The Business Project at ESADE

This week we were informed of our business project. This business project is mandatory in the third semester of this Master's program. It is also worth 15 ECTS (credits). So although I will only be taking 2-3 classes during the semester, the rest of the time will be thoroughly allocated to the business project.

For this business project, our client will be Henkel. Henkel is a big multi-national company originating from the late 1800's in Germany. Henkel is comparable to such companies as Procter & Gamble and Unilever. These companies have a variety of brands and products in home care (cleaning products and detergents) and personal care (cosmetics, hygiene, etc.).

In a team of 24 people, we will be finding a solution to a situation/problem that Henkel faces in the market of Spain. I know that sounds very vague but I have signed a non-disclosure agreement that I can not disclose any additional information.

Last week we had 4 introductory days to the business project. We went to a factory of Henkel, located outside of Sant Cugat and outside of Barcelona, to observe the production and logistics of a particular category of products (the product that pertains to our goal and function as consultants). This was very interesting and useful.

The whole week was intense but of course also very intriguing. Everything was explained in Spanish (or rather Castellano) at the university and at the factory and we have the choice to write the final report in English or Castellano.

Below are also some pictures of Barça!

City of Barcelona

View from up high
After the rain, view from my kitchen
View from my living room balcony
View from living room balcony - Plaza Tetuan
View from my kitchen

Round 3 – Semester 3: Barcelona

As many of you know, I’m now in Barcelona, Spain. Here I am doing my third and final semester of the Master’s programme that has truly made me a “... a citizen of the world, known to all and to all a stranger” (Desiderius Erasmus).

I am now taking courses and doing a business project at ESADE, the business school of Ramon Llull University. The campus of ESADE is actually located outside of the city, in a town called Sant Cugat del Valles. To get there I take the metro from Plaza Cataluyna and it takes about 25 minutes to get to Sant Cugat. From there I walk about 15 minutes to get to the campus.

http://www.esade.edu/management/eng/barcelona-campus-life/campus

The campus of ESADE is extremely modern and new. Perhaps one of the most modern universities I’ve been at so far.

As for my accommodation, I’m living in the centre of Barcelona. I’m within walking distance of all the great things of Barcelona! La Familia Sagrada Temple (which I have a view of looking outside my apartment window), Arco de Triunfo and Parque de la Ciudadela (just down the street from my flat), Plaza Cataluyna is only a 10 minute walk away, and not much further are Las Ramblas, and of course the beach about a half hour walk away.

I’m living with 2 French guys who are working and 1 Hungarian girl who is doing the same programme that I am doing.

This is my second time living in Spain, but like before, I think I will have a hard time adapting to the eating times again. Eating lunch at 3pm and dinner at 9pm is something my body is not a fan of, but I'll manage!

Time at an Exponential Rate

Hello everybody! This update was planned a long time ago but time flew by and each day was filled with so many things that I didn’t even have time to write about the other half of Rotterdam. I’m sure I mentioned it before but the Rotterdam School of Management worked us hard, hours upon hours, days upon days. But we survived! I will say that much of my survival rate was due to my persistence of going to the gym. I’m a 'walking fact' that it keeps you balanced and sane! The second half of the semester was a busy one, not only did I have 3 classes but as the treasurer of the CEMS Club I had to partake in a lot of extra events such as fundraising activities and the Annual Event that took place in Rotterdam. The Annual Event includes a range of activities, but most importantly it is also the graduation ceremony for the graduating students. This year the Annual Event will take place is Lisbon, Portugal.

After some rather extreme winter weather in Rotterdam, final projects and exams, the semester ended quickly. Although intense and tiring, it was a great semester. Again I was presented with an opportunity to meet many people from around the world, each with their own unique international story and experiences.

To end 2010, I flew back to Canada to spend Christmas with family and New Years with friends. Of course I was also able to enjoy the great, the unexpected, and the fierce Canadian winter. Always pleasant –if you stay in the house!

2010 went by incredibly fast. From Australia to Canada to Holland, Norway and Hungary, it’s going to be a hard year to beat. However, I’m sure 2011 will make its mark as well!

Winter in Rotterdam

CEMS - Rotterdam School of Management

Consultancy Project and Overview of CEMS

Below you find a link of some news that was posted on the RSM website. It explains the consultancy projects as well as give an overview of the CEMS programme at Rotterdam School of Management.

http://www.rsm.nl/home/news/detail?p_item_id=6387959

The End of Block 1

Hello everyone,

Quickly an update! The weeks have been busy, busier, and the busiest I’ve ever had. I must say this is even more intense than the Master’s semester in Sydney. I was warned about this from other students who had done CEMS studies at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). After some discussion with other students and other knowledgeable insights, it seems that RSM is one of the toughest schools in the CEMS program.

