2011 Spring : CEMS Magazine

On campus

comment

Marenostrum join Nordic Forum and Louropa

present new team and missions

Regional events see double 14 New CEMS events V4 and

new student and alumni presidents 06 Marco Proto and Alberto Frisiero

Student & Alumni FOCUS

FAIR TRADER 50

CEMS Alumnus Joaquin Mu単oz, Director, Max Havelaar France

CEMS Magazine Official Magazine of the CEMS Global Alliance SPRING 2011

Feature

A NEW WORLD OF BUSINESS

CSR as practiced in the field, by companies, academics, students and alumni

31

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

CONTACT I www.cems.org I info@cems.org

CEMS students and alumni are at home in the world, thanks to a unique alliance of 26 leading member schools, 69 corporate partners and 2 NGOs that spans the globe.

The CEMS MIM is more than a top-ranked M.Sc. programme; it’s a passport to global citizenship.

IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial 05

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger,

Chairman of CEMS and President of the University of St. Gallen

CEMS Magazine 06

COMMENT The new Student Board and Alumni Association Presidents present their mission

About CEMS Founded in 1988, CEMS is a global alliance of 26 business schools and universities, 69 prestigious multinational companies and two NGOs. They collaborate closely to deliver the CEMS Master’s in International Management (or “CEMS MIM”), one of the top-ranked pre-experience Master’s in Management in the world by the Financial Times. The CEMS MIM provides a unique blend of top-level education and professional experience for multilingual, multicultural postgraduate students. www.cems.org

contacts Editor-in-chief:

Kevin Titman Communications Manager, CEMS Head Office

Editorial committee:

Blandine Avot Secretary General, CEMS Alumni Association José Campo de la Cruz CEMS Student Board representative, EGADE – Tec de Monterrey Torsten Röwekamp Vice-President, CEMS Alumni Association Miriam Scharmach CEMS Student Board representative, University of Cologne

Network Events 08

Student Board, Louropa Forum, Executive Board and Programme and Corporate Relations Managers meetings

Regional events in Warsaw, Lisbon and Copenhagen Alumni Local Committee events

On campus 22

Sydney and Nova re-branding projects

NHH Block Seminar and Business Project LSE Microfinance conference Louvain Ph.D. course ESADE, Cologne and Sydney CSR courses

31 Feature

CSR: a new world of business Part 1: action in the schools Part 2: the corporate strategic view Part 3: alumni in the field

Think tank 52

New faculty publications

Business and the Environment Faculty Group report Aalto poverty reduction project

Student & alumni focus 57 Microfinance alumna profile

Alumni entrepreneurs Student Board report Students in business case competitions

Design & layout: WordAppeal

www.wordappeal.com

Printing: Colorpack

www.colorpack.hu

Contact the editorial team at cemsmag@cems.org

Cover photo: CEMS student Cleo Biron (left) and CEMS alumna Wieteke Dupain (right) with Muhammad Yunus at the Annual Events in Rotterdam

The stars have aligned

A global league of leaders, CEMS brings together top academic institutions, leading multinational companies and outstanding students from around the world to deliver the most internationally and culturally diverse M.Sc. on the market.

Created by WordAppeal

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

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger Chairman of CEMS & President of the University of St. Gallen

B t

CEMS started as a vision more than 20 years ago. The goal was to improve management education in Europe.

At that time, the CEMS MIM was a unique Management degree which introduced such innovations as internships, business projects and the compulsory term abroad. Through continuous investment in quality, it became a flagship M.Sc. programme in international management and CEMS developed into a global alliance of 26 business schools, 69 corporate partners and two social partners, at the time of writing.

CEMS is still strongly inspired by its vision of being a network which brings together universities of different cultural and national backgrounds with leading companies and NGOs. But after more than 20 years, it has moved on from its initial pioneering days. More and more organisations have to legitimise their investments in cooperations with clear and even measurable outcomes. Therefore, CEMS also has to produce and communicate clear values for its stakeholders. The CEMS management, the central office, the committee chairs and I, as chairman, are committed to developing CEMS and its value for its stakeholders.

University education and especially Management education is facing a globalisation process.

International competition for the best faculty and students is increasing. There is an important role for CEMS as a global alliance and platform for cooperations as known in other globalising service industries. The value for its members has increasingly to be the brand, the excellent core product - the CEMS MIM - but even more, the function of a platform for innovation, mutual learning and new products. CEMS should and will fulfil this role and differentiate itself by the strengths of the links between its members from other networks and cooperations in the education sector.

Best regards,

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger Chairman of CEMS & President of the University of St. Gallen

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COMMENT Back row, L-R: Nicola Spano (Treasurer), Alberto Frisiero (President), Torsten Röwekamp (Vice-President) Front row, L-R: Blandine Avot (Secretary General), Andrée Egloff (CAA Coordinator, CEMS Head Office)

The CEMS Alumni Association: 6,000 alumni and a world of opportunities The CEMS Alumni Association (CAA) was founded in 1993 and is an increasingly strong social network from one year to the next as increasing numbers of students go on to graduate. The CAA mission is to prolong among the graduates the international and multicultural experience lived during studies and to keep the CEMS spirit alive all through the world in professional life.

This new issue of the CEMS Magazine is showing again professionalise career services to create a more appropriate offer how rich the profiles of CEMS Alumni are. This time, particular to all alumni, strengthen the broadening network of graduates for a real attention has been given to graduates showing commitment in sense of belonging to the community and for visibility their job, to making a difference in today’s world, and putting into to third parties, daily practice their strong beliefs for a fairer and more sustainable encourage alumni to “give back” to CEMS with more society.

involvement in the curriculum and closer contacts with students, tomorrow’s graduates.

Alumni everywhere around the globe commit themselves to unite and promote this enriching diversity by joining actively the teams of the CAA Local Committees and of the CAA Executive To achieve these objectives, your support will be more than welcome, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with your Executive Committee.

Committee and your Local Committee to see how you can get During the Annual Event in Rotterdam in December, a new Executive involved.

Committee was elected with the following casting: Alberto Frisiero (President), Torsten Röwekamp (Vice-President), Nicola Spano Yours sincerely, (Treasurer) and Blandine Avot (Secretary General).

This new team will be working in close cooperation with local committees and Head Office to reach the goals set for the two-year mandate. Three directions will be followed in order to increase the awareness and value of the CEMS programme globally:

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The CEMS Alumni Association Executive Committee

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

The CEMS Student Board wishes you a warm welcome to the first CEMS Magazine of 2011!

The Student Board was founded in 2000 and has since then grown remarkably both in terms of level of activity and importance to the alliance. Structured into four teams, we cover virtually every aspect of the CEMS network concerning students: MIM Affairs for the curriculum, CEMS Club Support overseeing the proper functioning of local CEMS Clubs, CEMS Social Responsibility integrating a social framework throughout the Alliance and Student Relations ensuring that the student community is always well connected and informed.

In 2011, the main focus of our efforts will be more equal opportunities for CEMS students, and visibility, both of the Student Board within the alliance and of CEMS to the outside world.

Local CEMS Clubs will continue to be a focal point of our work.

The CEMS Club Conference will be held at the end of the year, gathering the Student Board, CEMS Club Presidents, Head Office representatives and Corporate Partners together to strengthen the activity of the local Clubs by sharing best practices and future plans.

Another focus lies with the entrance into the alliance of Social Partners, CARE International and Fairtrade Labelling Organization International. We as students are more than happy

to assist in the process of integrating the Social Partners and helping them get in touch with us through elements of the MIM. We also aim to help strengthen the ties between the Student Board and CEMS Alumni Association, representing a closer relationship between current students and alumni. We believe the alumni pool is an abundant resource we still need to learn how to take advantage of, just as students are a resource to alumni. A good relationship of this kind is a win-win element, and we look forward to working together.

With this, we hope you will enjoy the magazine, remembering how it is a multi-stakeholder tool which will help you connect the many dots – of which one is us, the students – that together comprise the CEMS Alliance.

Yours sincerely, Marco Proto (NHH) President, CEMS Student Board Fredrik Ahlberg (CBS) Vice-President, CEMS Student Board (L) Fredrik Ahlberg (CBS) Vice-President, CEMS Student Board (R) Marco Proto (NHH) President, CEMS Student Board

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Network events WRITER: Kevin Titman, CEMS Communications Manager

CEMS Global Alliance meetings & events April-June 2011

Whilst new technology offers a global 13thth Louropa 15 Forum structure like CEMS the ways and means to work MAY Paris and communicate effectively at distance, face-toface meetings and events are difficult to replace.

They are essential to keeping the spirit and smooth The fourth and final regional event of the running of the alliance going. The April-June period year was hosted by HEC Paris, with corporate features the last of the year’s four Regional Events involvement from Astra Zeneca, Crédit Agricole, and three multi-stakeholder working meetings.

Google, Henkel, and McKinsey & Company. The theme for this year’s edition is “Challenging Careers and Happiness”.

27th 30th

April

Student Board meeting Vienna

In keeping with tradition, the recent Student Board meeting was partly hosted by the local member school, WU Vienna University of Economics & Business, and CEMS Corporate Partners, in this case Procter & Gamble and A.T. Kearney.

Among the points on the meeting agenda: reporting from the four Student Board working groups (MIM Affairs, Student Relations, CEMS Social Responsibility and CEMS Club Support), student-alumni relations, branding and communications, company presentation and Q&A session with Procter & Gamble and a sustainability case study with A.T. Kearney.

L-R: the campuses of WU Vienna University of Economics & Business, HEC Paris, St Petersburg State University and Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo-FGV

Among the points on the meeting agenda: CEMS Globalisation & Membership, election of Corporate Partners, branding & communications and career services.

07thth 10 june

Programme and Corporate Relations Managers’meeting St. Petersburg

More information is available at www.louropa.com.

The 2011 edition of this annual working meeting A report will follow in the November issue of CEMS will be entirely hosted by CEMS member school Magazine.

Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University.

25thth 27 May

Executive Board meeting Sao Paulo

The second most senior governing body of the CEMS alliance convenes outside of Europe for a meeting to be hosted by member school Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo-FGV. Proceedings will open with an alumni-corporate partner event on the opening evening, followed by a full two days of discussions and decision-making.

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Head Office representatives will meet with all Programme Managers and Corporate Relations Managers to discuss matters pertaining to curriculum delivery and working with CEMS Corporate Partners.

CAREER FORUM 2010 CEMS CAREER FORUM

WRITER: Kevin Titman CEMS Communications Manager

2010 CEMS Career Forum a record number of participating Corporate Partners In 2009, the Career Forum became a highly successful stand-alone two-day event with 1100 + participants.

The 2010 edition was no exception in terms of popularity and importance, with a record 44 Corporate Partners taking part. Corvinus University of Budapest again provided the venue for the event, which was held on 12th-13th November.

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NETWORK EVENTS

2010 CEMS CAREER FORUM After a crisis year, the hard times in terms of recruitment seemed to have been forgotten as a record number of CEMS Corporate Partners offered pre-scheduled interviews for students and young alumni.

It was also the first time that the pre-scheduled interview option had been made available to alumni. This was a conscious move to offer more careers-related services to CEMS graduates already in employment but seeking to make a job or career switch. In addition, this made for a wider and more varied pool of talent from which companies could select the profiles of the greatest interest.

Attendance was very much in line with the previous year’s edition.

Just as encouraging was the number of skill seminars being offered by companies and academics. Also, a number of career guidance group sessions were organised with the aim of enhancing students’ self-awareness and preparation for the world of work.

CEMS Corporate Partners had the opportunity to meet all member schools representatives and discuss further possibilities of cooperation.

The social networking side was not neglected either. A large-scale buffet dinner and party was hosted in one of the trendiest venues in Central Europe as a fitting close to a highly successful event.

Key facts and figures from the 2010 edition

44

CEMS Corporate Partners participated in the 2010 Career Forum

CEMS Corporate Partners offered pre-scheduled interviews to students

34

14

CEMS Corporate Partners offered pre-scheduled interviews to young alumni (0-4 years after graduation)

18

CEMS MIM-accredited half-day skill seminars were offered to 400 students

800

CEMS Students applied for pre-scheduled interviews

CEMS Students registered for accredited skill seminars

700

The 44 participating Corporate Partners in full: A.T. Kearney / ABB / Arcelik / Arla Foods / AstraZeneca PLC / BNP Paribas / BP / Canal + / Crédit Agricole S.A. / Credit Suisse / Daymon Worldwide / Deutsche Bank / EADS / EDP – Energias de Portugal, S.A. / Eni International Resources Ltd. / Fidelity Investment Managers / Henkel AG & Co. KGaA / HP / HSBC / Indesit Company s.p.a. / ING Group / KONE / L'Oréal / LVMH / McKinsey & Company / MOL Group / Nestlé / Nokia Corporation / Novo Nordisk / Procter & Gamble / Reckitt Benckiser / Shell / Siemens Management Consulting / Sistema / Société Générale / Statoil / Swiss RE / Thomson Reuters / UBS / Unibail-Rodamco UniCredit Group / Vestas Wind Systems A/S / Vodafone / Zurich Financial Services

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

EVENTS

WRITER: Kevin Titman CEMS Communications Manager

CEMS Annual Events placed under the sign of Corporate Social Responsibility Rotterdam School of Management and Erasmus University hosted the 22nd CEMS Annual Events. The highlight of a rich programme saw the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus (the Bangladeshi economist and founder of Grameen Bank) appear as keynote speaker on Friday 3rd December for a series of debates with CEMS students, alumni, academics and corporate partners.

