7th Art: The Intouchables (2011)

"The Intouchables" is one of the best movies I've seen this year. Box office first-runner in France, a witty, intelligent and politically incorrect movie based on real events. As politically incorrect as real life is, and yet deeply human and positive.

François Cluzet reminds me of Dustin Hoffman in his best roles, and Omar Sy puts together the best of Sidney Poitier and Eddie Murphy.

The paragliding scene shows the city where I and Sophie got married (Beaufort) painted on the Alpine background.

Blame the USPS?

How important is the economic inefficiency and, why not, income inequality (think about e-commerce millionaires) created by the price subsidizing and cross-subsidizing of long-distance online commerce implicit in the artificially low USPS mailing fees structure found in the US?

Buying and selling decisions in Europe are more affected by distance, resulting in a lower amount of wasteful individual item packaging and long-distance routing. European fees structures also favor local brick & mortar retailers. In the US, consumers buy an excessive amount of small-value items through e-commerce because the cost of shipping them individually across long distances is too low. Without this price subsidy, consumers would resort more frequently to local retailers, which should be able to sell for less due to bulk shipping, handling and packaging.

Euromed Management Rises to 35th Place in the 2011 Financial Times Ranking

Euromed Management rose to the 35th place in the new European ranking of the FT

The two best European business schools are now located in France: HEC Paris and Insead. London Business School fell to a third place.

Of the top 36 programs 10 are in the UK, 8 in France, 4 in Spain, 3 in the Netherlands, 2 in Germany, 2 in Switzerland, 1 in Austria, 1 in Belgium, 1 in Finland, 1 in Ireland, 1 in Italy, 1 in Portugal, and 1 in Sweden.

Reforms undertaken by French business schools (Grandes écoles) years ago have clearly paid off, and there's yet momentum in the system. Among them, paying per performance, recruiting among the best in the world, teaching in many languages (with a significant share in English and French), and offering high-value alternative curricula that you cannot find in American or British business schools.