Two weeks ago we also had a tour of the Rotterdam Harbor. I had specifically asked mother nature to bring us sunshine that day but no luck! It didn’t rain so that’s all that matters. The tour was organized by the CEMS Humanitarian Club and all proceeds went to the ‘School for Africa Fund’. It was very interesting to take a boat tour through the port, to see the ‘Old Harbour’ and then of course the massive port that was titled the largest port in the world for 30 years. Now the title has been overtaken by the ports in Shanghai and Singapore. Either way, Rotterdam’s Harbor is massive, covering 105 km² and stretching 40 km to the sea. It was first opened in the 14^th century and still going strong today with plans for major expansion (click on the link to see Rotterdam’s expansion plan). http://www.bloomberg.com/video/62104524/

Last week we presented our consultancy project findings to our client. This took place in Putten, which is a small town North East of Utrecht. In Putten, Jan Baan (a millionaire in the Netherlands) has a mansion in the countryside (see photos below). There he also has conference rooms and facilities to cater to events such as this. We had about 16 groups presenting to 16 clients about different problems that the clients needed solved. Our consultancy project consisted of market entry modes for the offshore wind parks in the North Sea (I cannot say more due to a disclosure agreement).

Starting Monday I will start the second block of classes. This block I will be taking Global Marketing, Entrepreneurial Start-Up, and Corporate Communication as classes. The entire block itself is only 7 weeks long but the Entrepreneurial class will only last 4 weeks as well as the Corporate Communication class.

It will be a very busy block as I will also be going to Budapest, Hungary for the CEMS career forum in November. This is organised by CEMS where all the students in different countries doing the CEMS Master’s program can come together and meet our corporate partners and partake in skill seminars.

At the beginning of December we will also have the CEMS Annual Event in Rotterdam which will take up quite some time as well.

Below you can find: Pictures of Rotterdam, Pictures of Rotterdam Port/Harbor, Pictures of Putten

These are in three separate bunches, so you will have to scroll down a bit.

The link for the Port of Rotterdam expansion plan: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/62104524/

De Vanenburg, Putten

Internal Analysis Team and External Analysis Team
My Consultancy Team: External Analysis
L-R: Aleksandra, Christoph, Krista, Jade
Entry gate to Vanenburg
De Vanenburg


Stage for presenting the consultancy findings

Port of Rotterdam Pictures

Rotterdam Pictures

Kralingse Bos, the bike was used as a barrier to keep the rather large ducks from running at me
View on my way to the university, Kralingse Bos
Kralingse Bos
My closet is now used for studying purposes and not just clothes
On my way to the university, Kralingse Bos
Kralingse Bos
This week's morning sun, view from my house
Kleiweg, home in Rotterdam

Events

It’s been a few weeks since my last update, or perhaps a month, but as anticipated the study load has been very intense. We are near completion of the first bimester so I will have final exams in 2 weeks. Between now and then, a lot will have to be done.

Last week we had a project to do at Procter & Gamble for our Global Supply Chain Management Class. This was very interesting since P&G is a very large multi-national company. Most of us use P&G products one way or another. Some commons brands are: Dreft (Dutch brand of dish soap), Ariel (Dutch laundry detergent), Gillette, Herbal Essences shampoo, Head and Shoulders shampoo, Pampers, Oral-B floss en toothpaste, Wella hair products, and Pringles chips.

We had to do a forecasting project for one of the Dreft products (forecasting demand for an 18 month period). It was interesting and very intricate.

Each year this Master’s program CEMS, has an annual event which includes the graduation of this year’s students as well as networking, decision-making, and discussion boards to improve the programme. Each year it is held in a different country and this year it is in Rotterdam. So the University, faculty and students are very excited to host this event. All CEMS students from each country will graduate in Rotterdam. Also present will be Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2006 who will join for a symposium on Social Business and New Capitalism. The Annual Event will take place 30 November – 4 December, 2010. http://www.cemsevent.com/

Since I am the treasurer for the CEMS Club Rotterdam, I will be quite busy during this event. Along with the other members of the board, we will be 100% involved in the event and we have already started organizing many aspects of it.

