2012 Summer CEMS Magazine

Network Events

Comment

Student & Alumni FOCUS

FROM THE DANUBE TO THE TAGUS 10__ Reports from the Career Forum,

GOING GLOBAL

THE SPIRIT OF ENTERPRISE 58__ CEMS alumni doing

Virtual Fair and Annual Events

05__ Latest graduate profile, the entering class of 2012-13 and member school n째27

business for themselves

CEMS Magazine Official Magazine of the CEMS Global Alliance Summer 2012

Feature

All work and no play?

28 __ Striking the work-life balance

in this issue

4 Editorial Professor Wolfgang Mayrhofer, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business

22 On campus RSM-CEMS Block Seminar

5 COMMENT 2012 Graduate Survey 2012-13 student cohort Member school n°27

CBS-Wolseley Business Project

Aalto-Nokia strategy course ESADE-CEMS Google visit

50 Think tank Developing a new breed of entrepreneurs The recruiting challenge – words of advice from KPMG

53 Student & alumni focus Société Générale Citizen Act

7 Dates for the Diary: 2012 Annual Events

CEMS Runners

CEMS Nordic Forum

The CEMS Entrepreneurs global platform CEMS people doing business 28 Feature All work and no play? Striking the work-life balance

10 Network Events 2011 Annual Events Career Forum & Virtual Career Fair SENStation Social Business Competition Corporate Partner benchmarking meeting

Part 1: the corporate approach and solutions Part 2: the CEMS MIM student perspective Part 3: first-hand experience and advice from CEMS alumni

About CEMS

CONTACTS

Founded in 1988, CEMS is a global alliance of 27 business schools and universities, over 70 prestigious multinational companies and 4 NGOs. They collaborate closely to deliver the CEMS Master’s in International Management (or “CEMS MIM”), one of the top-ranked pre-experience Master’s in Management in the world by the Financial Times. The CEMS MIM provides a unique blend of top-level education and professional experience for multilingual, multicultural postgraduate students. www.cems.org

Editor-in-chief Kevin Titman Communications Manager, CEMS Head Office

Editorial committee Blandine Avot CEMS 2007, HEC-UCD Pavol Dzurjanin CEMS Student Board representative, Rotterdam School of Management Torsten Röwekamp CEMS 2003, UoC-UB; Vice-President, CEMS Alumni Association

Design & layout Traço e Meio tmeio@sapo.pt Printing Colorpack www.colorpack.hu Contact the editorial team at cemsmag@cems.org

editorial

Dear readers, Dear members of the CEMS global alliance, ____ “Work-Life-Balance” – as a label potentially problematic, as an issue it is not. How the label has become legitimate in the discourse of practitioners and academics alike is anybody’s guess – why on earth would one contrast “work” and “life”, as if work was not part of life? However, the underlying issue fully deserves our attention.

o. Univ. – Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Mayrhofer Professor of Management and Organisational Behaviour at the Institute of Organisation Studies and Organisational Behaviour, Department of Management, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.

At the latest since the industrial revolution in the late-19th century, the work and the non-work sphere have been drifting apart. Combine this with an increasing work pressure for those in many industrialised countries who have a job and a lot of interesting issues start to arise. Consequently, research has dealt with this from many angles, including the relationship between the two spheres. All kinds of relationships have been postulated: separate existence, spill-over effects in both directions, compensatory as well as complementary effects.

In recent years, emerging technological developments have added an important element. Being online 24/7; the richness of the World Wide Web as well as the e-mail of your boss and colleagues always at your fingertips; the ability to work in many occupations from any part of the world as long as you have WiFi access – all this has made the underlying questions even more salient.

The contributions in this issue take very different angles.

Yet, they have one thing in common: providing highly needed insight for individuals as well as organisations. Together with broader society, the latter co-produce the context within which the former have to find their personal way of balancing – or at the very least, handling – the two spheres.

Many thanks for your attention and I hope you enjoy reading the latest issue of CEMS Magazine.

Comment Going global on all fronts ____

Kevin Titman – CEMS Communications Manager

The 2012 Graduate Survey, a record entering student cohort for 2012-13 and member school n°27 underline the continued expansion of the CEMS alliance across borders. ____

Increased international mobility amongst the graduating class of 2011 Conducted over the month of April with the 786 CEMS MIM students who graduated at the Annual Events held in Lisbon last December, the 2012 survey revealed a number of positive trends in comparison with the 2011 edition.

// +4% more graduates working abroad // +7% more interacting on a daily basis with 3+ nationalities // +5% more working for CEMS Corporate Partners Whilst the breakdown of the most popular sectors and functions remains consistent with previous years, pay conditions have improved considerably. The average annual salary has risen by over 5000 euros to 47391 euros, compared with 12 months ago.

The CEMS MIM class of 2011, who participated in the Graduate Survey

Finally, the CEMS Career Forum received significant endorsement from the survey. It now features as the most effective means of securing employment amongst the various tools, services and opportunities offered by CEMS to its students and graduates.

Our thanks go to the many CEMS graduates who responded to the survey questionnaire.

The complete survey results are available at http://issuu.com/cems/docs/graduatesurvey2012_public

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comment

The total of 64 nationalities represents a record jointly with the class of 2010-11.

17 to 27 full member schools in the space of 4 years

The 2012-13 entering student cohort – the largest and most cosmopolitan yet A logical sign of the ever-widening international pool of students from which member schools recruit is the make-up of the entering class of students. For the first time in the history of CEMS the 1000 mark will have been reached when the new academic year begins.

As has been the case for some time the gender balance is even, displaying a 51-49 male-female split. More significantly, the split between European and non-European nationalities is also perfectly balanced for the first time ever (32 of each). The total of 64 nationalities represents a record jointly with the class of 2010-11, as does the 14% total number of non-European students.

Amongst the areas and nationalities where a sharp rise has been observed are Asia-Pacific (also the most diverse region, with 18 nationalities for 87 students) and Chinese and American nationals, who have almost doubled in numbers compared with a year ago.

Another gratifying result is the rising number of students recruited onto the programme by the most recent CEMS member schools.

The schools delivering the CEMS MIM since the 2009-10 academic year are responsible for 154 of the students admitted, a number which will continue to rise as new global business schools join the CEMS alliance from the end of 2012 onwards.

CEMS due to welcome HKUST Business school as its 27th academic member CEMS is proud to announce confirmation of its 27th member school, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School. HKUST will therefore become the fourth Asian CEMS member school and, subject to ratification by vote at the CEMS Annual Events in St. Gallen on 30 November, will be able to begin delivering the CEMS Master’s in International Management from the 2013-14 academic year.

This latest prestigious addition will mean that CEMS will have grown from 17 to 27 full member schools in the space of 4 years and is fully in line with the alliance’s globalisation strategy formally implemented in 2008.

Prof. Leonard Cheng, Dean of HKUST Business School, said the forging of close partnerships with international institutions has long been a key strategic thrust of HKUST Business School.

“As HKUST Business School continues to solidify its leading position in Asia and beyond, we strive to offer new learning experiences which will prepare future business leaders to meet the needs of the global workplace.

By bringing together the best of HKUST Business School and CEMS, including their extensive networks, this collaboration will create synergy and inject a new energy into the region’s business education development.

We are proud to be one of the Asian member schools in the CEMS family and look forward to working closely with CEMS to make sure that our new programme will meet the highest international standards.” n

Dates for the diary Nordic Forum 2012 Facilitating networking, learning, and recruitment ____

Monika Molander – CEMS Club Stockholm

The 2012 CEMS Nordic Forum will take place on 2527 October at the Stockholm School of Economics in the heart of the Swedish capital. The Nordic Forum is the main possibility for CEMS students of the four Nordic schools to improve their CEMS experience and network and, most importantly, equips students with business skills for their future careers. ____

The Nordic Forum is the largest CEMS career event in the Nordic countries. The event is hosted on a rotating basis by the four Nordic CEMS member schools: Aalto in Finland, CBS in Denmark, NHH in Norway and SSE in Sweden. During three interactive days in October, 90 CEMS students will convene at the Stockholm School of Economics to participate in skill seminars and networking events that will enhance their career opportunities and horizons.

The forum constitutes three full days of interactive seminars with selected Corporate

Partners, lectures with inspirational speakers and social activities with fellow CEMS students. The topic of this year’s edition of the Nordic Forum is “Management in the Face of Globalisation”. The skill seminars and lectures are structured in order to equip students with skills that enable them to excel in a global environment. Students will gain insight into the way corporations deal with global issues, such as cross-cultural differences and new market entry strategies.

The seminars give students an opportunity to develop essential skills a global leader needs in daily business. Students will be given the chance to learn more about the Corporate Partners and their global opportunities.

The Nordic Forum 2012 will additionally offer an attractive social programme, enabling students to meet in non-academic settings.

These activities do not only facilitate networking, but also give participants a chance to explore the wonderful city of Stockholm.

The Nordic Forum is a great experience, both academically and socially. Make sure to book the dates in your calendars already today!

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Dates for the diary

A scene from the 2011 edition of the Nordic Forum, held in Copenhagen

Benefits for the students • Participation in one of the main events that students remember from their CEMS year, while getting in touch with fellow CEMS students from various schools and nationalities.

• Inspirational lectures and interesting ECTS–accredited skill seminars.

“There are just a few moments of your life as a CEMS student that will stay in your memory throughout your career. We, as the Nordic Forum Organising Committee, will make sure that the moments you will spend with us in Stockholm are worth remembering in terms of challenging new experiences and enjoyable moments in an inspiring environment.”

Marco Studer, President of the Nordic Forum 2012 Organising Committee

• Establish a reputation as a global employer that offers challenging international careers within the CEMS community and at the Stockholm School of Economics.

• Facilitate the interaction with CEMS students.

• Improve the efficiency of the recruitment process.

Thursday 25 October to Saturday 27 October 2012.

WHERE

Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden.

WHAT

• The opportunity to meet Corporate Partners that deal with complex problems requiring a global mindset.

Benefits for Corporate Partners

WHEN

“The Nordic Forum offered the perfect blend of learning from professionals and socialising.”

Student attending Nordic Forum 2011 in Copenhagen

3 days of skills seminars, lectures and networking events that are ECTS accredited.

WHO

90 selected CEMS students.

CONTACT nf@cems.org WEBSITE http://www.nordicforum.sasse.se/

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Dates for the diary

Find the right work-life balance at the CEMS Annual Events in St. Gallen ____

Sven Scheid – Events Manager, 2012 Annual Events Fabian Heuschele – Doctoral Candidate & Research Assistant, University of St Gallen

The exclusive Swiss member school of the CEMS alliance will host the 24th Annual Events on 28 November – 2 December.

CEMS Magazine brings you news of the new features within this year’s programme of meetings and celebrations. ____

A high-level panel convenes to explore Responsible Leadership As the host of the 2012 Annual Events the University of St.Gallen invites you to find your personal work-life balance during the highlight of the CEMS year. In parallel to meetings, networking and discussions you will experience Swiss hospitality, an impressive landscape with the Alps and the Lake of Constance, and a large number of social events in attractive locations.

In addition to the traditional programme elements like the graduation ceremony and the annual meeting the University of St. Gallen has decided to add a thematic focus on “responsible leadership”. This timely topic will be at the centre of a panel discussion with CEOs from CEMS Corporate Partners, distinguished scientists and representatives from politics and society.

In the evening the University of St. Gallen invites you to meet friends and colleagues from the CEMS network in typical locations for the region. You will experience cultural and culinary flavours from the region of St.Gallen and Eastern Switzerland.

