Chicago Business

Issue date: 4/19/07 Section: Humor

(Note: This case has been rather hastily prepared by Satyajeet Salgar after being inspired by a similar case written at INSEAD and by a HBS case or two. This case has been prepared for discussion rather than to demonstrate the effective handling of absolutely anything. All names have been disguised to avoid the possibility of litigation.)
Introduction
As Carol Chang gazed into the horizon from her favorite spot in the Summer Garden, her mind raced as she considered the key strategic options in front of her. It was April 2007 and she would graduate in just a few weeks. What was she doing with her life? Who should she go to work for? Why should she go to work for them? Should she take all her class pass/fail? Should she go to TNDC that evening knowing it would result in yet another random hookup that would come back to haunt her? Should she attend yet another study group meeting where no work would get done? Would she die alone and lie there for two days while three black cats bit parts of her toes off, as her favorite aunt did last week? What was the point of it all? She sighed and walked across the Rothman Winter Garden, the center of all activity at the Hyde Park Campus at the Chicago GSB. As she pressed the "down" button and started waiting for the elevator, Carol knew she had to make these decisions quickly. The most immediate of these decisions concerned Klaus Krug.
At that exact moment, Klaus Krug was gazing into the horizon of the wallpaper on the screen of his Dell Latitude computer. As he gave up on completing his Matlab assignment, he thought of sighing too. He chose to scream loudly instead. He was annoyed at his outburst. He wanted to scream again for screaming the first time. So many questions plagued him. Should he continue trying to do the extra credit problems? Should he waste some time on Facebook.com trying to hit on UChicago undergrads? Should he go to TNDC that night hoping it would result in yet another random hookup that would not come back to haunt him? Should he eat at the HPC cafeteria for the 956th time or should he venture out to the Divinity school where he felt guilty because he was reminded that others still believed in God? As he walked away from the study table at the HPC, knowing he would be away for much longer than the officially sanctioned 15 minutes, the question at the forefront of his mind was that concerning Carol Chang.

History: Carol and Klaus get to GSB
Carol Chang was born in Las Vegas on June 17, 1981. She was at the top of her class in high school and then went to Stafnord where she triple majored in Economics, English Literature and Film Studies. She went to work for the LA office of McKinley, a strategy consulting firm, and then spent two years at the Gades Foundation. She applied to five business schools. She was accepted at four and spent a year helping out abandoned children in Liberia that were waiting to be adopted by Angelina Jolie and/or Madonna. Exhibit 1 is Carol Chang's resume. Exhibit 2 is a Carol Chang's MySpace photo album. Carol served as Career Advisor, Graduate Assistant, LEAD facilitator and was the co-chair of three other student groups including CWiB. She joined fifteen other student groups during her time at the GSB.
Klaus' background was as plain as his personality. He went to the UofC lab school, then UChicago and then worked for five years at trading desk at Layman Brothers in NY. His boss cried when he left to join a hedge fund. The hedge fund (Amnarath) managers cried when his minor math error resulted in the liquidation of the fund. This tragedy allowed him to write a great reflective essay and he returned to the University of Chicago. Exhibit 3 is Klaus Krug's resume. Exhibit 4 is mugshot of Klaus that we had on file. Klaus interned at a hedge fund in San Francicso that no one had heard of and hoped to go to another quantitative hedge fund that even fewer people knew about. Klaus had joined just one student group: the Investment Management group, only so that he could stand up during one of their meetings and compare them to monkeys throwing darts and publicly denounce anyone who picked stocks based on fundamental analysis.

Career Turmoil: Carol and Klaus
Exhibit 5 is an excerpt of Carol's Admission essay, where she vows that she wants to build a career in social entrepreneurship. Exhibit 6 is a copy of a cover letter where Carol explains why the logical next step in her career is to be an Investment Banker. For the summer, Carol was on the closed list of every investment bank and half the consulting firms that recruit at the GSB. She had not actually submitted any applications to consulting firms. She had 22 offers by the end of recruiting season and chose to go to Glodman Scahs for the summer, and spend another six weeks at the Silicon Valley VC firm Sequin Capital. Klaus said he wanted to work for a hedge fund with a quantitative focus. He spent the summer working for one and would probably go back. Klaus will graduate from the GSB without ever logging into the GSB's Placement Bidding System (PBS) or ever writing a thank-you note. Klaus does not remember thanking too many people in general.

Personal Train Wrecks: Carol and Klaus
Exhibit 7 is a list of men at the GSB Carol considered interesting when not inebriated. Exhibit 8 was the list of men she would consider when her blood alcohol level was over 0.08%. After breaking up with her boyfriend before moving to Chicago and re-evaluating what she wanted in a relationship, Carol was extremely dissatisfied with her options at the GSB. She then dated a few men at the GSB and was now depressed even further. Her mother called every week to remind her that her biological clock was ticking.
Klaus was as a man and took whatever he could get.

Endgame: Carol and Klaus
All the companies that made her internship offers also made Carol full-time offers. In addition the Gades Foundation offered her a VP position as well and Carol was beginning to wonder if that's where she would find the most satisfaction. She was also confused by advice she received on the Chicago GSB annual trip to meet Warren Buffett. Buffett told them to only work for people that they admired the most, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to be self-employed. In addition, her mother was now calling her twice a week to remind her that her biological clock was ticking. She smiled as she remembered last Thursday's TNDC. Klaus Krug had been a bit of a revelation.
Klaus had accepted the offer from the hedge fund earlier that day, and as he finished up his bonus questions from the problem set, he smiled has he remembered last Thursday's TNDC. Carol Chang had been a revelation.

Case Questions:
"Evaluate Klaus and Carol as fits for the GSB. If you were on the admissions committee would you have let them in?
"Should Klaus and Carol go to TNDC this week? If they do, will they hook up? If your answer is yes, model the possible outcomes for this relationship. Calculate the NPV with real options. Relevant data is in Exhibit 15.
"Treat Klaus and Carol as brands.
oWhat would their positioning statements be?
oPerform a 3C-4P analysis in order to evaluate enumerate and evaluate their respective strategies.
"If Klaus and Carol come face to face on Thursday, what is their BATNA (Best alternative to negotiated agreement) to going home with each other.
"Should Klaus go to the hedge fund in NY given the prevailing macroeconomic conditions? What should Carol's decision factors be while choosing where to go to work? Where would you recommend she go?
(Note: Case exhibits and sample solutions might be posted, eventually, on the ChiBus website and at http://salgar.blogspot.com)

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