great tools to start I’m not an expert in any of these subjects, with the your research into a wide variety of topics, and not just in finance. Do a title search on “Oxford Hand- exception of ‘other,’ which I majored in at university. book” in the library catalog to see all of them in the The list, therefore, has been constructed with the library. help of such anecdotal evidence as how often ECONOMICS a certain title is checked out of the library, or how “The Economics Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained,” edited by Niall Kish- many tissues I must offer tainy, DK Publishers, 2012. a student upon break- Anders Paalzow found this book at an Urban Outfitters in the U.S. and ing the news that a cer- brought it back for us. Let’s be honest, no one at this school should need such a basic book in economics, but I have to admit, it does a tain book is not available. pretty good job of taking complex issues and breaking them down in lay language. A good book to explain to your parents what it is you are doing here.

“Introduction to Econometrics,” James H. Stock, “Thinking Mark W. Watson, Fast and Addison-Wesley, Slow,” MARKETING 2003. Daniel “Social Media “The Luxury Strate- Yes, this is your Econometrics Kahneman. Marketing,” Tracy gy: Break the Rules textbook. What’s worse, the “Wait, what is this? L Tuten, Michael R of Marketing to Build editors at The Insider asked This isn’t an econom- Solomon, Pearson Luxury Brands,” J.N. me not to put textbooks on ics book!” you say... Publishing, 2012. Kapferer, V. Bastien, this list. Well, I really don’t Well, yes and no. In care what they say and I’m Hot! Hot! Hot! This book is so Kogan, 2nd ed., Page Publishers, his book, Kahneman trying to make a point. The hot we have trouble even order- 2012. addresses the psycho- point is this: often students at ing copies! This is a book all As you may know, luxury is not logical underpinnings SSE Riga ignore the textbook. about harnessing social media the way your librarian rolls. My of how humans make That’s fine, everyone has for business. This is the book attempts to reach the heights of decisions, especially in their own learning style, and for you if you want to evolve fashion stop short of being able an economic context. some of the books are more beyond “Dude, our business to match my socks. Howev- Kahneman’s book is a relevant than others. This should have a Facebook page... er, here at SSE Riga, we have a perfect example of what one, however, is supposed to or something.” Tuten teach- cadre of marketing experts for happens when two so- be really, really good. Alumni es in the Executive Education whom luxury is second nature, cial sciences intersect. swear by it. So, the message program right here at SSE Riga, not to mention first priority, and Profound and easy to is, if you need to learn some and I understand her course is a this tome is their bible. “The read, “Thinking Fast and Econometrics, this is your blockbuster. This book is not to Luxury Strategy” is the single Slow” is worth a look. go-to guide, recommended by be missed. most requested title among people who have passed the thesis students interested in class, and they’re the experts marketing. after all.

OTHER ENTREPRENEURSHIP While the SSE Riga library “The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-by-Step focuses on material that The SSE Riga Center Guide for Building a Great Company,” Steve Blank supports our courses, we and Bob Dorf, K&S Ranch Publishers, 2012. also collect books on a for Media wide range of other sub- Studies This book preaches the message that new busi- jects. There are secrets Collection. nesses can’t simply act like small models of large, at the ends of the library, The Center successful companies. Members of our LOE staff maintain that and you are invited to for Media Studies has Blank’s book is the best book out there for understanding how come in and explore a collection of books to get a business up and running today. them. covering all aspects of journalism.

22 Extracurriculars Go Beyond’s second grad class

FIGHTSsmoking

epūt “NMiglu” Pēteris Tulls, Y2: ‘GoBeyond was a priceless opportunity to accomplish projects that I would have never done otherwise and to develop my skill set along the way.’