The appearance of such an active supporter of social business represented a major rubber-stamping of three new CSR initiatives within CEMS: the recent signing of the Principles for Responsible Management Education, the induction of CARE International and Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International as Social Partners and the implementation of a student-driven graduation oath committing graduates to uphold global citizenship and responsible management in working life. The latter of the three projects received a ringing endorsement, with 98% of the near-600 students graduating on stage in Rotterdam signing the declaration.

Muhammad Yunus (middle) and George Yip, Dean of Rotterdam School of Management (right) engage in debate during the Friday panel discussion

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NETWORK EVENTS

New CEMS Chairman elected for two-year mandate

Keio University, Japan ratified as a full member school

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger was unanimously elected by the Deans and Rectors of CEMS member schools and senior representatives of CEMS Corporate Partners on Saturday 4th December. He arrives in the position following on from his recent appointment as President of the University of St. Gallen. He replaces Prof. Bernard Ramanantsoa (Dean, HEC Paris), who completed his second two-year mandate as Chairman at the Rotterdam event. Prof. Bieger had the following to say: “Having worked within the CEMS alliance for a number of years, it is a source of great pride to now represent the entire organisation as Chairman. I would like to pay tribute to the outgoing Chairman, who has overseen the globalisation of the CEMS alliance, international recognition of the CEMS MIM as the top pre-experience Master’s in Management in the world and the continued growth and expansion of the alliance on all fronts.”

Also confirmed during the events was the ratification of Keio University, Japan as a full member school. Keio University will become the 26th school to deliver the CEMS Master’s in International Management in 2011-12. This increases the nonEuropean contingent within the alliance and opens up extra opportunities to students and graduates to experience first-hand another academic and corporate culture.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

CEMS Annual Event 2010 at RSM

In spite of millions of snow flakes and temperatures way below 0, the 1500 guests from 26 countries, and a total staff of over 100 together ensured a successful CEMS Annual Events from 2nd to 4th December 2010. Organised by Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and CEMS Head Office, the CEMS Annual Events 2010 were a combination of 45 business and festive meetings, enhanced by a Symposium on Social Business and New Capitalism where the CEMS community came to listen to Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus. The official CEMS Graduation Ceremony on Saturday was followed by a big Celebration Party where the CEMS community also celebrated the homecoming of Erasmus. Dancing and singing on the music of the Hermes Houseband, the CEMS vibes could be felt throughout the entire Rotterdam Cruise Terminal!

11 multinational companies and 2 NGOs come on board The portfolio of CEMS Corporate Partners was significantly boosted by the ratification of 11 new companies. These included four Japanese companies, recruited by Keio: the soya giants Kikkoman Corporation, the optical and pharmaceutical manufacturers Kowa Company Ltd., the convenience store franchise Lawson, Inc. and the financial services and investment bank Nomura Securities Co. Ltd. Also ratified as corporate partners were Arla Foods, Barilla, EF Education First, Google, HSBC, SABMiller plc and Schneider Electric. This brings the total number of CEMS Corporate Partners to a record 69.

RSM was delighted to host these events. The organisation started somewhere mid-2009 already. First with a very small team ensuring adequate venues and the like, the team grew larger and larger pretty soon. During the events the organising team also received great help from a group of enthusiastic RSM CEMS students who worked relentlessly to cater to the needs and requests of speakers and guests. As is always the case with these types of events, things change and evolve until the last minute. What never changed during this whole intricate process (call it a bumpy road!) was the determination of the organising team to make these events successful and in the spirit of CEMS.

CEMS and RSM student Tanmayi Gummaraju hands over a cheque to UNICEF for the Schools of Africa project, for which CEMS students raised 50,020.78 euros

We are happy to share our memories with you. Links to all professional pictures and videos are posted on www.rsm. nl/cemsae2010. So please watch that space and relive your Rotterdam experience. We wish NOVA all the best in their organisational endeavours and look forward to meeting you in Lisbon!

Marianne Schouten, Media & Public Relations Manager (RSM)

Awards and prizes Where is Erasmus? travel prize: CEMS Club Lisbon CEMS Club of the Year: CEMS Club Warsaw Block Seminar of the Year: Corvinus University of Budapest “Corporate Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities” Strategy Course of the Year: Professor Eric Cornuel, HEC Paris “Business Strategies and Institutions in Europe”

Two other significant new arrivals into CEMS came in the shape of CARE International and Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International as Social Partners. Both organisations will enjoy the same degree of participation in the alliance as do corporate partners.

Cross-Cultural Management Course of the Year: Professor Elie Matta, HEC Paris “Managing Global Complexity” Exclusive Course of the Year: Professor José Neves Adelino, Nova School of Business & Economics “Advanced Corporate Government” Business Project of the Year: University of Cologne and Henkel “Process Optimisation in the Cooperation with Sheltered Workshops” School of the Year: Nova School of Business & Economics

School of the Year: N

CEMS students enjoy the graduation party that brought the 2010 Annual Events to a close

OVA

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REGIONAL EVENTS

Conference WRITER: Rafal Domański CEMS Club Warsaw

V4 Conference business issues in the heart of Europe It was in Visegrad – a small town in the north of Hungary – in the XIVth century that the idea of Central European cooperation was born. Over 600 years after the first Visegrad summit, the Visegrad Group (abbreviated V4) unites the region, being now an alliance of four countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. At the very beginning of the 2011 spring semester, the CEMS Community gathered in Warsaw to discuss the business issues of the region for the first edition of the V4 Conference, the latest addition to the annual roster of CEMS Regional Events.

Participants were guided through the whole way of understanding the idea of competitiveness, focusing strongly on the CEE countries. The scientific journey started with a macroeconomic

lecture provided by Mr. Mark Allen (the IMF Senior Resident Representative for CEE). Then, the group workshop sessions and discussion panel helped us better understand the measures of competitiveness and business in the “Heart of Europe”.

“As a Scandinavian, I joined the V4 to broaden my limited knowledge on the challenges that multinational corporations are facing in Central Europe. The seminars prepared by SGH professors and KONE definitely lived up to my expectations. V4 was very well executed and has great potential for the future,” Erik Rehbinder (CBS) Obviously, the V4 Conference was not only hard academic work. Networking activities such as dinners with the regional cuisine, visiting Chopin’s Museum and the crowning of the meeting – a huge carnival ball in the Palace of Culture and Science in the centre of Warsaw - let us enjoy our time in a less formal atmosphere as well.

The V4 Conference was a very special event for all of us. With the support of Corvinus University in Budapest, VSE in Prague and our guest academic partner – University of Economics in Bratislava - we not only got to know more about the CEE region, but also managed to share experiences and create bonds. The next edition of the conference - Budapest 2012!

CEMS Club Warsaw members and event organisers Karol Górnowicz and Rafal Domański

"We've already started working on the project. Lots of new ideas and a motivated team – that all makes me believe it will be a great meeting."

David Szeles, CC Budapest President Mr. Mark Allen, IMF Senior Resident Representative for CEE

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

About Marenostrum Marenostrum is the latest addition to the programme of CEMS Regional Events.

It is hosted on a rotating basis by ESADE Business School, Nova School of Business & Economics and Università Bocconi.

Conference WRITER: José Alguem President CEMS Club Lisbon

MARENOSTRUM: an insider’s look at the latest CEMS Regional Event Hosted by Nova School of Business & Economics on 10th-12th March on the theme of “Development Through Business: A Mirage or a Reality?”, the first edition of the Marenostrum CEMS Regional Event successfully brought together the CEMS student and corporate community. José Alguem (President, CEMS Club Lisbon) gives his personal account, from the perspective of one of the main event organisers.

Organising Marenostrum (or “MNM”) was both an incredible challenge and an utterly rewarding and learning experience.

Being Portuguese, hospitality is a burden we carry, but one we carry gladly. Welcoming our visitors with open arms and wanting them to have a good experience is part of our DNA, which of course increased the Lisbon CEMS Club Team's commitment to make Marenostrum a memorable event.

From the early challenges of designing the model we wanted for the conference, to the negotiations with our Corporate Partners and the final logistics, the whole process proved to be an excellent teamwork experience, where we definitely capitalised on one of the Portuguese best cultural traits – “Desenrrascar” . Watching it finally happening and most importantly, taking part in the event and listening first hand to everyone's feedback, proved to be the best reward we could expect.

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From an insider’s perspective, the three highlights of the event were:

ompanies’ Think Tanks and Networking – from the C feedback gathered, not only were most of the topics absolutely relevant for today’s business environment, but they allowed students to get a more insightful look at what companies are really doing in the sustainability field.

Peer networking – both formally regarding future student and business challenges, but also informally in becoming more acquainted with the impact of cultural differences on the way people think and especially “party”.

Mediterranean hospitality and weather - the common unstable weather conditions were present, with rain during the indoor events and fortunately sun for the outdoor activities (or at least most of them). The “best hostel in the world” received excellent feedback and not entirely due to the free “port wine” at the entrance.

MNM’s Impact on organising team: four hours of sleep in the days preceding the event; over 500 MB of memory space used overall; job offers from some partners (NICE!); considerable “ego enhancement” after evaluating the feedback from participants.

REGIONAL EVENTS

FORUM

WRITERs: Henrieta Borovska and Helena Sjölin CEMS Club Copenhagen

CEMS Nordic Forum A huge success The home of the whole world On 16th-19th March, CBS hosted the CEMS Nordic Forum Conference, which is an annual regional event organised by the CEMS students currently studying at a Nordic CEMS member school.

The task of organising and hosting the conference rotates among the four Nordic CEMS Academic Partners – NHH in Norway, Aalto University School of Economics in Finland, Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden and Copenhagen Business School, and this year’s forum stood in the name of CBS. The theme of the conference was “Management Challenges of the 21st Century”. The five companies that participated were Astra Zeneca, Google, Maersk, Shell and Vestas.

Besides the corporate participation, two other seminars where held on presentation and negotiation techniques, led by CEMS MIM Academic Director Sven Junghagen and professional negotiator Keld Jensen from MarketWatch respectively.

The satisfaction of the four-day event was obvious both on an academic level as well as socially and the feedback has been overwhelming.

“I would really like to congratulate the whole Nordic Forum team for having organised it so well. The seminars were fascinating and you could see the companies’ involvement and respect for us participants. The event clearly focused on seminars but social activities were more than satisfactory. Bravo!”

Youssef Iraqui (Moroccan), CEMS student board member for HEC Paris The students that participated were also very pleased with the conference.

“The Nordic Forum offered the perfect blend between learning from In all, the forum hosted more than 90 CEMS professionals and socialising. students from 23 business schools in the CEMS The organisers deserve a round of network and 33 nationalities. So for four days, CBS applause as they were committed to was literally the home of the whole world. making this event the success it was,”

A place to network

Aditya Kothari (Indian, Belgian), student at Rotterdam School of Management

Throughout the four days, the participants were able to learn about CEMS, its corporate partners and each other through different kinds of activities. With several workshops offered by the invited companies and other social activities such as an outing to the Carlsberg Museum, a typical CBS party at Nexus and a farewell dinner at the Copenhagen restaurant Madklubben followed by a party night at the exclusive nightclub Karel Van Mander, the Nordic Forum had a diverse range of interesting offers to current CEMS students.

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

"Being from Canada, the Nordic Forum was a really great opportunity to meet with and learn about companies that I would otherwise not be exposed to. The skills seminars organised by these companies focused on developing practical skills that I will be using every day in future jobs. Finally, the Nordic Forum allowed me to network with other CEMS students from across the world. Overall, the experience was very rewarding from a learning And social perspective. These kinds of events make the CEMS experience truly unique”, Kendra Puls, a Richard Ivey CEMS student studying the CEMS MIM at HEC Paris and NHH

“A special thank you to everyone” All in all, the Nordic Forum 2011 was a huge success and didn’t leave anything to be desired.

The corporate partners showed what true excellence is about and the participants brought great enthusiasm.

Helena Sjölin, one of the Nordic Forum coordinators, also expressed her gratefulness for the event and its participants.

“In the name of the organisational team, I would like to say a special thank you to everyone who took part in this event and hope we have met, if not surpassed ,your expectations. I believe that the Nordic Forum 2011 provided our future generation of business leaders with opportunities to develop their professional knowledge as well as the chance to enhance their network around the world”.