An exclusive leadership seminar for students In the week before the Annual Events, the University of St. Gallen and CEMS will be co-launching a very special course for this very special occasion. 10 CEMS students from partner schools all around the world will be selected and get the chance to work together with 15 students from the University of St. Gallen on responsible leadership.

During the course, students will acquire the latest academic and practical insights into leadership. Furthermore, they will reflect on responsibility, embeddedness, their own values and dreams, and how this affects leadership and organisational cultures.

The course will take place on the campus of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Lectures will be held by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Jenewein, who is an expert in leadership at the University of St. Gallen. Moreover, several top guest speakers will join the discussion about leadership and responsibility with the class. Students receive 5 ECTS credits for the course and will be graded based on participation and intensive group works.

Moreover, one of the nominated students will get the chance to deliver a speech about responsible leadership at the CEMS Annual Events panel discussion on 30 November. n

For more information about the full Annual Events programme as well as travel and accommodation please go to: www.cems2012.ch

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Network events The “city of light” welcomes the CEMS community ____

Rita Afonso – Communications Director, Nova School of Business and Economics Kevin Titman – CEMS Communications Manager

____ Nova

School of Business and Economics hosted the 23 CEMS Annual Events, which were marked by the induction of a 26th member school, 8 new corporate partners and 2 social partners. rd

The exclusive Portuguese CEMS member school and Lisbon provided a suitably multicultural backdrop to the headline event of the CEMS year, on 8-10 December, bringing together the academic and corporate figureheads of the alliance, along with students, alumni and

a record-breaking number of CEMS MIM graduating students. As ever, the Annual Events comprised an intensive three days of working meetings for the various stakeholder groups within the alliance, formal decision-making and discussions, networking opportunities

and celebrations. Over 1500 members of the CEMS alliance descended upon the city of Lisbon, defying a last-minute air strike to attend yet another hugely successful culmination to the calendar year, in the CEMS tradition.

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Network events

Global expansion and CSR strategy confirmed by illustrious new arrivals The 2011 CEMS Annual Events saw Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management become the 26th business school approved to deliver the top-ranked CEMS Master’s in International Management. The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and Transparency International doubled the portfolio of CEMS Social Partners and 8 multinationals brought the total of CEMS Corporate Partners to a new high of 77, whilst a record 783 students graduated from the CEMS MIM. The significance of these new arrivals for CEMS Chairman Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger was evident: “To be able to welcome into our alliance such a prominent business school not only on the Chinese market but also the global one is a strong sign of the increasing impact of our organisation well beyond Europe.

CEMS students now have an enviable choice of 26 top institutions and countries in which to spend a part of their studies and potentially the beginning of their working life.

Add to this the entry of 8 new corporate partners and 2 new social partners and the learning opportunities are enormous”.

Confirmation of 8 new corporate partners and 2 new social partners was received at the General Assembly, raising further the learning and professional opportunities on offer to CEMS students. On the corporate side they were: Beiersdorf AG, Capitaland,

Catalent, Maersk, Mastercard, QBE, Scotiabank, and Telekom Polska. NGOs the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and Transparency brought the new portfolio of Social Partners to 4, just one year after CEMS made official its new CSR strategy.

A first for the Annual Events was the hosting of a Research Symposium. Attended by a multi-continental delegation of professors from CEMS member schools the day-long session explored a variety of themes and issues linked to sustainable development, venture capital, eco-activism, and the incorporation of CSR into business models and practices.

L-R: François Collin, CEMS Executive Director; Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, CEMS Chairman and President of the University of St. Gallen; Prof. Chong-en Bai, Tsinghua SEM Associate Dean; Prof. Wei Chi, Academic Director; Linna Li, Project Manager; and Prof. Carlo Gallucci, International Deputy Director General ESADE Business School and CEMS Globalisation Committee Chair, at the moment of Tsinghua’s ratification as a full academic member.

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Prof. José António Ferreira Machado, Dean of Nova School of Business and Economics Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, CEMS Chairman and President of the University of St. Gallen

NOVA “win at home” The firm tradition of the CEMS Courses of the Year saw the host school NOVA retain their 2010 title of “School of the Year” and CEMS Club Prague win the CEMS Club of the Year award for the second time in three years. The Brazilian CEMS member school EAESP-FGV walked away with the Block Seminar of the Year whilst WU Vienna University of Economics and

Business performed a clean sweep of the Courses of the Year (Strategy, Cross-Cultural Management and Exclusive). Finally, Société Générale with the University of St Gallen were the happy recipients of the Business Project of the Year.

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A record number of graduates commit to responsible business values Another feature of the events saw a new high of 783 students graduate from the CEMS MIM programme in the prestigious surroundings of the Belém Cultural Centre on the banks of the River Tagus. The graduands also had the opportunity to sign on stage the CEMS Global Values Statement, a student-driven initiative launched in 2010 to encourage new graduates to commit to uphold certain values and responsibilities once in working life. Professor José António Ferreira Machado, Dean of Nova School of Business and Economics, was very proud to see his school and city providing the setting to such an important event and gesture:

“In times of difficulty for some of the nations represented within CEMS it is reassuring to see our young graduates finishing their studies mindful of the kind of values and qualities that they will require to succeed in working life at the service of a larger common good.”

As befits the CEMS tradition there was still ample room for celebration and partying in two of Lisbon’s most fashionable nightspots, on both the Friday and Saturday evenings, bringing to a conclusion a hugely successful Annual Events, handled with aplomb by the hosts Nova School of Business and Economics. n

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CEMS Career Forum 2012 ____

Kevin Titman – CEMS Communications Manager

____ This

year, the CEMS Career Forum will take place for the fourth time in a row in Budapest, Hungary. And it will be no exception in terms of popularity and importance.

Thirty four companies will be present at the 2012 Career Forum and 900+ students are expected to come. A high number of companies intend to deliver accredited skill seminars for students.

consider the Career Forum as the first round of the selection process, which enables them to find the best profiles, and offer internships or entry to their graduate programme interview rounds.

The event is an ideal opportunity to meet fellow students and alumni, and have a glimpse of what CEMS Corporate Partners are offering for them after finishing their CEMS year. The majority of the companies

CEMS Corporate Partners will have the opportunity to meet all member school representatives and discuss further possibilities of cooperation. Other networking and personal development opportunities

will be provided, complementing the traditional job fair, corporate presentations and pre-scheduled interviews with students and young alumni.

The social networking side has not been neglected either. A large-scale party is being hosted in one of the biggest and bestequipped fluvial event venues in Central Europe as a fitting close to what promises to be a great event.

participating Corporate Partners: A.T. Kearney // ABB // Arçelik // Arla Foods // Beiersdorf AG // BNP Paribas // Crédit Agricole S.A. // Credit Suisse // Daymon Worldwide // Deutsche Bank // EADS // EF Education First // Fung (1937) Management Ltd. // Google // Henkel AG & Co. KGaA // HSBC // Indesit Company s.p.a. // KONE // LVMH // McKinsey & Company // Novo Nordisk // Reckitt Benckiser // Shell // Siemens Management Consulting // Société Générale // Statkraft AS // Statoil // Swiss RE // UBS // Unibail-Rodamco // UniCredit // Vodafone // Whirlpool // ŠKODA AUTO a.s.

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// 34 CEMS Corporate Partners are participating in the 2012 CF // 22 CEMS Corporate Partners are offering prescheduled interviews to students // 11 CEMS Corporate Partners are offering prescheduled interviews to young alumni (0-4 years after graduation) // 19 CEMS MIMaccredited half-day skill seminars are being offered to CEMS students n

The inaugural CEMS Virtual Career Fair ____ Over 450 CEMS students and alumni and 100 representatives of 11 corporate partners took part in the first ever CEMS Virtual Career fair on 24-25 April. Alumni represented 23% of the 450 attendees as the event was open to those with between 0 and 4 years of professional experience.

all participants to discover for themselves this brand new opportunity offered by CEMS. The system is tried and tested so we went in with confidence on D-day and the platform served us well, delivering a quality event.” n

The most popular functions for which students and alumni attended were Sales/Marketing, followed by Strategic Consulting, Business Consulting, General Management and Finance. Company booths received between 200 and 400 visits each.

Facts and figures

The decision to complement the physical recruitment event held in November with a virtual event a few months later had been under discussion for well over a year. Companies had expressed interest in the additional recruitment, networking and branding opportunities by such an initiative whilst the students and alumni consulted saw the added value of a 24hour virtual event, given the broad geographic scope of the CEMS community.

// 11 participating companies: ABB, Arçelik, Barilla, EADS, Henkel, Indesit, L’Oréal, Shell, Siemens Management Consulting, Société Générale, Vodafone

For Denisa Zichackova, CEMS Corporate Services Manager, this inaugural event matched up to expectations: “we wanted to keep the Virtual Career Fair manageable whilst delivering what our main clients, meaning CPs, students and alumni, were looking for. These platforms only allow up to 20 companies at a time and so to start in this more exclusive setting enabled

// 51-49 male-female ratio amongst attendees; 2575 student-alumni ratio

// 1032 hours spent by students and alumni attending company booths // 2871 unique visitors to the 11 company booths

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CEMS Social Business competition winner confirmed ____

Kevin Titman – CEMS Communications Manager

“Hessex” project from the University of Sydney Business school adjudged the most innovative project with the largest social impact.

HESSEX, a project from the University of Sydney Business School, was adjudged the most innovative project with the largest social impact potential.

Special recognition also went to the three other teams that made it to the finals. GLOW (ESADE Business School), Plugged-In (Nova School of Business and Economics) and VSpot (also Nova SBE). ____ CEMS is pleased to announce the winners of its first Social Business Competition, led by the SENStation social business online platform. The judging panel comprised Dr. Robert Glasser, Secretary General of CARE International, Nicole Michelbach, Organizational Development Manager at Fairtrade International and Prof. Kai Hockerts, representative of the academic S-ENT Faculty Team.

CEMS Social Business Competition at SENStation.org is a new global movement supported by the entire CEMS community, Fairtrade International and CARE International encouraging students to devise the sustainable business models tackling critical social life problems. In this unique competition 17 high-quality projects from around the world received online feedback from over 60 professionals and students. Moreover, online conference teams received advice from many social entrepreneurs with related experience.

Projects were evaluated by academics from CEMS schools and more than 7,000 votes were cast in a poll that reached out to over 250,000 people on Facebook.

The best teams received consulting from FL Ventures and they came up with high quality presentations. The winner received the prize of €2000 from SENStation, CEMS Head Office and CEMS Student Board. A detailed profile of the Hessex project will feature in the next issue of CEMS Magazine. n

For further information about all the entering projects and the SENStation social business initiative, please visit the SENStation online platform at www.senstation.org.

Aalto University School of Business Copenhagen Business School Corvinus University of Budapest ESADE Business School Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo-FGV Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University HEC Paris HKUST Business School Keio University Koç University Graduate School of Business Louvain School of Management LSE, The London School of Economics and Political Science National University of Singapore Business School Norwegian School of Economics Nova School of Business and Economics Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Stockholm School of Economics Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business Università Bocconi University of Cologne University of Economics, Prague University of St. Gallen University of Sydney Business School Warsaw School of Economics WU, Vienna University of Economics and Business

CoNTACT I www.cems.org I info@cems.org

CEMS students and alumni are at home in the world, thanks to a unique alliance of 27 leading member schools, over 70 corporate partners and 4 NGOs that spans the globe.

The CEMS MIM is more than a top-ranked Master’s programme: it’s a passport to global citizenship.

