CEMS Club Prague

QUARTERLYWinter 2012

Exclusive Interview with the CEMS Executive DirectorMr. Roland Siegers talked with us about his ten years in the CEMS Alliance

Innovations in the Czech Republic

Review of all CEMS Club Prague events

Get ready for the V4 conference and read an article about innovation practices

Gala Night, Rotation Dinners, Voleyball Tournament, ...

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Dear reader,

The second issue of CEMS Club Prague Quarterly of this year is out and it marks the end of the fall semester and the whole calendar year. It is an end of a demanding semester but also an end to a semester full of new experiences, learnings and sources of inspiration. These come hand in hand with many events, both professional as well as informal, we shared within the CEMS community. Such events are a key to keep the whole community which has always been a truly unique together. Thanks to this issue you can look back at some of them.

Nevertheless, as CEMS is not only about VŠE and Prague, not even Quarterly stays within the Czech borders. We decided to have a look under the hood of the CEMS head office to learn more about our global aspirations and plans for the future.

Decisions about the future development of the program do not go without a say of students themselves. A good opportunity to express them was given to CEMS Club presidents during a conference in Budapest preceding the Career Forum with a presence of the CEMS Executive Director Roland Siegers among others. Continuous work and communication of students’ voices on both local and global level are the way to go. Therefore we ask you not to keep your mouths shut but to stand for your opinions. We will in exchange do our best to support you.

I wish our exchange students safe trip back to their homes, students leaving abroad an unforgettable exchange semester, second year students to stay students a while longer and joyful Christmas time to us all.

David Kolesa

What is in...

Innovations in the Czech RepublicGet ready for the V4 conference and read an

article about innovation practices

Exclusive Interview with the CEMS Executive DirectorMr. Roland Siegers talked with us about his ten years in the CEMS Alliance

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How we ruled the semester:Review of all CEMS Club Prague events

CEMS history at a glanceLearn about

the exciting

development of the

CEMS Alliance! Elevator Encounters Our very own

concept of elevator

pitch revealing truths

about Mr. Jiří Hnilica

Best Business Project of the yearCEMS Prague won the prestigious award. Find

out what the project was about!

What is the role of Student Board?Its president, William

Coupé, shared his

insights with us

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Interview with Mr. Roland Siegers, CEMS Executive Director:

During the Career Forum 2012 in Budapest your CEMS Club Prague had a unique opportunity to conduct an interview with the new CEMS Executive Director, Roland Siegers. Discussing the development of CEMS, what CEMS is today and what it should be like in the years to come was a very enlightening experience, which we are bringing to you in the written form.

Interviewed by Andrea Hurychová, Text by Filip Fingl

Roland Siegers

Before joining CEMS in 2002 as a Programme Development Assistant, Roland Siegers studied Political Science at FU Berlin and IEP Lyon. Later he became the CEMS MIM Programme Manager and CEMS Deputy Director and along with that he studied Education Management at the University of Oldenburg. In 2012 he became the CEMS Executive Director. He is married with six children, lives in Germany and France and speaks four languages.

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Hello Roland. Firstly we would like to ask you about your background. You Studied Political science in both Germany and France, and you speak four languages. How did you start working for CEMS?Back in 2002, I had just finished my studies at Freie Universitat Berlin and I was looking for a job which would allow me to stay close to my family. I found a position at the University of Cologne, which was working on the launch of their new Master’s in International Management and they were looking for a Programme Development Assistant at that time. It was basically a helper position and I thought I would do it for a couple of months and would then get a proper job somewhere else. Well, here I am, 10 years later. CEMS is so fascinating an organisation where so much has happened over the last 10 years that it does not even feel like it has been so long.

How do you perceive the development of the Alliance during the last 10 years? Do you recall what the Alliance was like when you joined?The development has been absolutely breathtaking. When I started, we had about 400 students and 17 academic members, but I do not think I really understood what CEMS was about at that time. I did not have a clear idea what we wanted, the academic concept was not convincing. However, afterwards we were able to pick up speed and we developed some important

initiatives, for instance globalisation. It took about 5 or 6 years of negotiation within the community to really persuade everyone why it made sense. There was a vision and an idea of going beyond borders.So in the 2000s, the corporates said that if we wanted to keep calling ourselves international, we couldn’t remain a purely European organisation and we would have to go to Asia and America, which we have since done. And I must say that it has been very exciting ever since. And after the Financial Times ranking came into being, everything changed and now we are in a situation where a lot of CEMS students identify themselves as MIM students in the first place and only afterwards as locally affiliated students. This is definitely something we can be proud of.