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REGIONAL EVENTS

EVENTs WRITER: Marco van de Beek CEMS Student Board representative, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School

The global alliance goes regional - a CEMS regional event roving report CEMS student Marco van de Beek delivers us his personal account of the first three CEMS Regional Events of the year, events that took him to Warsaw, Lisbon and Copenhagen.

24th

february

Warsaw The V4 Forum proved to be the ultimate kick-off of the regional event-road show and the organisers set the bar extremely high for the events to follow. By attending an inspiring lecture from the IMF’s most senior representative for the region and a workshop by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the V4 Forum provided me with new and unique perspectives on growth and investment in this region from a very different angle than most parties in the corporate world would. In addition to the demanding schedule during the day, the participants were offered the opportunity to participate in some of the best social happenings that Warsaw has to offer.

Additional key learnings: choose different airline operator because the current one

didn’t provide free lunch as stated on ticket, buy correct metro ticket in Copenhagen to save €100 in fines!

ECTS: 1.5 Average daily sleep count: 3.5 hrs New friends: Stopped counting at 40 Kilometres travelled: 1300

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

09th

March

Lisbon

16th

March

Copenhagen

Being Dutch, I have always been quite resistant to go to Portugal, given our national football team’s track record! However, the Marenostrum Event outweighed this moral objection.

The Nordic Forum turned out to be quite a home-match for me, given the fact that I pay my rent to a Danish landlord, I say Skål every now and then and I visit FC-Kopenhagen matches in the false hope that someday they’ll meet a league opponent that In the magnificent colonial setting of the city of Lisbon and the gives them a hard time. Either way, being in Copenhagen, I have NOVA premises, this event exhibited some of Portugal’s most witnessed the tremendous effort that the organising team has put prestigious businesses, speakers, students and lecturers. Like the into this event.

V4 Forum, Marenostrum prepared an impressive curriculum. I particularly valued the TED-style conference day that included The Nordic Forum was one of the most academically prestigious high-calibre speakers. The workshops proved to be highly events I have witnessed in my life. I was privileged to participate in entertaining and interesting, and the rotation dinner with all a seminar from an international negotiation expert – speaking and corporate partners was an excellent wrap up of the day—at least lecturing in many top MBA schools- enjoyed impressive corporate for those who went to bed. I take the liberty of not including partner workshops and visited the HQ of the largest shipping company in the world. myself in that category.

Amongst the forum participants were three members of the Alumni Executive Committee, showcasing an excellent example of increased student-alumni relations as well as a great example of the power of the CEMS network.

Looking back on the Nordic Forum, I’ve met so many familiar faces, participated in high-calibre lectures, partied like there was no tomorrow (believe me, there was) and ended my regional event road trip in a fabulous way.

Additional key learnings: partying all night through to a 7am plane is a bad idea, with this in mind, a stopover in Munich is even worse.

Additional key learnings: I have to see my doctor for a physical check-up, 24 hours to write this article is a challenge.

ECTS: 0.5 Average daily sleep count: 4.5 hrs New friends: I prefer quality over quantity but in this case, both were equally impressive Kilometres travelled: 5000

ECTS: 1.25 Average daily sleep count: 4.5 hrs New friends: Who said again that it takes a while to make friends in the Nordic countries?

Kilometres travelled: 5 km by bike

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REGIONAL EVENTS

EVENT

WRITERs: Nicola Spano (CAA Treasurer, CEMS 2002 Bocconi-RSM) and Gianpaolo Gagliardi (CEMS 2001 Bocconi-HEC)

Serre Chevalier+Ski+Fun=CEMSki Weekend!

“Hey guys, do you remember that time we were lost on the slopes, and after skiing for one hour, we came back to the very starting point?!” “Of course we do…

I still laugh when I think of it, despite the fact we missed the train back to Paris for that reason…” “Hey, why don’t we do it again?! I mean, skiing together, not missing the train…”

And that is how it all started. After the first great experience in 2010, around 20 CEMS Alumni with friends met at the end of January to enjoy a fantastic skiing weekend together in Serre Chevalier, on the French side of the Alps. German, Brazilian, French, Argentinean, Mexican, Austrian, to mention just a few of the nationalities, represented at the event.

As usual, everything was perfectly arranged and the entire group got together for the "ice-breaking" Friday evening. Wow, so many different backgrounds, cultures, languages! However, after about one hour, it was like we had known one another for ages. Experienced and less experienced skiers got together on the slopes the following two days, sharing laughs, songs, falls, competition and delicious food. And once back to the hotel, the usual challenging, "almost-impossible-to-understand" games were ready for more fun (btw, thanks Alistair for setting new rules at Taboo every five minutes…).

And each year, it is amazing to realise how just two days in such a chilling atmosphere can recharge the batteries: on Monday morning our colleagues could easily see it in our happy tanned faces despite the sore leg muscles. And this year, we did not get lost on the way back home…

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

EVENT

WRITERs: Malgorzata Wawrzyniak-Siroky (LC Austria) and Juliane Stephan (CEMS Club Austria)

CEMS Waltzing Days 2011 The CEMS Waltzing Days 2011, the second biggest Pan-European Event during the CEMS year, was successfully organised the ninth time in a row by the CEMS Alumni Austria and the CEMS Club Vienna.

Over 140 participants from 13 countries all over Europe came to Vienna to spend a magical weekend rich in cultural and social events. For many among them, it was not the first time at the CEMS Waltzing Days – we were very happy to welcome many regular guests again.

The programme started on Friday evening with a traditional Austrian dinner with such specialties as Wiener Schnitzel, and stilt,... and later continued with clubbing at one of the hottest clubbing locations in the city – the Passage! Saturday was entirely devoted to the ball: first there was a crash course to refresh the waltzing skills. After just 1.5 hours, all guests were waltzing like professionals! After a guided sightseeing tour in pleasant, spring-like weather, it was time to get ready for the ball! All participants met again in the evening in a stylish bar in the city centre for drinks and finger food before heading off to the emperor’s palace – the Hofburg! Having seen the spectacular opening, everybody moved on to the various dance floors with music ranging from classical to pop music. The CEMS table served as the place to meet, drink and rest. The most passionate dancers stayed even till 5 am in the morning to dance the final waltz and enjoy the traditional after-hour breakfast! The brunch on Sunday was a well-received opportunity to meet again and share the experiences of that amazing night - and to promise to come again next year.

In the name of the LC Austria and the CEMS Club Vienna, we would like to use this opportunity and to invite all of you to the jubilee 10th edition of the CEMS Waltzing Days in January next year. The preparations for a unique event have already started and we would be happy to spend a fantastic time with you!

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On

CAMPUS Prof. José MACHADO,

WRITER: Jorge de Sousa Assistant Associate Dean – Nova School of Business & Economics

Nova School of Business and Economics rebranding operation a success

Dean, Nova School of Business & Economics

NOVA has a new brand and the CEMS community will no longer be hearing about the Faculdade de Economia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa. From now on, look for the Nova School of Business and Economics - NovaSBE. Our new logo, with two asymmetrical squares, translates the capacity of the School to develop high potential people – powerful minds – prepared to think and act “outside the box”.

The brand embodies two elements: NOVA, which arises in a new, engaging red, and its message in true blue - an enduring feature that underpins the lives of the students and alumni, as well as the faculty, staff, and stakeholders.

The new image seeks to reflect the excellence of our research, our teaching, and students, and reinforces our positioning – preparing people to actually make a difference, anywhere in the

world – a goal in lockstep with the overarching ambition of CEMS. NovaSBE classes are taught entirely in English, our professors come from 24 nations, and the students from over 50. The time is right to attest to our international vocation by advancing a graphic identity exclusively in English.

Changing a logo is always risky – a trade-off between hard-won brand recognition and innovation – but the ambition is to project the school as a magnet for youthful talent worldwide - in one of Europe’s top destinations: Lisbon! We accept this risk with confidence.

Naturally, the new image also suggests our differentiation strategy, which is founded on two pillars:

Positioning the school as a “transatlantic business-knowledge bridge” linking Europe and other Portuguese-speaking communities. Several steps have already been taken in this regard: creating the Angola Business School; establishing double degrees with top Brazilian schools; and networking with Portuguese-speaking communities in the US and Canada.

Creating Knowledge Centres to attract resources and constitute mainstay research and teaching activities.

The Dean of the School, Professor José F. Machado reminds us: "This rebranding reflects the path of leadership followed by NovaSBE, stated in our vision – to be among the best in Europe.”

Nova School of Business and Economics

More information www.novasbe.pt | 22 |

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

WRITER: Alison Avery PR & Communications Manager, University of Sydney Business School

University of Sydney: Down to Business The University of Sydney has enjoyed a proud association with CEMS since 2007 and begins 2011 by unveiling to its international partners a new look Business School with a fresh approach to all programmes.

Following a university-wide initiative, The Faculty of Economics and Business has become the University of Sydney Business School. This strategic initiative was designed to ensure the University remains a leader, and more focused than ever, in Business education.

This re-branding initiative allows the University of Sydney Business School to sharpen its focus, thereby aligning our operation with world-class business and management education institutions globally.

Focus firmly set on high-quality business and management education Across our postgraduate and undergraduate programmes we continue to be focused on delivering the highest quality business and management education. We have worked closely with our industry advisory board to revitalise our programmes by strengthening students’ commercial grounding and increasing work-integrated learning opportunities to ensure students can apply what they learn and provide real-world global experience.

The University of Sydney Business School students will be immersed in one of the most dynamic education experiences in Australia; this is evidenced by our three international accreditations and is strengthened by being the first business school in Australia to align our operation with world-class business and management education institutions globally.

More information http://sydney.edu.au/business/

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A University of Sydney student featured in their recent “One giant leap” marketing campaign

ON CAMPUS

WRITER: Tor Johannessen CEMS Academic Director, Associate Professor – NHH

CEMS Block Seminar at NHH focuses on CSR and Climate Change The theme for the 2010 Block Seminar at NHH was “Corporate Social Responsibility, Innovations and Climate Changes”. After a thorough introduction to climate changes by some of NHH’s most competent professors, the whole group of approximately 40 students moved on to Voss Youth Hostel.

For the past four years, the CEMS Block Seminar at NHH has been held at the end of August at Voss – an idyllic village 100 km from Bergen on the Bergen-Oslo railway. Many people believe that the famous and expensive Voss Water comes from this place, but actually, it is bottled in South-West Norway. Voss is a well-known winter resort, with slopes for almost any taste and proficiency, including hills for snowboarders. Every year, Voss hosts the “Extreme Sports Week”, with activities ranging from rafting, kiting and parachuting to paragliding.

CP and academic involvement to the fore The theme of the seminar was highlighted both by academics as well as by some of our CEMS Corporate Partners, such as Statoil and Statkraft, and all lecturers had included an ample amount of group tasks to be discussed by the participants.

A very popular part of the stay at Voss was a mini course in team building, which is essential, not only for the semester abroad, but also for the students’ future careers. The course was held at the

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Voss Rafting Centre, and included a lot of different activities, such as learning how to catapult an egg and assure that it is received safely by another group. This required a lot of cooperation with others, which is extremely useful in any type of organisation. It is safe to say that judging from all the broken eggs, we could have made a lot of pancakes!

The theme for the CEMS Block seminar later this year at NHH is “Corporations using Social Media: Impact on Branding, Identity and Profit”, and takes place on 22nd-26th August.

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

WRITER: Tor Johannessen CEMS Academic Director, Associate Professor – NHH

Business Projects at NHH in 2011 The fruitful cooperation between NHH and several CEMS Corporate Partners continues this year, which marks the 75th anniversary of the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration.

With the addition of Deloitte in 2011, we are now cooperating with many of the largest and most global consulting firms. The business projects this time range from the use of social media, via the development of corporate strategies, to an exciting research project which aims at trying to find the reason(s) why so few women on management level are employed in PwC’s business areas (insurance, consulting, and tax and legal services), and also why so many of those working there are leaving.

CEMS students help PwC get to the heart of a business problem These facts have puzzled PwC for a long time, and now, with the help of a group of CEMS students, they are hoping to get at least some indications, which in turn, may lead to a conclusion.

“This project is not about increasing the number of women in PwC in general”, Idun Storm, herself a CEMS graduate, says. She is in charge of the project, and says that the multicultural composition of the group is of great help for them in order to search for clues to the main issue. In a few years, PwC has become one of NHH’s main “suppliers” of business projects and skills seminars, and they are also recruiting globally several CEMS graduates annually. This cooperation is hugely appreciated by NHH.

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ON CAMPUS

Prof. Jay Ritter WRITER: Sophie Neu CEMS Corporate Relations Manager – Louvain School of Management

CEMS Ph.D. Course at the Louvain School of Management Recently, the CEMS network has been expanding towards offering high-level Ph.D. courses to complement its offer of Master’s courses. The Louvain School of Management is dedicated to being an active partner in this new orientation. On 22nd-25th November 2010, an intensive CEMS Ph.D. course in empirical corporate finance was held at Louvain.

