ESTIEM Magazine | Autumn 2008 | Entrepreneurship and Innovations by ESTIEM

Starting the New

Entrepreneurship and Innovations

European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management Issue 35 2008/2 | ISSN 0874-5242 | Price 0 Euro | www.estiem.org

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Starting the New

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Entrepreneurship and Innovations

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European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management Issue 35 2008/2 | ISSN 0874-5242 | Price 0 Euro | www.estiem.org

INTRODUCTION Editorial President’s Speech Introduction to ESTIEM Our Projects and Committees NEWS Portal 2.0 Diversity in IEM Studies – Student Guide Driving up Local Groups – Members Committee Explore it! – Europe3D Do you realise the importance of Media Relations? The Think Tank between Council Meetings – The ESTIEM College

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18 20 24 26 28 31 34 events CM Recipe: How to create a tasteful meal? 35 – Council Meeting Hamburg Jumping Trams and Geese 38 – TIMES Final Four Days with ESTIEM 39 – A Non–ESTIEMer’s perspective Blood, Tears and One of the Best Weeks! 40 Play Hard! Work Hard! – ReCoM Lisbon 41 Activity Week St. Petersburg 42 Business in the old City: Istanbul 43 44 46

INSIDE ESTIEM From Ex-Project Leaders Alumni Meeting in Seville Cultural Prejudice – Germany What is happening in Gothenburg? Mission TIMES Final – Linköping From “ESTIEM Magazine” to “Scope”

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AGENDA

FOCUS Top 10 Myths about Entrepreneurship Educating for Entrepreneurial Society Risk management in Innovative Business Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurial Creativity Making the Hobby a Profession The Basic Income EVENTS

PROFESSIONAL Shortage of Engineering Skills across Europe Meet Bosch in Sweden

4 iNTRODUCTION

imprint

Do not wait! Fly the paper plane!

Project Leader Sezen Sayoglu Editorial staff Isidora Strboja Markus Schoppmann Thibault Maffei Gulfem Karcı David Christian Berg

Design David Christian Berg Acquisition David Christian Berg Sezen Sayoglu Contact magazine@estiem.org ESTIEM Permanent Office Paviljoen B 0.06 PO Box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands Fax: +31 40 2473871 e-mail: info@estiem.org www.estiem.org Disclaimer The contents may not always reflect the opinion of the publisher. Any reproduction or copy is permitted only with the permission of the editors.

ing an essay? A cup of coffee helps you to start writing the essay maybe, but does it work all the time? No, it does not… to prove it: I had my tea two hours ago :-)

sezen sayoglu

Layout Sezen Sayoglu David Christian Berg Gulfem Karcı

“Start! ” What a simple word, easy to understand but is it easy to start? Was the first day in school easy

15 years ago? Could you start studying for your exam whenever you want? Could you ever easily start writ-

Can you think of how hard it is to start something new when even just to starting to do anything is

so hard? Starting something new when you are living with people, who have never been open to changes…

They have always judged the ones who brought a new idea, new perspective, new way… Remember the movie Pleasantville, the black-and-white society of Pleasantville did not accept colourful people in their village because they were new, it was a change and it didn’t seem to be as pleasant as it used to be. Actually,

their life got richer but they just did not understand how nice this change is, until they were changed themselves – getting colourful. At the end they all did adapted to the change as it is the case in general. So the hardest part is always the process of the change.

Well, as the ESTIEM Magazine we are going through the same path of the change. ESTIEM Magazine wants to restart with a new name and a real one presenting its

content well. However, as you can imagine the change is not easy! To break

the tradition last for 15 years, to make people believe the change is neces-

sary, to make them like the magazine with its new name. Actually, we

had a name which satisfies our expectations from a name and a nice one

which we believed in. We believed in the name “scope” which could make you also

internalise this change easily. However, as said, change is not easy and there are many factors affect your decision so

at the end new name could not start in this “starting the new ” issue.

No! It is not over because it did not work out this

time. We got to keep trying and we believe that the process

of the change will go into the right direction after Council Meeting Famagusta. The good thing is that we are not the

black-and-white society of Pleasantville, but we are openminded ESTIEMers! It should be easier to create a change and start something new with you guys!

See you in the next issue, which will be called as, hmm,

what?

illustration by Sadi Güran

introduction

President’s Speech Dear Readers of the ESTIEM Magazine,

This ESTIEM Magazine looks into the minds of the people who drive innovation, new ideas, and bring forth new businesses. The very people ensure that the world is still developing rapidly, and that there is something new to be discovered every day. But if you look at their path, it is often full of trial and error with great risks involved; a path, for which school rarely prepares them.

In recent years, ESTIEM has been starting up an idea called the Venture Network. The plan is to connect entrepreneurially-minded students with alumni who already have the experience of running their own businesses. These people are gathered together for nearly a week to discuss, share ideas, and to work together on different cases. The first event already took place last year, and the next one should be done by the time this Magazine is out. This is just one of the ideas that one single student decided to try out a few years ago.

In the global world where we now live in, many new businesses no longer go the traditional path of growing up slowly at the home markets before going abroad. The best ideas and companies While being a student, ESTIEM is a great are often born global – from the very beginning. platform to try out your ideas. Whether you are We have also seen some of our students starting leading a small group of people working together up companies together and making extensive use for a few hours, organising a multinational event, of the network they have build up in ESTIEM. I or running a one year project that spans whole think this is one of the best indicators of the sucEurope, ESTIEM offers a unique chance to test cess of ESTIEM. After 18 years, we are still going your skills. With people from 25 countries, the strong. opportunities are limitless. Entrepreneurship, like Will you be the next one to start up something leadership, is one of the topics that are very hard truly innovative? to teach at the university. It should be learnt by doing, and what is a better chance to practice than In High ESTIEM, trying out things with like-minded friends in different student organisations? PS. For some inspiration, check out www.ted.com for many excellent videos on ideas that have the potential to change the world.

Mıkko sjöberg

It is sometimes criticised that our school system leaves no room for trying out new things. For every question in the exam, there is only one correct answer. From very early on, children learn to succeed by always giving the same, pre-defined answers. How easy – and boring – would it be, if real life were the same?

introduction

Back in 1990,

students from five different countries founded an organisation which they named ESTIEM: European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management. Its aim was and still is to establish and foster interrelations among European students of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM).

In 16 years, it has grown into an organisation bringing together 40 0 00 students from 65 universities in 23 European countries, and is still growing. All these universities offer courses in IEM. Based on this structure, ESTIEM forms links between students, academics and companies in order to create a Europe-wide, multi-level IEM network.

Through involvement in ESTIEM, students get an opportunity to experience different cultures, take part in international projects and become friends with other ESTIEMers from all over Europe. Our belief is that the activities and projects of ESTIEM give our members knowledge and experiences that are important for their personal development and the realisation of future goals. The students involved in ESTIEM incorporate both the skills required for modern business and an open-minded approach towards other people and cultural issues. The decision-making body of ESTIEM is the Council, which meets twice a year, in autumn and in spring. Each university, represented by its socalled ‘Local Group’, sends two student representatives. The five members of the Board of ESTIEM are elected during the autumn Council Meeting. The Board is responsible for the management, coordination and administration of the association. It represents the association in all legal matters. ESTIEM has continuously increased the number of its activities, thus being able to offer a great variety of events to IEM students. Based on its activities, ESTIEM has attracted many active students, and the organisation has seen rapid growth since its founding. Major activities on a European level besides Council Meetings include the only European wide IEM case competition TIMES, the seminar series Vision, ESTIEM Magazine, Venture Network, Europe 3D, Summer Academy and Student Guide (a database with information for students who want to study abroad); all led by Project Leaders who are elected at the Council Meetings.

Introduction

introduction

Besides taking leadership positions in the Board and as Project Leaders, ESTIEM members can also take up more responsibility by working in one of the committees. The committees work together closely with the Board, supporting it in its tasks. ESTIEM has six of them at the moment: the Information and Communication Technology Committee, the Public Relations Committee, the Members Committee, the Knowledge Management Committee, the Financial and Legal Committee and ESTIEM’s youngest asset, the Corporate Relations Committee. With lots of teams and tasks to choose from, there is a place for everyone. Naturally, the backbone of ESTIEM is the European IEM student. Open-minded and keen on developing him or herself, he or she is eager to make friends and create contacts with different IEM representants from all over the continent. For more detailed information about our organisation and its activities, please visit our website at www.estiem.org. Here you can also find everything you need to know if you want to get involved. So don’t hesitate and start moving… you won’t regret it! 

n to ESTIEM

introduction

Projects & Committees TIMES

Euorpe3D:

The Tournament In Management and Engineering Skills (TIMES) is today considered the largest pan-European case study competition for Industrial Engineering and Management students. This prestigious, highly acclaimed event is the flagship project of the Europe-wide student organisation ESTIEM. Two qualification rounds are required to be selected for the TIMES Final. The Final eventually brings together the winning teams from each SemiFinal to determine Europe’s “IEM Students of the Year”

Within a 5-day seminar series the participants should get a basic picture of the hosting country. A special focus thereby lays on national characteristics in politics and economy. Lectures given by experts from politics, science and economy shall provide the participants with a theoretical insight. On the other hand the Project’s aim is to integrate our guests actively in this seminar. Especially to include the practical aspect, the Project wants to cooperate with companies for excursions and lectures

Vision

ESTIEM Magazine

Mainly the Vision is for students of industrial engineering and management (IEM) to develop and improve their skills and abilities. Therefore each Vision Seminar offers lectures held by professors and businessmen, workshops and case studies with professors and companies and company visits. But not only academically skills will be developed by taking part in a Vision seminar; also it will brighten your horizon by seeing different cities all over Europe and get to know their culture. Your guides will be IEM students that are studying at this place.

ESTIEM Magazine, the official publication of ESTIEM, provides the perfect platform to reach a target group of approximately 45000 students of industrial engineering and management at universities all over Europe. The magazine is one of the most important PR tool of ESTIEM. The ESTIEM Magazine is published twice a year and is distributed among Industrial Engineering students, graduates and also professors and employees of companies across Europe through the ESTIEM network. The magazine is free of charge. The issues are released in time for the semi-annual Council Meeting.

introduction

Summer Academy

Corporate Relations Committee

Through the Summer Academy project, ESTIEM recognises the importance of and takes responsibility for providing knowledge of ethics and sound leadership among future leaders of Europe. It was set up to bring international students together during summer holidays to engage in open discussion, group work, debate and private study under a senior Academic Leader.

The Corporate Relations Committee simply works in a number of fields with the aim of improving and simplifying ESTIEM’s relations with companies, such as updating marketing material, improving partnership processes, preparing company surveys, doing industry segmentation. The also do actually hands on work in contacting companies for Projects and central ESTIEM

Student Guide

The Student Guide is a bridge between European student who wants to share information. The Project has two main goals: Firstly to provide study and cultural information on countries, cities and universities to students of industrial engineering and management and secondly to give an overview of differences in education in different countries for students, universities and other interested organisations.

Financial and Legal Committee

Public Relations Committee

The ESTIEM Members Committee supports the member groups of ESTIEM and provides information for those students who are interested in joining the ESTIEM organisation by forming their own local group. They guide the interested groups through the whole process, starting from establishing contact – via the guest and observation period – until fully pledged membership.

The aim of the Public Relations Committee is to care for ESTIEMs outer appearance and increase the awareness. The committee is responsible for communicating the ESTIEM brand inside and outside of ESTIEM. With guidelines large steps are taken into the direction of a global brand management. The Public Relations Committee is now concentrating on gaining media cooperation for ESTIEM, at central and local level Knowledge Management Committee

The Knowledge Management Committee collects, documents, and makes knowledge accessible for all ESTIEM members by creating trainings, best practice documents, board guidelines, support material for inactive Local Groups, and a help mailing list. Therefore they prevent re-inventing the wheel in many different ways by creating all these to share the knowledge. TIMES Committee

TIMES Committee has three main aims: 1) Continuous improvement of the quality of TIMES; 2) Building and maintaining relationships with key partners – head sponsor and key side sponsors such as travel companies, media, universities 3) Development of the rules of TIMES. The Committee works in corporation with TIMES Project.

The Financial and Legal Committee predominantly consists of former and current Vice Presidents of Finance and the Financial Controllers. In general, the financial and Legal Committee has an advisory function and deals with how to perform the financial responsibilities of ESTIEM. Members Committee

Information Technology Committee

The IT Committee maintains the mail, intranet, and web servers of ESTIEM and coordinates all IT-related development in the organisation, such as regarding the IT backend system (.NET platform/C#). In addition, its members offer troubleshooting services and technical advice to ESTIEMers.

10 News NEWS

Portal 2.0 Philıpp lehnert

The Internet has been changing a lot in the last years. Web 2.0 is the buzzword that is used everywhere and it has also changed the way of communication for many ESTIEMers. Communication nowadays goes beyond e-mailing or skyping. You write on each other’s Facebook walls, you “poke” or “gruschel” your friends in the communities, stalk through your “friends’ ” photos and buddy lists. One year ago, the IT Committee had a coordination meeting where we decided to change the ESTIEM Portal to a website where some of these functions that you can use in other webcommunities are also available. We planned to have personal “walls” to write on, your own picture albums with photo tagging, groups and additional profile information. Long story short: The ESTIEM Portal should become more “facebookish”. These things were all to be built on the new version of our website which is now almost finished by Helmuth “Helli” Elsner. But during the Council Meeting in Hamburg, the former IT Committee Leader Thijs Putman brought up the question “Is this idea still the right way to go?”. And in fact that is a very good question. Most of you are probably registered in more than one community. A short example about myself: I am on Facebook, StudiVZ (German facebook), Xing and some other smaller communities or forums. Then I got an e-mail: Kimmo invites you to Linked In. “Not another one!” I thought. Not another community where you have to find your buddies keep your profile up to date and log in every few days to check your inbox. And the way we planned the new ESTIEM portal was quite similar: Yet another community. But what’s the alternative then? Of course we have to do something to give ESTIEMers

the chance to communicate, to share their pictures and look at each other’s profiles. But are ESTIEMers – are you – willing to keep track of yet another community? One alternative is, to use the interfaces that for example Facebook – the biggest community right now – offers, to give ESTIEMers additional functions on Facebook to interact with other ESTIEMers and our portal. So we went from the plans to “make the portal more facebookish” to “make Facebook more ESTIEM portalish”. The first step to give ESTIEMers additional features on Facebook was the establishment of the ESTIEM network in April 2008. (If you are not in it you should definitely join!) The next step could be an application that you install in your Facebook profile which displays additional information about you. For example, that can be: Events you have been to and you are going to go to; your position within ESTIEM; Your Local Group and much more. This information will come directly and automatically from the ESTIEM portal and will of course only be visible to other ESTIEMers. One click links you directly to the portal and you can read more detailed things. We recently started examining the possibilities that we have and the efforts that have to be taken to make this possible. The main goal we want to achieve is to make communication for ESTIEMers as easy and comfortable as possible and also to revive the ESTIEM portal itself again, and I am quite confident that our plans lead in the right direction. Of course you will be informed about our achievements as soon possible. 

