From Wharton S2S, following is just the beginning, check out the attached file.

Arthur Keller on Friday Night

            It was Friday night during the last week of Period 2, and Arthur Keller, a student at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, was trying to study for the Marketing Management II exam he would have to take on Monday morning.  Arthur was having a good time at INSEAD.  He enjoyed his studies and he had met some interesting people, but he felt like he was missing something.  He remembered the comments of his friend Baker, who had graduated from INSEAD in July 1998:

“Dude, INSEAD is a great place to meet girls.  The parties are awesome, and there is always a lot of booze around.  You go there, and you will have no problem with the ladies.  Trust me.”

            At the time, Arthur was really excited by Baker’s advice.  But things hadn’t really turned out as expected.  Even worse, Arthur’s mother had recently stepped up the pressure for him to settle down.  He remembered how she had badgered him during their last telephone conversation:

“Arthur, you haven’t brought any young women home in more than a year.  Your father is worried about you.  Remember our next-door neighbor Ludwig?  He just got married last month—and he works in the post office!  You know, you’re not getting any younger.”

            Arthur wasn’t sure what he wanted.  Although he would not rule out a long-term commitment, he didn’t know if he was ready to settle down.  The only thing he was sure of was that something had to change.

just realized that I can't upload attachment. ok, so cut and past.

Arthur’s Background

            Arthur was born in 1973 in a small town outside Frankfurt, Germany.  After graduating from a boarding school in Hamburg, he studied Civil Engineering at the highly esteemed Deutschebayerischepoliteknikuniversität in Munich.  He graduated in the top 10% of his class, but decided to leave engineering to work as a financial analyst for Deutsche Bank covering the Swedish women’s apparel industry.  He enjoyed his job, but after five years he was ready for a change.

            Women had never expressed any strong opinions on Arthur’s looks.  He was 184 cm tall with a medium build.  He liked to keep his light brown hair short, and a lot of people told him he looked a little like a young Sean Connery.

            Arthur’s first experience with a girl was at the age of 14, when he met Helga at a science camp.  Helga was a year older than Arthur, and she had surprised him by asking if he wanted to go to “first base.”  Arthur wasn’t very athletic, so he declined, but he regretted it for years to come.

            One weekend when Arthur was home from university, his father walked into his room and sat down beside him.  He could sense that his father was a little uncomfortable, so he asked if something was wrong.  His father said that he had discussed the issue with Arthur’s mother, and that they had decided it was time to talk to Arthur about “the birds and the bees.”  Although he had already learned most of his father’s lessons on his own, he listened politely to the explanations.

            During his last year at university, Arthur met a young Swiss girl named Heidi.  She had been in his Art History class the previous year, but somehow he had never noticed her.  But one night they were both studying late at the library and they got to talking.  A few weeks later they started dating, and after a year together Arthur thought she might be “the one.”  But the stresses of living in different cities after graduation eventually became too intense, and Heidi decided it was time to move on.

            Although people had warned him not to date his colleagues at Deutsche Bank, Linda from Human Resources was irresistible.  Newly transferred from the London office, she had the cutest Scottish accent he had ever heard, as well as very impressive “highlands.”

            After three months, Linda decided to transfer back to the London office, and Arthur had to be satisfied with a string of “one-offs” from the Munich bar scene.  Unhappy with this lifestyle, Arthur decided it was time to go back to school.

Business
                    School Romance

            There was widespread opinion that business school was where sex-crazed young professionals went when they wanted a break from work.  In its November 1999 issue, Playboy magazine had even published a ranking of the “Best Business Schools To Get Lucky”  (Exhibit 1).  Receiving top honors was Wharton School of Business, where more than 64% of students reported having sexual relations with one of their classmates.  Recent trends in the job market had intensified the sexual nature of the MBA experience.  One male student at the Harvard
                Business
                School reported that:

“After spending almost $100,000 and getting zero job offers, I figure I might as well get something out of this MBA.  And let’s face it: If these girls are gonna give it up for free, that’s one hell of an NPV!”

            Other students saw sex as an opportunity to improve their post-graduation prospects.  According to one female student at Wharton
                School:

“Maybe there isn’t a job waiting out there for me, but some of the guys here have some serious cash.  If I can catch one of them while I’m here, then that’s money in the bank.”

            The high level of sexual activity at business schools had led some outsiders to suggest that “MBA” really stands for “Married But Available.”  However, there was a romantic side to business school as well, with most classes generating at least one engagement by graduation.