Beyond, a popular youth already and we continue working in this project can say from the heart, development program order to fulfill our mission – that this was one valuable, fun year, among SSER students, in which each of GB participants im- proved and developed themselves. Gjust sawo its second graduation class. to empower young people to For a year, SSER students mingled acquire leadership and pro- Participate with other students and developed fessional skills in order to go Unfortunately, this year’s application ideas such as “Nepūt Miglu”, an an- beyond their limits process is over, but if you are young ti-smoking campaign all across Riga, people who has willingness to ded- and Latvia. Learn icate your time to personal devel- During this year, we, GB partici- opment, learn new things and spend About pants, better learned how to work your free time wisely, then you have Go Beyond is a youth development in a team, how to better manage to apply for this amazing program program, which was established in our time, how to cooperate and next year! June, 2011 by five professionals who find a compromise. We have met wanted to improve leaderships skills amazing people, and not only our 5 things you didn’t know among youth, increase their com- peers-participants, but also person- petitiveness in the labor market, en- alities, who have already achieved about GoBeyond courage more successful integration something. We have gone out of our in the entrepreneurial environment comfort zone, and not only during 1. Did you know that GoBeyond par- and improve the quality of informal teambuilding activities, in which ticipants participated in anti-smoking education in Latvia. This program we were climbing on the ropes, but campaign “Nepūt miglu”? has been implemented for two years also during many presentations. We learned a 2. Did you know that GB’13 represented lot, and 5 students from Stockholm School of I believe, Economics? that most of the 3. Did you know that each GB partici- valuable pant has his own mentor and coach? things we will re- 4. Each month we have amazing guest member, lectures. Lectures always are life experi- under- enced and interesting personalities. stand and use after 5. During this year you have an oppor- year or tunity to become friends with amazing maybe people, who already know what they even later. want from life. But I think everyone who has been in by Laura Sarta

23 Insider, October

The Insider takes a look at some of What a wonderful the most challeng- ing internships this year, and con- internship! cludes that work- ing-your-ass-off is what makes a superb summer experience. Whether it’s sales, marketing or banking, each of the four fellow students admit to having one of the most intense summers in their life. And it’s not like these Y2s had a leasiure time before, nor are expected to this year. Some call it self-torture, others - per- sonal growth. 2989 FAMILY VISITS SECURE AN Position ‘INTENSE’ SUMMER Independent Student his summer I was in police cars; covered 2500 km on a bike. The Dealer of Southwestern working with SW, great thing about this summer internship is that Tselling educational something extraordi- Advantage Company systems door-to- nary happens to you 3 associations with the job door. It doesn’t almost every day. sound like fun, I There are too many

Pilinko Challenge, personal know, but actually I fun stories to tell - growth, fun can tell that it was there are not enough Duration and overall the best summer pages in the Insider. satisfaction (1-5/5) in my life: the most This job gave me a challenging, fun and lot: experience, great 3 months, 5+ intense one. Here memories, money, are some numbers but the best thing I of my summer: had 69 working days, 1009 gain there is the habit working hours, met 2989 families; was selling of being happy no in four different languages: English, Russian, matter what! Cannot Spanish, Pennsylvanian Dutch (the last two wait going back next I was learning already at the workplace:); 3 summer!

Krystsina times got ride back home from police officers JĀŅI ENDS WITH BREAKFAST IN THE OFFICE

started just after Jāņu diena, and had the first breakfast with my colleagues and Jāņu I cheese, since there is tradition to update every- one of what is going on during collective break- fast of Brand and Advertising team. Moving I didn’t expect forward, I actually think that it is a good idea to to actually discuss various topics in informal atmosphere. be present at meetings with Mostly I worked on data collection, social moni- Film Studios toring, including legal information that was quite or to see how Position interesting. Besides, the shooting I also had to help process of a Intern in Group Marketing my colleagues on new advertise-

Plaudina Department at 4Finance various tasks, that ment clip was 3 associations with the job mostly involved going on. Well, I did. My department was trying translations (there to think of tasks and different activities so that I Computer, free atmo- are 12 countries they could take the best out of my internship. sphere, open space office are operating in). Great experience, for a person that thought that Duration and overall That was the core of Cannes Film Festival is everything that hap- my work, however, pens in Cannes (there is Cannes Lions, as well). satisfaction (1-5/5) I remember some Searching for outstanding advertisements, and Anna 8 weeks, overall particular things I updating myself of news in this field field was as satisfaction - 4 enjoyed the most. well part of my job.