How are new member schools chosen and how long does it take to accept a new school?There is a prospecting period led by Globalisation Membership Committee, which identifies target regions of interest for CEMS. This is then verified by the Strategic Board, which brings together Deans, Presidents and Vice-Presidents of HR and once this is validated, then the Committee identifies specific schools in the country or the region to go to and if they are interested and understand what it is about, then the real application starts.The application itself is a very thorough process. The most important point to

“My goal is for every relevant recruiter in a global company to know what CEMS is: Quality and diversity. CEMS students and graduates are all good, but all different.”

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establish is whether we want the new partners that we identify. We must be convinced that we do as we cannot say in the middle of the process that the school is not good enough. So we need to be sure of the quality and adeptness of our partner even before we approach them.As for the length of the process, it takes approximately three years. I can mention recent cases: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. They were voted by the Board this summer, but the programme itself starts in the late summer of 2013.

As the CEMS Executive Director, what are your main responsibilities?I am mainly responsible for the team in the Head Office and an overview of all operational details of what is happening in CEMS in all directions. However, I believe that my main role is that of the prime networker both internally and externally, with the latter being something on which I would like to focus much more to make the Executive Director the face of CEMS in the media and press.

Where do you see the CEMS Alliance in 10 years and what are your main goals? Will there be any major changes?No one knows exactly what is going to happen in 10 years, but my goal is for every relevant recruiter in a global company to know what CEMS is. I want to create the necessary visibility for the CEMS brand so that the recruiter would know what CEMS means: quality and diversity. CEMS students are all good and different, and this is something we would like to offer to our different corporate partners.To achieve this, I believe that we need a strong alumni association and I personally put a lot of hope in our new professional one, because alumni are the best ambassadors of CEMS and the CEMS brand. There are almost 8,000 of them and we want to reach every one of them.Another target would be to increase presence in the media. It would be great to develop a strategy for Africa. For example

we could help a glowing African school to develop to an international standard.

Another thing would be to increase presence in media. It would be great to develop a strategy for Africa. For example we could help glowing African school to develop to international standards.In terms of globalisation, there are two other elements. Firstly, we have to add more academic members, namely a top US university or business school. Without this

we will not be a credible institution within the global education sector. Secondly, we have to engage people from outside of Europe in the decision-making process and governance.

Are there any major changes planned right now?Right now, I would like to focus on increasing the selectivity of the programme. We reached 1000 students, which is a good number to communicate. Now we should work with an increased demand from students. Also our cohorts of 80 students is pretty good. Yet to somehow keep the family atmosphere, I would not go beyond 80 locally. Instead I would rather increase

the selectivity.

What do you consider the main value of the CEMS programme? How is it different from other Master's programmes?For students and recruiters it is probably a combination of high selectivity and quality. In addition, the CEMS MIM has the distinguishing quality of a deeply integrated understanding of the international environment. All other programmes can call themselves international, but they still have a very strong local focus. CEMS does not have an one home, we are truly global in everything we do and it is transferred to the student mindsets. And probably the biggest asset is the community feeling, what many call the “CEMS spirit”. Wherever you go, if you come across a CEMS person, you will immediately have a common ground; you will find a partner in soul and mind and this is very precious.

What characteristics and skills make CEMS students special?Well, excluding what I have already mentioned, I would say that CEMS students have a deeply rooted sense of responsibility. And I believe we can do even more to build the next generation of globally responsible leaders, which is also an aim for both us and students for the years to come.

Do you know how many schools will join the Alliance in the upcoming years?I do not know that. And it would be a little bit too early to disclose names. But I can tell you that we are currently negotiating with three schools: one in Korea, one in South Africa and one in Chile. In addition, we are working with a taskforce of deans in the United States. However I must say that Mexico is also a very important country for us. Personally, I would very much like a school from an Arab country to join, but this will probably take a little bit longer.

Thank you very much for your time.My pleasure.

I would say that CEMS students have a deeply rooted sense of responsibility

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24 years of CEMS history at a glance

We all know what CEMS is about these days. But are we sure how it became what it is today? When and why the alliance was established, who the founding members were, for how long Student Board has been here, how long ago it is that CEMS grew beyond the borders of Europe, and so on? This article is here to answer all these questions.