News

Studying Industrial Engineering and Management across Europe:

This is the core of the Student Guide Project (www.studentguide.estiem.org): to provide study and cultural information on countries, cities and universities to IEM students and to give an overview of differences in IEM education in different European countries. Achieving these goals in the best possible way is an ongoing process. Because the education is changing, the data must be updated regularly. Thanks to the good work of former Project Leaders, Student Guide’s database at the moment provides information about 66 IEM universities in 26 countries. This is quite good but can still be improved. Therefore the Project needs the help of the Local Responsibles. They are closest to the necessary information at their home universities, and they are already able to update the information about their city and Local Group on their own. Complete and up-to-date information on shows activity and can also attract exchange students and potential members to the Local Group. Besides the database about the different IEM programmes, countries and cities, the ESTIEM Student Guide publishes a Handbook every half year. At the moment it can be downloaded from the website as a pdf-document. The Handbook contains reports about exchange experiences, about developments in IEM education in Europe and provides you with the contact information to a lot of different European IEM universities.

As you see, Student Guide has already a lot of things to offer. To improve these services further, the team is working on several tasks. In the future we want to improve the database in a way that it can be searched easily and everybody can find the right university for him or herself by specified criteria. We want to find out more useful information about a potential exchange university and provide that information on our website: about existing universities as well as about new IEM universities. Also, the Handbook will get a new and fresh design to be more attractive to potential sponsors. Therefore Student Guide is working together with the Public Relations Committee on this task. Another collaboration between Student Guide and the PR Committee was the creation of a logo. This will help to increase the awareness of the Project and give it its own, recognisable look. If you are interested in IEM education in Europe, in database management, in European exchanges or differences in European cultures, if you have any proposals or criticism to the Project, never hesitate to contact studentguide@estiem.org. We always need people with enthusiasm and fresh ideas, so broaden your horizon and join the Student Guide Team! 

Morıtz wılke

With the Bologna Process, the study programmes in Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) are getting adjusted to the Bachelor/Master system in more and more European countries. Therefore, current and future graduates are getting awarded with degrees of the same name. But this does not mean that content and education are becoming equal. As the names are getting equal while the content varies, the task of Student Guide, to inform about similarities and differences in the education of Europe’s IEM universities, is getting more important than ever.

NEWS

Drive Up Local Groups!

mıchael ılg

You are wondering how big ESTIEM really is? You are having problems motivating members in your Local Group? You got a warning during the Council Meeting in Hamburg? Your Local Group is not as active as in former times? Or you want to know why there are so many white spots next to areas of high density on the ESTIEM map? Then this article will give you a little insight in the work of ESTIEM’s Members Committee. Members Committee is an ESTIEM body, which is managing our 65 Local Groups. Our job is to reanimate inactive Local Groups, to awaken some languishing Local Groups, and to motivate good ones to be even better. Moreover, a very important task is to choose groups to invite to a Council meeting to introduce them to ESTIEM and the famous ESTIEM spirit. I succeeded Kimmo Torvinen as the Members Committee Leader after the autumn Council Meeting in Bremen in 2007. Our most important task was the further implementation of the Local Group requirements to detect the less active groups within ESTIEM. Apparently there were still some little discrepancies in the first draft so that 38 out of our 65 received a warning. After many complaints about the counting system from Local Responsibles and several discussions the Council decided to leave out the requirement about the travel database. But also the other ones caused excited discussions, for example in the online forum or at the LR Parade (now known as LR Forum) in Porto. This led to proposals for changes, which were presented at the Council Meeting 2008 in Famagusta. Another important Members Committee’s task is the support of weaker Local Groups to avoid them getting inactive. The mentoring programme already exists since 2006 but like many new implementations, there were still some problems, which had to be solved. One problem was that both mentor and the responsible Board member tried to reactivate the same Local Group, which caused double work in some cases. Another problem was that there were neither guidelines nor any experience how to deal

with inactive groups, so the mentors faced heavy communication problems and many efforts failed, which caused a loss of motivation in many ways. The members of the committee worked hard to solve these problems and found some possible solutions to make this mentoring system more efficient. First we changed the responsibilities from “one mentor – one Local Group” to a structure, where only three mentors and the three Board members, responsible for one third of the Local Groups, try to motivate inactive and weaker Local Groups together to avoid double work. This task is currently managed by Momcilo from Belgrade, Christoph from Dortmund and Ilyas from Famagusta, who support Jan, Gabrielle and Kimmo from the Board. We also created a mentors to-do-list with suggestions and strategies to help the mentors through the first steps of their work. Finally let’s move on to a totally new point of the work of the Members Committee. Have you ever wondered why ESTIEM has so many Local Groups in Germany but so few in e.g. France, Ukraine or the United Kingdom? The reason is that ESTIEM never had a defined strategy where ESTIEM should grow. The Members Committee (or ‘New Members Committee’ in former times) just answered email requests from groups, which wanted to become Member of ESTIEM. But how should they get to know about ESTIEM in the first place? A good way is a national or regional network, where already existing ESTIEM groups introduce our organisation to the others. The German VWI is a good example for this kind of spreading the ESTIEM spirit. Unfortunately we don’t have this possibility to acquire new member groups everywhere, so we will think about other strategies during our Members Committee Coordination Meeting Date and place of this meeting will be announced in the Portal. There, on our notice board, you also can find updated news and how you can integrate in ESTIEM Members Committee. If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to send us an email to mc@estiem.org. 

Explore it!

While higher understanding in Europe was a red-hot topic in ESTIEM, which was also the case for many institutions and organizations in Europe. EYID2008, (European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008) which has the slogan of, “together in diversity”, is a special thematic programme of EU for 2008. With the support of EU in the background, the programme is quite well-known in European societies (especially students!), as well as on the professional side (artists, foundations, politicians, companies). By taking a look at the characteristics of the year (www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu) and the criteria for the supported projects, you can clearly see that EYID2008’s aims are quite parallel with Europe3D Project’s.

of Europe3D are new approach and visibility. Invitation of friends to a Europe3D event is not only a benefit for ESTIEM, but also a special and admirable step for Europe3D’s goal which is increasing the awareness of the importance of national differences and similarities. Mentioning the importance of your involvement – in the simplest way, by telling a friend about the event and inviting him or her- is neither for the first time, nor the last. It’s a point which deserves to be hot anytime for the sake of Europe3D, ESTIEM and a better understanding in Europe. In my opinion, every project in ESTIEM has its own characteristics. The reason that made Europe3D a project should be more than the existence of new Europe3D events, but the idea: A continuous and developable idea! To put it differently, there should be something more than the event and event works under the name of project. Development and future of a project are in the hands of ESTIEMers! Be ready for more news on Europe3D in the long term. 

NEWS

Aydın dıkıcı

In January 2006, Katrin Kraemer and her friend from Dresden had an idea and told it to the boardies on the board meeting. The basic idea was that, in ESTIEM, we do many things together; however, do we really know each other? Moreover, a similar version of this idea was a hot topic within ESTIEM in year 2004! Just see the 2004/II Magazine which has gone for the word of “Europeanization”.

Europe 3D Turkey Participant “Europe 3D is an extraordinary chance to see the limits and the possibilities of the Europe continent.

Marıanne tyrkıa

Back to 2006, the idea was improved and discussed on Council Meeting Porto first. In 2007, the first event had a kick-off with Local Group Dresden. Afterwards, with the support of a boardie at the time, Olivier Zimmer, next event in Turkey was open to all European students. Finally, Europe3D was voted as a project in Bremen with 48 “yes”, against 1 “re-open”. Starting with the election of project, I hope every ESTIEMer can realise the significant opportunities coming with Europe3D. The main opportunities that ESTIEM and every ESTIEMer will gain with the interdisciplinary structure

Both, the ones that you can see with your clear eye, and the ones you experience. It’s incredible how much you can learn about a new country in just a few days, and to participate in something like worths to spent time for students of any discipline. The curiosity of other cultures is certainly stimulated, and the beauties are the new tastes and the memory which follows you for a long, long time.”

NEWS

Do You Realise the Importance of Media Relations?

Have you ever asked yourself what it is, that in all people makes them want to be noticed? Why people do all the crazy things just to get on the TV? Just to get media attention? To be in public eye makes one feel more important and gives a very special meaning to one’s actions: affirmation that it is worth to be noticed. It is very simple: If something doesn’t appear in media, it’s like it has never happened!

Mılıca pejovıc

So how do we get the media’s attention? First of all, you have to decide what effect you want to cause. Remember that media are still very powerful. It causes needs for products, shakes our beliefs, forms opinion of the majority, creates brand… You have to define your major goal. Like every well defined goal, this one also has to be smart (SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time framed). Ask yourself “What will be the first association when the name of ESTIEM organisation is mentioned a year from now?”. We all want to be well recognised when introduce ourselves as ESTIEMers. Once you are clear about image you want to create (for example ESTIEM as a well-known, very professional IEM student brand), start thinking about media as a tool to position it. You have to think about your target groups and individuals, who are potentially interested and who have a vital role in creating that image. If you are talking about topics for your next Vision seminar in magazines for growing flowers (let’s suppose that there are not enough IEM students interested in growing flowers to be a target group), then you are wasting media resources and your time. There will be no effect.

So, in order to create a specific image, we need to send messages to our target groups using different kinds of media. Let’s focus on the last part of that sentence. Every type of media has its advantages and disadvantages. Learn to use each one of them to your advantage. Think about the senses, about concentrating on only one of them. Think what sense can contribute the most to your image, and according to that, choose media. If you deal with promotion of the latest ESTIEM songs CD, then go straight on radio (and TV if you made very cool cover :-) ) There are also things that you can’t choose, but that you have to deal with. One of them is: journalists. People, who will give you a lot of headache and people, you have to build great relations with. Otherwise, they won’t come to your press conference, won’t write about your Local Group, or will publish something really awkward. They are not actually evil; they are just “spoiled”. It is good to have that on mind all the time. So, when your guest is a journalist, make him feel comfortable, give him appropriate material, maybe some ESTIEM branded present, don’t call him early in the morning, be very friendly, but not annoying, be short and direct, but polite. If they like you, you hit the jackpot! :-) Finally, you have to check your image from time to time, see if everything goes in the right direction. Be careful – once you went wrong with public, it is very hard to get your status back. This was just a short overview of thoughts in media relations. To stay in that mood, I’ve picked up some quotes that should inspire you to think about PR and media. If you are interested, you can find more about this topic in best practice document on media relations on ESTIEM Portal. Also, PR Committee is here to answer all your questions. 

NEWS

“A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.” Joseph Hall “The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all.” Mark Twain “Don’t believe your own publicity. You can’t; you’ll start thinking that you’re better than you are.” Leif Garrett “To establish ourselves in the world, we have to do all we can to appear established. To succeed in the world, we do everything we can to appear successful.” Francois la Rochefoucauld “Today, journalism is such a persuasive factor in opinion building that no person, group or business can claim immunity or afford to under-estimate the ability of the fourth estate to affect their fortunes – either for better or for worse.” Gigi van der Riet “Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.” Arthur Ashe “PR means telling the truth and working ethically - even when all the media want is headlines and all the public wants is scapegoats. Public relations fails when there is no integrity.” Viv Segal, MD of Sefin Marketing. “It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it.” Pliny The Elder “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind” Jim Morrison source: www.bizcomunity.com and thinkexist.com.

NEWS

ESTIEM College

The Think Tank between Council Meetings

markus shoppmann

From Sunday, September the 7th until Thursday, the 11th 2008 the ESTIEM College took place in a lonesome cottage in ‘Hundseck’, a small village somewhere in the beautiful Black Forest in Germany. If you now start wondering what is “Hundseck” and what is this event – you have never heard of before – about, don’t get nervous. Actually it is one of the youngest and most rare ESTIEM events, which only takes place once a year. After LG Ilmenau hosted the unique event last year, Karlsruhe organised it this year. “The purpose of the College is to discuss current central ESTIEM related issues as well as to develop new ideas for the organisation. For any fresh ideas, this is the right place,” that is how Mikko Sjöberg, President of ESTIEM, describes the character of the event. Another interesting fact about the event is that there was just a very basic time schedule in advance. Most of the time was planned to be “open space” time in order to have maximum flexibility to enable lots of dif-

ferent conversations and discussions. The approximately 20 participants profited from this idea as they were able to discuss about specific Project or Committee work whenever they considered it to be the right time but also about more general and essential issues such as: “What is the vision of ESTIEM? Or is there a vision at all?” Without any doubt, the advantage of such an event is bringing together a small group of active ESTIEMers, who are involved for a long time and therefore do know the association quite well, offers a platform for highly knowledgeable discussions. Besides the hard work and hours of discussing and contradicting opinions one highlight took place on Tuesday evening: The “ESTIEM jeopardy” game, which was accompanied by anchorman Jan Knutzen (Vice President of Activities). In two the ESTIEMers had to answer more or less challenging questions about the history and other aspects of ESTIEM and – this was challenging – had to perform different tasks like drinking one litre of water while doing a handstand. Some of the topics discussed at the College will be brought for decision to the Council, other things will be put right into practice: With no consensus found about a Membership Fee, which has the aim to strengthen the commitment of students to ESTIEM, a tough discussion will be taking place in Famagusta. The proposal is that every Local Group must pay between 10 to 200 Euros – how much ever they wish to pay. Secondly the Corporate Packages will change their shape and content. In the near future there will not only be a Partner package but also a visibility package. The goal is to make it attractive to all ESTIEMers to do some advertising and to sell those packages to companies. Thirdly Training Culture: It is planned to organise a training for trainers next year, taking place in the Training Camp in Budapest. 

NEWS

The story of the fish in the background might have two different ends. Either it finds itself in an ocean with many other big and small fish or it just falls down on the ground. But you never know, unless you try!

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Experience is the best Teacherâ&#x20AC;?

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18 Focus

Entrepreneurship Top 10 Myths about

Scott a. shane

“Most entrepreneurs believe in a bunch of myths about entrepreneurship. Here are ten of them and the reality that busts them:

Myth 1: It takes a lot of money to finance a new business.

Not true. The typical start-up only requires about 25 000 USD to get going. The successful entrepreneurs who don’t believe the myth design their businesses to work with little cash. They borrow instead of paying for things. They rent instead of buy. And they turn fixed costs into variable costs by, say, paying people commissions instead of salaries. Myth 2: Venture capitalists are a good place to go for start-up money.

Not unless you start a computer or biotech company. Computer hardware and software, semiconductors, communication, and biotechnology account for 81 percent of all venture capital dollars, and 72 percent of the companies that got venture capital over the past 15 or so years. Venture Capitalits only fund about 3 000 companies per year and only about one quarter of those companies are in the seed or start-up stage. In fact, the odds that a start-up company will get venture capital are about 1 in 4000. That’s worse than the odds that you will die from a fall in the shower.

Myth 3: Most business angels are rich.

If rich means being an accredited investor – a person with a net worth of more than 1 million USD or an annual income of 200 000 USD per year if single and 300 000 USD if married – then the answer is “no”. Almost three quarters of the people who provide capital to fund the start-ups of other people who are not friends, neighbours, co-workers, or family don’t meet the accreditation requirements of the Security and Exchange Commission of the United States of America. In fact, 32 percent have a household income of 40000 USD per year or less and 17 percent have a negative net worth. Myth 4: Start-ups can’t be financed with debt.