24 Internship reviews

HOW TO BEAT STANFORD

Position ould honestly say that this was one of the starting from creating Intern at Strategic de- busiest, hardest and the most exciting sum- an idea till the real Imerc in the last couple of years. outcome which you partment (DDB Worldwide Working in advertising is not as easy as it seems can see online, on TV Latvia)

it the first moment. It involves a lot of commu- or on the street. 3 associations with the job Sanita nication, team work and socializing, because uring this summer without a team it is impossible to make anything I stepped out from Challenge, excitement, IQ happen. In Dmy comfort zone, camp order to make did things that I have Duration and overall things done never done before, you have to such as organizing a satisfaction (1-5/5) communicate festival: 1st annual 5 with designers, SSE Riga fundraiser: copywriters, Hardy Rock festival. project man- Furthermore, I had a chance to learn from the Gila agers, etc. best in this field, establish valuable contacts This was and the best thing was to see the result of your an amazing work after a few months of hard work, non-stop opportunity e-mailing, meetings with Alumni, etc.! to see how Thanks to our Alumni we managed to reach the structure participation rate of 35% in Alumni Donation of advertising campaign; therefore, beat Stanford and increase campaigns are participation rate by 2% in comparison with actually built; 2012.

SEPA FOR DUMMIES Position was a summer intern in the payment and meetings. My main Summer Intern at the Bank settlements department at Eesti Pank (the task was the restruc- Karl Arnold I central bank of Estonia). My responsibility was turing of the SEPA of Estonia the coordination of information about SEPA (sin- section on www. 3 associations with the job gle euro payments area) on websites of various eestipank.ee home- SEPA, TARGET-2, ECB-re- governmental organs. page, which required It is very important to explain in a simple and expertise on the SEPA stricted pedagogical way how SEPA will impact private topic and knowledge Duration and overall persons and companies in their everyday activi- of everything about satisfaction (1-5/5) ties and businesses. The new payment system is the current situation quite complicated to understand in the begin- on SEPA migration 6 weeks, satisfaction: 5 ning and public at large need to get ample infor- in Estonia as well as mation in order to understand what changes will deep understanding require action about the difference on their part. that SEPA would make in Estonia and Europe. So I needed to I had to read dozens of migration reports and set myself in official papers and learn new terminology as their shoes and well as discover the universe of payments. I Kommel explain SEPA enjoyed it greatly since I learnt a lot, people from their point there were very nice indeed and for the first of view. time I had a real responsibility. Moreover, the Also, my job networking opportunities were really good and was to prepare I made loads of new contacts not only with white papers people working there permanently but through and briefings the internship program. on the SEPA Bank of Estonia accepts around 9-10 interns topic to higher every summer, and if you have the chance, I officials going really suggest you apply! to various ECB

by Olha Novak, Maria Azina

25 Lifestyle Where to live? s the new study year has started and for ing situation. This will lead us to talking about Amany of us it is the first one, different life pluses and minuses about this living place decisions are arising. One of them is, where as well as about the expenses that follow to live? There are at least three choices: (a) it.If you are still wondering where to spend one can stay living with parents, (b) move into your study years, there is definitely a perfect the SSE dorms or (c) rent an apartment with place for you out there. Maybe you will realize friends or course mates. We will present you your ideal living place while reading this arti- three examples of people having different liv- cle.

Stick With The Parents

LIVING WITH PARENTS IN BALTEZERS, EXPENSES: Transportation costs: 1.3LVL/day ~ 26LVL/month Catering (outside home): ~2.00LVL/day ~ 40-50LVL/month Entertainment: on average ~25 LVL/month

TOTAL: 96 LVL/MONTH

iving with parents is not really an option for the opping and cooking because most likely there will most of SSE Riga students since their homes are ei- shbe something prepared already as I am usually the therL outside Riga or even outside the country. However, last one coming home. House chores are split between those who live relatively close to the centre of Riga have family members which makes a life easier than in case the dilemma between staying with parents and leaving of living independently. the nest. My decision in favour of the first option was The list of drawbacks of living with my parents is not mainly driven by financial reasons. Renting an apart- a short one, but I will list just some. For instance, the ment and paying utility bills raise the costs quite sig- distance is an issue. Baltezers is about 15km from the nificantly, while these expenses can be avoided by living centre of Riga (40min bus ride). So, whenever I have a with parents. There are, of course, other benefits for lecture at 8:15 I have to wake up at 6:30. The last bus living with parents. For example, after a study-hard day to Baltezers leaves at 23:05. So, when I miss the bus at the school, I do not have to think about grocery due to studies (has never happened so far) or due to parties (happens always) I have to take taxi which again cost 7-11 LVL depending on the taxi company. Apart from this, lack of privacy sometimes is an issue when living with parents, but the main drawback is that I do not learn how to be independent. Even though it’s very convenient that the most house chores are done by someone else, it does not teach me the responsibility for taking care of my living conditions. Independent live, however, forces people to look after themselves. Have an Apartment, Have a Party