So along with studying day in and day out, we as individuals and as the class are very busy. The CEMS Club also organizes many social events. Last weekend we had organized a running dinner, which is actually a “biking” dinner. This was an absolute success! It is one of the best ways to mingle with classmates and to get to know each on a different level than just studies and projects. Our “biking” dinner consisted of 18 teams of 2 people. Each team was in charge of cooking a certain course of the meal. So some groups cooked appetizers, others the main course, and others the dessert. Where the “biking” comes in, is between each course: you bike to another house to eat the next part of the meal. And each time you switch houses, you end up with new people. So for example, my friend and I cooked the appetizer at my house, and at 6pm 2 other teams came over to eat (so you only had to cook for 6 people). An hour and a half later, the three teams each went their separate ways (on the bike) to another team’s house to eat the main course. After another hour and a half, each team went to another house to eat dessert. Every time you switched a house, you ended up with different teams that came from other houses, thus, you were never with the same people you had your previous food with. So basically we ate for 6 hours straight. The food was absolutely amazing and the social aspect was unforgettable and it’s a great way to see the city as you are trying to find the house where the next meal is at. The committee that organized this definitely had a complicated logistical task!

Also, for next week the CEMS club’s humanitarian committee has organized a cruise in harbour of Rotterdam to raise money for Schools in Africa fund. It’s a great cause and it will be interesting to see one of the biggest ports in the world.

(Picture of P&G below)

Procter & Gamble project

RSM – Rotterdam School of Management – Erasmus Universiteit

To give some insight of the university, I was told that the university is actually named after a Dutch philosopher named Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) who is also from Rotterdam. He was a philosopher and Renaissance humanist nearly 500 years ago.

Erasmus has some wise words:

“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.” -Desiderius Erasmus

"I am a citizen of the world, known to all and to all a stranger." -Desiderius Erasmus

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny." -Desiderius Erasmus

The first week has been rather intense but also very interesting. The semester is split into bi-mesters so I have 2 classes (International Strategy and Global Supply Chain Management) for the first 7 weeks and then 2 classes the second half of the semester. Whilst doing the first bi-mester, I will also be doing a consulting project for a Dutch company. We will determine the feasibility of providing a maintenance and reparation service to off-shore windmills in the North Sea. The company falls under the larger umbrella of Gas de France who is focused a lot in the oil and gas industry.

When I was in Norway last week, for the seminar regarding climate change, innovation and social corporate responsibility, we had 2 guest lecturers from two Norwegian energy companies, Statoil and Statkraft. Both companies are in the oil and gas industry but also focus heavily on renewable energy. Since then, I’ve become a lot more interested in renewable energy and I’m very excited that the Dutch company chose our team to complete this consulting project. I cannot go into too much detail because of non-disclosure aspects, but I think it will be very interesting to become involved with an interesting renewable energy project and to see if it is feasible for this company to service windmills that stand in the sea.

This week we also had a guest lecturer to speak about International Entrepreneurship. His name is Jan Baan and he is a multi-millionaire in Holland. At one point he was actually a billionaire, but that changed one night but he still had several millions in the bank so he just went back to being a multi-millionaire again. Some years ago he started the Baan Company, a software company that obviously did very well. He gave everyone a copy of his book “The Road to Market Leadership”. It’s in Dutch but you are more than welcome to borrow it! (Also available in English, on-line I’m guessing).

This weekend I will move into my apartment in Rotterdam which I’m looking forward to, especially because I finally get to bike to the University every day rather than taking the train and tram. Ask me again after it has rained like mad if I still enjoy it then! :D

Noorwegen - Norway - Noruega

As promised, a new blog post pertaining to this Master’s program that is allowing me to zig-zag across the globe.

To begin, the 7 weeks I spent in Canada after returning from Australia, were fantastic. I was able to spend a lot of time with family and friends and partake in weekly weekend adventures. Of course the weekdays were entertaining as well, Southern Alberta keeps you on your toes with frequent rattlesnakes visits to the house, a tornado warning nearly every other day, and well painting that fence surrounding the yard was pleasant, but because I’m such a great sister I think the thing I enjoyed the most was picking canola weeds in a sugarbeet field! ;) Sorry brother, this was the last summer you had the best employee to do those things!

As most of you know, I’ve been in Holland for a few weeks and I’m currently in Norway. I’m partaking in a block seminar that is compulsory for the CEMS Master’s programme. It is a weeklong seminar that focuses on a specific theme or topic. Each university that is part of CEMS has a weeklong seminar pertaining to different topics and themes. The reason why I chose to do mine in Norway was because the theme was much more interesting than the one offered in Holland. The topic of my seminar is Climate Change, Innovation and Social Corporate Responsibility. Thus far, we have had 5 lectures. The first two were about climate change specifically. The first focused on the economics of climate change in terms of green certificates and trade quotas of emissions. The second lecture was a view point regarding the natural cycles of climate change and ice ages as well as the issues regarding land use/management.
Yesterday’s lecture was about CSR (corporate social responsibility). Later in the afternoon we had team-building and leadership activities that took place at a rafting resort in Voss. Today's lecture focused on the ethics of business as well as the sincerity of a company's motivation to participate in CSR (genuine vs. instrumental in the sense of creating positive PR).