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LSE and Thomson Reuters co-host CEMS Corporate Benchmarking meeting 8-9 March ____

Wieteke Dupain – CEMS 2009 RSM-ESADE, Manager, Customary Advisory Programs at Thomson Reuters Dina Dommett – CEMS Corporate Relations Manager, Associate Dean, Department of Management at the LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science

____ Designed to foster collaboration among CEMS corporate, social and academic partners, alumni and students, the event attracted over 150 guests, including 40 corporate partners and 40 alumni from 30 companies, representatives of 10 member schools, and over 50 LSE CEMS MIM students. The programme consisted of an evening of panel discussions and a networking reception at LSE, followed by a day-long conference at the Thomson Reuters office in Canary Wharf. Friday evening was capped off with the kick-off of SAMP (the Student Alumni Mentoring Programme) for LSE’s newest intake of 53 CEMS students and a dinner with alumni, arranged by the UK chapter of the CEMS Alumni Association.

Dina Dommet said: “LSE is happy to host at least one corporate meeting in London every year but the commitment from Thomson Reuters to partner with us on the theme of Thought Leadership and their marvellous facilities easily attracted a large and diverse audience from around the world”.

Thursday 8 March, LSE LSE Dean, Professor Saul Estrin, welcomed guests by reflecting on the school’s renewed commitment to CEMS by expanding the cohort to 50 students from LSE while accepting 70 students at LSE in both terms, while CEMS Executive Director, François Collin, outlined the history and future of CEMS. This was followed by a panel on “CEMS at LSE” moderated by Dr. Emma Soane (LSE CEMS Academic Director), with Dr Sandy Pepper (in charge of CEMS Business Projects at LSE),

Dr. Ted Piepenbrock (responsible for the LSE CEMS Strategy course) and Ms. Roser Preuss (LSE CEMS Student Board member).

A panel of alumni shared their perspectives on CEMS: Francesca Filippini Pinto (CEMS 1995, Head of Development at The Photographers’ Gallery), Gianpaolo Gagliardi, (CEMS 2001, Global Marketing Communications Manager at Shell International), and Sona Rastogi, (CEMS 2011, Global Project Manager, Global Marketing, Novo Nordisk). The evening concluded with a lively networking reception.

The programme consisted of an evening of panel discussions and a networking reception at LSE, followed by a day-long conference at the Thomson Reuters office in Canary Wharf.

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

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Basil Moftah, Thomson Reuters Global Growth and Operations Managing Director Middle East, Africa and Russia, during his keynote address.

Friday 9 March, Thomson Reuters The day kicked off with a video and presentation about Thomson Reuters and their prominence, both as an information and technology conglomerate and as a CEMS graduate employer. In the opening keynote adress, Basil Moftah, Thomson Reuters Global Growth and Operations Managing Director Middle East, Africa and Russia, led a stimulating discussion about trends, opportunities and risks in emerging markets.

As Basil Moftah explained: “At Thomson Reuters we are stepping up our game. Note China, India, Brazil, and Russia’s significant upward movement in the GDP rankings.

For at least the next five years, annual GDP growth in these markets is estimated to range between 4% and 8%, while growth in mature markets is flat to 2%. To grow, we have to go where the growth is. Businesses around the world need to realise this to remain successful and act.”

The afternoon continued with Anthony King, Knowledge Network Specialist on “online training and certification”, offered free of charge by the company for Thomson Reuters, Eikon, Datastream and 3000XTRA products.

Anthony King said: “Students tell me there is a lot of value in learning how to use our products; to gain a competitive edge while applying for jobs or to feel comfortable performing data-driven analysis in today’s demanding corporate environment. For us, it’s a great way to connect and build a network of professionals who know how to use our products and like to work with us”.

Participants then met in smaller groups for informal breakout sessions on topics ranging from alumni interaction, Corporate Social Responsibility and effective collaboration between CEMS Corporate Partners and schools, through to HR and recruitment challenges.

Wieteke Dupain, CEMS RSM-ESADE, Thomson Reuters (left) and Dina Dommett, LSE (right)

The next two panels on HR, branding and recruitment featured expert speakers from CEMS Corporate Partners AstraZeneca, BDF Beiersdorf, Crédit Agricole, EADS, L’Oréal, Novo Nordisk, Procter & Gamble, Shell and Thomson Reuters.

This was followed by an interview with two CEMS Deans - Professor Saul Estrin, LSE, and Professor Alfons Sauquet, ESADE, conducted

by Reuters journalist Jodie Ginsberg, on the CEMS book Business Schools and their Contribution to Society (Sage Publishing, 2011).

After lunch there was a panel on “Collaboration across CEMS Partners”, with speakers from AFK Sistema, Schneider Electric and HKUST Business School, an upcoming member of the CEMS alliance.

The programme was concluded with a wrapup session from LSE’s Emma Soane, who remarked: “This meeting was a great opportunity for Corporate Partners, alumni and students to share best practices and find ways to work together more effectively. The LSE community will be strengthened by this and future CEMS events”.

As corporate and academic guests began to depart, the SAMP event had kicked off for newly selected LSE CEMS students, who were given a presentation about effective mentoring relationships, and encouraging advice and support from UK-based alumni. n

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CEMS at Henkel

A World of Opportunities.

Your Career at Henkel.

Henkel operates worldwide with leading brands and technologies in three business areas: Laundry & Home Care, Cosmetic & Toiletries and Adhesive Technologies. Founded in 1876, Henkel holds globally leading market positions both in the consumer and industrial businesses with well-known brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite.

Henkel employs about 47,000 people, of whom 80 percent work outside Germany. In 2011, Henkel reported sales of 15,605 million euros and adjusted operating profit of 2,029 million euros. Henkel’s preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX. Henkel is one of CEMS’ longest-established corporate partners, having joined the alliance in 1994, and supports CEMS students from all over the world by giving them hands-on experience through seminars, workshops and business projects in many countries. Alumni employed at Henkel work with the Human Resources Department to bring the company into closer contact with high-potential students and young graduates.

What can Henkel offer to CEMS students and alumni?

Kathrin Menges: Henkel is a dynamic international company, global leader in brands and technologies. Our success is built on constant innovation and people who strive for excellence. To attract the best applicants, we offer the chance to work abroad, experience different parts of the company and take on responsibility at an early stage. I think Henkel is the ideal company for talented, performance-oriented and entrepreneurial people who are eager to develop their skills in an international company.

Why did Henkel start the partnership with CEMS? Kathrin Menges: By providing internships to CEMS students at our offices worldwide, we can make a positive difference in the preparation of tomorrow’s leaders. With their excellent academic background, international experience gained through internships and studyabroad programs, and experience of business projects, CEMS students are extremely well prepared for a career at Henkel.

How do you judge this partnership?

Kathrin Menges: Our long lasting partnership has been very successful. More than forty CEMS students every year experience the Henkel spirit at first hand through our diverse internships, both at headquarters and at our many sites worldwide. Our mentorship program also provides a perfect chance to get to know talented and experienced leaders, and learn from a great mix of people. Many CEMS alumni have done internships before starting a successful international career at Henkel.

Kathrin Menges, Executive Vice President Human Resources

it’s not my work. it’s my passion. kate, strategy & planning, adhesive technologies

Explore the world of Brands & Technologies

Henkel operates worldwide with leading brands and technologies in three exciting business areas: Laundry & Home Care, Cosmetics & Toiletries and Adhesive Technologies. Our success is built on constant innovation and people who strive for excellence. Working at Henkel is much more than just a job. It’s a passion.

The positions listed here are just a small selection of the numerous possibilities Henkel has to offer.

• talent onboarding program Cosmetics marketing/ sales (m / f) (4228de) • assistant Brand manager/ product manager (m / f) (5144de) • internships in Global purchasing (m / f) (2189de) • internships in marketing for Consumer & Craftsmen adhesives (m / f) (787de) • internships international marketing Cosmetics (m / f) (479de) • internships in international supply Chain management (m / f) (745de)

Apply online if this sounds like your next challenge. Refer to the job ID mentioned above and get one step closer to starting your new job.

Discover our winning culture: www.henkel.com /careers

On campus From Outer Space to a Greenhouse From a Block Seminar to an Internship ____

Marianne Schouten – PR and Media Manager, Rotterdam School of Management , Erasmus University

____ For the seventh time The European Space Agency (ESA) in Noordwijk (NL) provided the RSM-CEMS newcomers with the “Technology transfer” Block Seminar.

This time the seminar turned out to become especially successful for one of the groups.

Three CEMS students, Rafal Domanski, Estelle Tanner and Sümer Uysal, were given an exceptional opportunity to actually push their idea into real business life and work on a feasibility study for a real space technology transfer project, in close cooperation between ESA and Royal FloraHolland.

For three “horticulture rookies” the worklife balance issue was present from the very beginning. Even though the actual internship took off in January, it was a must to start working on the subject early in the semester. The key became to not only combine work, learning about a new industry from scratch, the personal commitments and life in a completely new city among new people, but also the demanding RSM‑CEMS semester. The lesson learned from the preparatory phase was definitely to let yourself get into the working rhythm and use the time you spend with your project team as an opportunity to get closer to them.

L-R: CEMS students Rafal Domanski, Estelle Tanner and Sümer Uysal

Clearly, working on such a project constituted a lot of autonomy and responsibility to deal with. After the semester ended and the full-time job began, the circumstances changed as well - two parallel offices, two companies, the scientists, the managers and the flower growers, multiple meetings in many different cities and almost no fixed schedule, except for a close deadline. Facing such conditions, especially at the very start of one’s professional career, may reveal a completely unexpected perspective on the

work-life challenge. Usually the question is “how much to work to be happy in your life”. Here, however, it was more a case of “how to deal with frustration with waiting”.

For the team the latter issue became present especially whilst waiting for the research results - there was the will to work, the awareness that the work had to be done, but at these specific moments there was neither work nor life. The solutions, like proper scheduling or trying to fulfill the future responsibilities earlier, did not really help. Your team, however, should not only motivate you to work harder, but also to enjoy life more. Thanks to this spirit the ESA/Royal FloraHolland project became a success story. n

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

On campus

CEMS-Aalto students prepare a mobile payment strategy for Nokia ____

Arja Haukkasalo – Journalist

____ In many countries, cash still rules.

There are 1.5 billion people in the world with no bank accounts or credit cards. The task of the CEMS students at Aalto University School of Business was to prepare a strategy for replacing cash and credit cards with mobile phones as a means of payment.

Playing field and revenue logic

The assignment was part of the CEMS Strategies Beyond Markets course led by CEMS Academic Director Robin Gustafsson.

This new course is, for the time being, only available at Aalto University. The course is a question of real cooperation between the university and the business world: students are given tasks in which they deal with real business challenges set by business executives.

Kai Öistämö, Nokia’s Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer, acted as opponent in the presentations. In their analyses, the students examined the basic issues that a mobile payment application would involve. Who would be the parties to the system? How could consumers be persuaded to change over from cash and credit cards to mobile payments? What would be Nokia’s role and revenue logic in the process?

The students were expected to produce a well thought-out, innovative and feasible strategy relevant to the company’s operations and present the results in five minutes.

The students discussed the value chain governing mobile payments and how the parties would be provided with added value. For instance, the students proposed an arrangement in which retailers grant discounts to those customers that use the mobile pay-

ment option, meaning shorter queues and the resulting time savings benefitting both the retailers and customers.

In-depth strategic skills In his feedback, Öistämö emphasised that the benefits for the customers must be real.

Even though the revolutionary new business is bound to create confusion on the market during the early stages, changeover to the new payment system must be simple and easy for the consumers.

Academic Director Robin Gustafsson was pleased with the course results. “Students learned how to create strategies and outline markets for industries and technologies that will provide companies with long-term strategic advantages. In addition, they were provided with more in-depth skills allowing them to analyse strategic dimensions and chances of setting up new industries”. n

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CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

On campus

ESADE students visit Google’s European headquarters to learn from its business innovation model ____

Oriol Llop Sarsanedas – Communications and Brand Director, ESADE Business School

____ 20

students on the ESADE M.Sc. Programme and the Bachelor and Master in Business Administration at ESADE, which forms part of the CEMS MIM, visited Google’s European headquarters in the Irish city of Dublin.