Timely topics were discussed such as capital structure, IPOs, long-run performance measurements, the use of instrumental variables and behavioural corporate finance. The course was taught by Prof. Jay R. Ritter, who is the Joseph Cordell Eminent Scholar in the Department of Finance at the University of Florida since 1996.

He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Finance from the University of Chicago. The event attracted 30 Ph.D. students from Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland. The School was delighted by its great success.

Next to this, Prof. Jay Ritter gave a conference to Master’s students and alumni on the topic of “Why There Will Always Be Financial Crises”, which was followed by a lively debate on the topic. He started by discussing possible origins of the recent financial crisis. One crucial aspect that Prof. Ritter elaborated is why the housing market has collapsed in the US and other countries (such as Spain) and how it could degenerate into a financial crisis. In the US, homeowners refinanced their mortgages, and took money out to use for consumption.

This spending boosted the economy, but these borrowers later defaulted since spending was fuelled by borrowing.

Prof. Jay Ritter argued that banking crises are inevitable, since loan defaults are not random– they occur with a high frequency only in recessions, so the put options get exercised at the same time. Therefore, there will always be financial crises, and each one will be different.

According to Ritter, the “demographic time bomb” (due to both slow population growth rates and longer-living people) present in Europe and North America will be a major future crisis.

As a consequence, people need to adjust to a consumption-to-income ratio during the working years. The later the adjustment, the more severe will be the crisis.

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

WRITER: Cleo Biron CEMS Student Board representative, LSE The London School of Economics & Political Science

CEMS Club London instrumental in bringing insight into Microfinance On 4th March, a group of over 150 students and practitioners all sharing a common interest in microfinance gathered at the Old Theatre on Houghton Street. Organised by the LSESU Sustainable Investments Society and CEMS Club London, with the assistance of non-financial partners LSESU Microfinance Society and The Student Initiative, this marked the first ever student-run Insights into Microfinance Conference at the London School of Economics.

This conference brought the attention of numerous high-profile speakers, from around the world, all well-versed in the field of microfinance: from Malcolm Harper, a leading UK academic in enterprise development, focusing on microfinance, to Marcus Fedder, a co-founder of Agora Microfinance Partners LLP, Eduardo Carlos Ferriera from Brazil, the CEO of Microinvest, to Sean Thorninn, Deputy Head of Development at Amret Microfinance Institution in Cambodia, along with LSE students past and present, through a round-table discussion on how current students could get involved with microfinance.

Three panel discussions to get to the root of the issue The structure of this conference consisted of three panel discussions, concluding with the aforementioned roundtable discussion. The first panel focused on the Commercialisation of Microfinance. The second panel discussion dealt with Microfinance Investment Vehicles (MIVs).

The third panel aimed to answer whether Microfinance is meeting its social objectives.

For a long time, social benefits and gains were assumed to be an automatic result of microfinance. In today's changing environment where the sector is facing more criticism, there is a need to peel back microfinance to its fundamental core.

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From the discussion, it became apparent that it is very difficult to measure social impact on a standardised scale. There will always be differences in the way MFIs want to make an impact and the indicators they use to measure this. Issues of reverse causality and control of variable became a limiting factor in the way MFIs measure impact.

Overall, the event was deemed a great success for all parties involved! CEMS was glad to sponsor such a pioneering type of conference and associate itself with such social initiatives.

ON CAMPUS

WRITER: Antxon Hauet President, CEMS Club Barcelona

Four CEMS schools investigate innovative solutions to mitigate climate change The anthropologic origin of climate change cannot be refuted anymore. The scientific evidence that has been collected throughout the last decade is unanimous: greenhouse gas emissions have to be significantly reduced within the next decade in order to limit the damages induced by climate change.

It is moreover a serious threat for the business world, because it impulses massive migration flows, political instabilities, economic slowdown and general risks increases.

Conscious of those risks, and even though it was still controversial at the time, the United Nations members ratified the “United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change" at the UN Conference on Environment and Development of Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

CEMS students at the 2010 UNFCCC Negotiation Simulation

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The UNFCCC has since then been the reference framework for negotiation on climate change and led since then to the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. Its members meet once a year in the Conferences of the Parties (COP) to evaluate the progress made and try to establish a legally binding regulation framework in order to limit the effect of anthropologic activity on the climate.

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

WRITER: Christoph Sonnenschein Acting Head International Relations Centre, University of Cologne

Getting involved in Social Entrepreneurship

Those negotiations are crucial, and their outcome will most likely define the kind of world our grandchildren will live in. However, by only focusing on limiting the impact of anthropologic activity on the environment through regulation, too little importance is given to the business environment as a complementary means to addressing this global issue. The CEMS alliance educates tomorrow’s business leaders, and could therefore not seek to raise student awareness of this critical issue.

Cologne combines Business Projects and Sustainability topics in a new course format

CEMS Climate Change & Policy Simulation offered for third year running

Starting in term 1 of the 2011-12 academic year, CEMS students can begin their semester in Cologne with a newly developed CSR course taking place in September. Students will not only learn about ethical values, objectives and the motivation of Social Entrepreneurs but also look into the founding of their own social businesses as a career alternative. Following the CSR course, the CEMS Block Seminar “Sustainability in Management”, which Cologne has successfully offered for many years already, adds new aspects to the topic and is taught by a multidisciplinary team of professors.

Thus, for third time, four CEMS academic members* offer simultaneously the “CEMS Climate Change & Policy” simulation.

This course offers a deeper understanding of the background and consequences of climate change for business by emphasising the potential development of climate change, its impact on international regulatory frameworks, and emerging challenges, strategies and market opportunities for businesses.

Highlight event to be staged by ESADE

The chance to apply knowledge to real-life cases

The highlight of the course will occur on 20th-21st May in ESADE, where students from the four universities will meet up to carry out a simulation from UNFCCC negotiations. The participants will be representing countries or important stakeholders of the civil society and negotiate based on their respective position paper and what they have learned throughout the course.

The CSR complete package is rounded off by social projects, which are credited as CEMS electives. These projects are offered by the University of Cologne in cooperation with SOCIAL, an agency for social responsibility. Topics will range from the launch of a service-oriented sales channel for sustainable products to project management for the construction of eco-friendly houses aimed at strengthening eco-tourism in the Dominican Republic.

CEMS students thus have the unique possibility to directly apply their gained knowledge working with multicultural teams on real life cases.

This will even be an opportunity for CEMS students from all around to debate on current public and corporate policies to mitigate climate change. But further than that, it will hopefully also be the breeding ground for many innovative business models and solutions, to challenge and reform the “business as usual” paradigm. Eventually, these ideas will be heard somewhere and help to progress towards a new world of business, in which “responsible management” will become the norm.

By offering social projects every semester, the University of Cologne has established CSR courses as an integral part of Cologne’s CEMS course offer.

* University of St. Gallen, University of Cologne, Rotterdam School of Management and ESADE, who will host the final negotiation.

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ON CAMPUS

Dr Nigel Finch, Academic Programme Director of The University of Sydney CEMS programme said:

WRITER: Alison Avery PR & Communications Manager, University of Sydney Business School

“We are enormously grateful for the support we have received from Thomson Reuters Australia as one of our CEMS Corporate Partners. What is especially pleasing is hearing that the students are making a real difference to the organisations they are working for and that really validates what we are trying to achieve with the programme.”

Thomson Reuters: Responsible Business Once upon a time, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) were words used by many organisations to impress shareholders and make employees feel good about coming to work each day.

Simply having an existing CSR policy was enough to set a company apart and little resourcing sat behind efforts to enact the plan. Today, CSR is more than just a catch phrase and, more often than not, it is embedded in the way an organisation approaches its core business.

As such, it is vital that the business leaders of tomorrow embrace this concept and think creatively about ways to enact this philosophy in the organisations they work for.

Thomson Reuters join forces with the University of Sydney One organisation which takes CSR very seriously is the leading professional information firm, Thomson Reuters Australia, who together with students from the Master of Management CEMS programme at the University of Sydney has undertaken a series of business projects to help students think creatively about how a company can be actively involved in this space.

Thomson Reuters Australia hosted two groups of Master of Management students in 2010 to carry out business projects in consultation with some of their senior team members. The first group was asked to identify the business case for Corporate Social Responsibility and the second group was required to identify opportunities to promote the Thomson Reuters brand with University students.

Human Resources Business Partner at Thomsen Reuters Australia, Riaz Ajam, was closely involved with both projects from day one. He designed the projects after identifying the needs of the business and ensured the students had access to resources and people within the company to answer questions.

He said the results were impressive and many of the CSR processes presented by the students will be adopted by the company.

“These particular business projects were chosen by the company for the students to work on because they reflect our key business priorities,” said Riaz. “We knew there was a business case for CSR but wanted to identify a formal process and implement measurement targets. Involvement in this programme gave us the extra resources and talent to make it happen and most importantly a fresh perspective.”

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

CSR: a new world of business action in the schools feature

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Feature {action

in the schools}

WRITER: Dr. Jost Hamschmidt, Managing Director, oikos foundation – University of St Gallen

Be informed, get involved, make a difference – oikos Student Entrepreneurship for Sustainability at CEMS schools f Related links oikos Model WTO www.modelwto.org

oikos, the international student organisation for sustainable economics and management, is a leading student-driven network. Founded at the University of St. Gallen in 1987, oikos now counts more than 35 student chapters, among them a growing number at CEMS campuses.

oikos Winter School www.oikos-winterschool.org oikos Global Case Writing Competition www.oikos-international.org/ academic/cwc/ oikos UNDP Young Scholars Development Academy www.oikos-international.org/ academic/development/ oikos Ph.D. Fellowship Programme www.oikos-international.org/ academic/fellowship.html oikos Student Reporters who blogged from the last World Resources Forum at Davos, Switzerland.

Watch out for your chance to participate this year!

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Students from Bangladesh to Slovakia gathered for the oikos Spring Meeting 2011 on Sustainable Architecture at VSE in Prague

oikos’ mission is to strengthen action competence for sustainable development among tomorrow’s decision makers.

With a learning-by-doing approach, oikos students implement sustainability-driven innovation and promote the integration of sustainability issues into research and teaching at their schools.

Be informed - get involved - make a difference; our guiding motto. How does this translate into practice for CEMS students and Management schools?

Harriet Jackson

LSE Alumna & oikos International President 2011

Be informed

Make a difference

oikos events offer networking and learning opportunities for emerging issues which are rarely covered in Economics and management curricula. Student projects range from economic conferences and seminars to simulation games such as the international oikos Model WTO (www.modelwto.org). This year’s oikos Spring Meeting was organised by oikos students from CEMS Member School VSE Prague, and focused on Sustainable Architecture: Space for Living. Among other content, it offered visits to leading green architecture sites, workshops on how to make your campus computers climate-neutral, and sustainability careers workshops from oikos alumni.

The numerous student activities are complemented by international coaching programmes for change-makers and oikos academic initiatives in research and teaching. With its annual international Young Scholars Academies, e.g. in the field of Entrepreneurship (in cooperation with The Hub), Finance (with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment) and Development (in cooperation with the UN Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative), oikos has become an institution for developing future faculty in the field of sustainability and management. oikos also promotes excellence in case writing and teaching through its annual oikos Global Case Writing Competition. A new textbook featuring winning cases, including a case on CEMS Corporate Partner P&G, will be published in spring 2011.

Get involved CEMS-MIM alumna Clara Navarro joined oikos in 2004 after attending a CEMS Block Seminar about Sustainability and Marketing in St. Gallen. She participated in the first oikos Winter School (www.oikos-winterschool.org) and then joined oikos Cologne during her CEMS programme. As she moved to London to work for McKinsey on climate change, her oikos contacts were very useful, and she was happy to join the oikos Chapter at the London School of Economics & Political Science when she decided to study another Master's. In London she developed several student projects on sustainability and supported the oikos alumni work.

After returning to her hometown in Barcelona she became an advisor of oikos Barcelona at ESADE Business School – a great opportunity to promote sustainability on a local level while being globally connected. Currently, Clara is actively involved with oikos alumni, participating in international meetings twice a year. The oikos network has proven to be of great help in her professional life and a great source of inspiration and valuable friendships too.

Overall, oikos is quickly developing as a leader in student sustainability organisations. If you are interested in learning more, contact your oikos chapter at the CEMS schools in Barcelona, Budapest, Cologne, London, Prague, Warsaw or St. Gallen. No chapter at your CEMS School yet? Create a new chapter.

Contact us and make a difference!

For further information check http://www.oikos-international.org or contact Harriet Jackson at harriet.jackson@oikosinternational.org

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Feature {action

in the schools}

Selnur Orhon

Coordinator, Graduate School of Business; CEMS Programme Manager

WRITER: Ahu Parlar Communications Director – Koç University

A PARTNERSHIP STORY: INTEGRATING INCLUSIVE MARKET DEVELOPMENT ISSUES IN LEARNING Selnur Orhon (Coordinator, Graduate School of Business, CEMS Programme Manager) presents a new initiative to raise awareness on issues related to sustainable development.