Monday’s lectures took place at NHH, school of economics and business in Bergen. The rest of the seminar is taking place in Voss. This is a small town in the mountains of Norway, kind of in the middle of no where but still on the main route for trains. Our location is right on the lake surrounded by lush green hills and snow-topped mountains... a beautiful view to wake up to! It's been a bit rainy and cloudy but it's very refreshing to be in the crisp mountain air.

My journey to Norway began in Oslo. From what I’ve seen, Oslo is a beautiful city and I will return there Friday night. From Oslo I took a train to the west coast of Norway to the city of Bergen. It is nearly 8 hours in the train but definitely worthwhile to get a view of the incredible landscape. Everyone has said Norway would be beautiful, and I must agree that it is indeed picturesque.

In terms of the Norwegian culture, it is very open-minded and friendly. I love the humour and easy-going, casual people and professors. For those who know the Big Mac Index, yes Norway is expensive, I checked it out and it was approximately 109 krone voor a big mac meal at McDonalds. As the exchange sits now, that is nearly 12 euros or 15 Canadian dollars, give or take a little. One professor said Norway is sitting at number 1 in terms of the Big Mac Index. Most of us know that Norway’s tax and regulations are quite intense. No alcohol can be bought after 8pm in stores, and I’ve heard even as early as 6pm on weekends. Some say this is a way for the government to regulate consumption, but of course everyone knows to just buy enough before closing time. 8 euros for a beer is also quite normal here. I’ve found public transportation to be of a normal price although I’ve also realized I need to practice my times-table of 8 more often! Approximately 1 euro = 8 krone so dividing everything by 8 is apparently not my strongest asset (but I’m sure I’ll be pro by the end of the week!)

Moreover, the Norwegian language is intricate but I like the sound of it. But it is not of too much concern to not understand this crazy language as nearly everyone speaks fluent English; extremely well and many with hardly any accent. Compared to other European countries such as Germany, France and Spain, many Scandinavian countries do not impose their language on English-speaking television shows, especially those from the States. All the American shows will simply have subtitles whereas other countries, where people’s English skills are not as strong as in the Scandinavian countries, will use their native language into the characters’/actors’ script.

So far the seminar and people have been utterly interesting! Everyone has their own unique story, most of those also have jumped across the globe for various reasons.

Of course time permitting, I will try to post some pictures later today.

Fotos Norway

Improvising since my suitcase broke in my travels from Oslo to Bergen, all is well if it is balanced 10 kg in the front and 10 kg on the back
Voss
Voss, view from my room
Voss

Bergen
Bergen
Bergen
Bergen
Bergen
Bergen

Wine to-go

A convenient way to have some refreshing white wine, 200ml. The packaging of this product is what caught my attention but of course I couldn't resist having wine while waiting to board the plane in Holland. Either way, I like the marketing aspect of this. On the back of the can it says "At the seaside, in the mountains, out sailing, in a plane, eating dinner ... it's so small and trendy you just have to take it with you wherever you go. Serve chilled." I suppose it's the nerd in me relating everything back to marketing, but I couldn't help but share this especially since I did a case study on the marketing of the Australian Yellowtail wine and how they tried to reposition wine in the market, and they succeeded in doing so. I would say Yellowtail and this Italian winemaker are targeting the same market although this Italian wine's packaging is very unique.

The End of University of Sydney Semester

To start, I had every intention of writing one more blog before the semester ended but the last weeks of the program would not allow for it and I simply ran out of time.

Either way, after our classes were done, we had a week to study for exams and finish off projects. The following week exams took place, along with a 2 hour presentation to our client for the Not-for-Profit venture.

It was a very busy week as exams took place, as I was also starting to pack up my room and clean out my kitchen cupboards, and get ready for my mother to arrive that weekend.

My mother came to Australia and we spent a few weeks travelling on the East coast of Australia. I first showed her the city of Sydney and the University. After a few days there, we flew south to Melbourne to meet two aunts of my mother and her cousins. This was a great opportunity for us to see the city of Melbourne as well as some of the countryside 300km west of Melbourne. It was starting to become Fall in Australia, so Melbourne definitely demonstrated that Australia has a colder climate as well. From Melbourne we flew north to Brisbane and then to Cairns -- the tropics of Australia which has pure summer weather all year around. We spent most of our time in Cairns doing various activities such as sea-kayaking, rain forest tours, Great Barrier Reef tours, and experiencing the wildlife. We were able to see koalas, crocodiles, kangaroos, pythons and many unique creatures in the wild. Cairns is definitely a top destination for anyone. There is an abundance of things to do, or as the Australians would say, there is heaps to do!