The history of CEMS (originally the Community of European Management Schools and International Companies, that is why the four letters – C.E.M.S.) starts on December 2nd, 1988, when the official founding document was signed by Università Bocconi

(Milan, Italy), ESADE (Barcelona, Spain), HEC Paris (France) and the University of Cologne (Germany). The first ever graduation ceremony was held in 1990 in Milan, on the premises of Università Bocconi. By that time, the CEMS alliance already consisted of 9 schools including RSM (The Netherlands) and LSE (London). Soon after that, in 1993, the CEMS Alumni Association was established to nurture the network of CEMS graduates all around the world.

The Prague chapter of CEMS started in 1996, when the University of Economics, Prague got accepted to the alliance, together with schools from Warsaw and Budapest. By that time, the alliance had 15 member schools and the number of corporate partners exceeded 40.

Text by Štěpán Mejzlík

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1996

CEMS founding documents are signed

CEMS Alumni Association created

The first inaugural graduation ceremony

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1998 2000 2002 20082007 2009 2010 2011 2012

In 2000, the Student Board gets established, to represent the voice of the CEMS students within the alliance. Up until today, it consists of one elected representative from each of the member schools. Two years later, in 2002, the CEMS MIM, a postgraduate pre-experience degree, is officially introduced and already in 2005 it scores third place in the inaugural Pan-European Financial Times ranking. In the same year, 2005, the CEMS Strategic Board meets for the first time.

Year 2007 marks a significant milestone in the CEMS history. It was the breaking point, when CEMS outgrew the European boundaries and became truly global. The CEMS Executive Board approved the Globalisation Strategy and CEMS opened up to Asia, Australasia, and North and South America. Already in 2008, we could watch the first three schools from overseas entering the alliance – University of Sydney, Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo and National University of Singapore Business School. In the same year, CEMS launched its new visual identity, comprising a new logo and the institutional baseline “The Global Alliance in Management Education”, marking the end of the signification “The Community of European Management Schools”. However, the name CEMS stayed for the sake of consistency.

2009 was another important year for CEMS. It was the year when CEMS was rated number one pre-experience Master’s in Management in the world by the inaugural global Financial Times ranking. By the end of the year, the alumni community accounted for more than 5000 graduates. It was also the year, when the Career Forum was organised as a separate event from the Annual Event for the first time, held by Corvinus University of Budapest.

In 2010, CEMS officially introduced two major CSR activities - the concept of Social Partners and the Global Value Statement, which fresh graduates can sign upon their graduation and thus formally commit to high standards of integrity

Up until today, CEMS keeps expanding its global network. The oldest university in Japan, Keio, University in Tokyo, joined in 2011 and universities from Hong Kong and Calcutta, India, are currently in final stages of the joining process. Equally, the community of students is growing - the entering cohort for the 2012-13 academic year is the first to reach the 1000 mark.

CEMS Student Board created

CEMS globalization strategy approved

CEMS MIM is rated n°1 pre-experience Master’s in

Management by Financial Times

The first separate Career Forum held in Budapest

Introduction of Global Values Statement and the concept of

Social Partners

Entering cohort first reaches the 1000 mark

Can you shortly explain the role and responsibilities of Student Board?CEMS Student Board is a group of people working on different projects influencing the future of CEMS as a global alliance of 28 schools. SB supports this notion; meaning scouting new partner schools, promoting CEMS program to gain more students and providing the CEMS experience in the best possible way. SB members are not just representatives but valuable contributors.

How does Student Board work and what is its structure?SB is a virtual team of 26 dedicated and bright people elected annually by their fellow students. Each student board member represents one CEMS school. Within the board, there are five teams with different focus areas – MIM, marketing & communications, CSR, globalization and CEMS Club support.

What are the individual teams responsible for?1) MIM Team: Improving the CEMS MIM program This team is dedicated to the academic curriculum of CEMS program, meaning core courses, business project, internships and seminars. This year, SB is pushing forward a number of reforms: improving business projects by assessing their success across schools; better integration of mandatory internship with the program by setting clear learning objectives, formalizing of report and experience sharing among students.

2) Marketing & Communications Team: Campaigns and social media presence Apart from marketing campaigns designed to promote CEMS worldwide, they are responsible for the majority of social media presence (Facebook, LinkedIn) and CEMS magazine. Some examples of current campaigns can be SAMP (a student-alumni mentorship initiative currently being implemented by local CEMS Clubs) and development of CEMS phone application.

