I remember a conversation that Lucky Goldstar and I once had over lunch - how useful should the blog be for its readers, and how much more useful one can you make it. Despite months of keeping a journal, I am not sure that I have found a perfect answer to this one. When I do, I'll be sure to organize it in white and blue triangles and squares, with little dots to indicate how useful and relevant each portion of the mix is and post it in a more colorful manner. Until that day, I'll certainly make sure to post an answer to any question that might be useful to the majority of people.

Any other question or concern, just pop me an e-mail and I'll reply to you offline.

If people start asking about whether they should choose the Singapore or the Fontainebleau campus, I must be clear: this is a question that I cannot answer. It depends on too many external factors.
I already had some experience in Europe and in the US. For me, spending time in Asia was a fantastic opportunity to see more of a new continent (ok 50% or more of my customers were already in Asia but still, I was not LIVING there). I also wanted to see the two faces of INSEAD, check up how integrated the two campuses are, how committed INSEAD was to the Asia business community, etc...If you are from Singapore, the Asian campus offers a very limited interest, and if you were born in Melun, Fontainebleau is at your doorstep so why bother?

At best, I can give some ideas of what one might find on either campus - and how they might find a better fit here and there.

There is already a series of post on the subject (see archives of early January). In general the Singapore campus is smaller in size, faster in its response, closer in terms of how everyone works together - and is great if you want to make a difference. I am trying to organize speakers' events and there are so many people that I can meet in Singapore and INSEAD has such a great name locally, that all I need to do is turn up at some networking event, talk about INSEAD and I have a line of people forming in front of me.
In Fontainebleau, things are a little different. There are more National Weeks, more formal events, more people, more of everything - less of this informal entrepreneur spirit, less of this "let's just get the job done" type atmosphere which I appreciate very much. Asian people are diligent, ask few questions and get a job done. Singapore is super organized. In fact, I am wondering why they are not exporting this skill everywhere else in the world which is chaos in comparison.

Another aspect: if you want to build a sense of community - especially across promotions - very quickly. Singapore makes it easier since everyone lives closer together, party or travel together, which is more conducive to a collaborative environment. With so much distance between villages, the need for a car, the fact that many people spend their weekends with families and the reality that most Fontainebleau people spend time at parties catering for hundreds of people makes it a bit more challenging, although certainly not impossible.

In terms of recruiting, more firms will come to Fontainebleau - although we have quite a bit in Singapore too (as more and more companies are expanding into Asia) so if you want a job in banking and in London, logically, you would not spend your last two periods close to Hong Kong. On the contrary, if you are thinking about being an entrepreneur - and not in France, INSEAD Singapore has the best, most flexible and most comprehensive set of classes and network.