Actually, debt is more common than equity. According to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Small Business Finances, 53 percent of the financing of companies that are two years old or younger comes from debt and only 47 percent comes from equity. So a lot of entrepreneurs out there are using debt rather than equity to fund their companies.

Myth 5: Banks don’t lend money to startups.

Myth 8: Most entrepreneurs are successful financially.

This is another myth. Again, the Federal Reserve data shows that banks account for 16 percent of all the financing provided to companies that are two years old or younger. While 16 percent might not seem that high, it is 3 percent higher than the amount of money provided by the next highest source – trade creditors – and is higher than a bunch of other sources that everyone talks about going to: friends and family, business angels, venture capitalists, strategic investors, and government agencies.

Sorry, this is another myth. Entrepreneurship creates a lot of wealth, but it is very unevenly distributed. The typical profit of an owner-managed business is 39 000 USD per year. Only the top 10 percent of entrepreneurs earn more money than employees. And the typical entrepreneur earns less money than he otherwise would have earned working for someone else.

Myth 6: Most entrepreneurs start businesses in attractive industries.

Sadly, the opposite is true. Most entrepreneurs head right for the worst industries for start-ups. The correlation between the number of entrepreneurs starting businesses in an industry and the number of companies failing in the industry is 0.77. That means that most entrepreneurs are picking industries in which they are most likely to fail. Myth 7: The growth of a start-up depends more on an entrepreneur’s talent than on the business he chooses.

Sorry to deflate some egos here, but the industry you choose to start your company has a huge effect on the odds that it will grow. Over the past 20 years or so, about 4.2 percent of all start-ups in the computer and office equipment industry made the Inc 500 list of the fastest growing private companies in the United States 0.005 percent of start-ups in the hotel and motel industry and 0.007 percent of start-up eating and drinking establishments made the Inc 500. That means the odds that you will make the Inc 500 are 840 times higher if you start a computer company than if you start a hotel or motel. There is nothing anyone has discovered about the effects of entrepreneurial talent that has a similar magnitude effect on the growth of new businesses.

Myth 9: Many start-ups achieve the sales growth projections that equity investors are looking for.

Not even close. Of the 590 000 or so new businesses with at least one employee founded in this country every year, data from the US Census shows that less than 200 reach the 100 million USD in sales in six years that venture capitalists talk about looking for. About 500 firms reach the 50 million USD in sales that the sophisticated angels, like the ones at Tech Coast Angels and the Band of Angels talk about. In fact, only about 9500 companies reach 5 million USD in sales in that amount of time. Myth 10: Starting a business is easy.

Actually it isn’t, and most people who begin the process of starting a company fail to get one up and running. Seven years after beginning the process of starting a business, only one-third of people have a new company with positive cash flow greater than the salary and expenses of the owner for more than three consecutive months. So don’t believe the myths, know the reality. Want to know more myth-busting realities about entrepreneurship? Take a look at my new book, Illusions of Entrepreneurship. There’s a lot more there. 

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The Author:

Scott Shane is the A. Malachi Mixon Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University. He is the author of seven books, the latest of which is Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths that Entrepreneurs, Investors and Policy Makers Live By. He is also a member of the North Coast Angel Fund in Ohio, and is always interested to learn about great start-ups.

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Educating for the Entrepreneurial Society Entrepreneurship – a Bridge over Troubled Waters

poul rınd chırıstensen

One of the key features of the globalisation process at stake is that predictability and projections of the future state of matters is weakened. This is the case on a macro scale of society as well as on the micro scale of the individual enterprise or you and me as individual actors. In the beginning of the 1990s very few people – if any – anticipated the extent and power of global sourcing, and only few people foresaw the powerful impact of the Internet. The creative destruction of old modes of production these two phenomenons let alone have caused and will cause in the years to come. The implication for managers is that the ability to attain strategic control of the future state of their businesses has vanished. Windows of opportunities open in new surprising ways and challenge well established enterprises rooted in past tracks of fine tuning their business. How does it help to fine tune your business routines to established rules of the game, when newcomers redefine the rules of the game in ways and at a speed that you have not even anticipated. In short, this trend has caused that new business formation and entrepreneurship has come to the forefront of the agenda in societies all over the world. New enterprises are seen to play a key role in the transformation of society from the managerial era of the industrial society to the enterprising era of the new society, what ever the name we prefer to give it.

However, the agenda of entrepreneurship is also changing in many respects. While entrepreneurship was considered a local and national embedded phenomenon, global entrepreneurship is right now a hot issue in the research community. More and more new firms are shaped on the basis of global business opportunities and create their niches on global networks of all kinds. While the main focus is still with new business formation and the forces shaping new sustainable ventures, it is also evident that well established corporations see the shadow on the wall. Corporate venturing and the capability of corporate managers to fuel and nurse intrapreneurial activities among their staff members has already become an issue for expanded attention. 3M has been one of the front runners, but many new corporate initiatives are seen. Danfoss, the largest engineering manufacturer in Denmark, has thus launched a new career track as intrapreneurial managers. Under the label ‘Man on the Moon’ Danfoss has for 3 years now run an internal team based competition aiming to promote ‘revolutionary’ new business ideas. Several businesses new to the company are already launched based on ideas and products suggested by teams in the ‘Man on the Moon’ competition. These new trends in the agenda of entrepreneurship have some fundamental implications for how entrepreneurship is conceived of and thus the theoretical – and not least the applied – agenda of entrepreneurship.

While focus early on has been with the personality traits of the entrepreneur focus is changing to an understanding of the entrepreneurial behaviour and action. Entrepreneurial behaviour and action in this perspective is not limited to those starting a new venture, but may also include employees in private and public organisations as well as for example students; teachers; researchers and politicians â&#x20AC;&#x201C; you name it. In other words, one of the often disregarded key forces driving entrepreneurial action is organisational and institutional inertia in enterprises, public organisations, markets, political systems and thus at society on the whole. Entrepreneurial action may thus help reduce X-inefficiency (Leibenstein) and even expand the room for X-efficiency, i.e. production frontiers, in society. Entrepreneurial and managerial reasoning â&#x20AC;&#x201C; what makes the difference? While management theories are preoccupied with what constitutes managerial action and best practice behaviour, researchers in entrepreneurship have become occupied with the patterns of entrepreneurial behaviour and the sources fuelling next practice. In its essence managerial reasoning is causal, i.e. it is goal directed and strategic and based on the belief that the future can be predicted. It is also rule directed, i.e. managers create and administrate by rules. Following Sarasvathy, entrepreneurial reasoning, which she labels effectual reasoning, is shaped by the belief that you cannot predict the future, but your action can control it along the way. Entrepreneursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; behaviour is therefore, according to Casson, highly flavoured by judgemental decision making. Entrepreneurs will thus

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relate to and collaborate with similar minded people, with whom they can create the flow of action that will make a live future. Three basis principles constitute the effectual reasoning according to Sarasvathy: 1. While causal reasoning emphasise the expected result and invest in it, effectual reasoning focus on the affordable loss (time and money) as the platform for action. Focus: Affordable loss rather than expected return 2. While causal reasoning depend on in-debt analyses of for example future markets and their calculated potentials, effectual reasoning relate to strategic partners in the market place and thus create and enact market opportunities at hand. Focus: One bird in the hand rather than ten on the roof 3. While causal reasoning aim to reach preset goals and ambitions, effectual reasoning allow goals and ambitions to change underway and thus keep windows open for unexpected opportunities emerging along the way. Focus: The next step rather than the destination of the journey However, effectual logic cannot be seen as a pure antagonism to causal reasoning. Rather it is an expansion of the concept of reasoning containing thought, action as well as relations to others. Some may stress that we are talking of two different conceptual models of reasoning, while others will realise that the concept of reasoning is filled with ambiguity. However, for the sake of this essay it will do to stress that causal reasoning is an end and means reasoning of a linear kind, which is well suited to monitor machine systems and manufacturing systems in stable contexts of the kind we know from Scientific Management.

The Author:

Professor Poul Rind Christensen holds a chair in Entrepreneurship at Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus. He is one of the founding fathers and Vicechairman of International Danish Entrepreneurship Academy (IDEA). IDEA works at increasing the number of competent entrepreneurs with a knowledge-rooted in the system of higher educations in Denmark.

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Managerial reasoning does not suffice when reasoning takes place in unknown waters, where navigation relies on experiences and judgements of a multi-directed nature. Then new thoughts out of the box are in need. Since globalization and technological innovation join forces in shaping unknown waters the concept of entrepreneurial (effectual) reasoning gains momentum. The European small enterprise charter

No wonder then that entrepreneurship has come on the top agenda of the European societies and is seen as a key to the transformation of the industrial society and a wellspring for the creation of new employment and innovation. Based on the European Charter from Lisbon in 2005, the European Union consider small firms to be the backbone of the economy and new firms to be a driving force for innovation, employment and local integration in the union. Among the many strategic initiative launched the strive for a global entrepreneurship education strategy is among the most prominent initiatives. The aim is not only to promote a higher and more sustainable new enterprise formation, but to foster entrepreneurial mindsets among young people in the education system. The Oslo Agenda on entrepreneurship education

Following the Oslo Agenda on entrepreneurship education in Europe (2006), the EU Commission has launched a number of initiatives and recommendations to member states and their education institutions. For universities and technical institutes the aim is to urge them to integrate entrepreneurship as an important part of their curriculum and develop educators’ competence accordingly. It is advocated to support the spontaneous initiative of student associations in creating links with businesses, and involve students in work on enterprise projects. Just to mention a few key recommendations setting the agenda for the years to come.

In a follow up on the Oslo Agenda, an expert report expanded the perspectives from the Oslo Agenda and concluded that: “the benefits of entrepreneurship education are not limited to start-ups, innovative ventures and new jobs. Entrepreneurship refers to an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action and is therefore a key competence for all, helping young people to be more creative and selfconfident in whatever they undertake. “ EU Commission report, March, 2008, page 7.

Toward a 2nd generation of entrepreneurship learning

In the 1st generation of entrepreneurship education there is a strong focus on making students aware of the attractive career track of starting their own business. In short most programmes offered have concentrated on how to make a business plan. As indicated in the figure below, a dominating feature is the causal logic. Courses offered tend to be added on to the core curriculum of the syllabus, often with no study credits attached. The 2nd generation of educations in entrepreneurship perspectives changes to a focus on students’ enterprising behaviour, implying a change in pedagogical focus further than the traditional Humbolterian of transferring knowledge from teacher to student. In addition students should be actively involved in learning how to use their attained knowledge in innovative ways and how to bring their skills and knowledge into creative action in business formation; in established organisations and in their own career development. In this perspective the aim is to integrate the entrepreneurship learning agenda into the core agenda of the study programmes. This demands new innovative pedagogical approaches with all the challenges following for long lasting educational traditions at European universities.

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Info Box: IDEA is an internationally rooted network organization that in new, binding

1st Generation Focus: Fostering New Businesses

2nd Generation Focus: Fostering Enterprising Behaviour

and engaging ways creates interplay between researchers, teachers, advisors, investors and executives. IDEA now runs 10 student green

Goal oriented Analytical orientation Opportunity projection Business plan focus Entrepreneurial role models Isolated Competence

Means oriented Action lead-learning by doing Opportunity creation Situation oriented Entrepreneurial teams Integrated competence

houses aiming to support and boost students working to start their own business. All universities in Denmark have signed in as members of IDEA together with prominent enterprises and entrepreneurs in Denmark. For more information see:

”Causation” logic Managerial mindset dominate

”Effectuation logic” Entrepreneurial mindset dominate

www.idea-denmark.dk IDEA has developed a Pan European Master in Entrepreneurship Education &

In conclusion, in the 2 generation perspective the aim is to bring student out of the passive role inherent in traditional university study environments and let them re-discover their creative; innovative and enterprising potential. nd

Training (IMEET). The aim at educate an elite of teachers from higher educational institutions and entrepreneurship consultants in Europe.

In turning these challenges into opportunities, universities take the road to educate for the upcoming entrepreneurial society.  REFERENCES Casson, M. (1982): The Entrepreneur. An Economic Theory. Edward Elgar. European Commission (2008): Best Procedure Project: Entrepreneurship in Higher Education, especially in the non-business studies. Final report from the expert group. Leibenstein, H. (1966) : Allocative efficiency vs. X-efficiency. American Economic Review, 56, June, pp. 392-415 Oslo Agenda for Entrepreneurship Education in Europe (2006): http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/support_measures/ training_education/doc/oslo_agenda_final.pdf Saras Sarasvathy (2007): Effectuation. Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise. Edward Elgar.

For further details see: www.imeet.asb.dk

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13 kV!

Risk Management in Innovative Business Be Prepared for the by Anja Haupt The Author:

Anja Haupt graduated from Bauhaus University of Weimar, Germany with a diploma in cultural sciences. She had worked for many years as author for an Italian publishing house. Currently she is working as public relations manager for Renewables Academy (RENAC) AG in Berlin. RENAC offers training and further education in the area of renewable energy. In cooperation with the Berlin University of Technology RENAC is establishing GPE Solar, a new master’s course of studies in solar technology.

José Manuel Martínez, graduate of the master’s program in Global Production Engineering (GPE) at the Berlin University of Technology, returned to his native Mexico after graduation and set up the successful company GlobalMITTE. The following article shows which hurdles he had to overcome in the process, and how his training helped him develop the necessary entrepreneurial spirit. GlobalMITTE is a company specialising in management, innovation, technology and engineering services, and provides consultation primarily on carrying out process optimisation and strategic planning of production, marketing and sales processes. The firm supports Mexican companies, which want to expand their business activities abroad, and foreign companies, which plan to expand their operations in Mexico. The idea for the company came to José Manuel Martínez after he completed his master’s degree in Global Production Engineering (GPE) at the Berlin University of Technology (TU). While he had not yet considered starting his own company before coming to Berlin, the experience he gained in international teamwork at the TU decisively shaped his future. “I knew that the GPE multicultural experience would be an important aspect of my professional life,” says José. His fellow students at the GPE came from several continents. This aspect is part of the concept, which determines the content of the curriculum. Students take not only technical courses, but also

acquire management knowledge, and are trained in intercultural skills. After José had returned to Mexico after graduation, he received two different calls from the TU within six months, each offering him a position as a consultant on temporary projects, in each case between a German and a Spanish company. At that time, José had to decline, since the offers were too short-term, and his financial situation immediately after finishing university was such that he could not afford the flight from Mexico to Europe. But that was the point when he got the idea for GlobalMITTE: “Companies need multilingual engineers with a multicultural background, only for a specific period of time, for big international projects. So I asked myself: why not start a company that offers those services?” José recalls. He got together with three of his best friends, and they drew up a business plan. That was in March of 2006. Five months later GlobalMITTE was founded as a limited liability company. In the business plan the greatest risks were also identified. At the time of the start-up, the cash-flow was low with the accompanying risk of quick bankruptcy. None of the four founders could come up with enough start-up capital at that time. That brought with it a further risk, the impossibility to invest in order to complete a project. Due to the low financial resources, a slow return on investment was another risk that could not be underestimated. Moreover then was

also the possibility of not finding enough costumers. How does a company that nobody knows yet, and which lacks the references and contacts needed to build confidence, acquire project orders? To deal with these risks, the founders undertook a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. “It is probably not a very accurate method of risk management, but it gave us a good approach to the risk dimension and the inputs for mitigations plans,” José recounts. They decided to keep the investment as low as possible, and at the same time to consciously make their first project a calling card. Instead of monetary investments, the founders of the firm decided to depend on what they in fact already had to offer – their conceptual potential. The meagre financial resources available for the first projects were used primarily not only to meet their customers’ expectations, but to over-fulfil the orders. Thus, the corporate image of GlobalMITTE as a sound, professional, globally active firm was consistently built up right from the start. “This way, we created publicity and minimised the risk of having no customers or projects. In consequence, all other risks could be mitigated.” During the first business year, additional risks cropped up, which had not been considered in the business plan, including loss of motivation and frustration, loss of objectives, and personal conflicts between the founders. Here, too, strategies to counteract such problems were designed, including primarily simple and clear rules of communication: All comments and suggestions should be laid on the table. No comment or suggestion should be taken personal. All money issues should be managed clearly and transparently. All problems should be raised with the other partners as soon as they arise. But what can you do about frustration, or loss of motivation and objectives? José’s advice: “Go reread your business plan, then ask yourself:

Am I doing what I wrote I should do? Am I doing something wrong? Is it possible to do anything?” With this strategy and a healthy dose of optimism, the new businessmen have managed to put GlobalMITTE on a healthy path.