3) CSR Team: Making the social commitment of CEMS happen in a real tangible way

The goal of SB is to make the elements of social responsibility real. There are two important projects – the first is Global values statement. During graduation students are invited to sign an oath by witch they claim to withhold the principles of responsible management. Since 2009, 98% of CEMS graduates have participated. Secondly, The CEMS community now offers CSR internships with social organizations such as CARE International, UNAOC or Transparency International. In the future, SB plans to include also smaller NGOs.

4) Globalization Team: Creating a uniformed and equal CEMS experience globally The goal is to create a homogenous and equal experience across participating universities. SB is also active in scouting new possible partner schools. Projects to highlight in this area are related mainly

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William Coupé on past, present and future of CEMS Student Board

Many students have heard about the CEMS Student Board. But what exactly is the role of SB in CEMS, what are the representatives responsible for or how does it work…? These issues still remain unclear. We found out about it directly from its president during the October´s Student Board meeting in Prague.

Text by Barbora Lebedová

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William Coupé

William comes from northern part of Belgium and studied at UCL and ESADE. His work experience includes companies like Luis Vuitton, Danone, Daimler, Johnson & Johnson or AIESEC. Currently he resides in Casablanca where he works as a business development intern in a start-up. William is a huge sports fan and picks up a new sport every 2 years to keep any stereotypes from his life. His special sign is the ability to lose anything at any time.

to the corporate relations. For example, Škoda is corporate partner of VSE but they do not collaborate on international level. SB’s job is to find where the partnerships could work and how to activate them - either through pushing alumni to arrange such partnerships from within or via the company (as it was done in Prague).

5) CC Support Team: Making sure the experience is part of CEMS programThe goal is to make sure that the CEMS program includes not only MIM but also non-academic experiences. SB provides support for local CEMS Clubs and makes it easier for them to implement new initiatives. Other than that, this team organizes annual CEMS Club presidents meeting in Budapest, coordinates the organization of regional events (V4, Marenostrum) and it is responsible for sponsorship of new events.

Can you tell us more about the SB meeting in Prague?Since the SB works as a virtual team, we meet three times a year to discuss the current proceedings and create a better environment to foster the work and get the projects going quickly. Apart from work, we try to achieve also other objectives so the agenda for the Prague meeting included also opportunities to meet local corporate partners (Škoda and Pilsner Urquell) and representatives of the alumni association. The goal of SB is to

get in touch with other stakeholders and see how to make successful partnerships.

What is the role of the President of Student Board? What are your main

responsibilities?The president is elected by application, similarly to CEMS Club or SBR elections. The difference is that these elections are held internally among SB members since we have a feeling of how people perform and what are their abilities.There are two parts to being a president. Firstly, the president represents students and the SB in different governance units of CEMS as the notion is that students’ voice should be heard everywhere. And secondly, it is the leadership role towards the group of 26 people. I try to get the best results from them so it is not as much about strict management them as it is about creating a good environment and providing the necessary resources.

What was your experience in the Student Board?When I joined CEMS, I wanted to become a part of “how” the alliance works and that is exactly what SB represents. I want to measure my life by the impact I had on things around me and I want to be able to contribute to CEMS becoming a true global alliance. As a president I have the opportunity to continue having even a bigger impact on how the alliance is transforming. Also, I managed to get some learning experience in leadership and managing teams. What I value most are the relationships I managed to build within SB.

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The role of Student Board is to be the voice of students and to impact all CEMS students globally by creating the unique CEMS experience

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Quick recap – winter semester 2012The winter semester was again packed with a wide variety of events - from those aimed at professional development, through networking oriented ones, all the way to sport events. We hope everybody learned something and most importantly, had a great time. Let’s look at the highlights...

October

October 22-26

Shadowing Days provided an excellent opportunity to selected CEMS students to spend one full day with highly positioned managers of UniCredit Bank. Students could observe professionals in their real day-to-day job and get a better understanding of the job than from merely reading a job description. The event saw an extraordi-nary interest from the students’ side. One of them was Peter Gomboš, who says

I was selected to shadow Mr. Fabio Bini, theDirector of International Desk responsible mainly for CEE clients and their investment activities within this area. I spent two busy working days with him, including two business meetings and also an internal conference call with more than 15 UCB representatives abroad. I highly recommend this unique event to everybody, who still thinks that running a bank is a static and boring job suitable only for students with superior financial and accounting background.