LIVING IN A STUDENT APARTMENT NEXT TO SSE, EXPENSES: Rent: ~100 LVL/month 4 minute walk Living with parents has many benefits such as men- Cooking at home: ~60 LVL/month tioned before. But my first main reason for moving out was need of living close to school. At the moment it Entertainment: ~30 LVL/month takes me 4 minutes by walking to get to school while it took me one hour by tram before. TOTAL: 190 LVL/MONTH

26 Insider, October

The lessons of dish-washing thought outside the box. I believe that many of my Besides this, my most important reason for living alone friends who live with their parents might have this issue was lack of independence. And this word “indepen- and will have to deal with it at some point. dence” can be interpreted in different ways. Technically, I am not really independent since my parents still pro- vide me with money to pay the bills. But what I mean by being independent is being able to take care of myself when it comes to daily life. Such little things as cleaning the apartment, washing the dishes, cooking, laundry...Seems nothing serious. But I Alberta have to admit that while I was living with parents, I did street apart- these house chores maybe once a month, because my ment: mom had already done them all before I returned home everything’s from school. amazing, including the Now I do not have such option. My living environment price. around me is exactly as I make it. If I will be lazy to wash the dishes right after diner, I know for sure that the next time I’ll enter the kitchen, they will be right there in the sink waiting for me. There is no one who can do this in my place. Even tough sometimes it can be quite tiring to do these chores, especially if I come home from school Missing those daughter-mom talks very tired, doing them has thought me a great deal of These previously mentioned aspects were all benefits of self discipline and time management. living alone, but there are also some negative aspects. One of them is feeling a little bit lonely. Even tough I do Growing up not live alone in my apartment, because there are other Although these little daily responsibilities are important students living with me, I still miss my family. Sometimes to learn at early age, there is one other reason why I de- I just wish that I could come home and my mom would cided to live away from home. It could be called “phys- be waiting for me there, she would have prepared diner iological pressure”. Even tough I have very kind and and would ask how was my school day. This sincere caring parents, I felt that my personal development is caring is what I miss the most. That’s why I try to vis- slowing down while living with them. They always treated it my parents at least once a month and I am lucky me as their little child and even tough it is understand- enough that we live at the same city. able, it made it more difficult for me to concentrate on Over all, I would never regret moving out from my studies or to have my own strong opinion on different parents’ place and learning to take care of myself and topics. I usually adopted my parents’ opinion and rarely overcoming some emotional difficulties.

It may not Oh, those dorm jokes… be luxury, but sure LIVING IN SSE RIGA DORMS, EXPENSES: gets you focused on Rent: 50-70 LVL/month work. Cooking at dorms/ ~60 LVL/month eating at school: Entertainment: ~30 LVL/month

TOTAL: 170 LVL/MONTH

The differnece countries still miss their families a lot. Living in dorms Living in the dorms in not much different from living in is a bit like being in school just in a little more relaxed a student apartment. Just instead of some four people, environment. one is living with sixty people at the same place. Distance from school Group study However, there is one aspect of this living place that You still have to clean your room, wash your dishes can be considered as quite negative- it is the time that and look after your belongings. But there are quite a has to be spent to get to school. It depends on a way in few benefits of living in dorms that neither people who which person choses to go to school to see how much live with parents nor those who live alone has. One of time is required. Some people ride a bike while others these benefits is having your schoolmates near you at take bus. It is approximately 20-30 minutes to get to all times. If there is some problem regarding studies, school and that time is cut off of our sleep. But besides you can just find some person who is willing to hep and this, living in dorms is a great place where to live during easily solve it. People who live in dorms are their own one’s study years. It is also one of the best ways to little community. They have inside jokes, parties and, of make friends from school and to learn living away from course, group study sessions. In dorms it is quite hard home. to feel lonely, although people who are from foreign by Paula Rozīte; Arnis Puharts 27 Survey