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Info Box: As of the fall of 2008, the TU will offer another master’s program in addition to the GPE: Global Production Engineering for Solar Technology, or “GPE Solar.” It is conceived similarly to GPE, as an

In addition to expertise in their area, soft skills were decisive for the engineers of GlobalMITTE in dealing with risks. “My studies in the GPE and my experiences in Germany have had a great effect on my work in GlobalMITTE” says José. The most important thing he learnt was the ability to learn. “I think knowing ‘how to learn’ is more important than the knowledge itself. Someone could have zero experience as a CEO, a programme manager or a consultant, but if he or she knows how to learn these activities, they will be able to turn the lack of experiences into advantages.”

English-language course of studies offering a combination of engineering and product-specific knowledge, business development and management knowledge, with specific training for the fast-growing solar markets. The program will cover all levels of the value-creation chain in photo-voltaics and solar-thermal energy, from the production of the components through planning and installation to financing, legal aspects, marketing and business development. Here too, work in intercultural teams will be of great significance.

José also has some advice for prospective businesspeople. At the university, in a practical class, he had to set up an electric substation, reduce it from 13 kV to 220 V, and start an electric motor. He was very scared, because the 13 kV cables around him were making a buzzing noise and his hands were shaking. His professor saw this and told him that even if he finished the setup on time and correctly, he would get some negative points on his final grade, since the fact that he was scared meant that he had not studied and prepared well before class. José thinks that this situation fits perfectly for start-ups: “During the business-opening phase, you should not be afraid, because that could have a number of bad consequences, like a poor corporate image, even greater uncertainty, etc. But that doesn’t mean that you have to ignore the risks or threats. You should prepare yourself before you get to that ‘13 kV,’ be aware of the risks, and make a good business plan that leads you to the point where you are in a better position to mitigate or even eliminate those risks.” 

For more information: www.globalmitte.com www.gpe.tu-berlin.de www.gpe-solar.de

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Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship How to Create Something New for Ourselves and for the Benefit of the Society

ehsan ehsanı

This article tries to suggest some solutions from entrepreneurship perspective for the sustainable improvement of economy and social eco-system. Based on the successful examples of social entrepreneurship, I have tried to show how we can create not a new business but a lever for improvement of the social welfare. Therefore, I have defined SSE and presented a successful case study. At the end I have listed the main elements, which are necessary for having a successful sustainable start-up. The puzzle of Social Entrepreneurship

Maintaining or improving the quality of life or society seems like a puzzle: If we want to solve the problems of our society sustainably, we need some capital, but banks usually pay people with plans to start a For-Profit Business. On the other hand, financial aid from governments and big NGOs is not a long-term solution and won’t probably continue strongly in the long run. So what should we do? It’s obvious that the governments, businesses and financial markets, people and sustainable NGOs should play a harmonised role and the outcome should generate enough income for us to live out of it but it is still unclear under what context we can make this work and how. The solution, whatever it is, needs out-ofthe-box thinking and breaking conventional rules of doing things.

Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship (SSE) Defined

I believe one of the effective solutions to this puzzle is what I define as Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship. SSE is creating new businesses in such a way that eventually overturns the existing ways of doing things in the society or status quo life manners in the society in a good way. • In my eyes, SSE is not only based on technology per se but a model, which integrates entrepreneurs, businesses, governments and NGOs to create value for the society. • By means of SSE everybody wins: Entrepreneurs make money out of their effort, people will have higher life standards, businesses will gain money, governments are released from extra social work and NGOs can contribute to their goals in a more effective way. • It is a sustainable solution. It is not just an one-time answer for the problem and it doesn’t need the financial help from governments or companies It may be vague in what way exactly these types of innovations are created so I bring a case study to explain it more:

Case Study (ITC eChoupal in India)

It seems like a plausible strategy to look for examples in developing countries because I have seen many people working in NGOs who would like to start their initiatives in such countries. One good example is the case of ITC eChoupal in India, which comes briefly after: Until recently, the farmers in Madhya Pradesh, a region in centre of India, were used to making a living exactly in the same way as their predecessors did 50 years ago. They usually sold their products (crops) to some wholesalers, because it was really hard and costly for them to move the crop to the factories, which use crop as raw material and generally such factories usually don’t buy products at the small scale. As a result, they got a very low amount of money as the return and most of the money went to the pocket of mediators (wholesalers). Because the farmers lacked the basic scientific knowledge of farming, the productivity was low and they couldn’t get as much crop as they could get from the land and this led to even more poverty. In March 1999, an individual within a local company called ITC decided to make a change: The Company provided a system, which works according to the following: • They put a computer in each village where farmers can now become aware of the exact day the company comes to the village to collect the products, • They can learn about the new methods of farming and how to increase the productivity through connecting to a website established

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specifically for this task by ITC. • How about the mediators (they might sabotage the system)? Their incentive has also been addressed by putting them in charge of the training of farmers based on the methods in the PC and paying them some money in exchange. • The government collaborated in terms of legal facilitation • NGOs helped through the phase of implementation. As it can be seen, now with this innovation in the chain of crop to factory, everybody benefits and the money, which used to go to the pockets of wholesalers, now reaches the farmers. The Key Elements for Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship The Author:

At the more practical level, we need to think about four main elements to have a successful socially sustainable start up: • Creative and committed individuals in our team • Organisation: Knowing exactly who is in charge of planning and who in charge of implementing as well as what the structure is. • Process: How will we do it? What is the scope? • Systems: Many of such innovations need IT. Then, what type of IT systems is required? How are we going to update it? etc. I have presented these four items as basic cornerstones and hope that motivated individuals can nurture that! 

Ehsan Ehsani, researcher and technology author, as a system development expert, project coordinator, project team member and consultant, has seen SCM issues insideout. His experience has been in the areas of OM, WMS, BPR, Strategy Implementation and of course, SCM. As a former MBA student and current researcher and expert, he has consulted and worked with various companies in operations side of the business.

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Entrepreneurial Creativity Coming up with Ideas and Converting Them into Innovative Business Activities Entrepreneurial creativity = creativity × entrepreneurial action

vadım kotelnıkov

Entrepreneurial Action

Case in Point: The Power of Attitude

Entrepreneurship is first and foremost a mindset. It is the art of finding and developing profitable solutions to problems – fast! An entrepreneur starts from scratch and brings nothing into being something that was not there before. For entrepreneurs, change is a source of opportunities. Entrepreneurs see change as the norm and as healthy; they always search for change, respond to it, and exploit it as an opportunity, faster than their competitors.

Over the years of teaching his idea generation courses, Barrie Hawkins has met thousands of would-be entrepreneurs. Some people were not very good at producing ideas and others were quite good at generating ideas; some people were very good at it; and a few people had a terrific ability to generate ideas. What makes the difference? Why is it that once we have learnt the techniques and practiced them some of us are so much better at generating ideas?

Case in Point: Hotmail

The difference between more and less creative people is their attitude. Creative persons were looking for a chance to do something else. They wished to find something they liked better, to do something fresh. Less creative people failed because they felt incapable of coming up with a worthwhile business idea.

“Don’t be afraid to tread new ground, but do a sanity test. At the core of entrepreneurship lies the desire to solve a problem, and that’s really how Hotmail was born,” says Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder of Hotmail, the world’s #1 free webbased email server.

Entrepreneurial Creativity Definition and the Four Intertwined Pillars The Author: President of Global Incubator of Venture and Innovation Strategies (GIVIS), USA CEO of Ten3 East-West, Russia Principal of Ten3 NZ Ltd., New Zealand Principal of Ten3 Consulting, Germany Director General & Board Member of Congress Prominvest, Russia Board Member of Indiaco, India Advisor of ICSTI, an International Organisation

Entrepreneurial

Internal and External

Action

Motivation

Entrepreneurial Creativity

Creative Thinking

Cross-functional

Skills

Expertise

Entrepreneurial Creativity is coming up with ideas and converting them into innovative business activities

The Tao of Entrepreneurial Creativity Balancing Need- and Fun-driven Innovations

Ying

Passive, Receptive Need-Driven • “Creativity under the gun” • Creative problem solving; brainstorming • Eliminating the misfit between the current state and corporate aspirations • Continuous learning about unsatisfied customer needs

Creative Thinking Tips

• Break out of self-imposed limitations. • Look for wider solutions, ‘think outside the box’. • Think sideways; explore the least likely directions; abandon step-by-step approach and thinking ‘to one side’ and master the ‘lateral thinking’ approach. • Sharpen your brain – communicate and exchange ideas with other creative people as often as you can. This is useful not only for stimulating idea generation but also for giving you an opportunity to validate your ideas through professional colleagues. • If you are thinking along a certain line and nothing happens, stop. Step out of your shoes, analyse the problem again and see if you can come up with a new approach. • If you are working on a problem and getting nowhere, leave it for a while and let allow your subconscious – the depth of your mind – to take over. Soon, new ideas and facts will inspire new associations and innovative combinations.

Yang

Active, Creative Fun-driven • Changing the name of the game and rules • Asking “Why?” and “What If?“ questions; changing hats; thinking outsidethe-box • Searching for and pursuing emerging opportunities • Inventing & Experimenting

How To Become a Creative Problem Solver: Two Action Areas

1. Change your attitude: See yourself as a creative problem-solver and look upon every problem as a challenge and an opportunity to develop your creative powers. 2. Make creative problem solving a habit: Look for challenging problems to solve. The more you seek for innovative solutions and ideas, the more creative you become. Ask Searching Questions

Don’t ask one or two questions and then rush straight towards a solution. With an incomplete understanding of the problem it is very easy to jump to wrong conclusions. Ask open questions that elicit a wide rage of answers:

• ‘Why’ questions to discover the roots of the problem • ‘How’ questions to discover different routes to significant improvement.

FOCUS

30 Take a Different View

It was by taking a different view of a traditional business that major innovations were achieved. To find a better creative solution to the current practice, force yourself to reframe the problem, to break down its components and assemble them in a different way. Case in Point: Coco Chanel

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different,” said Coco Chanel, a pioneering French couturier and the Founder of Chanel Inc. “People laughed at the way I dressed, but that was the secret of my success: I didn’t look like anyone.” Combining the Unusual

The vast majority of new ideas are not original but derived from something else. Most great ideas are really combinations of other ideas. When asked about the secrets of his success, Henry Ford answered, “The simple secret of my genius is that I created something new out of the ideas and inventions of others.”

International Business Linkage Program

Cross-functional Expertise: No Idea Is Wasted

Your mind can accept only those ideas that have a frame of reference with your existing knowledge. It rejects everything else. If your knowledge is functionally focused, you’ll be open to new ideas related to your functional expertise only and will miss all other learning and innovation opportunities. If you develop a broad cross-functional expertise, no new idea will be wasted. It will immediately connect with the existing knowledge and will inspire you, energise you, and encourage your entrepreneurial creativity. The broader your net, the more fish you can catch. Experimental Approach

Entrepreneurship is risky. When pursuing innovative ideas, no amount of thinking can resolve the critical unknowns. You must experiment, learn, and adapt. Before launching the whole show, launch a little piece of it. Treat your venture as a series of experiments. They will help you prevent disasters and create success. 

Venturing

Strategy

Leadership Teamwork Friendship International Business A Year in Finland

www.businesslinkage.net

Yearly application deadline May 15th

FOCUS

Making the Hobby a Profession How a former ESTIEMer together with his sister “started the new”, took over a vineyard and got into the wine business. The story shows that sometimes you don’t need a completely new idea to be successful. During the nice spring season we made a trip to Bad Dürkheim in the Rhineland-Palatine area of Germany. There we met with Lutz Heissler an ESTIEM Alumnus who took over the family business of wine growing together with his sister Sibylle in 2002. We were warmly welcomed with a refreshing glass of Secco and had the opportunity to talk with Lutz about his studies, his job and his ESTIEM experience. During our conversation his sister with the young son on her arm joined and we enjoyed a very familial atmosphere. First tell us about your study and your ESTIEM life, please.

(Lutz) I moved to Hamburg in 1992 to study IEM at the University of Hamburg. I first got in contact with ESTIEM in 1994 when I was caring about an exchange semester abroad. With the help of Local Group Hamburg and the ESTIEM network it finally took me to the Helsinki University in late 1995. ESTIEM aroused my interest and after visiting the Council Meeting in Tampere I was impressed by the character of the organisation. In 1996 then I was elected to the ESTIEM Board. Today I still try to keep contact, last year we had the Kick-off meeting here where the advisory board, Alumni board and the ESTIEM board as well sat together to discuss strategic issues. How did you begin your working life?

Well, I started in a typical IEM position at the European headquarters of an agricultural equipment producer, in 1999. I worked as an organisational leader of the IT development department and as a connector to the finance, tax and sales department. Right from the start my ESTIEM knowledge and the cross cultural experiences I made within ESTIEM helped me a lot as I worked with international departments. How did you come up with the idea of getting into the wine business?

The idea came up during my professional life. I would call it a certain “genetic loading” as I grew in a typical wine region and therefore had a really close relationship to the product wine and

its philosophy. My uncles ran the winery for sev- Interviewers: Stefan Kinateder & eral years. During my time at John Deere there was a point when their winery faced the problem Markus Schoppmann of succession and it was close to be sold. It had an open future. Starting the venture was basically a decision of my sister and me. I would call it: Making the hobby to a profession. It was more than a year of reviewing after we finally decided to take over the winery, to quit our current jobs and to return to the place of our childhood. My sister ended a ten years stay abroad. Did any barriers arise during the beginning of the venture?