Rotation Dinner The first rotation dinner of the semester was focused at Consulting. Students had an opportunity to meet representatives of A. T. Kearney and BCG in a beautiful, yet informal setting of a classical Prague restaurant Fama Bar.

Rotation dinner with BCG and A.T. Kearney was one of the best events in this semester. While sitting right next to a consultant, eating the same meal, you really have the chance to ask whatever you want. Because all of the companies’ representatives were young and some of them CEMS alumni, all evening was in a very friendly atmosphere. I felt as if the difference between the student and the awesome employee disappeared and we could talk as friends. Many thanks to CEMS Club Prague!

Peter Gomboš:

Eliška Brabencová:

Gala Casino NightThe CEMS Gala Night was definitely the biggest and the most important social happening of the semester. As tradition has it, it brought together the entire CEMS community – students, alumni, university representatives and corporate partners. All this underlined by an exclusive location, live music, casino tables and tasty food. In total, more than 150 attended the event.

In my opinion Gala night was the highlight of this semester. We have had a won-derful occasion to dress up, mingle with the CEMS crowd and party in a more sophisticated style. The event included some food buffet followed by live music and casino gaming. I think both the venue and the music made this evening very special putting us in the festive mood. For me it was also a great occasion to

Shadowing Days with UniCredit Bank

October 25

November 1N

ovember Sophie Oschebska:

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As Sophie mentioned, lot of CEMSies participated in the charity ruffle. We want to thank each of you who bought some tickets and helped Jaroslav Karban to have his live easier. He is an autistic who studies at economic school in Jedličkův ústav. With the commitment of CEMS Club Prague, we collected 10 000 CZK and all this money will support his studies.

try to gamble and actually win some money, even if the fake ones. In the end of the evening I also partici-pated in the charity raffle, where we had a chance to win some nice prizes kindly offered by our corporate partners. Overall I think the event was different from the typical student party and gave us a possibil-ity to feel a bit more formal and elegant. l would like to thank the organizers for this exceptional night.

CEMS Day + CEMS DrinkDuring the whole afternoon, students interested in the CEMS MIM program could talk to current students & alumni as well as university representatives at the CEMS stall in the atrium of the Rajska Building. On top of that, registered participants had a unique opportunity to take part in a trial assessment centre to get a idea of what to expect in the real assessment centre in spring as part of the selection process. The official programme was followed by an informal CEMS drink the well-known Kopyto pub, where potential new applicants had a chance to meet CEMSies on informal basis. We as CEMS Club would like to say one big Thanks to all those who helped and represented CEMS at the stall.

Reactions of students were very positive! Like this one by Simona Makovská: “After a year spent in Southeast Asia I was looking for a Master programme, which would be internationally recognised and attendance on CEMS Day has clearly showed me the way. Dialouges with current students and the presentation of Mrs Böhmová proved, that CEMS is one the most prestigious Master programmes in Europe. CEMS offers not only the opportunity of studying at the universities of the highest quality worldwide but also provides extraordinary working experience which opens up “the gates” to the “big” world. My choice is clear!

Simona Makovská:

November 7

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Decem

ber

Voleyball TournamentNovember 11

The only official sport event of this semester was organized by CEMS Club Prague in cooperation with McKinsey, Škoda Auto and A.T.Kearney. A representative of Plzeňský Prazdroj was also supposed to participate, but unfortunately he got injured one night before the tournament.15 students and 7 corporate partners representatives took part in this volleyball tournament and with great enthusiasm and verve played high number of matches. Eventually, the trophy was awarded to the winning team Sina Almiran (Škoda Auto), Marek Lejsek and Lubomír Chudoba.

The last time I played beach volleyball was several years ago on the splendid beach of Tel Aviv, enjoying sun and free time. That October weekend was a totally different story… Doing internship in Vienna, I rushed to Prague. It was cold as in Siberia and I was totally exhausted… But still, there was that beach volleyball tournament! And it totally got me, from the very first moment! The atmosphere was great with positive vibes all around. Teams consisting of students and representatives of corporate partners competed against each other (and quite often also against themselves) in a tournament, in which fun was more important than a victory. Nevertheless, hundreds of spectators watching the final stage saw also many excellent performances that proved that sport is a good friend of CEMSies! The whole event was rounded off by a delicious banquet and an impressive award ceremony. So, thank you CEMS club for reminding me how much fun it is to play beach volleyball – even without the sun - and I hope I witnessed a beginning of a new and successful tradition! Sportu zdar!