My experience in Australia was simply fantastic! It’s a beautiful country with great people. The city of Sydney has definitely made my list of favourite cities that I’ve visited. It may actually sit at number 1 right now! It’s an amazing city that has a lot to offer; it was very clean and felt very safe. Of course the University of Sydney was also an unforgettable experience. The campus was massive but easy to find your way around. The Master of Management program was tough and required a lot of effort but it was worth every minute of it and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I thoroughly enjoyed the Australian culture, in terms of the informality, the business culture down-town Sydney, and the friendly and easy-going Australian people. And of course the people that I have met, my classmates and friends make this journey priceless!

So what is the next step for my master’s? I will be doing my first semester of CEMS (Master of International Management) in Rotterdam at Erasmus RSM (Rotterdam School of Management) starting August 30. The week before classes start, I will be doing a block seminar which is compulsory for the CEMS program. I will be doing this at the partner school of CEMS in Norway. My block seminar will focus on innovation, climate change and corporate social responsibility. I will be in The Netherlands from August until Christmas.

From January 2011 until May I will be doing my second CEMS semester in Barcelona, Spain at ESADE (Escuela Superior en Administración y Dirección de Empresas).

I may not post another blog until I begin my studies at RSM, which is less than 2 months away. So until then, enjoy the summer (or winter if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere)!

Studying and Projects

Finally a new blog post! I know it has been a long time since I last wrote, but I’ve been very busy!

After Easter we had another week without class. This week was dedicated to group projects and our Not-for-Profit project. Once we returned to class in the middle of April, we were told that the second half of the semester would get even busier. I didn’t think it could surpass the first half of the semester but it certainly did. All group projects went into full swing.

I’m currently working on three group projects. One of the projects is the Not-for-Profit project we started after Easter. We are consulting a client who wants to start up an educational venture with the aim to get high school students from a low socio-economic district of Sydney to go to university or obtain post-secondary education. This is quite difficult since there are a lot of inhibitors for this target market, mainly financial and social hindrances. Financial in terms that the parents simply cannot afford to send their children to post-secondary education, and more detrimentally the fact that these students do not have role models or live in broken homes where their role models are those who abuse drugs and alcohol. The client ultimately wants to inspire these children and change their mindset to consider post-secondary education. Our task is to determine the feasibility of his project and create a preliminary business plan.

The other project I’m working on is a business plan for a potential product. Our product pitch has been observed by an investor who gave us feedback and provided insight on how we can continue with the product into the market. Of course this is all hypothetical at the moment, but we are looking into the realistic feasibility of it.

As of tomorrow (Monday), I will have two weeks of class left including two skill seminars. Thereafter, one week to study for final exams and then a week to do the final exams and hand in the essays and projects. As predicted, the semester went very fast, but it’s not over yet and a lot has to be done before that time.

Last week, April 30, was Queen’s Day in Holland. There are about 8 Dutch people in this Master’s program, and well, I also live with two Dutch people, so it was obvious we had to celebrate our national holiday. The Dutch Consulate had organized a party that started quite early and we weren’t sure of the exact location but even two streets away from the building we seen many people dressed in orange so no further direction was needed. The consulate provided us with lots of entertainment and Dutch food. I spent a lot of time near the food table --- cheese, bitterballen, herring, poffertjes etc. There was an after-party arranged by another Dutch individual and thereafter an after-after-party that was quite entertaining.

Friday night our class had another networking event to go to. This event was at a Union Rugby League game and many individuals from big companies were present -- CEO’s, high executives, Alumni from the rugby league. We had a private section in front of the field with private food catering and drinks. It was a great experience. It was also interesting because two weeks ago I went to a League Rugby game which is different from Union League rugby. There was a big difference in terms of spectators and social class. Both games were interesting even though I have no idea what the exact rules are, both are quite rough in terms of physical contact but that is inevitable when players jump on top of each other to form a massive heap of people.

If I have some time I will try to add some photos. Enjoy the week!

Bruise from paintball, 24 hours after being shot
Sunset, Blackheath, Blue Mountains
Three Sister Mountains, Blue Mountains
First shot
The girls
Group at paintball
Blackheath, Blue Mountains
Blue Mountains
Blue Mountains
Ready for action
Blackheath, The Blue Mountains
Blackheath, The Blue Mountains

The Three Sisters, The Blue Mountains