The students toured the Google facilities and had an opportunity to meet some of the company’s workers and executives, who explained the keys to its internal operations, business philosophy, work and results. The students attended seminars on Google’s innovation model, one of the company’s hallmarks, which is applied to every aspect of the company and can be seen in every move it makes.

Also during their visit, students were given the chance to take part in an informal meeting with some alumni employed at Google, who explained their experiences and dayto-day work.

Meanwhile, Google executives from the Department of Human Resources interviewed several students with an international profile, professional experience and high academic qualifications. Google is a company that recruits various ESADE and CEMS profiles. The company attends the annual Talent Career Forums organised by the business school for firms to recruit talented students. In addition,

Google is ESADE’s CEMS Corporate Partner, i.e. a company that has become part of the CEMS alliance through ESADE. Google has already recruited 22 ESADE students over the last three years; 20 work at headquarters in Dublin and the other two are located in Poland and Silicon Valley in the United States. Google has also quickly become one of the main recruiters of CEMS alumni, less than two years after ratification as a CEMS Corporate Partner.

Students were given the chance to take part in an informal meeting with some alumni employed at Google.

These visits are devised so that students can get out of the classroom to find out more about the world’s major companies, come into direct contact with them, learn how they work, gain experience, expand their networking and open up new career horizons. n

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

On campus

The 15th World Business Dialogue Consumption examined from different angles ____

Jutta Reusch – CEMS Programme Manager, the University of Cologne

____ On

14-15 March the University of Cologne turned into the stage for the world’s largest student-run business convention, the 15th World Business Dialogue.

Three hundred students from over 60 countries came to Cologne to discuss the topic “Checkpoint Consumption – Needs, Duties and the Search of Balance“ with 300 corporate participants and 60 acknowledged speakers such as Dr. Rüdiger Grube (CEO, Deutsche Bahn AG), Dr. Kurt Bock (CEO, BASF SE), Michael Schmidt (CEO, BP Europe SE) or Dr. Auma Obama (CARE International).

and today still CEO of his own company Globals Inc., the World Business Dialogue “is a bridge between the students and the business leaders.”

In panels, executive sessions, workshops and other formats the students, corporates and speakers worked out different views, predictions and solutions for our future consumption.

Students as well as speakers and corporates were impressed by the professionalism and the content output during the two days of the 15th World Business Dialogue. Dr. Rüdiger Grube stated that “this event has shown what you can achieve if you are dedicated, if you are passionate and people are very creative”.

According to Suhas Gopinath, formerly known as the youngest CEO in the world

CEMS students enjoyed a special programme during the convention such as a breakfast, organised for them to establish relations and connections with McKinsey & Company, followed by a skill seminar.

The internationality of the 15th World Business Dialogue culminated during the Party of Nations as the closing event of the Convention. Participants dressed up in traditional clothes from their respective countries and celebrated a party of different cultures.

The end of the World Business Dialogue marks also the starting point for the next generation of the organising team. Year after year 40 students work together to make the World Business Dialogue possible. During the one-year lasting organising time the students learn priceless lessons of how the economy works and also develop strong bonds of friendship within the Organising Team. n

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CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

On campus

Wolseley Sourcing CEMS Business Project ____

Patrick Jonsson – CEMS 2006, SSE-ESADE; European Sourcing Project Manager, Wolseley

____ It

is early morning and an international group of CEMS students are entering the yard of STARK Fredriksberg in Copenhagen to meet the Branch Manager, Kim Hansen, for an interview, which is to be followed by interviews with the builders that come to the store to buy building materials. The students are preparing for their so-called “Strategic Canvas”, which will be part of their Business Project Report, which will be presented to Executives within Wolseley on 8 June.

The final presentation made it clear that the students had a thorough understanding of the industry, our companies and the issue of Category Management.

Ingrid Foss Nødset (Norway), Mara Kohner (Austria), Troels Werge (Denmark), Ulrike Seehofer (Germany) and William Piquard (France) worked on the project for Wolseley European Heavy-Side Sourcing. Wolseley plc is the world´s largest distributor of plumbing and heating products and a major player in the distribution of building materials and has around 44000 employees mainly in Europe, USA and Canada.

Wolseley has leading market positions across several geographies in the regions and has a decentralised set-up to stay in tune with customer needs, but at the same time the company works hard to realise synergies across the companies within IT and Sourcing. This means that there is a tension between being local on the sales side and where it makes sense being global on the sourcing side of the business in terms of maximising scale benefits.

The students were given the task to explore this dilemma with the hypothesis that Category Management could be a solution. They confirmed the hypothesis, but it was also a question of how Category Management would be implemented. Category Management is a holistic approach that covers the whole value-chain from purchasing, logistics and inventory management to sales, margin management, administration and marketing in the branches.

The project was complicated and challenging also because it involved different organisational set-ups and the students needed to work across cultures. The students started the industry analysis with interviewing associates from Starkki (Finland), STARK (Denmark), Beijer (Sweden), Cheapy (Sweden), Neumann (Norway) and BM (France). After having a good understanding of the industry they went into the company analysis focusing mainly on STARK. Finally they prepared the issue analysis.

It is essential to provide the students with the necessary information and have regular follow-up meetings.

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

On campus

Wolseley invested quite some time into the project. It is essential to provide the students with the necessary information and have regular follow-up meetings in order for them to really grasp the issue and be able to deliver something of value. The students were exposed to a real business problem and to many different aspects of the Wolseley business.

They visited our Silvan and STARK Head Offices and interviewed Purchasing Directors and Managing Directors. A systematic structured approach where the students collected

information internally around the Wolseley businesses and connected it to theory led to an end result, which was satisfactory to Wolseley. It was good to get some “fresh eyes� looking at our business asking some challenging questions. The end report and final presentation made it clear that the CEMS Team had a thorough understanding of the industry, our companies and the issue of Category Management. n

L-R: CEMS students Ingrid Foss Nodset, Mara Kohner, Ulrike Seehofer and Troels Werge

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Feature All work and no play?

Striking the work-life balance The corporate approach and solutions

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

From student, to alumna, to CEMS Corporate Partner...

I had never really reflected on the importance of work-life balance until I attended a CEMS skill seminar during my CEMS term abroad at the University of St. Gallen. The seminar was about “Key Success Factors in Shaping your Career”. ____

I was expecting that they were going to talk about career, aspirations, development goals early in your career etc… Well, I was wrong.

The whole seminar was about the importance of work-life balance (or “WLB”) and in general this balance as a success factor.

Representatives from different companies came to share their failures in striking the balance. Those stories were overwhelming and made me re-think my priorities when looking for a job. I was very determined to get it right from the start, so from my first “real” job.

The feel-good factor at AstraZeneca

Elisa Busá CEMS 2011, CBS-St. Gallen; Global Category Manager Latin America Fright and Logistics AstraZeneca

Here I am working for AstraZeneca within the Global Operations Graduate Programme.

I can mention several examples that show evidence on how AZ strikes the WLB. They use a top-down approach and it starts with the CEO saying: “We have set ourselves a clear target on our global scorecard to improve work-life balance across AZ, and I am determined that we will achieve it”. – David Brennan, CEO.

Every year we are all asked to fill in an anonymous survey where we rate different aspects of our work and WLB is one of those.

Interestingly enough, in the last two years we have collectively scored below target in WLB, hence the company has created a system to proactively address WLB alerts before they actually become issues and are reported in the year-end forum. This system is called the “Feel-Good Indicator” and we fill it in on a monthly basis. We “rag” WLB and all the reds are then collected, escalated and addressed case by case before they become stress, burn-outs or family issues…

I can guarantee that the company culture makes you feel comfortable in speaking up and asking for help or push-back when you have enough on your plate and I think this is very important.

When managers set the example Another powerful way of striking the WLB is “leading by example”, and by that I mean that you see your direct manager giving the right WLB example: they do not send you emails late at night or during the weekends, they leave the office at 5.30pm (max), they take time off to enjoy family and friends and they tell you what a great time they had… These examples motivate me to work on my priorities every day, to work smarter, to plan better so that I don’t need to bring work home. I always think, “if my manager gets everything done by 5pm and she has double of my responsibilities, why shouldn’t I make it?” n

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Feature: All work and no play?

Work-Life balance in Management Consulting?

Yes, Life@A.T. Kearney! ____

Christian Kukwa – CEMS 2007, UoC-NHH; Senior Associate, A.T. Kearney

____ The

principle of the “Essential Rightness”, formulated by our founder Andrew Thomas Kearney, does not only take centre stage for our client/ consultancy projects. It is also the general principle for our own behaviour – in relation to our society, our environment and, above all, towards our employees.

It is therefore crucial for us to do everything we can to harmonise personal and work life. We call this “Life Balance”, since we consider work as just a fraction of one’s life.

Life planning via the Life@A.T. Kearney programme

Balancing personal development and commitment

Life planning may change and requires today more than ever a correct balance between family and occupation – this is equally valid for men and women. To achieve this balance, it is the central aim of our programme “Life@A.T. Kearney”: to enable a successful career with the firm and at the same time free up space to provide flexibility and support for consultants’ personal and family lives as well as honorary commitment. Because the people within A.T. Kearney are not only excellent employees – they are also parents, friends, family members, sportsmen, bon vivants, culturally-interested human beings and committed entrepreneurs, who are curious to break new grounds and, apart from a successful vocational career, to volunteer one’s time for social interests as well as the environment.

We purposefully support our employees in each life phase from university graduate up to respected expert, and thereby make an unusual life balance possible for them.

Highly-qualified, socially‑competent, committed and reliable and with entrepreneurial thinking, our employees have a permanent perspective with A.T. Kearney and will find suitable conditions for each life phase, to achieve the optimal balance between occupation and family.

Life@A.T. Kearney thereby covers a variety of different programmes, which may be leveraged individually and flexibly by our employees, in order to promote their personal development and their commitment, which they need to support the family and/ or other private activities.

Since phase of life differs, the programme items are available independently of age and career stage for all management consultants, in order to meet individual demands according to the respective life situation.

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

The aim of the programme is to enable a successful career with the firm and at the same time free up space to provide flexibility and support for consultants’ personal and family lives.

Since phase of life differs, the programme items are available independently of age and career stage for all management consultants.

Call-out 1: Roadmap for a Life Balance programME

Call-out 2: “Part-time in-project business”

• To bring work and family lives successfully in agreement.

Claudia and Matthias met on a common project with A.T. Kearney and now also have a child together. First, Claudia worked for two days 40% (Monday and Tuesday). This worked out well, so she increased her work time first to 60% and in a second step to 80%. For two to three days Claudia is locally with the client – supplemented by office days in Vienna. Matthias began with 60% on the job, thus Wednesday until Friday, with one day at the Vienna A.T. Kearney office. He now works at 80% and is with the client locally for three days and one day in the home office. Claudia and Matthias work on different projects and plan their days/projects in such a way that either of them is with their daughter. Both are very well supported

by A.T. Kearney and the management.

This model has been working well for Claudia and Matthias for 3½ years now and they are convinced of the fact that this is really an attractive and promising model. n

• To set new standards for a Work-Life Balance in enterprises with flexible working models, family support, training and support for honorary commitments as well as global exchange.

• Designed by co-workers for co-workers and thus properly matching the needs of respective life situations.

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Feature: All work and no play?