Pavel Baranyk:

Donation from charity raffle at GalaDecember 6

As a part of the CEMS Gala Casino Night, a charity raffle was organized to contribute towards education of 18 year old Jaroslav Karban, who was born with the autism syndrom. Jaroslav is an excellent student at Jedlickuv Ustav in Prague and he has burning passion for modern history. His family recently got into a difficult financial situation and it was getting very hard to support Jaroslav in his studies. We managed to raise 10,000 Kc in the raffle and it was our pleasure to personally hand this contribution to Jaroslav and his mother. We would like to thank everyody who took part in the raffle as well as our valued corporate partners who donated the prizes.

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What was the goal of the business project and how did you handle it?The business project was focused on the development of UCB’s clearing activities on the wholesale power market. UCB is one of the leading clearing banks at PXE (Power Exchange Central Europe), but it strives to strengthen its position. In the project, we started with the market research of current competitors and customers. Furthermore, we conducted the analysis of over 300 potential clients and assessed the probability of acquiring them. Later on, based on requirements of UCB’s risk management department, we developed a business case using risk management techniques. In the last part of our project, we presented our findings on the development of regulatory framework and advised on strategy formulation.

How would you describe the team work? Team composition was a crucial factor for achieving good results. We tried to make use of everyone’s background and it worked out pretty well. Everyone participated in all tasks but we tried to assign responsibility for each part to one

of the team members. Eva was in charge of foreign market research and, although non-Czech speaker, contributed significantly to the domestic research. Petr constructed the business case and Marek led the regulatory framework analysis and strategy.

How extensive was the work-load?It varied throughout the time. However, on average it required some three days a week. One may say it is a lot but we felt that the project has a practical use and also UCB seemed pleased with our results. That was very motivating.

Did you face any complications or challenges?We had to understand the structure of market with power and its basic rules so this was in fact the first step – to learn this as quickly as possible. There were some challenges connected to limited availability of data. Additionally, both market research and business case required an analysis of a relatively large amount of raw data and thus we had to think really carefully about an appropriate and efficient way to treat these data. On the other hand, we were really a compact team and therefore our

cooperation was quite smooth and quick.

How would you describe the cooperation with UniCredit Bank?Overall, UCB provided us with great support, which substantially contributed to the results of our work. We had regular steering and ad-hoc meetings on a certain topic during the project. It helped us to stay on the track. They provided us with a constructive feedback and suggested next steps. To a great extent we benefited from the fact that our academic advisor was also UCB’s employee and the coordinator at UCB’s side was a former CEMSie. We would really recommend UCB for any next business project.

UniCredit Bank (UCB) business project was awarded the Business Project of the Year during the Annual Event in St Gallen. The CEMS team consisted of Eva Varga (Corvinus University), Petr Chroust and Marek Lejsek (both VŠE).

News from CEMS Alliance: the Best Business Project

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Text by Petr Chroust, Marek Lejsek

We tried to make use of e v e r y o n e ’s background and it worked out pretty well

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CEMS Club Conference in Budapest

November in Budapest is not only the time for the famous Career Forum but also the time when all the CEMS Club presidents meet together to share experiences from their countries.

Text by David Kolesa

The CEMS Club Conference is organized by one of the Student Board teams – CEMS Club Support Team and its main purpose is to give all the CEMS countries’ representatives a chance to talk about best practices of different Clubs, align expectations between CEMS Clubs and Student Board, as well as to discuss future development of the whole CEMS program.

During the one-and-half-a-day conference preceding the Career Forum itself the presidents had also a chance to meet

with representatives of the CEMS head office - Denisa Zicháčková focusing on Corporate Relations as well as Roland Siegers, Executive Director of the CEMS programme. At the same time, corporate relations management was one of the main topics evoking long discussions culminating in a workshop with Shell, one of the CEMS corporate partners.

Care International, one of the four official CEMS social partners, joined specifically for the final part of the Conference to

run a workshop focusing on cooperation and interaction of students, companies and social partners which are one of the less known parts of the program.

Of course, the conference was not only about workshops, presentations and discussions. It also gave the CEMS Club representatives a chance to talk on a less formal level and create bonds to enhance cooperation between Clubs from different countries. Hopefully we will all stay inspired.

CEMS Club Prague brings you an unique competition: The best idea to promote the CEMS Programme among potential applicants

How would you spread the word about the CEMS Programme, how would you attract new students?