BEERMONSTERS They are mysterious beings who only appear once every year (like Santa) during Newcomers Camp to show the new students a good time. They are crazy, unpredictable party animals with an outstanding immunity to alcohol Q and a questionable fashion sense (because latex and capes is a seasonal thing). They are the Beer Monsters. What lies beneath the mask?

Andrius Čiapas (Beer Monster of 2012 and Kipras Binkauskas (Beer currently an exchange student in Hong Kong) Monster of 2013 and the current vice-president of the SA board) 1. Favourite brand/ 1. Well, this is a tough one. Normally I don’t consume 1. Švyturio „Baltas“ alus type of alcohol? alcohol at all; I find it rude and appalling. (Švyturys “White” Beer)

2. What do beer 2. Search for a higher meaning in life. But just like nor- 2. Drink beer, but it is to mal people, we have normal lives, normal identities. Like mainstream for a beer monsters do in Bruce Wayne, when he’s not fighting crime. Although not monster… Sometimes I their free time? that rich (or handsome). drink cider as well in my free time. 3. What is the most 3. Of course, the eyes – the beauty of a lady lies in the depth of her eyes. You can say a lot about a girl just 3. Beer belly, sure I’m visually attractive by looking at her eyes for a while (but of course she’ll kidding, woman has to be part of a woman’s think you’re a creep for staring in her eyes for so long, beautiful overall from out- body? therefore the safe method is to check out the other parts side as well as from inside, beforehand, just not to raise any suspicion) everything has to balance.

4. Craziest thing 4. I had new glasses for about a week. Went to a party, 4. Every day is crazy for a you have ever don and for some reason I decided that I needed extra dra- beer monster, especially ma in my life, so I threw them to the crowd and wan- the main day of the year – 5. Craziest thing dered around blind for the remaining evening. (But woke New Comers Camp up with them on my face, so someone was very helpful you are planning (thank you Lyosha :*). 5. It wouldn’t be that crazy to do? if I would plan it. Best 5. Don’t have any plans. But most probably it would things come unscheduled. 6. What are you fu- happen during graduation. 6. Beer taster would be ture plans regard- 6. My time horizon (which means also my future plans) nice of course, but I guess I ing work? is limited until the New Year. For the remaining time, it’s will have to choose some- mostly improvisation (wake up, do something, go sleep). thing not that awesome, still 7. Name 3 quali- When it’s time to feel responsible again, I’ll start thinking. haven’t decided what. ties of a good beer 7. -Shouldn’t be afraid to do crazy stuff and not to think 7. Wild, irritative and monster about the consequences. staunch. -Drink a lot of beer. -And to be frightening to the newcomers. 8. Porsche 911 8. Name your dream car model 8. Seat Leon III

Marcis Klavins was the party com back then, he came up with the idea of a mascot for NC. As far as I remember, he asked me if I wanted free beer in ex- change for dressing as the Beer Monster on NC and making fun of new students over a microphone. I told him ‘you had me at free beer’.

Eerik Oja, Beermonster of 2010 and 2011

28 Small talk

WARNING! THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH SOME READERS MAY FIND OFFENSIVE. THE INSIDER TEAM DOES NOT TAKE RESPONSI- BILITY FOR THE CONTENT APPEARING HERE. IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU COULD BE OFFENDED IN ANY WAY, SKIP THIS PAGE. AND REMEMBER, THIS IS JUST FOR FUN!