Next Generation Women Leaders Be inspired. Make a difference. ____

Interviews conducted by Wahiba Zylla Recruiter at McKinsey & Company

Iveta Novakova ____ Our

first ever – and very successful - pan-EMEA women’s recruiting event, “Next Generation Women Leaders” took place on 22-24 March outside of Paris. The event gathered more than 100 talented women from across Europe and the Middle East for three action-packed days about inspiration, leadership, and creativity with guest speakers, workshops and panels centred on leadership development. During these three days, the high potential women met with many guest speakers from industry and McKinsey who captivated their attention and inspired them by sharing their personal story and their vision of leadership.

Among the talented women a number of CEMS students attended this event.

Juliane and Iveta from the University of Vienna share their insights and views on work-life balance.

What was your highlight of the event?

I was very inspired and motivated to be surrounded and lectured by senior McKinsey women and other successful females that have mastered their career and personal lives. Moreover I very much enjoyed networking with other female students that attend the world´s best universities and pursue an incredible career already in their early age. I am now aware of the importance of mentors and role models that inspire and motivate you through your career and support you along the way. I have also learned to follow my passion, not be afraid, take risks and seize opportunities. “Sometimes you just need to jump into the pool and start to swim”.

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

What impression did you get from the women of McKinsey you met - are they managing their work-life balance well?

What impression did you get from the women of McKinsey you met - are they managing their work-life balance well?

These women know precisely what their responsibilities in each of their roles are - be it at work, at home or in their free time and they communicate that clearly to the people around them. They seem to be passionate about their work as well as about their personal life and to my surprise they all seem to cope well and manage their free time and family responsibilities to the fullest.

I was very impressed by the women I met.

They were all very passionate about what they do and many achieved exceptional things. Besides that, they were very approachable and down-to-earth. Knowing that the consultant life is not always easy to combine with the private agenda, I had the feeling the women present managed to use the flexibility that a consulting company offers to their good so that they can combine family and work. Also something that I heard various times during the event was that you could only succeed in professional life if you have a healthy and enriching private life.

What does work-life balance mean to you?

Currently I try to combine studies, extracurricular responsibilities and free time to my satisfaction. I am about to finish my degree soon and when choosing future employer I try to find out how is work-life balance represented in that given company and whether that would satisfy most of my requests. So far it seems to me that there is a great discrepancy in this area, but it is nice to see that more and more firms now for example care about women and their needs.

Juliane Stephan

What was your highlight of the event?

It’s tough to emphasise the one highlight.

However, I really benefitted a lot from the speeches by Vivian Hunt and by Michael Halbye.

Vivian impressed me because she is a woman with clear standpoints. Besides she impressed me with her passion and dedication for healthcare that she also pursued outside the business world. She always knew - at least it seemed to me like that - what was important for her and never lost sight of it.

This is definitely a key take-away for me.

Michael’s speech gave interesting insights discussing the question “what made you become a leader?” He outlined three reasons: 1. Become really good at something, 2. Because of people who support you and 3. Because of luck. Especially the last point made me think and I am also convinced that optimistic people are more eager to try new things and are more likely (“more lucky”) to succeed in them. In my opinion, having a positive attitude towards life and to smile more is always a good idea and you never know which doors it might open.

What does work-life balance mean to you?

To have a good work-life balance is for me that I am able to pursue my professional goals and my passions in combination with having an enriching personal life with family, friends and hobbies. Work-life balance also means time for reflection – the free time to pause and to rethink current developments.

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Feature: All work and no play?

To work or to play?

The work-life balance phenomenon in modern organisations ____ Work-life balance is now considered as a very popular concept meaning prioritising between work and pleasure. In other words, many people are faced with the challenge of choosing the right strategy: how much time should we be spending on work and how much time on having fun? To answer this question we should refer to constant contradictions between creativity and formalisation, flexibility and company growth, and discipline issue. The main challenge here is how to preserve the spirit of creativity within the company without making it unstable and unprofitable. This dilemma has both organisational and individual perspectives.

A case study – the Google approach Arguably one of the first companies to have implemented the work-life balance approach was Google. At Google this approach meant the possibility for employees to balance their working time by themselves leaving room

Marina Latukha Associate Professor, St. Petersburg University Graduate School of Management, Accredited CEMS Course “International Human Resource Management”

for rest and pleasure during working hours.

In addition, Google created a special work environment with a great variety of social benefits and infrastructure to make life easier and more convenient for employees.

The need for such a work-life balance was conditioned by requirements for employees to be productive, creative and innovative.

Firms in almost all industries derive their primary competitive advantage through the ability of their employees to create and manage knowledge. There is no doubt that the advantage of such a creative atmosphere might be the improved performance of employees, which, in its turn, results in the company’s effective performance. But could it be the situation when giving flexibility in working hours and the possibility for employees to manage their schedule having time for rest, pleasure and fun, that a company may lose efficiency because of ineffective labour productivity? Is it really necessary in this case to plan rest hours as part of a business process as some companies do?

The secret to achieving work-life balance It is absolutely clear that non-working time may significantly influence a company’s results but only in a situation of uncontrollable planning and management. The secret of work-life balance is in setting performance indicators and sharing responsibility with employees for final operational and strategic results. It means that by managing time on an individual basis and being agreed about performance outcomes, employees may have time for both, playing and working. As worklife balance considerably contributes to personnel loyalty and involvement, it supports creativity and flexibility, and being under control of management and business process indicators, creates a chance for an organisation to be innovative and competitive. n

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

Feature All work and no play?

Striking the work-life balance The CEMS MIM student perspective

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All work and no play?

Striking the work-life balance ____

Interviews conducted by Pavol Dzurjanin CEMS Student Board representative, Rotterdam School of Management

All work and no play? S The CEMS MIM work-life “contract” ____ Being part of CEMS has enabled me to make the most of a unique opportunity to study a world-class and academically renowned Master’s programme that has taken me to study and live in exciting and truly fascinating cities such as Sydney, Istanbul and Barcelona. The experience of living and working in three completely diverse countries in the space of just one year

The fine line between ambition and realism ____ I believe that work-life balance is a very thin line, running in a different place for each of us, depending on our attitude towards life, on which we all try to catch balance with the trial and error method. For me privately it’s a way to somehow juggle three different study programmes (Law, Finance and Management), an international project that I coordinate (social work for a pro bono foundation) while simultaneously trying to have enough time for family and friends.

leads me to say that international mobility, the breaking down of cultural barriers and the forging of life-long friendships is what CEMS is all about.

However, as we all know, nothing is for free in this world and CEMS is no different. Yet the “price” you have to pay to live this amazing lifestyle is symbolic and relatively small. The only “investment” you need to make consists of being relentlessly committed and dedicated to your studies and projects throughout the full duration of the programme. From my personal experience, I can say that the willingness to enter this “psychological contract” is something that takes place subconsciously from the moment you become part of this community of extraordinarily diverse and talented students from all over the world.

Jan Wappler University of Sydney Business School

I always enjoyed having a lot on my plate and as I got used to it I can’t imagine a different way of living. The more duties you have the better organised you are and actually the more you enjoy your free time. And since so far I have been pushing my limits quite successfully I believe I will also be able to face the challenge of being the CEMS Club President.

I think the worst mistake is being over-ambitious, taking all the opportunities you see and far too many duties on your head.

That affects private life but as long as you are sacrificing your sleep, not friendships, everything is fine. If I were to give all the students reading this short interview just one piece of advice it would be – whenever you see a new opportunity, a new path, make sure that when you will reach the place you will be satisfied with what you achieved and you won’t look back and say “God, what do I need it for? I only lost the time and effort”.

Jakub Florkiewicz Warsaw School of Economics

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

Striking the work-life balance Learning to

time management. Take a piece of paper and answer these two simple questions, regardless of your current occupation:

combine your strengths with your passions

____ When I am asked how I combine studying in CEMS, heading student organisations and running my start-up all together, I could hardly tell anyone that I master time management. Yet, what I am good at is… determining what I am good at and what I enjoy doing. Sounds confusing? Once you do what you like the probability of not completing the task on time is around zero.

Considering this premise, here is my small secret for successful

Learning to prioritise and managing your time ____ I have to keep myself busy all the time otherwise I’ll get lazy with too much free time. I want to get into consulting which can be quite tough on the work hours but I still want to get involved with the CEMS alumni. They have given me so much and I’d like to pay it back to the students.

1) 2)

What are your passions in life?

What are you really good at?

Once you have this list, all your actions should be aimed at doing, first, what you are passionate about; second, what you are really good at; third, what can help you be good at what you are passionate about. It is very easy to criticise this way of thinking by finding an excuse in job responsibilities or course curriculum, although you chose both your work place and your university. Instead of being sceptical about how much power you really have over your schedule, try reinforcing passion-driven choice of tasks by introducing “done lists” in substitution for inefficient “to-do lists” that are focused on ticking-off the easiest tasks in the shortest period of time.

Dmitry Golubnichy Stockholm School of Economics

Focusing only on my career would probably not satisfy me.

After a few years devoted only to work, my life would feel very empty. I like to take as many chances to try new stuff as possible. I think when you put everything on hold for some time because of work, you might never stop putting it off for a later time and there’s only one life to live.

There are still so many things that I would like to do that I always have difficulties in deciding what to prioritise for the moment besides studies or work life. I actually met a CEMS alumnus in Helsinki who was working for a consulting company, training for a triathlon, being an active CEMS alumnus, playing an instrument and setting up his own company with a friend (and having a girlfriend!). I was highly impressed and when I asked him how this is possible he told me: the more things you do the more time you have. I think this is actually very true.

Lina Käsbach WU Vienna University of Economics and Business

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All work and no play?

Club or working over the summer in Angola were fun for me, they would probably be a large workload for someone who did not have the motivation for it. This requires understanding how you can have fun while working, so that the work-life balance can weigh in your favour.

Learning to enjoy working ____ Work-life balance is not a ratio between hours spent at work and free work hours, it is lifestyle quality and, evidently, this varies from person to person, according to the preferences of each and every one of us. For instance, during the hours I’ve spent on the challenges of the presidency of the Lisbon CEMS

When passion and responsibility come together ____ I have always worked in order to finance my studies but for the past year I have added the responsibilities of a CEMS Club President here in Cologne. I enjoyed many of the activities organised by the CEMS Club on my term abroad in Norway and when I came back there were many things I wanted to try out here.

I was doing a full-time internship in DĂźsseldorf at one of our corporate partners and it overlapped with the semester for a few

Challenge yourself. As a CEMS student you are probably young, dynamic, pro-active and full of initiative. What I feel about myself is that I still have so much to discover about the world and about myself and that I will become better only if I push myself out of my comfort zone. So take risks and follow your dreams. Either you risk it now, at your prime time, when you have nothing tying you down to some job, city or a person, or the opportunity may pass and you might regret it forever.

Henrique Lopes Nova School of Business and Economics

months, which made it harder for me to keep the balance not just because of the travelling. With work taking up so much of my day I had to find a way to structure the rest of my life to my satisfaction. I think having fun and being passionate about the things you do makes it easier to follow through with your responsibilities but once it becomes too much to keep the fun part in it you have to find a different system.

My bedroom wall is covered with post-its with notes on events, meetings and motivational quotes. What worked for me as well in order to stay motivated, I framed parts of my day in a certain way. I set small targets for myself, for example to work until a specific hour and then have fun with friends as a reward for work well done or to really make use of my breaks at work to get to know new people and other interns. These interactions really recharge my batteries and I wouldn’t be able to function without them, so work-life balance is kind of a must for me.

Helen Jara Ureta University of Cologne

Feature All work and no play?