UNDP Turkey and Koç University Graduate School of Business signed a Memorandum of Understanding to increase awareness on issues related to sustainable development and identify opportunities and challenges for the development of inclusive markets. By partnering with UNDP Turkey in the scope of regional Growing Inclusive Markets initiative, Koç is taking a step further in responding to the global call for business schools and other academic associations to advance corporate social responsibility worldwide and to respond to the need for developing more inclusive markets.

As a foundation, UNDP immediately organised four seminars for Koç students for their “new venture development” course. In the New Venture Development course the students will develop new enterprises with a responsible and inclusive perspective. The first seminar was about poverty and poverty measurement. The aim of the first seminar was to improve students’ understanding about poverty and familiarise them with human development concept.

The second one was on corporate social responsibility; UNDP Private Sector Programme Manager Hansın Doğan presented the

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subject and the Turkish experience. The third session was on the Base of the Pyramid. The focus was on CK Prahalad’s work and how the BOP concept has influenced the strategies of companies.

The final seminar presented the UNDP’s private sector strategy “inclusive market development”, analysed case studies, and discussed how to use the Growing Inclusive Markets new website and inclusive business models database for analyses.

Additionally, Koç University Graduate School of Business and UNDP Turkey hosted an Executive Workshop on inclusive business in Emerging Europe and Central Asia where the presentation of a new regional UNDP report (Business Solutions to Poverty: How Inclusive Business Models Create Opportunities for all in Emerging Europe and Central Asia) also took place. The purpose of the workshop was to contribute to the identification of potential inclusive business opportunities and project models, and to explore what recommendations can be made to various private and public actors to improve the enabling environment for inclusive markets in Turkey. The programme included presentations from best practices from Turkey, Moldova, Belarus and Albania.

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Prof. Zeynep Gürhan CANLI

Koç University Graduate School of Business Director

"Inclusive markets and bottom-of-thepyramid issues bring a novel perspective to our present view about how businesses operate in a global and highly volatile world. This perspective increases students' sensitivity to a much-needed stakeholder perspective for sustainable business development. It also helps students realise that ethical business practices and profitability can co-exist in the long run."

Husnu Avsar Gurdal Koç University Student

"During my admission interviews, Koç University's Graduate School of Business inquired about my understanding of ethics and analyzed my attitude towards social responsibility. They asked me to provide them with real-life examples of how I put my ethical values into practice. From a candidate's point of view, the importance they put on such issues, demonstrates that the University was looking for candidates that would add value not only in the classroom but also to society at large.”

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Feature {action

in the schools}

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Interview Interview was held by CEMS student Robert Gnauck, and edited by CEMs students Cleo Biron and Jort Duijnker

CEMS students launch Social Entrepreneurship Network Station Q.

Rafal, how did you come up with A group of motivated CEMS students the idea for SENStation and what is your and alumni started SENStation (Social motivation behind this initiative?

Entrepreneurship Network Station) to help students find meaning, achieve A. I aim to make my life a meaningful journey sense. The idea of SENStation goes back to my their goals and truly make a difference. with thesis topic, written under supervision of Prof. Dr.

SENStation is an online networking community for a selective group of universities and leading students from a variety of disciplines, that leads the way in social entrepreneurship networking by spreading the powerful philosophy of “Bringing SENS to Life".

Frank Hartmann, at Rotterdam School of Management.

I researched to understand what drives people at an individual level rather than at the aggregate level of social mass interaction. I focused my attention on the topic of self-efficacy (confidence).

The problem is that traditional media are focusing mostly on negative information, which more easily catches our attention, but lowers our confidence in the process. To regain focus on positive news, I looked for positive social initiatives and in doing so, I heard about Rick Vinken, founder of the Kembe Foundation setting up social businesses in developing countries. The people from Kembe see opportunity in problems, so I felt I needed to talk to them. This was the beginning of SENStation.

SENStation will leverage the capabilities and opportunities for each single stakeholder in our alliance to make a How did you bring SENStation to life world of difference and a difference and what is the connection to CEMS? in the world. Thus, CEMS will be collaborating with SENStation as an A. The most crucial factor in determining our success so far is our exceptional core team. This team of official partner. Together, these former and current CEMS students consists of: Lorenn two leaders of the social and professional Ruster, focused on providing a unique user experience and strong product flow, Mateusz Stankiewicz, our legal world are integrating the SENS expert, Menno de Block, building strong relationships philosophy and CEMS’s reach and with our partners, Antoine Lepretre, responsible for our community, and Jort Duijnker, together ambition to create a better world us all. developing with myself responsible for strategy and operations,

Q.

The CEMS Student Board Social Responsibility Team with Cleo Biron, Melis Zipkinkurt, Riikka Pievilainen, Robert Gnauck, Peter Chuang and Marco van de Beek has been our link to partnering with CEMS and they deserve much appreciation for their work since we first met at the Yunus Conference in Rotterdam.

f

CEMS Magazine spoke to the CEMS alumnus that initiated this project and is part of the core team behind it, Rafal Siepak.

linking the various areas of responsibility and creating high-value content. The amount of energy, drive and motivation that every one of us brings to the table has continued to amaze me and I believe that it is our unique mix of skills and talent that will be decisive in SENStation’s future success.

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Interview

Q. The CEMS Community actively

integrates a new approach to business education by supporting values such as humility, sustainability and social awareness in its Mission Statement and the Global Value Statement. How do you think SENStation and CEMS could achieve a mutual benefit in the field of Social Business Projects?

A.

All but one of our team members are CEMS students. This gives us a close link to the CEMS community. SENStation is at its core a social initiative and the drivers that CEMS seeks, such as integrity, humility, and ethical conduct are the foundation of our project and our personal motivation. SENStation’s aim is to increase the social mindedness of people, both in business and beyond, and to serve as an interdisciplinary linking pin for all our members to create successful social networks and projects.

we offer a wide range of free tools to anyone with social business aspirations, including the possibility to write articles, create open groups, gain valuable feedback, create teams and use our project management tools, all for free, and most importantly the chance to get the help needed from students coming from our and other disciplines including: management (CEMS), IT, law, media, medicine and many others. SENStation offers everything you need to turn ideas into projects and projects into a success.

Q.

What is your long-term vision behind your social business platform?

Where do you think it can lead to?

A. As a platform, SENStation will connect

disciplines and inspire people to make a difference through social entrepreneurship. We will be bringing SENS to life by solving social problems in two main ways on the platform. First, we will create a network of positive people willing to stop for a moment and find social business opportunities in the problems they face and develop social entrepreneurial solutions to solve The entire CEMS community can join us to find the help them. Second, we will inspire people by providing and talent they need to achieve the goals of the Global positive news about the social achievements of our Value Statement by developing social business projects entrepreneurs and partners. Through our partnership with CEMS, we have an instant global reach and we at SENStation. are now one step closer to spreading the philosophy of bringing SENS to life and confidence to people.

Q. How do you believe CEMS students,

alumni, corporate partners and member schools could get involved in your projects in practice?

A. We invite anyone with the desire to make a

difference to join SENStation. We are here for all students, staff, alumni and corporate and social partners. We offer a platform that serves as a think tank for social business ideas and at the same time gives the opportunity to collaborate and take action in real projects. Therefore,

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All corporate partners and other interested parties please contact SENStation for any further questions and cooperation possibilities at BringSensToLife@SENStation.org or visit SENStation at www.SENStation.org.

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

CSR: a new world of business corporate strategic view feature

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Feature {corporate

strategic view}

WRITER: Kevin Titman CEMS Communications Manager

Creating shared value through responsible business practice Daniela Murelli (CSR Director, Nestlé Waters) spoke to CEMS Magazine about the ways in which shared value can be created, for businesses themselves and for society.

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Daniela MURELLI

CSR Director, Nestlé Waters

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Interview

Q. Your background prior to joining

Nestlé Waters was principally marketing-based. Where did it take you?

A.

After studying Marketing at Bocconi, I started in brand management, firstly for Galbani, the Italian Cheese Company of the Danone group, then moving on to Benckiser and subsequently back to Galbani-Danone Group. It was with Danone that I began to acquire more international experience when working for the biscuits division in the Paris headquarters of the group and then for the Belgian Subsidiary. After a four-year working period in France and then Belgium, I then returned to my native Italy in 2005 as a marketing manager for Nestlé Waters.

Q. How did you reach your

current position as CSR Director within Nestlé Waters?

My initial responsibilities covered Italy for the main national brands (Levissima, Nestlé Vera,

A.

Belté) and I was also the contact person for the international marketing team based in Paris. I then stepped up to head the Marketing and Innovation division for Europe. The CSR department in Italy was created in September 2009, and I was asked to come back to Italy and lead it.

characteristics of purity via our packaging but also be responsible in our choice of packaging from an environmental perspective. Reducing the weight of the plastic used is essential to this but without causing any detriment to the functionality of the product, ensuring a certain portion of recycled plastic, using as many renewable sources of energy as possible in the whole process… The challenge is to maintain the intrinsic qualities of the product in the most socially responsibly manner possible. In addition, we are evolving from the CSR to the CSV (create shared value) approach, since we are constantly looking to create value for us and society at the same time. To do this, we have pointed out three main areas of engagement: water advocacy, hydration, and community partnership.

Q. How does this socially

responsible direction manifest itself within the company itself?

A.

In our day-to-day dealings with one another, we aim to be as responsible and respectful as we can. At Nestlé, we have an official ethical code that is available in 40 different languages, amongst other things. Above all, we seek to work responsibly and respectfully with all our points of contact – workers, suppliers and clients alike.

Q. Did the creation of the CSR

department at Nestlé Waters have a profound effect on the company?

A. Yes and no. A sustainable approach was already established within the business practices of the company. Sustainability has always been in the DNA of San Pellegrino's people. We have always been very careful and responsible in the way we use our mineral water sources and how we protect the territory where they are located. That said, creating an official CSR division enabled us to bring a strategic mindset to the question of CSR within the company, build up a common vision and network, and make a genuine contribution to society and the environment.

Q. Operationally speaking, how have you applied this strategy?

A. We focus on four main areas – water care, packaging, transportation and energy. The combination of the first two is especially important – how to make responsible use of water reserves, reflect the natural

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Feature {corporate

strategic view}

WRITER: Annika Widdowson, Global External Sourcing Finance Manager – Astra Zeneca plc

Responsible Procurement at AstraZeneca When considering corporate social responsibility, the focus is often firstly on a company’s internal operations and the immediate interactions with the external environment. However, in the face of increasing outsourcing and globalisation, recent examples have demonstrated that social responsibility has to reach further than this; it extends to the full supply chain of a business, including suppliers and sub-suppliers.

Being a responsible business includes making sure that all suppliers have ethical standards that are consistent with those of the overall company. As a result, more and more businesses are implementing a responsible procurement strategy to ensure that the same ethical standards are observed across the supply chain.

AstraZeneca, a global research-based biopharmaceutical company with annual sales of over $33bn, has a four-step approach to Responsible Procurement.

Step One – Assessment Initially, during the assessment phase, all potential and existing suppliers are reviewed against the Responsible Procurement Standard, which covers a range of issues including employment practices, health, safety and the environment, research practices and preventing bribery and corruption. As part of this, the supplier location and type of good or service provided is taken into account and the supplier is categorised as low, medium or high risk.

Step two - Communicate Following this, findings, standards and responsible procurement tools are communicated back to potential and existing suppliers.

Step three - Contract Responsible procurement clauses are firmly embedded in all commercial supply agreements and the tender process.

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Step Four - management Where we need to, AZ Procurement teams work with suppliers to help them improve their ethical performance and achieve the goals set out in their improvement plans. Each year, buyers and supplier managers re-assess the risk level of the suppliers they manage.

Where necessary, we will work with and encourage suppliers to improve their standards, rather than automatically exclude them from the supply chain. This positive influencing will benefit the supplier, their employees and the local environment. However, AstraZeneca will not use suppliers who are unable or unwilling to adopt standards of ethical behaviour that are consistent with our own.

http://www.astrazeneca.com/Responsibility

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

CSR: a new world of business alumni in the field feature

| 43 |

Feature {alumni

in the field}

Interview BY Torsten Röwekamp Vice-President, CEMS Alumni Association

Responsible business development: a CEMS alumna tells her story Agnieszka Łyniewska CEMS 2008 (SGH-NHH)

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Interview

My name is Agnieszka Łyniewska and I come from Poland, where I started my CEMS programme at Warsaw School of Economics. I spent my semester at Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and graduated from CEMS in 2008.

An opportunity created by CEMS Participation in the CEMS programme created for me a great opportunity to explore the CSR topic further.

I had chosen NHH for my host school deliberately.

Studying in Norway, with its reputation of transparent corporate practice and CSR guidelines for the oil fund widely considered as an international best practice, helped me to decide to focus on development and the social impact of business in my professional career.

Currently, I work as an economist at the World Bank in the Finance and Private Sector Development Department. I am based in Dar es Salaam and in my work I cover Tanzania.