Share your ideas with us and send them to our address info@cems.cz! The best idea will be published in the next issue of Quarterly, which will be all about innovations. Get famous! : )

The best three ideas will be awarded with CEMS Club T-shirts and the best one will get a surprise prize!

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1. What was your dream job when you were a child?Entomologist with a specialization on spiders

2. What do you enjoy the most about your current job?Students and colleagues

3. What are the pitfalls of your job?Students and colleagues

4. How did you get to your current job position?As an academic director – almost gradually from a teacher in CEMS closely cooperating with the previous academic director Helena SedláčkováAs a vice-dean - all of a sudden – when the

previous vice-dean became the vice-rector I was offered the vice-dean position (resisted to accept for 3 days!)

5. How do you spend the time when you´re not working?Working on something that I do not consider as working

6. What are you passionate about?About anything related to Corporate Finance

7.What most people don´t know about you?The precise reply would exceed the allotted word limit.

8. What does your ideal day look like?Any day is ideal if the alarm-clock is not on

9. What are you proud of?My Czech citizenship

10. What superpower would you like to have?To always tell if somebody is lying

11. Wine or beer?Both

12. Favorite food?Grilled duck foie gras served with poached pear on gingerbread or BigMac

13. What is your anti-stress tip?Climbing rocks or very steep hills and then sauna

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Elevator Encounters

doc. Ing. Jiří Hnilica, Ph.D.

Jiří Hnilica is the Academic Director of the CEMS Programme in Prague and a Vice-dean for Academic Affairs at the Faculty of business Administration at VŠE. Jiří graduated from VŠE and during his doctoral studies and tenure at VŠE he completed a number of study stays, including Harvard Business School. His research and professional interests focus on corporate finance, especially on business valuation, cost of capital and corporate governance. He is an author or co-author of more than sixty publications.

A few words with Jiří Hnilica, Academic Director of the CEMS Programme in Prague

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“Even in the Czech Republic we can find companies with a structured and planned approach towards innovations,” says Lenka Krobová, manager at A.T. Kearney

Lenka KrobováAs you know from the previous issue of CEMS Quarterly, the third year of the annual CEMS V4 Conference will take place in Prague in April. As a major part of its content will be devoted to innovations, we are including a little teaser into this issue to tune you up on the innovation topic. One of our valued corporate partners, A.T. Kearney, held Best Innovator contest and the results were announced in the beginning of December. We asked Lenka Krobová, one of the organizers and a CEMS alumna, a few questions about the competition and how innovations are approached in the Czech business environment.

You are bringing to the Czech Republic an interesting competition for companies, what is its purpose? Could you tell our readers, what is it about? Best Innovator is a contest for companies that innovate their products, services, internal processes, but also their business plan. It is focused not only on the actual result, but on the internal dimension, the internal process of how companies achieve their innovations and translate ideas into practice. A.T. Kearney is organising this competition globally from 2003 and since then more than 1,500 companies participated. Among the winners count famous companies like Ferrari, Siemens, L’Oréal or Danone and many other well-known names, but also companies that are much less known.

What does the competition look like?The first part takes place online. The companies fill in a complex questionnaire, which is identical internationally. The questionnaire focuses on the innovation strategy, how are the employees involved in creating ideas or what is the internal evaluation of innovation projects. The finalists, which are picked by the jury based on their performance in the questionnaire, are then visited by the jury members and

the members of the Best Innovator team. The purpose of the visit is to validate and enhance the learning from the questionnaire. The winner is then elected by the jury, whose members are well-known names in the innovation arena - for example the economist of NERV Tomáš Sedláček or a ČVUT teacher and an expert on cell phone technology Jan Šedivý.

Why do you think the Best Innovator competition would be interesting for students?For two reasons. This is the first year of the competition in the Czech Republic and we were very curious what will be the state of innovation management in Czech companies. This could be very appealing for students who are actively interested in innovations. For the more entrepreneurial students the competition is interesting because it is not meant only for the large companies. This year several start-ups took part and strived to validate their approach towards innovations.

You mentioned that you are curious about the situation, how would you evaluate it? In the macro view the Czech Republic is doing well. In the Global Innovation Index report from 2011 we are on the 27th place

Lenka is a manager at A.T. Kearney and in the driving seat of the organization team of the Best Innovator competition in the Czech Republic. Regarding the client services, she is responsible for supporting utility and industrial clients in the area of Operations. Lenka graduated from the University of Economics in Prague and spent her CEMS exchange term at Universität zu Koln, Germany.