Striking the work-life balance First-hand experience and advice from CEMS alumni

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

____ Interviews conducted by Blandine Avot – CEMS 2008, HEC-UCD

Inter v ie w

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Part 1 Ask the coach! ____ Achieving

work-life balance is not so easy and pressure at the office or at home can become too strong. But there are ways to prevent critical situations and coaches are here to help!

What advice could you give our readers to help them reach this balance?

Renata Midlerova CEMS 2010 (WU-RSM) Consultant at Mercuri Urval

Find a border between work and your leisure time. One should become aware of the free time spent with working (e.g. checking emails on the smart-phone, making a short business phone call).

It is advantageous to take vacation longer than two weeks at once. As a consequence, colleagues have to find a person that will take over your responsibilities.

____ Why is it important to

reach a work-life balance?

Employees have to find a compromise between the workplace and the rest of their lives. The conflict between work and leisure time often leads to an imbalance. As a consequence, it may lead to employee health problems, job dissatisfaction and fluctuation at the workplace as well as employees long-term low performance.

Why does it seem that the young professional generation is more concerned about this balance than their parents?

The workplace was organised differently in the past. In general, there was a clear border between work and the rest of life. Today the boundary blurs. New technologies and co-existing virtual workplaces enable us to reach totally different dimensions. How many of you habitually check emails when you wake up? How many of you become perfectly nervous when your battery on your smart phone/laptop is low? What about no signal reception?

If you are travelling a lot, connect your business trips with short city tours. Arrive one evening earlier and enjoy the evening in a different city.

Last but not least, it is all about your perception. You should become aware of signals from the environment. In the long term, the most important job is to take care of yourself. n

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

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Alessia Tanzi CEMS 1993 (BocconiHEC-ESADE) In charge of Yoga Coaching at Abigail Consulting ____ Why is it important to

reach a work-life balance?

We spend such a large share of our days working that we cannot deny that being happy with our work is capital for the quality of our lives. A recent study shows that 35% of the workers interviewed think that some key factors at work can be the main threats to their general well being. Due to the importance of feeling satisfied with our role at work, often being happy with our work is a conditio sine qua non to being happy also in our personal sphere.

A recent study shows that 35% of the workers interviewed think that some key factors at work can be the main threats to their general well being.

What types of industries/ positions are famous for enabling work-life balance?

What advice could you give our readers to help them reach this balance?

I believe it is not a matter of industry or position. It is rather a matter of how we relate to the challenges and our capacity to keep a healthy “non-attachment” from our role and act thoroughly even in an emergency, in all our roles.

I will be yogic here… Breath, breath and breath! Breathing is the only action in the body that can operate consciously and unconsciously. It is the link between our body and spirit, the primary link with our true self and also our primary source of energy!

Getting into the habit of working naturally and constantly on our breathing can literally change our life. n

However, a company’s type and level of investment on human resources (not only as far as technical and professional training is concerned) does make the difference. “Enlightened” companies do exist: they realise that more satisfied, aware and focused human resources are not only happier with their job and more loyal, but also more effective and productive. They usually produce a far better business performance.

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Gudrun Oberhauser CEMS 1997 (WU-NHH) Owner, abridgebetween consulting

____ WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO

Reaching and maintaining a good work-life balance is a very individual process.

REACH A WORK-LIFE BALANCE?

WHAT PIECES OF ADVICE COULD YOU GIVE OUR READERS TO HELP THEM REACH THIS BALANCE?

• First of all, become aware of the balance or imbalance between working life and personal life.

Even if we have a job we love it is important to take time for all aspects of our life: friends, family, relaxation, interests which are not work-related, and many more. Too much work means too little free time, too little exercise, too little sleep. But we need all these things to be healthy and balanced and, consequently, to be able to work well, too.

To a large extent, reaching and maintaining a good work-life balance is a very individual process. What is relaxing for one person is not necessarily relaxing for another person. What might work at one employer need not work somewhere else. Still, on a high level you can find common truths.

• Treat your body well.

In our ever faster moving society being stressed and not having time have become bizarre status symbols. In a setting like this it is important that people assume responsibility for their work-life balance.

These are some of the truths which I use when working with international clients:

• Learn to delegate tasks.

• Protect yourself from information overflow and recreational stress.

• Get professional assistance in the workplace or from outside in order to achieve work-life balance.

• Realise that working a lot does not necessarily equal doing a great job.

• Change takes time. n

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

Part 2 The passion - combining pastimes and an ambitious career ____ Should

you drop your passion for sports, wildlife or music once you start working?

Absolutely not! The story of some talented and passionate CEMS alumni will inspire you to follow all your dreams as it’s a matter of balancing work and hobbies!

Claudia Martello CEMS 2004 (WU-Bocconi) Senior Manager at Swisscard and semi‑professional handball player ____ My passion for handball started when I was 12. After high school I wanted to be able to combine my passion and a high-quality university degree – therefore I enrolled at the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business for a business administration degree and joined the WAT Fünfhaus handball team.

Training for four days a week and matches on the weekends meant that I missed some after-lesson Glühweins or had to leave some student parties before the party really took off. Obviously from time to time I doubted that I did the right thing but eventually my passion for handball prevailed.

In my term abroad at Bocconi in Milan as part of the CEMS programme I joined a team in Milan and we managed to win the regional championship and were promoted to the second national league.

Following your passion and building a professional career is possible.

Back in Vienna I graduated and started looking for a job. Should I opt for a 9-to-5 with the possibility to continue with handball?

Needless to say that this option was not suitable for an ambitious person like me; after all, a job in consulting was the place to set the fundament for a future career (at least this is what we were told). So I started at Accelate, a consulting firm in Vienna specialising in growth projects. And what about handball when your job continuously requires you to travel? Well, it took a lot of flexibility from all parties: for my trainer and my team who accepted that I would train only once or twice a week and train on my own for the rest; for the project teams who allowed me to leave the office early whenever I was in Vienna and to finish work later; for me to find training possibilities and motivating myself whenever I was travelling.

Therefore I decided to give handball a last chance. I quit my job and looked for an opportunity to better combine handball with an interesting and challenging job. I found the perfect combination in Zurich: working as a manager at the second largest Swiss mobile operator and playing in the second league in Germany. Training and games demanded a great deal from my body; leading at the same time a team and an entire business division within a company meant a high level of concentration at work.

The most important message I would like to share is that actually doing both, following your passion and building a professional career, is possible. Over the years I have met people who gave up their passion in order to focus on their career, and vice a versa they were asked to reduce or to stop their education for a sport career; if you always give the best you will find a way to overcome all obstacles, and the personal success and the emotions will more than compensate your efforts. n

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Michal Tyl CEMS 2007 (VSE-NHH) CEO at GIScom and wildlife photographer ____ Before starting my own company, I had a project management position in the Pay TV business, which gave me the opportunity to initiate and manage creation of an amazing nature documentary TV channel. This channel was actually a superb link between my work and my passion for wilderness adventures.

This passion for outdoors is shared by my wife, so I have the best adventure buddy one can dream of. Together we plan expeditions into the wild, focusing on encountering animals in their natural environment without protective barriers.

To prepare for such adventures, we spend a lot of time climbing, kayaking, orienteering, and enjoying other fun sports in the nature.

We also share our experience by organising photography exhibitions, giving presentations and interviews or writing articles for travel magazines.

Don’t be afraid to take risks and make brave decisions in order to follow your dreams.

If you have a passion, you always need to be ready for tough decisions in some areas of your life. The good thing is that it pays off greatly, because you gain focus by working on what is really important. For example, during my traineeship I rejected a management position offer in London, because I simply didn´t like living in such a large and impersonal city. This led me back to Prague, where I met my wife-to-be and was able to start training and working on my expeditions together with her.

Later I decided to dedicate more time to outdoor-related activities and soon had to deal with increased pressure in my job. This pushed me to be highly efficient as I had to focus purely on key results in all areas. During a single year I became Czech Republic vice-champion in Adventure Racing, gave interviews about our trips on TV and radio, won a national wildlife photography competition, published articles in major magazines, organised successful photography exhibitions, started a promising company, and still managed to depart on another unique wilderness expedition.

The funny thing was that all the increased pressure improved my work results. In the same year I received a major company award together with new tempting job offers from my employer. However, by that time I was already transiting to my own startup company, which is a dream come true itself. I realised that you will rarely regret a difficult step when deep inside you know it’s the right decision.

Don´t work hard to earn money and to climb the corporate ladder as fast as possible without making sure that it is the right path for you. Few people are really happy spending most of their lives in their employer’s office.

Instead, work hard (and smart) to live your dream. n

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

Csaba Zsoter CEMS 2006 (Corvinus-RSM) Director Assistant at MOL and accomplished sportsman ____ I joined MOL Group Budapest headquarters in 2008. I started in the M&A Department, and in 2011 I became the Executive Assistant of MOL Group Refining & Marketing SVP. I am also teaching in my former college, participating in a Basic Corporate Finance course as lecturer.

And well, I do a lot of sport. This is my passion. This makes me complete.

As an extremely active child my parents sent me to play soccer in a Budapest-based club, where I actually spent 11 years training actively three to four times a week. With university came a period of 6 years of practicing rarely, with all of its disadvantages.

It is not enough to learn how to work. It is not simple, but it is not sufficient either.

When I started to work, I established a more regular rhythm due to a much higher need for relaxing from work-related problems.

Since then I’ve been doing sports at least 3-4 times a week. I ran 2 marathons and several half-marathons. I explored badminton as an excellent sport. I play soccer once a week with my colleagues. I participate in a championship where teams of 3 compete in 5 games (soccer, basketball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis), and there are weekly matches. This summer I will hopefully run my third marathon in an Ironman triathlon relay contest.

The biggest challenges are obvious – time and timing.

For a marathon you need to perform a very strict, regular training sessions for 3-6 months consisting of 3-4 trainings a week, each of them at least for one hour. Given the fact that mornings are not potential training periods for me it means that only after work remains.

Timing can also be challenging. My five ball games took approximately until 1am, which does not usually make the start of the next day easy – especially due to the fact that after an exciting and intensive game you hardly can fall asleep for 1-2 hours. But again, when the going gets tough, the toughs get going.

The above challenges are minor ones compared to the benefits.

I just want to say one thing: it is not enough to learn how to work. It is not simple, but it is not sufficient either. You need to learn how to recreate, how to get away from it all. n

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Feature: All work and no play?

Part 3 The happiness of combining a loving family and an ambitious career ____ A lot of CEMS alumni manage to live at the same time a fulfilling professional life and an

intense family life, which they believe to be the two pillars of a happy life. But how do they manage to combine the two with balance to get the most of each and even be better in each field?

CEMS Magazine asked for the views and advice of 3 mothers and 3 fathers

Elena Zambolin CEMS 2010 (Bocconi-RSM)

Sandra Martinez CEMS 1995 (ESADE–LSM)

Petra Wolkenstein CEMS 1997 (WU-ESADE)

Consultant for Message and starting a doctoral programme at Harvard Business School, mother of Andrea (18 months).

HR for HARMAN Intl.in the USA, mother of 3 children.

CEO, Konsultori Consulting, mother of 2 daughters (5 and 7 years).

Aernout Reymer CEMS 2001 (RSM-SSE)

Rune Foldnes CEMS 1999 (NHH-HSG)

Andreas Thorsheim CEMS 2007 (NHH-LSE)

Chief Security Officer at BT Global Services, father of a 4-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son.

Country Finance Manager at DKSH Japan, father of 2 children.

Chief Financial Officer at Schibsted Norway, father of 2 children (3 years and 5 weeks).

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

The recipe for achieving balance?

Sandra: You need to be

Aernout: It really comes down

realistic and look for reliable and trustworthy help. Living abroad with no family support close by, having reliable child care has been always the key.

to discipline. Discipline to work hard when it is time to work, and discipline to draw the line when it is time for the family.