Wine production is a very capital intensive process, finance issues had to be cleared, banks had to be convinced and private investors to be

FOCUS

found. Though the fundament and some older equipment were there, investments were involved even though. It is a filigree issue to take over a winery. It has a lot to do with tradition and handing over the knowledge. It is a very personal thing on the other hand as well. I would say it was a smooth change in the beginning, we kept tradition and then started to modernise it slowly. Fortunately we could take over most of the customers. Was it difficult to get the financial support and how did you manage it?

Yes, it was difficult. For building the business plan I was lucky to have a good fundament of old friends from ESTIEM. With the help of them we made up the business plan and in the end we could convince the banks. At first the local banks seemed to be surprised as we presented our own business plan with a modern vision. To the bigger banks it was also a little bit strange to finance small wine producers. Who developed the strategy for your venture?

At a glance: Theis Heissler wine estates •

Founded in 1893

•

Owners: Lutz and Sibylle Heissler

•

Yearly production: ~140 000 bottles

•

Wine tastings, seminars and events in many languages

•

Specialities: Riesling, Sauvignon

The strategy of the winery was developed by my sister and me in the very beginning. Therefore we had a clear idea which is still our philosophy today: Producing high quality and individual wines for reasonable price and sell it directly to the customers. Wine is a very personal product, so selling and producing should go along. The fascinating thing for me is that you are producing a product that you accompany from the very beginning to the very end. You have the whole production chain under your control and the wine is in every step to 100 percent influenced by you.

Blanc, Chardonnay; Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon. •

http://www.weingut-heissler.de

How would you characterise the market in which you are in now?

You can mainly divide the market in two parts. Firstly there are the great companies and unions with the large vineyards who often do not produce the grapes on their own, just do the sales and sometimes the wine processing. The second

part is the wineries of our size, who control the whole process from grooming the vineyard until putting the label on the bottle. They produce far more individual wines full of character. Both are successful models but with very different customers. How do you differentiate your products from the ones of your competitors?

From the product-side, if you compare the two models, our wines are more individual, intense and have what I would call a personality that you don’t find at large producers. However, luckily there are a lot of small wineries like ours that produce excellent wines and in the end it’s up to the customer which one he prefers, but there’s not a fundamental difference. We use the internet as a distribution channel of course. Furthermore we offer a lot of services. For example we provide wine-tastings, or we provide harvesting events. We also do tours to the vineyards to explain the effects of different factors on the wine. As we’re cultivating a natural product, we sometimes take our customers out in the fields to explain why the terroir has an fundamental impact on the wine. When you understand where the wine comes from, then you understand the taste. How important is knowledge and experience in your business field?

(Sibylle) Knowledge is of very high importance. The secret of being a successful wine producer is to combine the tradition with new ideas and experimental aspects. There is knowledge of four generations – about 110 to 115 years – in some of our wines. It comes together and builds on each other. But because you have a product life-cycle of about two years you carefully have to take decisions. Moreover it always lasts one year until you could profit from this empirical value afterwards. You could say that you are mainly experimenting for a lifetime. Therefore it is completely different to the industry where you could easily correct settings at a machine if you recognise wrong

results. You are producing an individual, natural product which you cannot be copied a second time. Footsteps cannot be reversed any more.” Could you apply the knowledge of your studies in your venture?

(Lutz) To be honest when we took over the winery I didn’t expect that my engineering as well as my business administrations skills could be that helpful. But actually I have to do a lot of process optimisation as one part and sales, finance and marketing as another part. Do you think that the experiences you made within ESTIEM helped you along the way?

Yes it did. And I think that it is always useful to have cross cultural and international experiences in everything you do. Not only because we are also selling to abroad but just for daily cooperation with other people. Was there a lot of stress or pressure involved regarding to your income or making profits?

There are always ups and downs in every venture, this is normal. But we never faced a time when it was really critical. How do you divide the responsibilities in your venture exactly?

My sister Sibylle is responsible for the philosophy and the “how we produce”. She also takes

care of the vineyards. I am responsible for the production and the process from harvesting the grape to pressing over aging and filtering until bottling. We have permanent and seasonal workers who support us. What kinds of skills are needed to be a successful entrepreneur?

In my opinion the most important thing is to impersonate your product. Motivation and that it comes from your inner side is also important. Of course there a lot of tasks which you have to do which could be learned during your studies or otherwise you have to learn them in the job. But I’m not sure if you could really learn to be an entrepreneur because it always has something to do with your personality. Do you have any advices for young entrepreneurs?

There is a certain danger when you start a new business that you have a very filtered view of the business you want to go into. My advice is to get a lot of perspectives from friends or even consultants. You should know how large the ocean is, how many sharks are in that ocean and not jumping in as a little fish. My second advice is that you need a long breath, because there will be ups and downs. You should review your original motivation from time to time. Sometimes daily work keeps you too busy, that you could loose your initial motivation. I myself do this reviewing with people who know me from the past and are not in my kind of business. The biggest danger is to loose motivation. If you should notice that it is time to question your venture. How do you feel about your decision of becoming an entrepreneur?

I’m absolutely happy with it.

FOCUS

The Basic Income: A Basis for Entrepreneurial Initiative

Andre Presse

The Author:

Andre Presse studied business at the University of Eichstätt and Leipzig and is an entrepreneur himself. In 2000 he founded the Polish software company KSL Sp. z o. o. in Krakow. In 2002-03 he got involved with the Pan Media Corporation, Hong Kong, and the Genoil GmbH, Frankfurt am Main as an active shareholder. Right now he is working as an academic assistant at University of Karlsruhe. There he is active at the institute of Entrepreneurship.

The single most important reason for potential entrepreneurs in Germany not to start up is the threat of failure and the fear of becoming subject to a so-called social administration. This fear is unnecessary; as fundamental changes have occurred in the way we do business today. Before the industrial development, typically about 80 percent of a population lived on, and worked in agriculture. Practically, this means self-sufficiency: people live from what they produce with their own hands. The labour-division of our times has outlived this early relation: today, all we produce with our hands and intellectual abilities is exclusively for others! In fact, this represents a complete de-coupling of labour and (real) income (in terms of goods consumed), or in other words, it represents the realisation of the biblical charter “everyone shall carry each other’s burden.” What does this fundamental change mean for the way we do business and understand economics and economic policy today? If we live – in real terms – from the work and initiatives of others, is it consequent to tax income and burden initiative? But which other taxes come into question? One answer is the question: Who is actually carrying all taxes today? All costs of production are – finally – carried by consumers, as they are the ones to whom all production – finally – is addressed. This is also the case for all taxes – which, in the production process, are nothing else but costs. A transparent tax policy would therefore aim to reduce all other taxes gradually to zero and increase the consumption tax (sales tax or value added tax) accordingly. After the full conversion of the tax system, neither income tax nor any oth-

er tax needs to be paid, except consumption tax. For the income tax today, we have a tax-exempt amount to make sure that the minimum funds for existence can be earned and spent without taxation. How do we make sure this is the case if there is only consumption taxation? Very simply by paying out the consumption tax amount incurred when purchasing goods for the existence level – or any other level that may be democratically desired. Such a payment can be referred to as a “basic income”. How would that be financed? Fiscally, it would actually be nothing else than a negative consumption tax. Other tax exemptions – which today lead to reduced tax income – would be abandoned. Technically it would be realized through a) a conversion of the taxation system into a negative income tax (Hohenleitner and Straubhaar 2008) and b) a gradual shift from income to consumption tax. Such a tax system and payment, if sufficient for surviving, would not only represent a financial basis for entrepreneurs, also and in particular in times of heavy financial constraints at the times of start up. Also, for their families, this would ease the financial and social pressure significantly. An entire society would be enabled to realize entrepreneurial plans that are already today in preparation, but are not carried out due to the fear of loss of a minimum financial level. Entrepreneurship could spread throughout not in the sector of start-ups. With a secured financial basis, also today’s “regular” employees could take more initiative on and off job. The entire society can become more entrepreneurial and flexible – a vital prerequisite to face future challenges. 

Events 35 35

EVENTS

Council Meeting Recipe: How to Create a Tasteful Meal

It was during Council Meeting Eindhoven where two really inexperienced cooks got the task to develop a tasteful recipe for a Council Meeting. What a challenge! Of course they wouldn’t be able to cope with this task without help. So the first step was to build up a kitchen team. Back in Hamburg they gathered all cooks and kitchen assistants known around their hometown. Nearly the whole Local Group came to get the latest news. But instead of presenting a deal for an exchange with Local Group St. Petersburg, what most of the male members had been looking forward to, the two talked about organising an event for about 150 people. And even though the crew was a little bit surprised and felt overstrained about the dimension of the presented duty, it didn’t take long to get them infected by the enthusiasm of the young cooks. No question that now it was the aim of everyone to create the best Council Meeting ever, although no one of the staff had ever been to cooking school.

The following days the main cooks thought about a structure to coordinate the whole exercise. They decided to have different teams with a responsible cook for every part of the giant project. These where the key positions to fill, only if the persons were very reliable and would work on time, the recipe and the final meal would deserve to get five stars! Fortunately they found enough gourmets with the necessary refined taste. The difficulty was to create a product which would be liked by all the participants of the Council Meeting. They worked day after day to give the menu the delicate note. But the result of their work should soon be served. The first recipe for the meal was created! To top the idea, the IT team worked out a high class menu, which could be shown to everyone interested in the work we had done so far. The page supported the sponsoring team, which was working on the funding to make it possible to implement the plans. It wasn’t always easy to persuade the companies of their benefits by contributing to the event but in the end, the team managed to create a budget with, which we were able to cover the costs. In the meantime the accommodation team thought about the right environment for the happening and found – after a big effort – a nice restaurant where every participant would find a place. It was a logical consequence that the meal would taste even better if the atmosphere would just be perfect. The team in charge of this duty, our confectioners, was responsible for the dessert – also called nightlife sweets. After the intensive preparations all cooks where very curious about the upcoming week in April 2008 and had to admit, that their nerves really were frayed. Only when the first visitors arrived in Hamburg the dust had settled. And finally they got a menu served, which ran as follows:

fabbıenne suter

You might wonder what a simple recipe of a delicious meal and the organisation of the ESTIEM Council Meeting should have in common. In fact there are many similarities. Being an ESTIEMer means to be a part of a European network, which wouldn’t be able to exist without the commitment and the reliability of every single member within the system. The different pillars such as the Board, the Committees, the events and last but not least our members serve as a base for the whole organisation. And as they are not working all by themselves, the interdependencies between them decide on the success and durability of our institution. That’s how it also works in the kitchen. You won’t be able to create a tasteful meal with a few ingredients. It needs much more to satisfy your guests!

Tuesday

Soufflé aux Afghané Wednesday

Soupe Verde à la Grenouille Thursday

Le Temps de Pain avec Camembert du pirate Friday

Poulet Cuit des casseroles a la Halo

Saturday

Pâtes Chinoises servé au Soleil couchant Sunday

Gala Dinner affamé avec effet lumière

Monday

Leftover-Ja

EVENTS

INGREDIENTS

TASKS

Project management skills

Analyses and first design

Structure

Building up different groups of responsibilities

Financial backing

Start funding

External communication

It creates a webpage, marketing solutions

Hospitality

Search for accommodation

Ability to reason

Operative planning

Food

Planning and implementation of every meal

Free time

Planning for the evening and sightseeing

Creativity

Framework

As it is common for Council Meetings the delegates had a lot of work to do during the day. Discussions where held in the assembly as well as in the working groups, conclusions and methods of resolutions where put down to paper and finally our guests had to vote on several points of the agenda; everything to coordinate our association, to bring forward new inputs and make sure that all members are included in the decisions, which have to be taken within ESTIEM. We, the cooks, could be sure, that the participants would be very hungry at the end of such a laborious workday. So the kitchen staff worked hand in hand to get everything done on time. And happily we realised that due to the detailed preparations the operational part did pan out very well. To put the finishing touch to the meal we thought about some special spices. Of course the main cook should never disclose his secret but we believe that the restricted budget gave rise to more creativity. That’s why we really want to encourage everyone having the ambition to organise an event, no matter what dimensions it is going to have. It’s your personal input and the team surrounding you that will decide about the success of your event! Our kitchen staff did great work – the meal tasted excellent! After the event they all deserved lots of free time to recover from the lack of sleep the event brought about. But it was all worth it. The ambiance at the ESTIEM Council Meeting in Hamburg was awesome and we’re proud that we could host such an overwhelming ESTIEM Spirit in our hometown. 

Expenses

Incomes Sponsors

Participation fee

Parties

Accomodation

Administration

Parties and Gala dinner

Food

38%

59%

10%

Transportation

11%

12% 66% 1%

Council Meeting Hamburg Impressions Eero Pekkanen – Local Group Helsinki

Rebecca Folle – Local Group Dortmund

“Council Meeting Hamburg was again a great

“Because Hamburg was the first ESTIEM event

chance to meet friends from around Europe.

I joined I had no idea what to expect. I can say

Apart from that it was an event where you

that it was a great experience, I learnt more

could contribute to the development of ESTIEM. I really

about the ESTIEM network, I got to know a lot of interesting

enjoyed Council Meeting Hamburg, the arrangements also

people from all over Europe and I enjoyed every minute of it. I’m

worked nicely. I think one of the good improvements of the

still impressed by the fact that so many people partied all night

last Council Meetings has been the new Working Group

and still gave constructive comments (sometimes with a croaky

Structure. I hope many thoughts will be spent on improv-

voice) during General Assemblies and took part in the different

ing the Council Meetings also in the future, so they can be

working sessions.

thought of as a benchmark how an ESTIEM event should be

Local Group Hamburg did a great job organizing everything, the

organised. Thanks to all the participants and organizers for

working groups I joined were well-structured, and the evenings

making Council Meeting Hamburg an unforgettable event!”

were great, all in all: It definitely won’t have been my last event!”

Tomasz Miszczuk – Local Group Munich

Terhi Marttila – Local Group Tampere

“The Council Meeting in Hamburg was my

“Even though Council Meeting Hamburg was the

first ESTIEM event and I didn’t know what to

first Council Meeting for me, I had quite realistic

expect. I joined the event with the aim to de-

expectations of it: a great big event with working

velop my own opinion about ESTIEM and its members. We

sessions, crazy parties, not so much sleep and, last but definitely

had a tough programme during the whole time. In the day

not least, lots of nice ESTIEMers and a lot of ESTIEM spirit. And

we had a lot of reports and presentations and in the evenings

so it really was. The biggest surprises were the actual length of

were booked for celebrations. I was surprised how much

the GAs, how they just went on and on, and the Great Spirit

strength ESTIEMers have – it didn’t matter how long they all

and feeling of being a team instead of just a big group of people.

had stayed up, the next day was as professional as at the day

This was also the thing I liked most about the Council Meeting,

we arrived. I met a lot of great people in Hamburg, I saw some

that you could consider almost all the people as your friends and

of them again at the Vision in Warsaw and I hope I will have

really enjoy your time with them. The working side of the event

the occasion to work and celebrate with them once again –

really gave me some new ideas to bring home with me and the

maybe soon in Famagusta!?”

party side was even greater than I had thought.”