Dating at INSEAD

            INSEAD is an international business school in Fontainebleau, France.  Although all classes are taught in English, students come from all over the world (Exhibit 2).  Social interaction between students can take many forms.  First, there are parties every weekend and even occasionally during the week.  These parties may be organized by individual students, or they may be part of the National Weeks, in which students from a given country plan events for the rest of the school based on there customs and culture.  Students also socialize in small groups, often by organizing “Random Dinners,” during which they dine with randomly chosen classmates that they may never have met before.

Students spend a good deal of time interacting in an academic setting.  Primarily, this occurs within sections—groups of 70 to 80 students who take all of the core courses together.  Within the sections, students are divided into study groups.  Although interaction within groups can be tense at times, the study group is still a viable social outlet.  Being on campus alone can generate opportunities for social interaction, such as encounters in the library, coffee breaks during the day, and conversations while sharing a cubicle.

            The diversity of students at INSEAD was reflected in the diversity of attitudes on dating and sexuality.  In many ways, this mix of cultures led to a higher level of sexual activity than might otherwise have been expected.  In fact, the dean of the MBA program, Pekka Hietala, was considering a new policy to deal with the issue. 

“We need to deal with the excessive sexual activity between our students.  We need to give them a safe environment where they can study without being overwhelmed by their hormones.  The administration is considering segregating men and women into different sections, as we believe this may be the only way to fix the problem.”

            Reports of high rates of dating at INSEAD overlooked the fact that the student population was 76% male (Exhibit 3). Thus, although many people had found romance at INSEAD, the phenomenon was no doubt limited to a small percentage of the males.  Unfortunately, Arthur was not in that percentage, and as he looked over his class notes, he wondered if it might just be a matter of marketing.  He decided to look back on his experiences over the past four months to see if he could apply some of what he had learned in class.

“The first girl at INSEAD that caught my attention was a Canadian brunette named Becky.  We met on registration day in the line for mobile phones.  We talked for a few minutes and she was very outgoing.  She was very excited about the parties at INSEAD, which she had heard were a lot of fun.”

            Arthur thought that the girl who sat next to him in class was nice, but she seemed a little too uptight about her studies.  He thought:

“Everyone says that grades don’t matter in business school, but this girl seems determined to be at the top of the class.  I try to start conversation with her before class, but she is always reviewing her solution to the case.”

            At lunch one day, Arthur met a nice woman named Isabel.  They had a very pleasant conversation, and Arthur was disappointed to learn that she had recently become engaged to her boyfriend, a Wharton
            School graduate who was working in London.

            Arthur couldn’t help but notice a group of girls who were always very well dressed.  They spent a lot of time in the bar, but they obviously prepared for class, as demonstrated by how much they spoke up in class.  Many of them were pretty and smart, but Arthur had a hard time figuring out what they wanted out of INSEAD.

            Although these experiences were particularly memorable, Arthur recognized that there were a lot of different types of girls at INSEAD.  At the same time, he wondered if he could organize the women of INSEAD in his mind.  He remembered what his friend Baker had told him over the summer:

“Dude, here’s the story.  There are basically five kinds of girls at INSEAD.  First, you have the Spice Girls.  You can find these girls anywhere—but especially at all the parties.  They’re pretty, but it’s all about supply and demand.  The competition is usually pretty stiff.  Next you have the Miss McKinseys.  They are sponsored by their consulting companies and are at INSEAD to have a good time.  These girls probably weren’t much fun in high school, so this is their second chance.  Then you’ve got the Ford Prize girls, but you probably won’t find them outside the library.  There are a lot of girls here with husbands or boyfriends—we called them the Wives’ Club.  These girls seem untouchable at first, but they are friendly—maybe a little too friendly.  The Other girls are anybody’s guess, so try them at your own risk.  But here’s the cool part—we even did a survey among the guys, and these categories are for real.” (Exhibits 4 and 5)

            With all this in mind, Arthur was determined to use his marketing knowledge to find a solution.  But what segment should he pursue?  And once he had decided on a segment, how could he maximize his chances of finding what he was looking for?

Source: Playboy Magazine, November 1999

¹This survey was conducted among 247 male students using a rating scale of 1-5 and with a sampling error of ±0.3.  No significant homoskedasticity was detected.

I have seen a different version of the list, on which Kellogg ranked No.1, and the 2nd and 13th were also different.

http://www.coolavenues.com/cafe/articles/arthurk_onfridaynight_7.php3

Hehe, these charts are really creative.