Petra: My biggest challenges are

Andreas: To find balance between

sick daughters, adhoc business trips and getting enough sleep. For the last I have got a new solution – I quit watching TV altogether. Not bad. For sick daughters a mobile and home working agreement with my former employee paid off so much.

your work and family life, it is crucial that both parents are fully aware of the level of demand they have to face at the office and at home, in order to equally divide the responsibilities. Both partners have to support each other in their career, alternating the field of responsibilities depending on the situation.

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Feature: All work and no play?

Greatest source of satisfaction?

Sandra: The biggest

satisfaction is being fortunate to raise a family who are proud of having a mum who is also professionally accomplished.

Petra: I have to adapt my life

to my family situation, but with the support I get and I can also give to others, we manage.

And I get a challenging job (at the moment starting my own company) that I love.

Aernout: It is a constant

balancing act, but the satisfaction in the present, as well as reassurance for success and happiness in the future, always lies in what you have achieved in the past. There are no dashboards nor graphs when it relates to your couple and kids. This is where your EQ rather than IQ comes in, and quality time, with the family is the hard currency!

Andreas: It may sound like a

clĂ­chĂŠ but, when you get angry or frustrated at work, where there is always someone to be unhappy with you, everything falls back into a new perspective when you come back home and hug a small person who thinks you are the best person on earth!

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Feature: All work and no play?

Advice for fellow CEMS alumni?

Elena: Becoming a parent

and continuing a career is undoubtedly hard. However, I think that, in order to be a good parent, you must first be happy with yourself and fulfil your ambitions. And if that includes ambitious professional goals, your child will understand and appreciate your efforts once he or she grows up.

Rune: First, look at the big

picture. Society would be very unbalanced if we were to chose between either having a career or having children. CEMSies are talented and resourceful people and well positioned to manage the combination of having a career and being good parents.

Petra: Never ever forget to

Andreas: Make sure you choose

take care of your relaxation times and sports. Mens sana in corpore sano. This I had to learn because I tend to forget it.

a company where the culture cares about work-life balance.

Even in the same company, some countries are more understanding than others, so don’t hesitate in choosing the well-located branches.

And first of all, marry a great spouse!!!

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Think Tank

A new breed of entrepreneurs required Dr. Jost Hamschmidt University of St. Gallen and Academic Director, oikos

Developing new Entrepreneurs ____ Entrepreneurship for tackling social challenges, new approaches for creating Shared Value and Sustainability are en vogue. Centres for Social Innovation are emerging across the globe. Leading companies position social and environmental performance as part of their mission statements and strategies.

At the same time, the social and environmental challenges are increasing. Since the late 60s, the world population has doubled to more than 7 billion. According to reinsurance company SwissRe, the number of extreme weather events such as windstorms and floods has tripled since 1980. This trend is expected to continue. Planet earth is heating up.

____ The collective failure to address the increasingly emerging social and environmental challenges calls for a new breed of entrepreneurs: they are called Social Entrepreneurs, Value Entrepreneurs or Sustainability Pioneers. And the World Economic Forum has just started to develop a programme for Global Shapers. Regardless of the label, we are witnessing the rise of a new breed of entrepreneurs that are driven by the creation of value in society.

These entrepreneurs have always been around, but this time we see momentum: whether you take Klaus Tischhauser, the CEO of ResponsAbility Ltd., Elon Musk from Tesla Motors, or Reto Ringger of Globalance Bank Switzerland: all of them developed successful and socially-sound businesses by combining people, planet and profit.

According to the 50+20 Group, a consortium of the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, The World Business School Council for Sustainable Business and the UN-backed PRME Principles for Responsible Management Education, we need a new vision for educating, engaging and enabling leaders of tomorrow. Indeed, if we take the objective to mitigate climate change seriously - in June 2007 the leaders at the G8 summit agreed to at least halve global CO2emissions by 2050 - those companies will succeed, who do not follow the business as usual path.

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Think Tank

How to go about affecting change? ____ How can we nurture these trends and profit from them?

As Faculty, we can foster academic entrepreneurship by strengthening experiential learning and integrating sustainability trends into our research and teaching.

As students, we can develop our skills by engaging with centres of Social Innovation such as the Global Hub Network, Sandbox, Ashoka or oikos.

As corporate leaders, we can inform our business strategies by systematically encompassing trends in society and the environment. We can build Corporate/NGO cross-sector alliances, develop shared value approaches for our core business and improve employee motivation and long-term performance. And we can speed up the ongoing transformation by joining business associations such as the Network of Business Sustainability, founded by faculty of CEMS academic member Richard Ivey School of Business.

Resources: Ashoka – Innovators for the public www.ashoka.org Case Studies on Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability: http://www.oikos-international.org/ academic/case-collection/about.html Network for Business Sustainability www.nbs.net oikos www.oikos-international.org Sandbox http://www.sandbox-network.com/

Action within CEMS ____ Within the CEMS community we see a number of initiatives emerging. Many CEMS schools enable their students to develop their own social business plans or provide action learning courses in cooperation with social innovation centres like the Hub. We witness these kind of activities e.g. at the London School of Economics, Copenhagen Business School, NUS Singapore and the University of St. Gallen, among others. This year, the first CEMS Social Business Competition, organised by CEMS alumni emerged under the umbrella of the SENSTation platform. In April, a new CEMS Faculty Group on Social Entrepreneurship was founded at Copenhagen Business School, adding to a number of similar activities in other CEMS Faculty Groups.

This is an excellent start. However, developing new entrepreneurs needs collaborative action from many disciplines. Join us on the journey.

The Global Hub Network www.the-hub.net n

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Think Tank

Applying for jobs?

Make it simple for yourself… and recruiters! ____ Nicolas

Constantinesco, a partner in KPMG’s Operations Strategy Group in Amsterdam and a career coach, offers vital tips to CEMS Magazine readers.

Ever feel like recruiting advice “sounds right” but is difficult to apply? Overwhelmed by the plethora of CV and interview tips and don’t know where to start? Then you are not alone.

New graduates and experienced professionals alike often do struggle with how to market themselves to recruiters: it is difficult to take a step back and assess ourselves objectively without being unduly critical; what recruiters look for seems like a black box; and for all the advice we get, actually applying it can be plain difficult. “How tough can the interview really be? I’ll just go in there and hope for the best.”

The famous three candidate traits

Nicolas Constantinesco Partner, KPMG

The challenge for recruiters...

Why did you choose CEMS?

Ironically, recruiters face similar challenges.

Because they improvise, candidates in fact make it difficult for recruiters to do their work: incoherent CVs, rambling without clear messages and generic assertions (“I’m confident my interpersonal skills will be a great asset”) all conspire to form a muddled picture from which to tease out the individual’s assets. Multiply this by the sheer volume of candidates, and recruiters quickly feel overwhelmed by an information overload of their own.

The most important decisions we make often come down to essence. Why did you buy an iPad? Over and above the 30+ unique specifications, it might just come down to the brand appeal and simple design. Why did you choose CEMS? Of course the benefits are numerous, but perhaps you made the fundamental decision to join a global community that rhymes with excellence. What do you like so much about your partner? The list of qualities is obviously endless, but most likely it comes down to simple chemistry. Almost always, the important decisions come down to simple motivations that transcend details. The same applies to recruiters. If you are the right candidate, you only need a simple rationale to convince recruiters: that you’re qualified, and that you really want that job.

Can you turn this to your advantage? Most definitely. At the same time that you seek to stand out, recruiters will quickly latch on to evidence of a “find” much as fishers do.

So what should you do?

The key is to go back to the fundamentals: give the recruiter a compelling yet simple rationale for hiring you.

However, just saying that you’re qualified and excited won’t work. “Don’t tell me you’re funny”, goes the old adage, “make me laugh”.

Show recruiters your capabilities and excitement, and there’s every chance that you’ll get the offer.

Successful candidates typically share three traits. First, they typically have a story – the famous elevator speech – that synthesises their professional path into a coherent picture. Everything in your story should ultimately lead to why you’re qualified and why you want the job. It should recount where you started, how you got to where you are, and flow naturally into the position you’re discussing. For coherence, thread it together with the defining decisions you’ve made along the way, and lace with teasers about your achievements to elicit curiosity. Often the best response to “tell me about yourself”, your story immediately gives a differentiated picture and sets the tone for the rest of the interview.

Successful candidates also work with 7-10 compelling anecdotes about achievements that illustrate the 4-6 skills (why you’re qualified) and drive (why you’re excited) that the recruiter is looking for. You should ensure these anecdotes are individually compelling and collectively coherent. Find a crisp way to recount them in 2 minutes, and you’ll have the skeleton for your CV and the rest of your interview.

Finally, show how excited you really are. Excitement is contagious, it energises recruiters.

Show your passion, and tell your story and anecdotes with energy. Use body language.

Help the recruiter imagine what working with you would be like. Give him, or her, something exciting to latch on to. n

Student & alumni focus CEMS teams occupy grande finale of Société Générale CSR business game ____

Kevin Titman – CEMS Communications Manager

____ Now into its sixth year in operation and run by CEMS Corporate Partner Société Générale, the game hinges around an interactive human encounter enabling students from engineering, business study courses in higher education establishments and universities throughout the world to engage with Société Générale in its thought processes in relation to problems facing society and the environment.

Students were invited to form a three-person team to work on issues of Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSR) encountered by the bank and to imagine a more socially responsible bank.

The WU Vienna-CEMS team “Trust Me” went a stage further still by finishing on the winner’s podium in the third place. n

From an initial pool of several hundred projects, three 100% CEMS teams (two from WU Vienna University of Economics and Business and one from Nova School of Economics and Business) were included in the initial selection of 45 made by an independent jury. Following a series of workshops and presentation of their case in Paris in February before an additional jury the three teams were successful again in reaching the final stages, competing against seven other teams.

Find out more about Citizen Act at www.citizenact.com/en/

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Student & alumni focus

CEMS Runners ____ Torsten Röwekamp – CEMS 2003, UoC-UB; Vice-President, CEMS Alumni Association

____ On

26 February, 26 CEMS students and alumni met early in the morning at the Parco de la Ciutadella in Barcelona to participate in the Mitja Marato’, the official half marathon of Barcelona.

Barcelona honoured the CEMS Runners with sunny weather and a great track of 21,095 km passing by some of the most beautiful streets of Barcelona and along the seaside to finish at the Arc de Triomf. The Local Committee of the CEMS Alumni Association had organised a traditional pasta dinner for the evening before the run and expected us at the finish line for a common lunch right after it.

All participants were very happy with their results and the whole event.

After Amsterdam in October, the Mitja Marato’ was the second Half Marathon where the CEMS Runners, a group of CEMS students and alumni who share their passion for running on a Facebook Group, participated. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ CEMSRunners/

At the time of writing, this new CEMS Runners tradition was scheduled to continue in the following cities: • Stockholm Half-Marathon, 15 September • Cologne Marathon, 14 October • Paris 20 km, 14 October

Join us on Facebook to keep informed about the next events or if you have no Facebook account, send an email to: torsten.roewekamp@cemsmail.org

CEMS Magazine | Summer 2012

Student & alumni focus

An initiative for all CEMS Entrepreneurs... ____

Ariadna Masó Mas – CEMS student, ESADE-HEC 2010-11

____ CEMS

is glad to present a newly founded alumni-led body especially dedicated to facilitating entrepreneurship with the CEMS community.

CEMS Entrepreneurs (CE) is an initiative aiming to create a global platform for CEMS entrepreneurial students and alumni, via building grounds for collaboration, networking and new business opportunities.

CE is built for all those CEMS alumni who have decided to follow the path of an entrepreneur, to know they are not alone and can share their journeys with other entrepreneurial peers.