Pawel Gasior – Local Group Poznan “The very first thing that comes to my mind when I think about Council Meeting Hamburg is that it was relatively... calm. Usually spring Council Meeting is quieter than autumn, because there was no Board election. But this time it was almost restful. It’s not that we have been idling time away, though! All the decisions that had to be made were made, interesting discussions took place and to conclude, it was a genuinely productive meeting. On the other hand parties were crazy, especially the pirates party, I’m sure I will remember it forever! But this is what we could expect from Hamburg, the place where ESTIEM was founded. The real ESTIEM spirit!”

EVENTS

About IPTV, Jumping Trams and Geese

TIMES Final 2008

markus shoppmann

Three challenging case studies and a thrilling race of the two favourite teams characterised the TIMES Final 2008. Besides this a varied agenda with lots of fun and activities made it an unforgettable week to all participants. After Lyon being the lucky Local Group to host the Final last year, from March 30th until April 5th the TIMES competition took place in Karlsruhe, Germany. Months of preparation and hard work for the organisers made this top event – always named as ESTIEM’s “flagship-Project” – unforgettable and long-lasting. On Sunday we anxiously expected the last finalists to arrive in order to welcome them. At the welcome party on the first night we introduced the programme to them, because the first case study was already waiting for the students early on Monday morning. Altogether the six finalist teams from Enschede, Lund, Helsinki, Ankara-Bilkent, Warsaw and Budapest then competed with each other on three exciting days.

At the award ceremony in the impressive castle of Karlsruhe Imko Enninga from Deutsche Telekom had the privilege to announce the winners. The final results are: 1. Helsinki 2. Lund 3. Budapest

The company Capgemini provided the first case study on Monday. The participants had to think about the challenges and difficulties of a special merger. They were supposed to take care of managing and planning of the whole integration process. On Tuesday the students had to solve a problem from the field of a world-leading producer of bearings, called SKF. It was their task to develop a specific brand strategy. The final case study on Thursday was provided by Deutsche Telekom. The challenge was to investigate the opportunities of IPTV – television via the internet – from the point of view of a network operator. The jury, which consisted of several company and faculty representatives, expressed their respect for the very high level of the results and solutions, which were shown to them by each group during the three competition days. In the

end it was a neck-and-neck race between the Finnish and the Swedish teams. The winners will have the chance either to visit the division of the Deutsche Telekom, where the Case was actually implemented or to participate at the annual European wide “Talents Workshop”. Our Local Group wanted to combine this academic part with a varying and amusing supporting programme. Therefore lots of different events like a company visit to KSB, a world leading producer of special pumps and valves – you won’t believe it, but some were tall as houses – entertained our guests. Another example: The morning after the gala dinner a typical Bavarian veal sausage breakfast brought back the power everyone had lost the night before.

On Wednesday evening we enjoyed a traditional dinner at “Weinstuben Kästel” in the wine region of the “Pfalz”. Still in the bus to the restaurant we received the phone call from Christel, the sympathetic restaurant mistress: “Where are you? The geese are in the oven!” The geese were delicious as were the other meals. Enormous dishes with meat, red cabbage and dumplings impressed us. Finally the wine tasting afterwards made this evening unforgettable. (Annotation for the participants: I guess we still have a few bottles of Christel’s wine in our office…) Most likely the well-known Karlsruhe tramparty on Friday was the unofficial highlight of the whole week. If you have never seen a jumping tram before, this would have been your chance. For more than three and a half hours about 200 students were dancing, singing, laughing and especially jumping through Karlsruhe and its suburbs. Proud and glad that we were able to host this unique event, we are looking forward to Linköping, where the Times Final 2009 will take place. Congratulations to the winners and all finalists. In this spirit: “Jump, jump, jump!” 

EVENTS

Four Days with ESTIEM A non-ESTIMEer’s Perspective

As you may have already guessed I’m not an ESTIEMer (unfortunately). So you’re probably wondering: “what was she doing in the LR Parade?” I went with my boyfriend, João Barata, who is the Local Responsible from Local Group Lisbon, with the mission of living the ESTIEM experience and giving my opinion as an independent observer. First of all, what impressed me the most was the level of organisation, responsibility and discipline, from the presentations of the trainees to the organisers of Local Group Porto. Secondly, the structure and the methods of work had such a professional approach that everything was very contagious. I have to confess that in some moments I really felt as an ESTIEMer! In the third place, there’s the balance between work and fun. And I’m not referring just to the amusing games we played during the presentations, which, by the way, really help you to improve your performance. In ESTIEM it’s very clear that there’s a time for everything. I point this out because it’s not always easy to maintain a high level of work and party during the same day, with more than thirty people. Imagine during four days! Nevertheless I believe that due to the commitment and, most of all, due to the spirit of the people that are part of ESTIEM, you were able to manage both things.

So this leads me to the most important point: the ESTIEM spirit. I had already heard about it from my boyfriend but I really had to live it to understand it. For me it’s a team spirit and an identity that each ESTIEMer shares, which defines the kind of student organisation that ESTIEM is for me: a European Union of students, a dynamic exchange of experiences, ideas, opinions, cultures and knowledge. I also see ESTIEM as a brand, and a quite powerful one. It also was very clear that every ESTIEMer feels this way as well. Therefore it made perfect sense that two of the presentations in Porto were about “Branding” and about how to promote ESTIEM and recruit new members. That said, I have come to my last and ultimate conclusion about ESTIEM: Communication. From what I’ve experienced the strength of it relies on this very articulated and active net of students, Local Responsibles, Local Groups, universities, cities and countries. The least positive thing I have to say about the LR Parade was the busy schedule. More than ten hours spent each of the three days at University working, really affected the concentration and performance of the people as time went by. With the exception of the gala dinner, I never went out to a club during our stay there and by the end of the second day I was already feeling tired. Before ending I have to reveal something: I only realised it was the first LR Parade in the last day of work. I think that says a lot about my ESTIEM experience… Those were undoubtedly four amazing days in Porto, and I’ve never felt as an outsider because I was involved in every single activity. I had so much fun, I met such nice ESTIEMers and I learned so many interesting and useful things. Even about myself. Most important of all, I brought so many memories. As we say in Portuguese, Obrigada (Thank you!). 

vanıa penedo

It was the first day of the LR Parade (now known as LR Forum) in Porto, Portugal and I was sharing the same room with more than thirty ESTIEMers from all over Europe. Everybody was having fun, talking, dancing, eating and drinking. I must confess that my first impression was: “these will be four days of some work… and lots of party!” However, I was totally wrong. By the end of my adventure as an ESTIEMer I had already learned a very important lesson: in ESTIEM you “work hard, party hard”. What happened in between was one of the best experiences of my life.

EVENTS

Visionary Marketing Helsinki-Tampere

Blood, Tears and One of the Best Weeks ever!

Henrı koponen

The organisation of Visionary Marketing Helsinki-Tampere began on an autumn day of 2007, when a group of carefree freshmen was lured into a conference room by the previous year’s head organiser and this year’s consultant, Antti Koulumies. We had heard a little about ESTIEM on some previous occasions but were still quite new to the whole concept of “open-minded students with a professional approach” – so we were given a task at which we would get to know to the ESTIEM Spirit hands-on. That task was to organise the main spring event of Local Group Helsinki: a Vision seminar in association with Local Group Tampere. At first, I was elected the seminar coordinator in Helsinki and found that I had lots of eager teammates to organise the event with. A similar team was formed in Local Group Tampere and we began planning the event right away. By February we had done everything imaginable to get ready for the event: all the guests had beds at ESTIEMer hosts, we had managed to come by some loose money in the corporate world and had filled the week with lots of interesting activities. The days were reserved for the more professional part of our event while the evenings were focused on getting to know each other in various environments. On Monday evening we gathered at Rantasauna for the event kick-off. Food, icebreaking games, sauna and the chilly water did their magic and the event began in an excited and warm atmosphere. Alas, the first academic event had to be improvised on Tuesday morning as the lecturer informed us on the same morning that he couldn’t come after all. So we held a panel discussion to get ready for McKinsey & Company’s lecture, which turned out to be one of the best lectures people had ever attended. The lecturer, principal Erbenich, presented his insights on

marketing and strategy in an enthusiastic way that really kept the surprisingly full lecture hall attentive the whole time. After lunch we did an excursion to the Finnish stainless steel company Outokumpu, on which we got to try our hands on a little case and learnt something about the company as well. On Wednesday, the day did not begin any better than Tuesday as the sightseeing bus just did not show up and after some angry calls to the bus company we had to forfeit that activity and focus on the case competition. The case competition had an educative approach (teams got to see each others’ presentations) and all the presentations were solid ESTIEM quality. As the final activity of the Helsinki part of Vision, we had a Sitz ‘n’ Friends (“sitsit”) party, which left no one cold... Thursday morning began with a sleepy journey to Tampere. In Tampere (the Manchester of Finland) that day was dedicated to academic content – Tommi Mahlamäki from the University held a lecture about questionnaires (and their pitfalls) in marketing research. On Friday we got to sleep in a little before KONE’s corporate lecture by Aleksi Marjamäki. After the multifaceted lecture we departed to the chill-out activity of the week – a full day in a Finnish cottage. Sauna, ice-hole swimming, bloody downhill sledding, hanging out with friends… At the post-event online survey the cottage activity scored a perfect 5/5, which is enough said. All in all, the event really taught us organisers a thing or two about both organising an international event and ESTIEM in general. It took quite some effort to pull it all off, but in the end Visionary Marketing Helsinki-Tampere was a great experience for organisers and participants alike. King-size thanks for all those who made this event possible! 

EVENTS

Work Hard! Play Hard!

Regional Coordination Meeting, Lisbon

Work Hard

Gabrielle Busson, from the Board, was responsible for the working sessions. (She was also a very good help in the party side.) She began by giving us a short presentation of ESTIEM, as for most participants this was their first ESTIEM event. We then split into two groups, and each group took turns at discussing the main topics of the meeting which were: a) What in fact is a ReCoM? and b) How can we make Southern Europe more active in ESTIEM? We were in a good position to try to answer the second question since we were all South Europeans, either from Lisbon, Porto or Lyon. Our conclusion was that to bring more south into ESTIEM, you need to show them ESTIEM is great fun! If you promote ESTIEM among South Europeans focusing on its cultural, friend making side, you’ll get more attention from them, and the working, professional side will come naturally. A good idea is for instance to have some promotion material in the ESTIEM portal, like videos. Maybe the participants of the “Branded Vision” in Cambridge reached similar conclusions…

The first topic proved a lot more difficult. We debated the concept of ReCoMs, because there was the feeling it can be more clear. After some discussion, we concluded that the main point of ReCoMs is to present ESTIEM to newcomers, while taking the chance to discuss some topic going on in ESTIEM at the moment. But then the name, “ReCoM”, could be changed, because it doesn’t completely reflect this concept. It’s not necessarily “regional”, as often you get people from countries well apart, and it’s more about having ideas than “coordinating”. We tried to find a new name, but couldn’t… ESTIEMers, please share your ideas for a new name! Play Hard

You always get it in ESTIEM events and this was no exception. We spent a pleasant first evening in the marina, next to the hostel. The following day we took a small trip to Sintra, a picturesque town near Lisbon, full of ghost stories and mysterious places. We had dinner in the hostel and then went straight to Bairro Alto or “High Neighbourhood”, in Portuguese. It’s one of the most traditional areas in Lisbon, with many typical houses and small streets. The atmosphere is relaxed and it’s easy to get to know new people, not only Portuguese. In one night, we talked to Spanish, French, Swedish and even Pakistanis! On the final night we had a group dinner and finished in the BBC. No, we hadn’t decided to party in the offices of a British media corporation; it’s an “ultra-posh” disco by the river Tagus: very nice, and the best way to end a perfect ReCoM. Oops, I mean the best way to end a perfect … (we need a new name!) 

carlos batarda

This article gives you an idea of what happened in the Regional Coordination Meeting (ReCoM), which took place in Lisbon, from the 20th to the 23rd of March. Accordingly to the ESTIEM motto, the article is divided in two sections: the “work hard” section; and the “party hard” section.

EVENTS

Activity Week anastasıa komıssarova

Local Group St. Petersburg has an ancient tradition – to organise a Vision or an Activity week each year on the last week of March. We decided to keep this good tradition and were happy to welcome ESTIEMers at our Activity Week in Saint Petersburg. Preparation for the Activity Week has started long time before its beginning and everything was ready in time. Everyone was looking forward to the arrival of participants: there were about 20 participants and almost all of them found their way to St. Petersburg by 24th of March. It was time to start our Activity Week. We organised welcome party in the bowling centre, where the participants could play bowling, dance, have some pizza and drinks. So, we had a great bowling competition and there were no losers! The welcome party lasted quite long, but those, who were not tired after the journey, managed to continue the night in clubs. The next day in the morning everybody went to the university for the presentation of our Local Group and for team building. We had a lot of fun while getting to know each other better. The next point on our agenda was a city tour. We were not expecting to have weather surprises, but actually it was quite naive from our side, as weather in Saint Petersburg is really unpredictable. The thing is that when we came out of university the

in St. Petersburg strongest snowfall had begun. And in just a couple of hours the whole city became white and a real Russian winter had started! But even these weather conditions couldn’t keep us from exploring the city centre. It was an unforgettable city tour: we explored not only the tourist destinations, but also probably all cafés in the city centre. The day ended with an amazing home Russian style party with pelmeni (national dish) and vodka. On Wednesday we had an excursion to the Baltika Breweries Company – leader of the Russian beer market and one of the leading European producers of beer. The dinner that evening took place at Teremok, where everybody could taste a Russian national dish: pancakes. The night was filled with a party in the famous Metro club. The next day we left for Pavlovsk, the palace and park ensemble in the suburb of Saint-Petersburg, where we had a guided excursion. After lunch break we went to the Frigate Shtandart, a Russian Navy Ship built according to drawings from the 18th century. We had an interesting tour through the whole ship, which ended in a passenger’s lounge, drinking tea and watching a video about Shtandart. We continued the evening with a night excursion around the city. It was exciting to feel a real ESTIEM spirit during our night tour: we had a song competition, funny games and a very friendly atmosphere. Friday was the last day of our Activity Week and we visited one of the world’s greatest museums of art – The Hermitage Museum. After the excursion we had a farewell party in an Italian restaurant and then came the sad time to say good-bye to each other. I would like to thank all the participants for this great, full of fun and ESTIEM Spirit week! See you somewhere in Europe! 

EVENTS

Business in the Old City: Istanbul “Istanbul was Constantinople Now it is Istanbul, not Constantinople A long time ago, it was Constantinople Now it is Turkish delight on a moonlit night”

At Sunday evening five people from Belgrade started their trip to Istanbul, via Sofia. Next morning, one hour later than planned, of course, we arrived at Sofia’s train station. The first thing we saw there was the smile on Maria Dureva’s face. The Local Responsible from Sofia and three friends of hers, ESTIEMers of course, spent 14 hours (!) with us, showing us all of the beauty of Bulgaria’s capital. That is what I call ESTIEM spirit… After spending a beautiful day there, we continued towards our final destination – Istanbul (not Constantinople). Once again, a smiling face was waiting for us; Can Akbulut helped us with our bags. This was the beginning of six great days… The day before the official beginning of Final Conference passed with discovering and exploring great views of Bosphorus and Turkish delights and traditions (water pipes, and above all, my recommendation: kadayif – trust me you will not regret).

