Divide and Conquer (HBO.1)

Strategy is always a key component in planning. In times of war, in politics, in love, in business and even in the case room, strategy has played a major role in shaping the identity and the perceptions of the people in the class. Interestingly enough I have noticed different group and individual strategies that range from case room CPs (class participation) to group alliances outside the case room.

In a competitive environment, there is a definite need for a strategy. You need to know who you are and who are the competition. Just for kicks, I have analyzed different people from class and what their strategies are. If they do it deliberately or not I don't know.

My analysis on some of the competition

Code name: Fire Cracker

My first impression of Fire Cracker is that she is smart but as the course progresses she has totally disproved my first impression of her. Her M.O. is that she would like to appear really weak and harmless and I think her strategy works for her because it seems that she gets called a lot in class even though most of the things she say does not add any value at all to the discussion. A lot of the guys gets irritated at her even outside the case room. She uses her "appeal" to try to sponge off information in meetings and use it in the case room. I know its basically learning from your peers but the irritating part is that she does not bring anything to the table to share in the learning experience.

Code name: Paper

Paper boy has this uncanny ability to make people hate him. I am not particularly sure but this might be a strategy that he will be always be top of mind of everyone in class and even with the professors. He also gets called a lot in class which I think is a ploy (maybe) by the professors to get the class riled up and spur discussion. He has a mix of arrogance and bullshit that makes him an easy guy to hate.

Code name: Kuneho

Kuneho is actually very smart and nice but deep down she is very very competitive. I think she sees everyone as competition and gets frustrated and easily depressed if she does not do well in a particular exercise or test. Funny thing I remember during the first few weeks is that a tactic that they would use is to get high marks is to recite looooonnnnnggg answers so that the professors would remember you.

Code name: Kazam

Kazam is the kind of guy who, I feel, looks out only for himself but then again i think most of the people here are those kind of people. I notice that he does prepare for class. The way he answers in class is the loooonnnggg answer method where it seems that he will never end. He takes a deep breath and shoots out all the answer in a very long, redundant fashion which is very hard to interrupt even for the professors.

Indo team: I personally have a high respect for these guys. They seem to have great work ethic, they are smart and moral. They serve as a role model of sorts for me but I don't know what everyone else is thinking about them. They are not very vocal in class but when they do say something they make a point.

Strategies are guidelines on how we approach the situation. The situation here is not that different in any other situation. Strategies are based on our personality and experience (knowledge). And it is always better to have one going into battle than not having one at all.