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from 125 evaluated countries. In the EU we are in the middle, on 14th place, and in the group of post-communist countries we are on the 3rd place, right after Estonia and Hungary. However, we are still being called the factory of Europe and if we want to reach the Western Europe, we need to work harder.

What is behind this ranking? How is it made?It is a combination of macro indexes, such as the governmental innovation support, the level of the universities and so on. These are, however, not the dimensions evaluated by the Best Innovator competition. We are more interested in the specific approach of the companies towards their innovation management.

What is the biggest mistake of Czech companies when they come up with an innovation?The biggest shortcoming of many Czech companies is that despite the fact that they realise the importance of innovations, they approach them without any long-term strategy or system. It is a spare of the moment thing, based on the current situation in the company or competition.

How do companies approach innovations abroad?They plan innovations long-term and include it in their strategy. The key to success is the direct involvement of the innovation strategy in the corporate culture. The company supports the creative thinking of its employees and gives room for generation of new ideas. Much stronger is also the controlling part which helps to reflect on experience.

You are choosing the best companies, but shouldn’t the competition rather focus on those that are not so good?It is a competition, so there has to be a winner, somebody that can be an example to others. However, the methodology used in the questionnaire will help even those who are beginning with innovations or want to improve their innovation management. The contestants have to think through their whole process while filling in the questionnaire. We received feedback from several companies that it allowed them to step back a little and evaluate what they are doing.

The support of innovations is one of the priorities of the Czech government. Is there a way to help Czech companies even further?

The state can help companies with the R&D expenses, for example by simplification of the tax depreciation process. The amount of state support, however, should not be the decisive factor. It is important to create an environment that constantly motivates the management of companies to be better. This is then transferred to the motivation of employees.

So who are the winners of this year‘s Best Innovator competition?In the “Large companies” category the Best Innovator became the Czech company Linet, the creator of hospital beds and other equipment. The second place was taken by the company ČKD Group and the third by Momentive Specialty Chemicals, a chemical plant from Sokolov. In the category of “Small and medium enterprises” the winner became the company Comtes FHT that does metallurgical research and innovation. The second ranked OCHI Inženýring and the third SKD Bojkovice. A.T. Kearney also awarded two special prizes for “The biggest surprise” to the company Veolia Voda Česká republika for energy efficiency and “The biggest innovation potential” to the company T-Mobile Czech Republic for their internal innovation management process.

Strategic Decisionsin a Fast-changing Environment

THE THIRD YEAR OF THE ANNUAL CEMS V4 CONFERENCE

University of Economics, PragueApril 11-14, 2013

Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/CEMS.V4.2013

Conference Partner:

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CEMS Club Prague is wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

And, since we feel truly international, we are also wishing you:Veselé Vánoce a šťastný nový rok Весела Коледа и честита Нова Година Joyeux Noël et bonne année Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo Feliz Natal e próspero ano novo С Рождеством С Новым Годом Veselé Vianoce a štastný Nový rok Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo Schöni Wienachte und e guets neus Jahr Wesołych świąt i szczęśliwego Nowego Roku Веселого Різдва і з hовим rоком İyi Noeller ve Mutlu Yıllar Շնորհավոր Ամանոր և Սուրբ Ծնունդ (Shnorhavor Amanor ev Surb Tsnund) MMilad Saeed wa Sanaa Mubarakah

Veselé Vánoce a šťastný nový rok Весела Коледа и честита Нова Година Joyeux Noël et bonne année Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo Feliz Natal e próspero ano novo С Рождеством С Новым Годом Veselé Vianoce a štastný Nový rok Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo Schöni Wienachte und e guets neus Jahr Wesołych świąt i szczęśliwego Nowego Roku Веселого Різдва і з hовим rоком İyi Noeller ve Mutlu Yıllar Շնորհավոր Ամանոր և Սուրբ Ծնունդ (Shnorhavor Amanor ev Surb Tsnund) MMilad Saeed wa Sanaa Mubarakah

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Published byCEMS Club Prague, o.s.

University of Economics, Praguenám. Winstona Churchilla 4

Prague, Czech Republic

Editor-in-chiefSylva Uličná

EditorsBarbora LebedováAndrea Hurychová

Jana LebrováFilip FinglLilli Lange

David KolesaŠtěpán MejzlíkPetr ChroustMarek Lejsek

Graphic DesignJan Verner

PhotographyJan Verner

No reprints without prior permission of the publisher