I must say that I was very inspired by the lectures and how forthcoming they were, so I am still in touch with some of the lecturers, discussing about certain topics, exchanging and sharing the new information about branding. Other topics that probably interest you the most are, of course, about relaxing and having a good time. Well, I can just try to describe you, but some things must be felt: Sitting with your friends in the downtown of Istanbul, listening to music from different bars, to new sounds you’ve never heard before: that is the discovery of cultures belonging to ESTIEM. The Eurovision event and songs were here with us at Istanbul Yildiz University during the last night to make a great dinner an unforgettable one at the Armada restaurant. With the Euro competition so close, playing football on the beach and the numerous other activities made the Final Conference in Istanbul an unforgettable experience. But as I already said, some things must be felt.

During the Final Conference, from 21st to 25th So, I would like to thank once again Goktug Serin of May, we had the opportunity to hear very interest- and the whole Local Group Bogazici, and to ask you ing lectures about new tendencies in the world of all to listen to my advice and to go to the next event in marketing and communications in Bogazici University. Istanbul. Trust me, you won’t regret it! 

momcılo radovanovıc

Tells us the old song… Is it really “Turkish delight in the moonlit night”? I will let you find out by yourself, and I can just say that no matter where I go in my life, what I see or what I feel, I will always come back to that city: Istanbul.

Lecturers were professors from Bogazici University, managers, and even owners of highly respected companies, such as the brand manager of Sony Playstation, Timur Tiryaki, the owner of the “The Key Success Academy” with highly motivational lecture about setting goals and building self-respect and Neyran Sen, the brand manager of Turkcell, the biggest Turkish mobile operator.

PROFESSIONAL

44 Professional The Shortage of Engineering Skills across Europe Article provided by staufenbıel

Engineering is one of the most international professions you can enter and Europe is host to some of the world’s top engineering organisations. All sectors of industry are present, from aerospace and automotive through construction, chemicals and energy to manufacturing, transport and utilities. Some of the more well-known European players include EADS, Siemens, Philips, Bayer, DaimlerChrysler, Vodafone, L’Oreal and Shell. Many larger engineering firms not only have offices and operations across Europe, but also work closely with European suppliers. The engineering profession offers you the opportunity to travel, work on exciting and innovative projects and get your hands dirty with real work and responsibility early on in your career. Internationally Recognised Qualifications

At present, there is no automatic recognition of any particular engineering qualification when an engineer leaves their country of qualification to work in another European country. European countries are divided into those that regulate access to the profession (more or less strongly) and those that do not. In the former case, an engineer, who wants to use the professional title in the country where they wish to work, must approach the relevant authorities in that country with a request for recognition. In the latter case, recognition will not be an issue.

Some countries, such as France, place an emphasis on students completing industrial training during their degree, while it is usual for students in the UK to gain most of their industrial experience after the completion of a degree. However, it is becoming increasingly important for students to have gained some practical experience in the workplace prior to graduation to demonstrate to employers that they can put theory into practice. Job Opportunities

A shortage of engineering skills across Europe is good news for graduates, who can market their skills to a larger number of employers in The European Union countries have agreed on an increasing number of countries. The UK in particular is facing a shortage of civil engineers, a process called ‘the formation’ of a professional a shortage that the government is trying to fill engineer, which takes seven years and includes by relaxing work permit rules to allow overseas education, initial training and experience. This graduates to take up positions. It is also expected forms the basis of the Fédération Européenne that there will be a shortage of engineers in the d’Associations Nationales d’Ingénieurs (FEANI)’s future in the telecommunications and automobile EUR ING qualification. This qualification is automotive industries, while Hungary and Slovakia recogniszed in 26 European countries; the MEng degree studied in the UK is also widely accepted as are fast becoming centres of excellence for assembly and research and development, opening up a strong foundation for engineering professionals. the engineering economy in Eastern and Central Europe.

Issues Facing the Sector

Two main issues currently affect the European engineering sector. The first is the need to guard the environment for the sake of both the planet and society. Engineers are actively involved in developing technology and processes to support sustainable development aims, such as the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through the research and development of alternative power sources and fuels. Environmental engineering is a relatively new profession but one that will increase in importance in the future. There are opportunities in this area for engineers across the spread of disciplines: for example, electrical and electronic engineers are needed to design the instrumentation used to monitor and control the release of pollutants. There are also more specialised requirements for land remediation, energy management and the development of cleaner technologies. Renewable energy technology is receiving a lot of attention and presents interesting challenges for engineers. The second issue is a change in working practices brought about by the trend in the USA for concurrent engineering. Concurrent engineering is where the engineer works as part of a broad multidisciplinary team, including sales, marketing and managerial staff, to design the product concurrently right from the beginning of the process. The obvious result for graduates is that they will need to emphasise their communication and team working skills in applications in order to appeal to recruiters. We are also in an era of novel technology development, enabling engineers to work on interesting, futuristic projects – for example, the implementation of an automated highway where

cars are controlled by electronic sensors, reducing the number of accidents and leading to a smoother drive and a reduction in the amount of fuel used. Skills Recruiters Look for:

• Commitment, enthusiasm and motivation are essential for success in engineering. • Taking the initiative and exhibiting a strong work ethic will get you noticed. • Engineers rarely work in isolation, so being able to work in a team, support others and share knowledge is essential. • To reach the top you will need to develop great project management skills, the ability to motivate teams to achieve goals and adapt to meet the needs of the customer – while remaining focused on the overall goal of making a profit. • Effective communication is crucial for engineering businesses to operate productively. • Engineers need to produce solutions to meet a commercial need, so knowledge of what is going on in the market is as important as keeping up to date with the latest technology developments.  This article first appeared in TARGETjobs Europe 2009

PROFESSIONAL

Meet Bosch in Sweden julıan schıffner

Have you ever heard of a place called Arjeplog? It is a small village in northern Sweden where one can not only find a lot of snow but also a huge winter testing facility for Bosch technology. Kids are dreaming about becoming a test driver here.

would loose control, if they don’t the have these (life-saving) systems. It was a really strange feeling to know that nothing but 50 cm of ice prevent you from falling into deep water. But it was really fun to spin the cars and know that no danger was at hand.

In the beginning of April 2008, Bosch invited 30 promising students to Arjeplog to “test the best on ice”. Behind this motto one can guess two meanings: Since the event was meant to be a recruiting event for new Bosch trainees, it is clear on the one hand that ‘testing the best’ means challenging the participants who have all proven to be excellent in the past. But on the other hand Bosch took this motto literally and offered the participants a chance to test Bosch technology on the ice of a frozen lake. Both parts were equally distributed.

Further there was an outdoor competition, which included riding a snow mobile, walking with snow boots and trying Nordic Skiing. As a worthy closing, the organizers managed to get a party in a tipi in the middle of the lake. Soon everybody was dancing to good music and had a really good time!

The serious part included, besides intensive information about Bosch, the trainee program in general and the Sales and Procurement departments, also a case study with a presentation and several group tasks. The main focus of the event was on promoting the trainee program ‘Technical Sales’ and ‘Purchasing’. So the participants learned a lot about these two business areas. Thanks to multiple opportunities to talk to the present representatives of Bosch (10 in total!) people were able to ask personal questions and get direct answers. But of course the participants also had to prove themselves as future leaders. They were being watched intensively during the case study and the following presentation. The highlight of the fun part was definitely the test drive on the lake. Bosch provided five cars. Each participant was able to test the ESPand ABS-systems with those cars. For that there were two exercises that should show how cars

After having spent a few days in Sweden, everybody was enriched with an amazing experience, made new friends, and maybe even got an offer for a place in the trainee program of Bosch. And for sure we all know now where to find Arjeplog, the small village in northern Sweden! Thank you very much for this amazing event! I will never forget it! 

INSIDE ESTIEM

iNSIDE estiem 47 From Ex-Project Leaders:

ESTIEM Magazine Why did you decide to become Project Leader?

Favourite and unforgettable activity … definitely, the Vision Novi Sad 2006! It was my first activity and you know what they say: “The first is always the best!” Define your Project with a colour and an animal?

What was your job about?

Hmmm… To organise everything! To create the agenda, take care about the deadlines, contact the writers, collect the articles, acquire money, update the Notice Board, finish all the other obligations, discuss, organise the Coordination Meeting, fight sometimes… It’s enough, I suppose! “Oh, Damn. Why did I become a Project Leader?” Your worst experience, please.

I can’t remember any! I was confused in the beginning, even afraid that I won’t manage everything, but it turned out well at the end. “Thank god, I became the Project Leader!” What was your best experience during your term?

Everything! Being a Project Leader is the best thing I’ve done in my life so far! What did you gain from being Project Leader?

I gained a lot: experience, knowledge, contacts with associations, professors, companies, good friends, fun… is it enough?

The colour would be…yellow. And for the animal: a dolphin. Don’t ask me why! Anyone you want to thank for their support during your time as a Project Leader? (God, your parents, your dog, the sun, or could also be someone serious).

This is not the order of appearance, but: Hüseyin Binzat, Isidora Strboja, Ignacio Perez Prat and David, Christain Berg all sponsors and writers, my friends for being there for me and ESTIEM for giving me the chance to show myself what I’m capable of. At the end, special thanks to Sezen Sayoglu for being my everything: friend, supporter and right hand! Did you ever think about becoming an editor for a popular magazine? Which one would you be the editor of? Cosmopolitan, Elle, The Economist, Times, or even Playboy?

Working in a Playboy would be interesting, but “PC World” is my favourite, because it is in my work branch! Maybe I will think about it someday. 

Katarına gavrıc

To be honest, I don’t know! I came to Eindhoven without any thoughts about Magazine Leadership. But, when I heard there won’t be any applicants and that Magazine might be lead by a person who is not involved in that Project at all, I just couldn’t resist it! So, I changed my mind.

What was your favourite activity or unforgettable experience in ESTIEM?

INSIDE ESTIEM

From Ex-Project Leaders:

student guide Why did you decide to become a Project Leader?

kartal tasoglu

Simply, I really wanted to get deeply involved with Student Guide and I wanted it to be alive and more attractive. I thought and am still thinking that Student Guide is one of the golden Projects of ESTIEM. What was your job about?

two applicants for the position of Project Leader for Student Guide at Council Meeting Hamburg and two more ESTIEMers who were willing to apply for it but couldn’t come to Council Meeting Hamburg for personal reasons. That really filled my eyes with tears. What did you gain from being a Project Leader and what did you add to your Projects?

The Student Guide is a service provided to all students of industrial engineering and management interested in studying in Europe at a university with a high quality of IEM education. With the Student Guide, ESTIEM promotes intercultural and academic exchanges within Europe in a time where borders are disappearing. Today, there is a lack of comparison of universities across borders. Therefore, ESTIEM has taken on the challenge to discover the differences in IEM studies across all of Europe with the Student Guide. The Student Guide has two main goals: The first goal is to provide study and cultural information on countries, cities, and universities to IEM universities. Secondly the Student Guide shall give an overview of the differences in IEM education in different countries and make this available to students, universities and other interested organisations.

While searching for universities over all Europe, which university you did you want to go to and why?

“Oh, damn. Why did I become a Project Leader?” Your worst experience, please.

What was your favourite activity or unforgettable experience in ESTIEM?

My worst experience was that I was always missing the deadlines so that I felt very irresponsible all the time. But anyway, late or not, I always completed my job.

Post Council Meeting in Istanbul. That was my first contact with the ESTIEM Spirit.

“Thank god, I became the Project Leader!” What was your best experience during your term?

When I applied for the leadership of Student Guide, I was the only applicant. So, one of my duties during my time as Project Leader, was to make the Student Guide more attractive for other ESTIEMers. When I retired, there were

What I gained: unlimited ESTIEM Spirit, friendships (a lot of them) and some leadership experience What I added: I made it a more attractive project, tread certain paths for future, developed the database a bit more and secured continuity of the Project

Actually, my search was not restricted to Europe only. Sometimes I was looking at other parts of the world. That was because I received some mails from non-Europeans and I was interested in far eastern countries. So, now I have in mind to go to Japan as for an exchange, because of the completely different culture and simply my personal interests in Japan.

Define your Project with a colour and an animal?

Red Eagle Anyone you want to thank for their support during your time as Project Leader? (god, your parents, your dog, the sun, or could also be someone serious)

Peter Gelbrich, Sebastian Geese, Philipp Baechle and of course Skype, iLink, the ESTIEM Portal and estiem.org extended e-mail addresses. 

INSIDE ESTIEM

TIMES Why did you decide to become a Project Leader?

What was your job about?

The Project Leader of TIMES is the coordinator of the entire project from a central level, meaning that the Project Leader sets up the basic “framework” of the Project – helping Semi-Final and Final organisers, coordinating the timetable, obtaining central sponsors, doing promotion and keeping the websites up to date, etc. The most important task of the Project Leader is, however, to lead the team of Semi-Final and Final organisers and to create a feeling of working together as one team even though all team members are situated in completely different parts of Europe. “Oh, damn. Why did I become a Project Leader?” Your worst experience, please.

When one of the Semi-Finals was experiencing serious problems, and we almost had to change venues. “Thank god, I became the Project Leader!” What was your best experience during your term?

It’s a tie between these two: Firstly, the Coordination Meeting in Zurich, where the entire team met for the first time. Without go-

What did you gain from being a Project Leader and what did you add to your Project?

I gained a lot; unforgettable experiences, leadership skills, trips around Europe and most importantly a group of friends for life! I want to think that myself and Christian, the TIMES Committee Leader, succeeded in creating some stability to the Project. We focused on making long-term decisions and arrangements instead of just focusing on the one-year competition: e.g. revised the rules, created a permanent logo, improved the TIMES website and created a new sponsoring scheme. What was your favourite activity or unforgettable experience in ESTIEM?

See question 4. Define your project with a colour and an animal?

Blue (academic and classy but not too boring) and chess horse (smart, competitive and unpredictable). Anyone you want to thank for their support during your time as Project Leader?

The entire TIMES 2008 team, and especially my right hand Christian! I would also like to thank the TIMES central sponsors – long-time partner Brose and the first-timers Capgemini and Occam Associates. Do you want to work for a consulting firm now? Did TIMES change your ideas about it? If so, which company would you like to work for?

Consulting is definitely an option for me, but ask again in a year when I am graduated… 

nora rosendahl

I decided to apply for Project Leader of TIMES because I had been very intrigued by TIMES as a competition and as a Project since the beginning, and I thought it would be a great and valuable experience to lead the Project myself

ing into further details, let’s just say that we had a blast… Secondly, the Final in Karlsruhe was wonderful – seeing one year’s work coming together in a very successful event in the end cannot be described in words (what was more, the team from Helsinki won, so I had twice the reason to celebrate!).