How it all started...

CE was created about 8 months ago after three passionate CEMS Entrepreneurs realised that, even though CEMS is a very powerful community offering its stakeholders many assets for growing sustainable companies, there was no centralised place for entrepreneurs. That is how CE was born...

The CE network explores ways of making the most of the whole CEMS community by engaging all four pillars: CEMS students, alumni, faculty members and Corporate Partners.

CE emerges from the objective to position entrepreneurship as an important component in CEMS not only on an academic level but also in connection with existing business and entrepreneurial ventures of students and alumni and potential future engagement of Corporate Partners. The point is to establish a global network of innovators and a platform for collaboration in order to help members of the CEMS community build and grow world-class businesses.

What CE can offer you?

Are you involved with…? Approach CE to…

Alumni - Running your own company

- Aiming to start new ventures and start-ups

- Find partnerships and investors - Share experience - Learn from other entrepreneurs

Students - Running projects and start-ups

- Seeking to start a company

- Network and be inspired - Look for advice and guidance - Learn from entrepreneurs

Academic - Running courses with entrepreneurial focus Members - Research into entrepreneurship

- Give advice on new ventures - Encourage and challenge students - Provide academic theories and frameworks

Corporate Partners

- Find talent - Explore spinoffs and innovative labs - Establish active CEMS involvement

- Organising competitions - Building new products via engagement with outside talent - Intrapreneurial activities and programmes

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Student & alumni focus

Current activities...

Online activities

Offline activities

CEMS Entrepreneurs provide an online channel for communication where already close to 40 CEMS entrepreneurs exchange insights, opportunities and look for cooperation on a large variety of topics such as: product internationalisation, team creation and structure, investment, business models, general collaboration or ideas on how to foster CEMS to be more entrepreneurial.

This summer CEMS Entrepreneurs were due to host their second global event solely dedicated to CEMS Entrepreneurs, expected to be held in Paris. Additionally CE is a growing global community where CEMSies in a variety of cities are establishing local connection points to always be able to connect with like-minded peers.

Meet some of the CEMS Entrepreneurs...

The founding team

Tomas Laboutka MP FL Ventures VSE/RSM

Ariadna Mas贸

Ivo Vasilev

Maciej Bogaczyk

Philipp Schoeffmann

Helping Varios Startups ESADE/HEC

Co-founder bulk LABS ESADE/USyd

CEs in Education

Antoine Lepretre Co-founder Educadvisor HEC/RSM

Co-founder Educadvisor SGH/RSM

Founder INEX

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CEs in Consulting Services

Marc Berbegal

Michael Schmitz

Baptiste Picard

Bart Van Mill

Co-founder Civiliz HEC/WU

Co-founder Clicktron Media RSM/HSG

Rafal Siepak

Colin Lyons

Aida Martinez

Vincent Jong

Co-founder Red Code Marketing ESADE/HEC

CEs in Technology/ Advertising

Co-founder SENStation RSM/NHH

CEs in Social Enterprise

CEs in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Co-founder E3 Union ESADE/IVEY

Co-founder ArtefactConsulting RSM/NHH

Founder FundWeaver ESADE/EAESP

Founder StartupEUvents WU/NOVA

How to get involved?

Are you running your own company already? Do have deep aspirations to start your venture? Are you are looking to stay connected, explore opportunities and be inspired by the stories of other like-minded CEMS alumni?

CEMS Entrepreneurs is built for you!

All CEMS Entrepreneurs are welcome!

Are you ready to connect, inspire and collaborate?

www.cemsentrepreneurs.org

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Interviews conducted by Torsten Röwekamp CEMS 2003, UoC-UB; Vice-President, CEMS Alumni Association

____

CEMS people doing business ____ CEMS

Magazine once again brings you in-depth interviews with CEMS alumni who took the decision to go out into business on their own.

CEMS Magazine first spoke with

neers, doctors, researchers, and specialised consultants from more than 50 countries.

And if we do not have the “perfect match” within our network, we go out there and find the best experts for the inquiry worldwide. Just try us and contact me at bl@ innosquared.com or +49 (0)211 175 246-19.

Benjamin Lüpschen, CEMS 2004 (UoC-St. Gallen) and founder of Innosquared, an Expert Network Service company.

What is the most exciting part about your job?

How did the idea behind Innosquared come to life?

From my time in Corporate Development at Henkel, I know how it is when you deal with new topics and questions every day: you are fighting a short deadline and you have no reliable data at hand. So you have to make do with desk research or study market reports. But even if you can use a research department, only too often you find yourself buried in data with no pointers where to look specifically. My co-founders and I thought how great it would be if there was an expert you could ask directly, with whom you could discuss the important questions person to person. And so we set off to unlock the worldwide knowledge and make it usable for your everyday business.

What exactly do you do?

We identify and recruit experienced professionals from all over the world. These experts provide our clients with first-hand expertise and assessments in short phone consultations, surveys, or workshops. A project might cover the value chain of a specific consumer goods market in South East Europe, buying criteria for medical supplies in German hospitals, a comparison of different internet technologies in Senegal or best practices in online marketing worldwide – you name it! Our network of experts is growing fast. We have front-line managers and top-level executives, engi-

Satisfying very demanding clients from consulting or investment companies is challenging and very fulfilling. I am in contact with fascinating people every day.

When you see how you are establishing a relationship with a client because they understand the value you are providing and your commitment, you just know you are doing something right.

YOU AND YOUR PARTNERS ALL LEFT YOUR JOBS TO FOUND INNOSQUARED? DO YOU HAVE TO BE CRAZY TO LEAVE SECURE, WELL-PAID JOBS FOR AN IDEA? Crazy? No. Convinced? Definitely! Of course, you have to be willing to take the risk, or you would not be an entrepreneur.

But we all believed in the enormous potential of our idea and our service. To see now how this idea has transformed into a

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I am in contact with fascinating people every day.

successful, dynamically growing company shows that going with that gut feeling was definitely the right choice.

Did CEMS help to prepare you for Innosquared?

Absolutely. Innosquared is all about internationality and global networking. The great appeal of CEMS and Innosquared alike is to connect with interesting professionals all over the world and to leverage the experience and insights of your contacts.

And of course, from time to time, I can use my own CEMS contacts for a quick insight.

But the most important factors are surely the curiosity, the team-working skills and the “action bias� you find in CEMS students that help me to shape the success of Innosquared every day.

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CEMS Magazine also spoke with

Emiliano Mroue (CEMS 2007, ESADE-UoC), co‑founder of the West African Rice Company in Sierra Leone.

Emiliano, please tell us about yourself I was born 27 years ago, in a small town in the Argentine Pampas. I have a French girlfriend, living in Germany and, after working for four years at Henkel in Dusseldorf, I left my job to start up a business in Sierra Leone. Before that, I tried to travel as much as possible, going to places such as Afghanistan, Iran, Mozambique and almost every country in Latin America. Typical CEMS, I guess.

A business in Sierra Leone?

What type of business?

Together with my cousin, we founded The West African Rice Company (WARC), in 2011. The goal of the company is to produce rice in Sierra Leone to be sold exclusively in the domestic market at this first stage.

Ours is a social business, and that’s strongly shaping our strategy.

How is WARC fitting into the Social Business concept?

We believe, as many others, that the main solution to poverty is mainly, but not solely, achieved through sustainable businesses.

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, and as such almost 70% of their population lives below the poverty line. In addition, most of a household’s income (sometimes estimated at 50%!) is spent in rice only. Therefore, we believe that by producing rice in the country, we are generating economic activity in

remote impoverished areas, reducing the dependency on rice imports with its positive macroeconomic impacts and at the same time contributing to the country’s food security. Finally, we have put in place a very strong Corporate Social Responsibility programme to support the communities where we operate and the environment.

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Could you tell us more about your CSR programme?

We intend to focus on the three classic aspects of sustainability: economic, social and environmental.

From an economic perspective, as said before, we contribute to the substitution of imports and the generation of economic activity and employment in a very impoverished area. This year we are planning to employ 115 villagers to work with us.

We are partnering with a local NGO to develop and execute “classic� CSR activities, to be funded by our company. We formed a multitask force team, involving the Paramount Chief of the district, which is representing the local people, the head of the NGO and a representative of our company. The main goal of this team is to identify the needs of

the community, develop the projects according to the available budget and execute them.

At a first stage, the projects are aimed at developing basic infrastructure, such as the local school and water wells, among others.

At a later stage they’ll be focused on building up skills and eventually micro-finance.

Finally, agriculture can be very hazardous for the environment and the community, if not done properly. Especially due to the use of chemicals, which are harmful for the underground water and the soil, and due to the excessive use of water to irrigate the fields. Currently, we are forming a team of consultants, which will be in the field end of March, to study the introduction of alternative inputs and production processes. These have the property of sequester a significant amount of CO2 (ca. 3000tns p.a. in our farm) and reduce the utilisation of water by 50%, compared to traditional farming.

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You mentioned before that you left Henkel to start WARC. How did you make the decision of leaving your job and starting up the company in Sierra Leone?

Finally, to make such a decision, I think you must have that risk appetite inside yourself, not only from a financial perspective, but also from a personal one. In addition, I think that the exposure to “social extremes”, as in Afghanistan or Mozambique in my case, shape the way you see things and, in my case, helped me realise my long-term goals: to make a significant impact on society, while making business.

From a business perspective, Africa, and particularly Sierra Leone, are arising as potential agriculture super-powers. There is a vast availability of natural resources, like land and water, currently unused. When exploited sustainably, these resources will certainly cover the increase of the world’s

food demand driven by population growth, and more particularly will contribute to poverty reduction in the continent. We came with that dream, and we are contributing to make it happen.

Finally, leaving a stable life and job in a great country such as Germany, to start up a “risky” business in Sierra Leone, was not an easy decision. It took me three months to establish the idea, six months to “cook it” and finally another three months until I finally stepped into the country.

How did CEMS contribute to your decision-making and training in general?

First, CEMS contributed very strongly to my insertion into the European business network. I came from Argentina and did CEMS at ESADE in Spain and the University of Cologne in Germany. In both cases, I was exposed to European education, which finally enabled me to grow professionally at one of its corporate partners.

Second, still today I’m benefitting from the alumni and general CEMS network. More precisely, at Henkel, the alumni network is very active, supporting the newcomers and organising other related activities. In my case, It was through one of the CEMS alumni that I finally got to meet our main investor for my company.

Finally, I think the CEMS network is a very valuable, intangible asset that we all have.

Its long-term value is very hard to quantify, but I’m convinced that it will keep on contributing to my own personal and professional growth. I wish I could support other alumni and students actively as well.

If somebody is particularly interested and/or wants to learn more about our project, you can check www.westafricanrice.com or send me an email at Emiliano.Mroue@westafricanrice.com

THE STARS HAVE ALIGNED

A global league of leaders, CEMS brings together top academic institutions, leading multinational companies, recognised NGOs and outstanding students from around the world to deliver the most internationally and culturally diverse Master’s in Management on the market.

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CoNTACT I www.cems.org I info@cems.org Aalto University School of Business | Copenhagen Business School | Corvinus University of Budapest | ESADE Business School | Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo-FGV | Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University | HEC Paris | HKUST Business School | Keio University | Koç University Graduate School of Business | Louvain School of Management | LSE, The London School of Economics and Political Science | National University of Singapore Business School | Norwegian School of Economics | Nova School of Business and Economics | Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario | Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University | Stockholm School of Economics | Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management | UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business | Università Bocconi | University of Cologne | University of Economics, Prague | University of St. Gallen | University of Sydney Business School | Warsaw School of Economics | WU, Vienna University of Economics and Business

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