Corporate Social Responsibility for me is a multifaceted notion that forms a part of my everyday job. The CSR agenda is maturing, the concept has not yet taken hold in many developing countries. In my work I am constantly faced with challenges to ensure that social In my current position, I am mostly advising the and environmental standards are met throughout the Government of Tanzania on issues regarding private value chains and the same standards are incorporated sector development in the country. I am preparing a by public institutions. recommendation for supporting the tourism sector and strengthening the business environment. I analyse micro-constraints to economic growth in the country CEMS Social Responsibility and together with a team of colleagues and I am looking My CEMS experience definitely helped me to into possible options of World Bank support to Southern develop a better understanding of CSR complexities in Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania initiative. the global business world. As a CEMS graduate, you My work, as well as my life here, is very diversified cannot only understand how social and environmental and there is no place for boredom. Dar es Salaam (in involvement is becoming an integral part of strategy English “House of Peace”) is a very multicultural city of many corporations, but also discover which part of with Swahili, Arabic and Indian influences. The things CSR you would like to pursue in your future career. As I enjoy most about being here is the international CSR is such a broad and encompassing concept, you community of very interesting people and the location can put it into practice in every workplace. However, if you think about specifically focusing on CSR issues, of the city right by the Indian Ocean.

I would recommend getting involved in CSR-related activities already during your studies, which will enable The beginnings of a passion you to get hands-on experience and build a professional network in the field.

The CSR concept became important to me already during my university education. While studying at Warsaw School of Economics, I was also completing another Master, in psychology. One of my fields of interest was people’s perception of “socially involved" products.

Therefore, I conducted a research project investigating willingness to pay extra premium for fair trade labelled coffee in polish society. This first encounter with corporate social responsibility provided some startling results: the level of societal development affects the importance people attach to the CSR concept.

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Feature {alumni

in the field}

Interview BY Blandine Avot Secretary General, CEMS Alumni Association

Interview

FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR: VIEWPOINT FROM AN NGO

“I actually decided to become an economist while I worked voluntarily at a Day Care Centre for Street Children in Colombia in 1999/2000”, begins Maria.

A virtuous circle of profitability According to Maria, the growing focus on CSR comes as a natural result of a more global world, of increased exposure to global challenges, and companies having an understanding that social responsibility is important to their stakeholders. This leads to a virtuous circle of profitability benefiting the community where CSR is part of the core strategy of corporations.

She now puts her marketing skills at the service of CSR on a daily base at Save the Children Norway. NGOs indeed need business school profiles.

However, Maria observes a change in the approach: companies now don’t limit themselves to donating in order to finance socially responsible projects led by NGOs, they now integrate the social dimension directly into their value chain. Maria illustrates: “For instance, multinational companies take social responsibility by making sure that there is no child labour in the factories of their suppliers. However, the dilemma is that this often leads to worse conditions for the children as they must work to make a living, and therefore have no other option but to work in the informal industry. The working conditions for the children in the informal industry are often totally unacceptable, with a low salary and the children neither get the opportunity to go to school. We are now working with corporate partners in the textile industry to improve the situation for the children so that working children get an acceptable salary, work under proper conditions, and get access to school. This is a very interesting way of collaborating with corporate partners as we as a children’s rights organization can use our local knowledge and expertise within children’s rights to create lasting change for the children in the countries where our corporate partners operate. ”

A prerequisite to be successful in business So Maria does not fear that CSR will be a fashion that will fade: “I believe that we are moving towards a world in which taking social responsibility is a prerequisite in order to be successful in business. In the long run it is not profitable not to be responsible.”

CEMS gives a solid basis to people who would like to commit to a CSR career. International exposure is key in that sector: Save the Children works in 120 countries, and to have an international background such as CEMS is definitely an advantage. So her advice to CEMS students and alumni willing to take a socially responsible professional path is to be focused on their goal and hardworking. “The world needs socially responsible leaders, the answer is: CEMS graduates.”

| 46 |

Maria Victoria Halberg,

CEMS 2007 (NHH-ESADE)

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Interview

Interview BY Blandine Avot Secretary General, CEMS Alumni Association

CSR: THE PERSONAL BELIEF OF THE GOOD OF CREATING VALUE FOR LOCAL PEOPLE Daniela Giardinieri has seen the world and loves exposure to an international environment, but she has decided to settle down in a small village of 3000 people on the beautiful Adriatic coast to follow her deep beliefs and bring her skills to the service of the growth of her native and beloved region, Le Marche, and its people.

Daniela GIARDINIERE CEMS 2007 (NHH-ESADE)

Micro businesses can also have a real impact on environmental and social concerns. CEMS magazine turns the focus onto the Marche area, in Italy, and a local alumna.

While still a student, Daniela was already the owner and manager of a sustainable fashion business, L.R 41 snc, styling women’s wear entirely produced by small companies in Le Marche. In 2008, she quit the garment industry, where the competition based on low costs of production and high margin would not let her put into practice her strong convictions.

She resumed her studies, deepening her knowledge of tourism marketing and town and country planning.

Since then, she has put her energy and skills at the service of the Marche region as a consultant: her goal is to put small companies that do not have the critical size to reach mass tourism in touch with people touring in Le Marche and interested in discovering local craftwork, art and art-de-vivre.

Creating value for small communities via responsible tourism One of the tools she is contributing to in order “to value small towns and local people” is the website www.paradisepossible.com. The concept is simple but of great efficiency for the associated micro-businesses as for the travellers: just select your passions and get a tailor-made itinerary through Le Marche, leading you out of the big roads to small local producers and artists. This website will soon open to new ventures in Ireland and in North America. Her next project will focus on the conservation of the region heritage, committing people to “adopt” an historical site.

This is how in Le Marche the development of responsible tourism generates revenues to local people and preserves life and economics in remote tiny villages.

f | 47 |

Feature {alumni

in the field}

CSR – a conviction, not something you learn When asked how her interest for CSR started, Daniela persuasively replies that she cannot really tell because “you don’t learn it, you feel it, you are deeply convinced it’s the right way to do business because committing to CSR is costly, it takes much effort. But you overcome everything when you know your work is positive for your community”.

And she is not afraid of the side effects of a possible “CSR fashion”: she considers it positive that big companies can invest big amounts of money on CSRbased projects, even if those that are only following a fashion without deeper social beliefs will most probably cut theses expenses at the first downturn in business.

To her, the strong basis of social sustainability is composed of “small companies that have a completely different approach. They create an ethical supply chain, built of local partners, that is growing, regardless of fashion. CSR is embedded in their DNA”.

A message to CEMS students and alumni To her, CEMS graduates’ team work ability can make the difference in the world of CSR. Her personal advice to CEMS students and alumni willing to commit themselves professionally to social responsibility is to look closer at the opportunities that small businesses can offer in this respect, and more importantly, not to be afraid "to follow their dreams“

Daniela GIARDINIERI CEMS 2006 (Bocconi-ESADE)

FACTS In Le Marche, 86% of the companies count less than 10 employees.

In Le Marche, life expectancy is the highest in Italy.

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Interview

Pernille Son Paulsen,

CEMS 2008 (CBS-RSM)

Interview BY Blandine Avot Secretary General, CEMS Alumni Association

LABELLING ORGANISATIONS OR HOW TO HELP THE CUSTOMER TO FIND HIS WAY IN THE FAIRTRADE WORLD “CSR can cover very different types of realities. To me, CSR is no philanthropy. It is the integration of social, economic and environmental considerations in the way you do business,” says Pernille.

Her interest for CSR started during an exchange programme in Peru where she was directly confronted with a harsh microeconomic local situation where she clearly noticed “the inequalities in international trade today and throughout history”. Once back in Denmark, she enrolled in a Masters program on business and development for the academic part, and then did her CEMS internship in Kenya. Here, she worked for a Danish sustainable investment fund. Her specific project focused on climate change mitigating investments. She is now working as a Certification Analyst for FLO-CERT, a company founded in 2003 delivery fairtrade certification. This independent certifier sends auditors to visit all the value chain actors before labelling a product Fairtrade. Her job consists in getting back to companies after the audit and building with them action plans to correct non-conformity points in order to obtain or maintain their certification.

| 49 |

Meeting customer needs for traceability To Pernille, labelling brings a real value to the customers who are now demanding traceability of the goods they buy. “This demand will keep on increasing and the range and availability of Fairtrade certified products is constantly expanding.”

CEMS fits the bill Pernille reckons that opportunities for doing sustainable business in developing countries are still huge: “Entrepreneurs don’t have to reinvent the wheel but to customize them to the need in the local market.” And CEMS people are fit to take over such a challenge, especially with the opening of the community outside of Europe, that creates more diversity. Her advice to those willing to commit to CSR is very pragmatic: “CEMS is a great combination of academic and practical professional experiences.

So build up your profile in a consistent direction while choosing your courses, your business project, your internships. Seize the opportunity to create contacts with companies. Work on your languages and your international exposure, especially in the Global South, as CSR is working on a global scale.”

Feature {alumni

in the field}

Interview BY Kevin Titman CEMS Communications Manager

A Fair Trader Joaquin Muñoz, CEMS 1996 (ESADE-HEC) and Managing Director of Max HavelaarFrance, spoke with CEMS Magazine about the path that took him to Max Havelaar, changes in consumer habits and how CEMS and Social Partners can work together in the near future.

| 50 |

Joaquin MUñoz

Managing Director of Max Havelaar-France

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Interview

Q. What were the first steps you

took upon graduation from the CEMS programme?

Q. Since 2007 you have held the

position of Managing Director for Max Havelaar France. What changes have you seen in terms of consumer behaviour in that time?

A. Well, I suppose my initial career trajectory was fairly traditional in that I entered the banking sector, working for CEMS Corporate Partner BNP Paribas. However, it was when I started working as a A. It has been impressive but there is still room consultant, especially during a mission for Nestlé in for improvement. The target was and remains fair Mexico that things began to take a different course. globalisation, a regulated market and just recompense for workers, so that products are produced, financed and consumed responsibly. Happily, I have seen changes both on the company and consumer sides.

To take the example of France, back in 2002, only Was that the kick-start to your about 15 companies (very few of them major ones) career in the fair trade industry? were genuinely committed to fair trade products. In A. In a way, yes, as there I was working for 2010, this figure had risen to 200, including a great a major multinational company, in the interests of deal of multinationals. In terms of the consumption installing responsible practices for the benefit of all. of fair trade products, we saw a 14% rise from 2008 My role as a consultant was to analyse the purchasing to 2009 in French households, with one third of strategy of major companies (of which Nestlé was just them using Max Havelaar products. The awareness is one) and their approach to handling culinary and clearly there now but has to be converted into more cocoa-based products in particular. This was a truly widespread consumption. eye-opening mission and one that motivated me to make the jump to joining Fairtrade in 2002.

Q.

Q. Fairtrade joined CEMS as one of

the first two Social Partners in December of last year. How do you see In what ways do the local producers benefit when such missions this partnership evolving?

A. Beyond the involvement in the curriculum are carried out? and with students, I’d like to see Fairtrade bringing its

Q.

A. Across 120 countries today, you have knowledge and experience of responsible consumption something like five million agricultural families. Just as we want companies to introduce a social mission, we also want to ensure that the people working on the land to produce the raw materials that the companies eventually use are fairly paid for their work. In addition, we strive to help professionalise the whole supply chain and raise efficiency as much as possible.

Basically, sustainable development has to be supported by a sound financing model, so that local production can be reconciled with the global consumer market and paid its dues.

to companies and schools, via business cases and training sessions, for example, and then maybe benefiting from managerial training in return.

Strategically, the partnership is an obvious advantage to all parties but I’d really like to see operational benefits made out of it as well. It is only by developing this spirit of solidarity that we can truly help build a sustainable economy with fair treatment and recompense for all – the partnership with CEMS is based on this same principle of fair and mutually beneficial collaboration.

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Think Tank

Dr. Eleanor O’Higgins UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School

Responsibility – an option or an obligation?

WRITER: Dr. Eleanor O’Higgins UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School

What Is CSR and What is It Not? In the EU, CSR is defined as involving “companies integrating social and environmental concerns into their business operations and their interaction with stakeholders on a voluntary basis”.

This definition rightly places CSR as inherent to the way a company does business. The company recognises its responsibilities to its constituencies/stakeholders – customers, employees, the environment and society in general. For genuine CSR, core components of accountability, sustainability, human development, value creation and honesty are underpinned by integrity that combines all these elements in everyday corporate conduct – not a superficial public relations add-on.

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The notion of voluntarism in the EU definition of CSR is questionable, suggesting that behaving responsibly is an optional “extra”, not obligatory. Equally, the “business case” for CSR implies that a company will reap profits if it behaves decently. This indicates that companies are not required to act responsibly unless there is a financial payoff. Shouldn’t all companies be expected to be intrinsically responsible? Of course, the most desirable state of affairs is that businesses that behave honourably also do well economically.