Gossip They say that you are not a They say that even Sisyphus daily job is more useful SSER student until you spam than HRM course. the entire school. They say that Linas (Y1) is an intellectual alcohol G consumer. They say that Idangine Magons are awesome. They say that there is really no difference between They say Rudi is racist. HRM and O&M. hey say you cannot always trust everything you hear They say that the teacher of Latvian thinks we under- or read in gossip page! stand Latvian. T They say Math exam results (Y1s) will be epic. hey say after basketball, Kipras was towel spank- Ting the guys in the shower. They say that Krisztina Kodo (Y1) is scared of relation- ship. They say that Christina (Year 2) likes to complain about Y1s in the cafeteria to Maja in her free time. They say that the three Lithuanian girls are truly angels. They say that Annija (Year 2) ‘under the seat’ finds a They say that Ieva is dating the SA president. perfect place to put chewing gum on.

They say that one girl from Year 1 lost her virginity They say that this school is full of rampaging alcohol- during Newcomers camp. ics.

They say that a girl (Y1) punched Dainis (Y1) because They say that trying to feed the horses money was most he tried to invite her to a car to have a romantic ad- hilarious thing ever. venture. They say there’s a hint for Y1: you don’t have to date a They say that there are a couple of guys who don’t want person, with whom you kissed/had sex in Newcomers to get in bed with Katrina (Y1). camp or during the party. They say that Artūr s Černis (Y1) has actually made a ey say Simonas (Y3) is little brother of Guntars good joke... once. Th(Y3). They say that Andis (Y1) has actually been awake They say Y1s have a slightly moronic sense of humor. during some LoE lectures. They say that attractive girls at SSE are really short. They say that there are some Moldavians and Roma- nians who don’t argue with TA’s and lecturers. They say that the first party was almost empty. Where was everybody? They say that Vladlens Kovaļevs (Y1) is Mārtiņš Sirmais (famous latvian cook) undercover. They say that Paulina Katilovskyte (Y1) eats only shoes.

They say that Rūdolfs (Y1) like to hunt not only ani- mals. They say: hey, Kyrylo (Y2), you should understand, if many peole don’t like you, perhaps something is wrong with you.

They say that Jēkabs (Y1) has actually taken off his coat.

They say that Anastasija Muravjova (Y3) is unwilling to give up her party animal status. “Nice customs They say Faisal Khokharis actually from Pakistan. curtsy to great kings.” of the things you learn as a college president ‘One is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie William Shake- and jacket on Thursday afternoon at 3 o’clock, there speare, Henry V are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an asshole.’ By Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard

29 Hardy rock

VoluptaHardy Rock, periorrum the SSE Riga autmascot, quam has est, had que a busy time this semester, beat- inimpeing (up) optateturisall his competitor doluptaspidemascots in a race vellita to get to the top in alumni do- tiissinimetnation participation inis sit rates eatin the est, world. utem You que also saw him enjoying himself officae.in the Hardy Ut queRock vol event- oreperitthis September. aut pro Butv who is he anyways? What kinds of drinks does he prefer? Does he have a favorite football team, or a song to listen to? The Insider asked Hardy take a fun TEST to dig deeper in his persona, so Hardy that you have something to talk about when you meet him the next time! RockReveals himself in a personality test QUESTION A B C D OTHER

Which place would you Coyote Fly Rock’n’Riga Club La Rocca Everybody’d KKC visit on a Friday’s night? come to my place

Which of these sports Camel Wrestling Sheep counting Skydiving Underwater chess would you try out?

If in a bar, what drink Long Island Vodka Champagne Beer Wiskey on rocks would you take?

To which song would Hard to Get Hard as a Rock Hard Rock Hal- A Hard Day’s Why does it al- you sing in a shower? lelujah Night ways rain on me?

Your voice most resem- Clint Eastwood Morgan Freeman Arnold Sean Connery Rolling stones bles that of... Schwarzenegger

In football, you’d cheer Manchester CSKA Moscow Real Madrid Bayern Munich Riga Dinamo for... United

Which would better Sumo Wrestling Kickbox Russian fist Sucker punch describe your fighting fighting style?

Which magazine can be The Economist Playboy The Insider Sports Illustrated found on the table near your bed?

What kind of superpow- Sonic scream Freeze vision Force field gen- Firebreathing Poker face ers do you possess? eration

Have you ever met Yes No Yes, but he hasn’t Who is Chuck Chuck Norris? met me Norris?

Should I participate in Absolutely You bet Obviously Definitely the donation campaign?

30 31 JOIN

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