ANGENDA

ESTIEM Alumni meeting in Seville charlotte erlandsson

Did you think that all the fun in ESTIEM life would end with graduation? Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry, for everyone, who just canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem to get enough of ESTIEM spirit there is a solution: ESTIEM Alumni! ESTIEM Alumni was founded in 1992 by graduated ESTIEMers who wanted to keep in contact, form a professional network as well as to stay in touch with and support the students of ESTIEM after the end of their studies. ESTIEM Alumni today has over 450 members in almost 30 different countries around the

world. Some of these people met May 9th to 12th in Seville, Spain, for the annual ESTIEM Alumni meeting. Seville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir. The setting of Seville and the great organisation of Carmen and Sandra lead to another legendary Alumni weekend. Some of the numerous highlights: a nice walk and horse carriage ride through the beautiful city; a cultural dinner with

However, this is not the only thing happening in ESTIEM Alumni this year, there are many more things going on. We in the Alumni board; Ana Neves, Gemma Rocabert Aragonés, Sjoerd Döbken and Charlotte Erlandson, will do our very best to fill this year with fun events and opportunities to stay in touch.

flamenco music and the music from the opera named after one of the organisers; partying in the nightlife hotspots and celebration of one alumnus, who travelled across the Atlantic (almost) only to celebrate his 30th birthday with his ESTIEM friends; relaxing with home made snacks and drinks at the riverside bar. Also, we had two general assemblies, where we made important decisions: membership is still affordable for everyone [Zea-row you-row], the eternal internal regulations discussion will be given another chance next year, discussions on how to develop the relationship with ESTIEM were held and three ladies and one gentleman were elected as next year’s board. Also, after a nice democratic exercise, Zurich was chosen to host the Alumni meeting for next year! Once again, we would like to thank Sandra and Carmen for their great job of organising this weekend. The nice mixture of ESTIEM Spirit, IEM skills and Andalusian temperament came together in these three days!

So, if you are reaching the end of your studies, have already graduated or just feel that your activity level in ESTIEM is going down, you should definitely join ESTIEM Alumni! If you are already registered member of ESTIEM it is easy to apply via the ESTIEM portal. If not, go to www.alumni. estiem.org to apply! For any kind of questions, do not hesitate to contact us at board.alumni@estiem. org Last but not least, don’t forget to mark the Whitsun weekend for next year already now and book your tickets to Zurich! You don’t need to have graduated or even a member of Alumni to participate. We hope to see as many of you as possible there and we can promise you a great weekend with your ESTIEM Alumni friends! 

INSIDE ESTIEM

Cultural Prejudice

German – From my Point of View…

tımon kabelac

Cold and exact people! Always on time! These were the first things I got to hear when I asked for stereotypes. Which nation do you think I am talking about? – If you are thinking about Germany then you are on the right track. As I was asked to write this article about stereotypes about Germans I was very enthusiastic about it. But now as I am writing this article I realize how difficult this topic is. I am a German living in Germany, how should I know what other nations think about Germany? And even more important: How do I know if these stereotypes are, or to what extent they are, right or wrong? – Since most probably the answers I would give are my personal point of view and basically strongly influenced by my experience and social background, luckily there are ESTIEMers who are helping me in such a situation with a whole bunch of stereotypes about Germans. But what exactly is meant by stereotype and what is the difference between a stereotype and a prejudice? Stereotypes are condensed and therefore simplified specific images about a person or a group. They caricature or emphasize obvious attributes and thus sometimes wrongly generalise. However, through this simplification stereotypes make our every day communication easier. For example if you see a person and his age or clothes you are generating a specific attitude towards this person and adjust your interaction with this person to your expectations. Stereotypes are closely related to the common meaning of “prejudice”. The word prejudice refers to prejudgment. If somebody is making a decision before becoming aware of all relevant facts of something he has a prejudice towards a person, event or case. The aim of this article is not to give you correct answers, which stereotypes might be right, but to give you some answers from my point of view – from a German perspective.

So let us get back to the very beginning of this article. There are already three stereotypes about Germans stated. Cold people, exact people and people who are always on time. Well, of course we are not always on time, but referring to this point there are many culture-related things about Germans/Germany. Compared to other countries in Europe life here is very time-related. Your train is not coming somewhere around 7 a.m., it is coming on 6:58 a.m. and the chance that it will do so is not somewhere at 50%, but much higher (as I said: Not always). If you have a meeting at 7:15 p.m. then everybody is expecting you to be there at 19:15 and even if you are five minutes late it is already quite a lot of time (in a German

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timescale). All in all this gives you the chance to schedule your everyday life quite exact. And this point which in my eyes brings us to another point. This gives the feeling of security; it is a prediction as a basis of planning. Germans don’t like to face unexpected happenings or to rely on uncertain circumstances. The next point would be “The cold Germans”. As we learnt above, stereotypes, in contrary to prejudices, are based on specific attributes and thus normally not totally wrong. Yes, I must admit that during my ESTIEM experience I have seen much “warmer” people in the countries I have been visiting. And yes, this point (cold Germans) in my eyes, tends to be a more negative point. If you have been to Germany you may have noticed that nobody is asking you if you need help, when running around with a city map. As I have been to Portugal I just had to step out of the hostel with a map and not a minute later two or more people had asked me if I need some help or if I am lost. In my eyes this goes together with the point that we are regarding ourselves as individuals. We don’t like to be dependent on anybody else, we are a community of individuals and as an effect we are not asking for help in the first place. So, in general it might be that it is not the easiest to get in contact with a German, which definitely does not mean that we are not enjoyable people. It is just the first “get in touch” or the contact with totally strange people that is not the easiest one. To conclude with, these where only two points out of about 100 Stereotypes I have heard while preparing this article. This topic is one of these never ending discussions and probably is a good choice if you are thinking of writing a book about stereotypes. Nevertheless, keep in mind that stereotypes are simplified assumptions and not necessarily representing true facts about a country: Stay open-minded! 

26.09.2008

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INSIDE ESTIEM

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INSIDE ESTIEM

What is Happening in... Gothenburg sofıa karlsson

Gothenburg is the second largest city in Sweden and has been characterised by trade, shipping and international contacts ever since it was founded in 1621. The city’s long global tradition has affected the minds of its students and therefore ESTIEM is the perfect network for us. The IEM study programme at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg was established in 1983 and the 25th anniversary will thus be celebrated this autumn! Local Group Gothenburg has been a Member of ESTIEM since the early days and we have about 75 registered students out of a total of 500 IEM students at Chalmers. Approximately 15 students are really active ESTIEMers. By trying to become more visible, both locally and centrally, and drawing on the current momentum we hope to attract even more students in the near future. Nevertheless, a problem that we are facing derives from our local organisation, in which a new board is elected each year, and few students stay along on a longer ride. For that reason we try to use the approach “the more visible the better” since we all know that there is no such thing

as bad publicity! Our local board is therefore for example active during the orientation weeks. We inform and promote ESTIEM, mostly by taking part in activities such as the city tour and the Chalmers tour where there is a more informal atmosphere and hence easier to get people really interested. For the incoming freshmen in September we are also planning a dinner party with an international theme! In the last years Local Group Gothenburg has organised several events on a central level. In 2006 (and 2004) we organised a TIMES Semi-Final. This was the start of a new mentality according to which our Local Group tries to organise at least one “larger” event each year and thereby gives us the opportunity to invite ESTIEMers. In 2007, we had a Vision seminar – “Visionary Marketing – Do it the Swedish way” – and this autumn (September 2008) we will arrange a new Vision, which – as this is being written (2008-07-24) – has over 40 people on the waiting list! The fact that many people are interested in our Local Group and in the city of Gothenburg is extremely motivating and really pushes us to keep organising events and becoming more active! 

Linköping

INSIDE ESTIEM

Mission: Times Final 2009!

Local Group Linköping has been a Member of ESTIEM since the organisation was founded in 1990, and since 2007 we are an independent group with 13 active members who meet every week. At the moment we are all in our 2nd and 3rd year but we will recruit two first-year students in the beginning of this semester. We will have activities to advertise ESTIEM and our Local Group, so that all new students get the chance to get to know ESTIEM. We really want to encourage them all to take the opportunity to travel Europe for ESTIEM events throughout the year! Last year, we arranged two events: a Regional Coordination Meeting in October 2007 and a Vision in April 2008. The topic of the Vision was “Functional Sales” and we had about 25 participants from Europe plus 15 participants from Linköping. Apart from traditional lectures we wanted to integrate case solving. The very first activity of our Vision was a workshop in case solving and we wrapped everything up with a case-competition during the last day. And when

all the lectures and workshops were ended, we hung out in the sauna, went partying and enjoyed a gala dinner at “Flamman”! Thanks to all the participants who made this Vision such a fun one! The upcoming year will be really exciting! Linköping has already organised Regional Coordination Meetings, a TIMES Semi-Final, a Vision and a Council Meeting and we feel that we are ready to take the next challenge – hosting a TIMES final! We applied for the task and at the Council Meeting in Hamburg in April 2008, we were elected to host the Times Final 2009. While ESTIEM is not that well known in Sweden, TIMES definitely is, and it is a great honour for us to organise the Final. Right after the Council Meeting, Ulrika Lonaeus was chosen to be the local project leader and the planning could start! The Coordination Meeting for TIMES 2009 will take place in the beginning of October and Linköping has applied to host that meeting as well. We are very happy to be the host of the TIMES Final next year, and we wish everybody good luck in the competition! 

Sofie Åbyhammar

Linköping is the seventh largest city in Sweden and is located about 200 km south of Stockholm. The university, which is organised in four faculties and has 25 000 students, is one of the major universities in Sweden. The Institute of Technology in Linköping was the first Swedish university to offer the IEM programme and the education has a very good reputation among employers.

INSIDE ESTIEM

Starting the New!

since “ESTIEM Magazine” was born

Dear Readers, I thought that I was finally old enough to get a real name. Actually it wasn’t me but the Project Leader and Project team, I was very hopeful anyways. “Scope” it was supposed to be: dynamic, broad and focused at the same time; a close up on something current and an outlook to something new… But then along came the ESTIEM Board and said it couldn’t be. “Strategically not smart…” They sure must have their reasons, but what do I care? So Board says no and I’m still nameless after such a long time :-( I was born in 1991, a cold and dark black-andwhite age, where computers were just starting to take over the world. Since my birth many different people from many different nations have been fostering me. The Turkish ESTIEMers, with five Project Leaders in my history, are the most active in doing so. They are followed by the Swedish ESTIEMers, (four Project Leaders), and the German ESTIEMers (also four), then the Portuguese ESTIEMers (two) and finally, with one Project Leader from Macedonia, Romania, the Netherlands and Serbia… All this time I have just been the “ESTIEM Magazine”. Now Sezen Sayoglu (Turkish – again) took over. She has chosen “Starting the New” as the

topic for this issue and I’m glad some changes are happening since the last big one in 2005 where I got a new sleek layout? Talking about topics: For every issue I have been fed with articles about some specific topic, all being IEM-related hot topics. I guess you like to read that stuff. Seriously, so do I. But you’re only around for some years, I could tell you the whole history of ESTIEM. And while the topics are highly interesting I personally could live without yet another article on a Vision or a Regional Coordination Meeting – but I guess that’s just me. So where was I? Well, topics whatever… there is another thing I really think is important. You know, there are the Project Leaders and I have seen some of them close to tears, because they didn’t have enough people helping them. It’s always this “I can’t write articles” bullshit they got to listen to. I mean geez, you know there are a trizillion other things to do in the Magazine team: layouting, time management, fund-raising, looking for pictures, team management, decision-making… All this sounds a little negative. But that’s not what I want to say. I mean it always worked out in the end and one great issue after the other was published – it’s just frustrating for those Project Leaders sometimes and I get scared every now and then that for some reason one issue might not be managed to be published or distributed.

INSIDE ESTIEM

non-ESTIEMers too)… and valued by them as the voice of other European IEM students. At the end, we come to today, to this issue and to the reason why I wanted to talk about history. Because, I feel a bit stranger to myself; but fresher with new cover style, new logo and the new structure of notice board with the online archive... Hope you will like it. You know, for example in the early days I was once stuck at the customs and it took some effort to get me out of custody – that was scary. Since those times the “Price: 0 Euro” is a fixed part of my cover.

What was the topic of this issue? 

The form has drastically changed since the first issue published, which used only black and white ink and not any colour. The technology breakthroughs in printing helped the Project Leaders to get more “professional” magazines. But I remember the time that the design of layout has been established during Coordination Meeting Ankara in 2005. All over the years, a special effort has been made in order to have different elements in the Magazine’s Team, with as many nationalities as possible. You can wonder why, but the reason, for every ESTIEMer, might be obvious: you all learn from your differences, and your different points of views. That is the way you grow, that is how ESTIEM and all its projects have grown, and will probably grow.

Starting the New

Entrepreneurship and Innovations

All these efforts and improvements had one goal: to make ESTIEM Magazine be followed and read by the public, that is to say, Media, Universities, European students(ESTIEMers and

European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management Issue 35 2008/2 | ISSN 0874-5242 | Price 0 Euro | www.estiem.org

AGEND

Check the latest updated event information at www.estiem.org and register for your favourite events through the ESTIEM portal. See you somewhere in Europe!

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

18 – 21 Dec Logistic Training Camp | Istanbul-Yildiz

12 – 17 Nov Europe3D Switzerland, Zurich 18 – 23 Nov Vision of Responsibility | Brussels “Responsibility of companies, which have to struggle with deep prejudices” 20 – 23 Nov PR Committe Coordination Meeting 22 Nov Bosch TechnikVision 2008 | Reutlingen 22 – 26 Nov IFISO Meeting | Split 24 – 28 Nov Vision of Responsibility | Groningen “Corporate Social Responsibility”

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

12 – 16 Jan TIMES Semi-Final | Aachen 19 – 23 Jan TIMES Semi-Final | Ilmenau 28 – 30 Jan Bosch-ESTIEM Workshop | Germany

2 – 7 Feb Europe 3D France | Lyon 4 – 7 Feb TIMES Semi-Final | Stockholm 7 – 14 Feb Europe3D Holland Eindhoven|Groningen|Enschede 9 – 15 Feb Vision of Responsibility | Tampere-Helsinki “Focus on Conscience – Responsible Corporation” 5 – 8 Mar TIMES Semi-Final | Poznan 11 – 14 Feb TIMES Semi-Final | Oulu 5 – 9 Mar Regional Coordination Meeting | Novi Sad 17 – 21 Feb Vision of Responsibility | Trondheim 6 – 9 Mar TIMES Semi-Final | Ankara-METU “Sustainability and Financial Growth Hand in Hand” 18 – 22 Mar Vision of Responsibility | Bucharest “Industry recovery” 23 – 27 Mar TIMES Final | Linköping 8 – 12 Apr Vision of Responsibility | Warsaw 23 – 28 Mar Vision of Responsibility | St. Petersburg “Corporate Social Responsibility as a Way to “Social Responsibility in Marketing” Success” 26 – 30 Mar Local Responsible Forum | Dresden 15 – 19 Apr Vision of Responsibility | Lappeenranta “Corporate Responsibility in Forest Industry” 22 – 27 Apr 38th Council Meeting | Grenoble

MARCH

APRIL

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