CSR is non-compliant w it h var ious international standards and protocols that have proliferated as par t of the “CSR industr y”. Such compliance consists of following processes blindly that have been set in a one-size-fits manner by various self-appointed NGOs. Likewise, a high ranking on CSR lists which rate companies from afar on prepared economic, social and governance inventories is not a valid sign of responsibility.

Finally, CSR is not philanthropy. Large donations to worthy causes are not equivalent to being socially responsible, especially if it ends up being compensated for through lower wages for employees, or higher prices to customers, or lower taxes paid. It is generally accepted that CSR is how you make your money, not how you give it away.

CEMS Magazine | May 2011 Writer: Professor Stefano Pogutz Università Bocconi, Chair of CEMS Business and the Environment Faculty Group

The CEMS Faculty Group “Business and the Environment” annual meeting This year’s annual meeting of the Business and the Environment Faculty Group was hosted

by HEC Paris from 17th-18th March. It offered participants the possibility to further develop the debate on “Sustainability in Management Education” and also to design five Block Seminars to be hosted in August-October 2011, in Stockholm, St. Gallen, St. Petersburg/Helsinki, Barcelona and Cologne.

Sustainability in Management Education: Confronting Experiences The meeting started with guest speaker Prof.

Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot, Academic Director of the HEC M.Sc. in Sustainable Development (MISD).

Prof. Faivre-Tavignot presented the innovative

Master’s programme that HEC is offering on sustainability and management, analysing the structure and the topics addressed. The presentation was followed by lively debate on how to teach sustainability in business schools, in terms of the issues to cover, pedagogical approaches and field studies and cases.

A roundtable ensued, comprising an update on teaching “sustainability and green issues” in CEMS schools. An increase of courses and seminars was registered when compared with the group’s previous meeting. Every attending CEMS school outlined an increased attention toward the topic, including dedicated Master’s programmes (Corvinus, Bocconi, HEC), majors or minors, courses, seminars, and joint experiences such as the CEMS Climate Change strategy role play.

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Perspectives: CEMS Faculty Group Activities in Research and other Initiatives Dr. Hamschmidt presented the “oikos case teaching initiative” 2011 and the “oikos academy” (see the article on pages 32-33). Finally, the topic of avenues for future research in sustainability and environmental issues in business were addressed and a date and venue were set for the following year’s meeting. Prof. Budnikowski (VSE) proposed to host the 2012 Faculty Group meeting in Poland on 30th March.

Participants: Adam Budnikowski (Warsaw School of Economics), Jost Hamschmidt (University of St. Gallen), Sandor Kerekes (Corvinus University of Budapest), Romain Laufer (HEC Paris), Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot Guestspeaker (HEC Paris), Stefano Pogutz (Università Bocconi), Rafael Sardá (ESADE), Susanne Sweet (Stockholm School of Economics), Daniel Tyteca (Louvain School of Management), Christoph Drechsler, (UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School), Yury Blagov (Graduate School of Management, St.Petersburg) Werner Delfmann, (University of Cologne)

THINK TANK

THE COLLABORATIVE ENTERPRISE Creating Values for a Sustainable World Edited by ANTONIO TENCATI LASZLO ZSOLNAI 2010

The Collaborative Enterprise: Creating Value for a Sustainable World As an output of the joint research project of the CSR Unit of Bocconi University Milan and the Business Ethics Center of Cor vinus University of Budapest a new book has been published under the title The Collaborative Enterprise: Creating Values for a Sustainable World edited by Antonio Tencati and Laszlo Zsolnai, 2010. Oxford, Peter Lang Academic Publishers.

The authors - including professors from Bocconi University Milan, NHH Nor wegian School of Economics and Business Administration Bergen, Rotterdam School of Management and Corvinus University of Budapest - argue that the current pattern of global development is unsustainable especially because of the detrimental social and environmental effects of the prevailing mainstream business model. A change of paradigm is needed. Business should respect the ecological and social limits in which it operates and embed its activities in the natural and social systems. The book promotes a collaborative way of doing business, based on a positive view of the self and others. It collects theoretical contributions, case studies and business initiatives, which show that a collaborative enterprise is not only possible but also a feasible and desirable alternative to the current managerial models. Enterprises seeking to build long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with all their constituencies, while producing values for their stakeholder networks, represent hopes for a better future.

From 20th-22nd May, a CEMS Ph.D. workshop entitled "Sustainability and Responsibility in Business" was held at the Corvinus University of Budapest. The aim of the workshop was to present the main results of the book and to discuss its implications for business strategy, corporate sustainability and business ethics.

Information about the Ph.D. workshop can be obtained from Laszlo Zsolnai, Professor and Director, Business Ethics Center, Corvinus University of Budapest.

Email: laszlo_zsolnai@interware.hu

The webpage of the book is http://laszlo-zsolnai.net/content/collaborative-enterprise-creatingvalues-sustainable-world

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Laszlo ZSOLNAI

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

THE TRIPLE M of ORGANIZATIONS Man, Management and Myth

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Competitiveness and Globalization

Edited by Edeltraud Hanappi-Edger

April 2011 ISBN number: 9781408019184

2011

The Triple M of Organizations: Man, Management and Myth

Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization

What has management to do with myths? And how does gender enter the stage? This book identifies frequently used key arguments in gender discussions on management and organisations and will unmask them as myths. Be it that management is rational, be it that organizations are gender-neutral, be it that women will change technology, will be shown to be a set of superficial declarations not withstanding critical scrutiny. All the “reasons” for genderspecific organisational phenomena will be proved to exist simply to maintain power structures and thereby systematically (but subtly) reproduce dominant organisational cultures and stabilise taken-forgranted knowledge in particular with respect to gender issues. The demystification of selected organisational phenomena is based upon several of the author’s recent research projects and empirical studies of the author Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger from WU Vienna.

Volberda, Morgan and Reinmoeller have joined with Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson to develop a truly landmark strategic management textbook that is ideally suited for courses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as other global markets. With a new process perspective to supplement the text’s trademark integrated approach, Strategic Management provides a comprehensive and thorough coverage of the subject.

Whilst maintaining the strengths and hallmark features of the original work, this new strategy text has been specially prepared to match the modern EMEA curriculum with boosted coverage of implementation issues, analysis of how firms use strategic management tools, techniques and concepts, a balanced emphasis on economics and resourcebased perspectives and expanded coverage of comparative governance and organizational renewal.

Please email edeltraud.hanappi-egger@wu.ac.at for more information The webpage of the book is http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/book/978-3-7091-0555- Please email emea.info@cengage.com and quote ‘SMSVOL’ 9?detailsPage=authorsAndEditors to request a free review copy*

Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger

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THINK TANK

WRITER: Lotta Knuutinen Communications Manager, Aalto University School of Economics

Responsible Innovations to Reduce Poverty

Innovations that reduce poverty are beneficial on a societal level, and a profitable business. In responsible innovations, the business idea is a product or service created to solve a social or environmental problem.

“Innovations that reduce poverty tackle two of the most highly topical problems of the 21st century: poverty and the sustainable use of natural resources. Innovations create added value for people living in emerging markets,” says Professor Prabhu Kandachar from the Delft University of Technology. Kandachar spoke at the opening seminar of the BoP project at the Aalto University School of Economics in Januar y.

Two thirds of the world’s population live in emerging markets. They earn less than five euros a day. The Base of the Pyramid (BoP) project of the Aalto University School of Economics aims at finding innovative business models for emerging markets.

“We are testing new business models through concrete pilot projects in cooperation with Finnish parties and partner countries,” says Professor Minna Halme, who is in charge of the BoP project.

One of the pilot projects is The Plexus that promotes innovative entrepreneurship. The Plexus project includes developing the teaching of innovative entrepreneurship and teaching experiential learning methods to the teachers of Kabul University and Tribhuva University.

“The aim is to teach innovative entrepreneurship to graduating students so that they have the opportunity to make a living and become employed after graduation,” Professor and one of the founders of Innovation Democracy Liisa Välikangas explains.

“Many students are left unemployed after graduation which leads to frustration and possible radicalisation. Entrepreneurial skills combined with innovative business thinking help the well-educated ‘future hopes’ of a country to support the country’s positive development,” Välikangas says.

www.hse.fi/bop

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student & alumni focus WRITERs: Laurent Barbezieux, Lukas Loers and Edouard Mulot CEMS students

Edouard Mulot, Lukas Loers and Laurent Barbezieux

CEMS Team plays Société Générale’s Citizen ACT Game, Season 2010/11 “Play, Train and Act for Good” is the slogan of Citizen ACT, the first training game for university students to develop the new sustainable banking practices of tomorrow.

The 2010/2011 season was played by three CEMS students, from WU Vienna and HEC Paris.

Forty-five teams from 18 different countries secured a place in the second round, and projects ranged from social to environmental projects such as spreading information about globally rising sea levels, but also commercial practices like the CEMS’ student’s project.

Our German/French Team, with the lengthy name “Customer Centred SRI Funds - Reshaping

SRI Approach” focused on developing new commercial practices for the bank’s SRI funds.

In short, SRI stands for Socially Responsible Investment Funds, which are Financial Instruments that allow investors to invest into ethical corporations.

Responsible fund investment pushed via social media The reason behind focusing on SRI Funds was the belief that the financial professional can also do “good”, and create long-term value, by directing funds into socially responsible businesses, thus avoiding bad corporate citizens. Besides, investors developed an ever growing appetite for SRI funds, and Assets Under Management reached c. $25bn globally in 2010. On the other hand, SRI funds are still rather unknown in today’s market, so the team decided to change this.

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For four weeks, our team planned to redesign the bank’s approach towards its customers, by proposing new communication channels via social media, and by involving the public through their Citizen Act blog. Feedback from other students but also professionals helped a great deal to define the final work. Eventually, our team was eliminated before the reaching the final.

Nevertheless, the Citizen ACT game allowed us to learn much about sustainable banking and other innovative projects for a better future. We strongly encourage future CEMS generations to participate in the first CSR Training game of Société Générale, to develop new banking practises of tomorrow.

Student & Alumni focus

WRITER: Marco Proto President, CEMS Student Board

CEMS Student Board Update: Rotterdam Meeting, December 2010 The CEMS Annual Events 2010 were hosted by Rotterdam School of Management during the first week of December. As usual, prior to and in conjunction with the Annual Events, the CEMS Student Board held their last meeting of 2010 at RSM, from 30th November and 3rd December.

The meeting lasted for three full days for the 27 Student Board members, and for some of them even longer as the third edition of the CEMS Club Conference was held in conjunction with the Student Board meeting.

After a nice reunion dinner on Monday 29th November, all representatives met the following day at RSM, ready to begin the meeting. Since the last meeting in Istanbul in September, four new members were welcomed to our group.

Top: Thomas Smith (left) and Marco Proto (middle), the outgoing and incoming Student Board Presidents Middle: George Yip, Dean of Rotterdam School of Management, gives an opening address at the CEMS Club Conference Bottom: The CEMS Club Conference in full flow

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

A new executive team in place for 2011 The first day brought about a number of updates from the four work groups (CEMS Club Support, Student Relations, CEMS Social Responsibility and MIM Affairs), and ended with a recap of 2010 year by Thomas Smith, former Student Board President, and Tom Zacharski, former VP/Treasurer.

Their charges were then passed on to the new Executive Team, Marco Proto (President) from NHH and Fredrik Ahlberg (VP/ Treasurer) from CBS, who will together lead the Student Board throughout 2011.

Charlotte Saldanha – representative of the Programme Managers for Nova School of Business & Economics – shed some light on the duties and burdens that PMs face, underlining the conditions which enable them to be most helpful to CEMS Clubs. Stefano Gnes and Denisa Zichackova from the CEMS Head Office spoke about the outcome of the Career Forum which took place in Budapest in November 2010, as well as how to manage relations with Corporate Partners.

The meeting continued with many interesting discussions on highly relevant topics, including branding, the re-vamped CEMS website, the role of Career Services within CEMS, and how best to incorporate the newly-elected Social Partners into the alliance.

After discussing some of the most interesting best practices

by CEMS Clubs and an update on the regional events, and the promise to create an alumni engagement package and eventually organise a regional event in South East Asia, the short but intense conference ended on an upbeat note – Dutch Sintaklaas cookies. We look forward to hosting the next CEMS Club Conference.

Participation from Procter & Gamble and Wolseley plc

With this said, we all thank you for your attention. We encourage you to get in touch with us for any question you may have.

The event did not lack any interaction with CEMS Corporate Yours sincerely, Partners. Procter & Gamble kindly hosted us at their facilities The CEMS Student Board for an interesting presentation on cause marketing and a mingling session with representatives from the Company. We had a workshop on trust and game theory with Shell after we had lunch with the representatives. Finally, we met Wolseley for an intense bowling session. We thank all involved Corporate Partners for their kind support.

Third edition of the CEMS Club Conference

The Student Board show their brand loyalty!

The Student Board meeting was followed by the third edition of the CEMS Club Conference. Twenty-three participating club Presidents and Vice Presidents took part, representing in total 18 CEMS clubs. The goal of the conference was dual: increasing the Student Board’s knowledge of the CEMS Club status, and encouraging best practice sharing and knowledge dissemination.

Representatives of over 12 clubs shared extensive details about their status, best practices, findings and experience. This was very useful to gain insight into the staggering differences among member countries, but also to discover new ways to tackle problems such as fund raising, corporate awareness and student involvement. The hand-over of a CEMS club was identified as a crucial point upon which to work.

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

WRITER: Niklas Nosek CEMS student, VSE

CEMS students successfully participate in the global final of KPMG’s International Case Competition in Istanbul After winning the national round of KPMG's International Case Competition (KICC) in the Czech Republic, a team of CEMS students qualified for the global final in Istanbul and achieved a successful 3rd place after Team USA (1st place) and Team Sweden (2nd place).

The KPMG International Case Competition is an annual competition in which teams consisting of four students are given three hours to work through a case that is based on a realistic business scenario and prepare a presentation.

Directly after the preparation time, the students present their findings and solution to a jury of The Czech team was represented by four KPMG leaders and have to answer questions University of Economics Prague (VSE) students: and defend their solutions.

Martin Kurnas, Niklas Nosek, Emilie Valentova and Martin Vodak.

CEMS students on winning podium

This year, a record number of 19 teams, including Canada, USA, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, India and a number of European countries, participated in the competition that took place in Istanbul on 6th-8th April 2011.

In total, 360 universities and more than 2400 students took part in the case competition.

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The global final in Istanbul consisted of two qualification rounds after which four teams were selected for a final round. “What helped us to make it to the finals was to listen carefully to the jury’s feedback after our first presentation and to make sure we used their points in our second presentation,” comments Niklas Nosek.

"The KICC was a great opportunity for us to network with many outstanding people who came to represent their country," says Martin Vodak.

Moreover, as Emilie Valentova and Martin Kurnas point out, the competition required perfect team work and fast decision-making as time pressure during the case solving was extremely high.

CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Interview

Agata Rundo

Interview by Blandine Avot Secretary General, CEMS Alumni Association

CEMS People Doing Business – Part 2 For the second issue running, CEMS Magazine interviewed two alumni, Agata Rundo, CEMS 2008 (SGHVSE) and current CEO of Marketing Wizard, and Alvaro de Ansorena, CEMS 2010 (ESADE-LSM) and now CEO of Fixalo, on their experience of launching a new business.

Q. What motivated you to Q. What are the strongest choose the CEMS option? memories you have retained of your CEMS year?

AR. From the very beginning, CEMS seemed to me a unique programme. AR. My CEMS year was fantastic.

AA. CEMS offered great opportunities not only in terms of the quality of the schools that form the alliance, but also for networking with top students. I chose CEMS because I believed the former was very good for my CV and to be competitive, the latter was great for my career and to improve by learning from others.

At that time, I thought it couldn’t be busier than it was. I was managing the CEMS Club in Warsaw and then I was elected the CEMS Student Board President. We ran great projects, organised three awesome meetings – in Budapest, Valencia and Paris - and initiated changes for the student community. The cultural exposure was one of the greatest experiences that gave me the skills to collaborate with various people and complete projects in an international environment.

AA. During the term spent abroad, I worked with students from all over the world, lived with a couple of Italians in a multicultural area of Brussels, and got to understand the Belgian way of life.

I have wonderful memories of this and I think this is more than just Management

Q.

How did you make you career move? Was it the intention with which you started your CEMS year?

AR. I started my CEMS year with

the intention of working in a multinational corporation. And I did indeed at the beginning, firstly abroad and then in Poland – in the consulting sector. When, in 2009, the team I made up with five colleagues from my university won the Google Online Marketing Challenge in the EMEA region, the direction changed.

Very quickly we decided that it was worth using the chance and we set up our SEM, online marketing agency. Such opportunities come only once. It is worth taking the risk and learning from it.

f

It gave not only the opportunity to study in different universities in a multicultural environment, but the community itself was for me a tremendous advantage.

Travelling, participating in various seminars, meeting corporate partners and professionals is an amazing experience.

CEMS is much more than just studying abroad or interesting academic courses. It is a network that lives and it is a privilege to be a part of it. It is a lifestyle.

education! You get to understand how people work and interact with others.

CEMS offered me the chance of meeting great people that I retain as really good friends.

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STUDENT & ALUMNI FOCUS

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Interview

Alvaro DE ANSORENA

AA. I always had a passion for creating things and creating a company has always been my goal. I was just waiting for an opportunity and with the economic crisis I saw it. CEMS gave me confidence and security in doing it and believing that it was possible.

Q.

in what way did the CEMS experience help prepare you for your business venture today?

of our Internet clients. In other words, and with whom you look in the same we help our clients use the Internet to direction and adhere to similar values AR. In CEMS you can learn how sell and promote their products with in business. to complete successful projects. But you individual tailor-made models.

AA. For anyone considering also learn to manage yourself – and AA. Fixalo.com is an Internet opening a start-up, I think the most this is something we sometimes tend to forget. That the key project you are start-up based in Madrid, dedicated important thing is to be positive 99% managing every day is YOU. One of to putting in contact users who need of the time. I believe that this is like the key skills nowadays is to make the a service, with service providers in a a marathon race so you have to know right choices in the endless spectrum of marketplace environment. A user makes yourself well, and keep a good rhythm a posting describing the service he or in order to win the race. Secondly, I opportunities that arise all the time. she is looking for. The posting is made believe it is crucial to select the right

AA. Today there are extremely public so that providers can bid on it. partners. It’s important that the team is talented people around and especially The poster examines all the bids and mixed and has complementary profiles. at a global level. However one asset that the opinions about the providers from sets the difference between the best other users and chooses the one that fits Would you consider hiring and the very best are intangible such as his or her needs best.

CEMS graduates to work for cultural exposure. In my opinion CEMS your company? offers you the possibility to understand What advice would you give things from the very top with an open mindset due to the type of work and to CEMS students considering the AR. I have already hired one CEMS Club member and I am very people you encounter during the year. entrepreneurial path? satisfied with our cooperation. CEMS AR. If you have the people have the drive I like. They do not Can you describe the entrepreneurial spirit somewhere like routine, meaning to do only what activity of the company for inside you and you feel it is something is expected and then just “be”. They which CEMS was a springboard? you want to try, go for it. Try! If you like to take initiative, face challenges, have an area you feel strong in or do things that are new, but always with AR. Marketing Wizards is a search you are very interested in – try. Only a professional approach to assure good engine marketing agency operation if you risk, you can see the return. self-branding and PR. in Poland, with projects from foreign And you can only regret the things AA. As soon as my company can clients. We are doing Internet marketing you tried. Just remember to have the campaigns based mainly on Google right people around you; people who afford it, I’ll hire a CEMS student! Of AdWords to support the sales activities are good partners, who inspire you course they will be top priority!

Q.

Q.

Q.

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Student & Alumni focus

Interview by Torsten Röwekamp Vice-President, CEMS Alumni Association

CEMS alumna field report – Out in Africa CEMS Magazine spoke with Claudia Huber, an alumna looking to make a difference.

Q.

Tell us about your CEMS background and the beginnings of your working life.

A. I studied Business Administration and Economics at the

University of St. Gallen where I also enrolled in the CEMS programme.

I did my term abroad at ESADE in Barcelona and graduated from the programme in early 2005. For the past six years, I have been working on financial sector development or access to finance, part of it more commonly known as microfinance. Currently, I work with GIZ, the German development agency, based in Frankfurt, on an initiative called Making Finance Work for Africa (www.mfw4a.org), a partnership to foster the development of inclusive financial sectors on the African continent.

Q. Did this move come from a particular personal or professional motivation?

A. I have always been interested in travelling and exploring new countries, continents and cultures and have taken every possibility to do this since I have been at school and obviously during university.

The huge difference in development and living conditions between countries and certainly also within countries has struck me, the latter especially when I did an exchange semester in Buenos Aires in 2003, followed by a volunteership in a home for street kids.

Back home and looking for a subject for my Master’s thesis, I started to read about social entrepreneurship, and sustainable and mostly profitable economic activity with a social benefit. Consequently, I became more and more interested in the conditions for successful inclusive economic development of a country, i. e. development that includes not only the better-off, but also lower and poorer economic classes.

After graduating, I was lucky enough to be awarded a scholarship that helped me gain initial experience in the international development and cooperation sector. Having worked for about 2.5 years with CGAP, the World Bank's resource centre on inclusive finance, I decided to move into the field and work directly within a microfinance institution. I worked within the management teams of licensed microfinance banks in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Managua (Nicaragua) for the past two years.

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

Q.

How do you view the CEMS strategy to incorporate an increasing CSR dimension?

A. With regards to CEMS, I really appreciate the recently

increasing interest in social issues. When I enrolled in the programme, these issues were not greatly discussed yet! I really would like to encourage CEMS to continue attracting Corporate Partners from the social sector and continue developing academic content on the issue to raise students' awareness. However, CSR has become a bit of a fashion, since with increasing awareness, it markets well! But as we all know: paper is patient! It is easy to write a nice statement about CSR and the company's values when things go well and sales increase, but whether a company truly adheres to what it writes, shows, once things do not go very well or in crisis times.

Q. What advice would you give to people considering a similar path to you own?

A. Working in the international development sector is very exciting sometimes frustrating, but certainly mostly very rewarding.

However a career in the field takes its toll on your personal life: moving from one country to another makes family life difficult as well as keeping in touch with friends. Contracts or assignments in the sector are mostly based on available funding from donors and governments and thus often short-term. Remuneration generally is below what you would earn in the private sector. But knowing that you make your tiny contribution towards making this world a more equal place compensates for a lot!

Claudia HUBER,

CEMS 2004 (St Gallen-ESADE)

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CEMS Magazine | May 2011

The Group in figures:

Crédit Agricole Group

Join one of the largest banks in Europe!

Crédit Agricole Group employs more than 160,000 staff in over 70 countries. It is with these human resources that the Group has become a major player in the financial and insurance banking sector in Europe.

If you would like to join us and participate in the development of the Group, have a look at our recruitment website: www.mycreditagricole.jobs

Top banking employer in France One of the largest banks in Europe 3rd in Europe an 8th

worldwide in asset management 7th European ranked

by Tier 1 networthratio* Top bank insurer in Europe and 2nd for life insurance Financial data

(Crédit Agricole Group) On 31st December 2010

Total turnover Group share: 34.2 Billion in Euros Net income Group share: 3.6 Billion in Euros * The Banker – July 2010

Who are we?

French and International retail banking

Insurance Crédit Agricole Assurances Crédit Agricole is a leading French insurer that is also generating rapid growth abroad.

Consumer Crédit Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance : Sofinco, Finaref Crédit Agricole Group is one of Europe’s leading players in consumer finance.

In France: Crédit Agricole and LCL The two banking networks – Crédit Agricole and LCL are complementary between them they strengthen the Group’s presence on all customer segments throughout France and strengthen our position as French leader in retail banking.

Private Banking Crédit Agricole Private Banking, CFM Monaco, Banque de Gestion Privée Indosuez, BforBank…

Alongside the activities of the Crédit Agricole Regional Banks, the Group operates in France and internationally.

54 million clients and 11,500 branches worldwide. Crédit Agricole Group is a leading player in finance and insurance sector. The Group is structured around a central structure, Crédit Agricole S.A’s majority-controlled by the 39 Crédit Agricole’s Regional Banks, which includes three business lines.

Abroad: In retail banking, Crédit Agricole Group has a large presence in Europe and in the Mediterranean region, and to a lesser extent in the Middle East and Latin America. Outside France, we have 29,000 retail banking staff serving 6.5 million customers, and we have more than 2,400 branches in 15 countries.

Leasing et Factoring Crédit Agricole Leasing & Factoring In France and abroad, Crédit Agricole supports small businesses, companies, farmers, large corporations and local government at every major stage of their development.

Specialised subsidiaries and activities Crédit Agricole Private Equity, Idia, Sodica, Specialised financial businesses

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Asset management These entities carry out specialised activities or Amundi, BFT, CPR Asset Management, CACEIS… provide support to Group business lines.

This division covers asset management activities in the broad sense. It has leading positions in France, and its growth ambitions are supported by a solid presence abroad.

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Corporate and investment banking Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, CA Cheuvreux, Newedge …

Crédit Agricole Group offers its clients a full range of products and services in capital markets, brokerage, investment banking, structured finance and commercial banking.

Why should candidates work for us?

With Crédit Agricole Group, you will go further by working for an ambitious Group that wants its employees to grow continuously. With its emphasis on training, internal mobility and personal development, our Group will help you fulfil your ambitions.

Our advice to applicants...

Visit our website www.mycreditagricole.jobs and discover our businesses and open positions in terms of Recruitment, VIE (French government program) and Internship. Select the right job in accordance to your wishes, skills and experience.