cems club prague quarterly

CEMS Club Prague

QUARTERLYSpring 2013 - V4 Conference Edition

Students’ attractiveness on the job marketInterviews with our corporate partners on today’s fast changing environment

Insights of CEMS life from the past presidents A review of the cems club’s activities seen by the past presidents’ eyes

CQ_3_prpo tisk_v1.indd 1 8.4.2013 14:25:16

Average careers areon offer everywhere.

With us, youhave choices.Trainee Programme 2013

More info at www.unicreditbank.cz

We stand ready to support your professional growth. UniCredit Bank once again presents the Trainee Programme for talented university graduates in 2013.


What is in...

CEMS Club Prague under magnifying glass

Central European Region and its new opportunities for investments seen by Fabio Bini, Head of international clients department, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic 5

The never stopping race of innovations

Bringing in the new talents ATK’s Dana Kreppke talks about today’s work environment

the innovations of today

How to match the talent with the right attitude and then score the new employee...

Trainee Programs in Automotive Industry Olga Grusova of Skoda shares her experiences with the trainee programs

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18Bringing the fresh air into today’s world


EDIT

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IAL

Dear readers,

The new issue of CEMS Quarterly comes out just before the long awaited V4 Conference that Prague is

this edition lives by the conference topic.

When retaking the torch after the last CEMS Club in July 2012 our heads were quite logically full of ideas, both realistic but also completely impossible to accomplish. One of them was to organize a major regional event in Prague. We therefore started looking

shortly afterwards that Prague was to be the next city to host the V4 Conference after Budapest. We kicked off the preparations practically immediately. At the end of the summer, after many calls through different time zones and a good couple of cold beers exchanged for hours in front of a computer we obtained support from all V4 embassies and universities as well as the Visegrad fund. At that moment, we knew the Conference would really happen and I am happy that thanks to a great teamwork and a lot of effort of many people we got from that point to one when we can be welcoming 70 students in Prague at VSE.

It is not only participants of the V4 Conference we are welcoming through our traditional Quarterly in Prague

who are probably reading the magazine for the very

various events such as the initial Teambuilding weekend, Go-Karting or Beachvolleyball Day. Prague Quarterly serves as another way to stay involved in the Czech

only this issue interesting to read.

David Kolesa


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new ways “A corporate investment opportunity is like a call option because the corporation has the right, but not the obligation, to

investment opportunity, the value of the option would tell us something about the value of the opportunity. Unfortunately,

similar option is to build a new one. Cross border opportunities are new challenges for all companies in CEE.” says Fabio Bini, Head of International Clients Department from UniCredit Bank

Are there any new opportunities in CEE region? Absolutely, there are new opportunities. Companies are facing slowdown of their production in their home countries in the Eurozone. Many of them have to quickly restart or boost their growth. It does not help to complain or wait, whether the state will help enterprises or not. I am always

market and use a competitive advantage. One of our options is to start thinking how to diversify their business and shift their business production or trade into countries of CEE region or Eurozone in general, which is considered as a safe harbour.

How to start? It is necessary to analyze the business potential in a selected country where you would like to invest into your business. However, local expertise can only be gained with professionals. Our banking group is present in more than 22 countries and can provide companies with their broad

business in a selected country. Something that’s normal here may not be as normal or self-evident to a foreigner. These are the simple rules.

Thus far, I have seen that there may be waves up and down, but the Central and Eastern Europe [CEE] region as a whole still has high potential and has a growing trend.

Clients are more or less similar in both countries. When compared to Slovak Republic (SR), there are slightly more foreign investments in the Czech Republic (CR) (64% of GDP in CR vs. 57% of GDP

of foreign investments has also been reported in the Czech Republic at the turn of centuries also thanks to the on-going

into the CR has not slowed-down as

did in Slovakia. On average,2.5% of GDP of

the CR during the period of 2009-2011.

As for the individual sectors, the foreign investments structure has not differed much in the CR and SR. Approximately one third of foreign investments in both the countries goes to industry (30% in CR, 35%

SR). The information and communication technologies sector, with its 6.5% share on the total foreign investments in the CR and 7.5% share in Slovakia, is an important target of foreign investments in both the countries. As far as the territorial structure of foreign investments in both the countries is concerned, the most common foreign investors from Italy, Germany and Austria can be found.

Age: 49 Current position: Head of international clients department, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic Previous roles: Thirty years with UniCredit, working at the headquarters in Milan and Verona, Italy as well as in France and Slovakia Education: Master’s degree in economics, University of Milan

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Fabio Bini


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Employing talent and perspectives of young graduates in today’s fast changing environment

War for talent has become a paradigm for all service companies in the recent decades. We all strive to employ the best and the brightest amongst young graduates. This is especially true for top management consulting companies and A.T. Kearney. Talented people are our key resource for generating the best solutions for our clients. In our search for talent, we combine experienced professionals with profound industry expertise, and young graduates who bring non-conventional approaches, new energy and their love for technologies and innovations to the work place.

The employment market continues to become more sophisticated. The young graduates of today carefully choose their future careers, while the expectations of the companies on young candidates grow at the same time. Excellent analytical skills, out-of-box thinking, creativity or strong communication capabilities have always been a must for a successful consulting candidate. Nevertheless, in the last years, the emotional intelligence, EQ, is becoming as important as IQ. Clients realize very quickly that even the best strategic solution, if it remains somewhere on the bookshelf, does not bring additional revenues or improve client’s market position. Nowadays, change management capabilities, ability to work with people in a diverse, multicultural environment, and strong people skills are as important as analytics.

Recent graduates have the advantage of greater opportunities. Local universities have become much more international, and their courses are closer to the real needs of the employment market. Top

level international schools and programs open their doors to foreign students. These schools not only offer a high quality education, but learning of languages and other cultures are there naturally embedded in the courses. These opportunities increase the expectations of companies on the top talent. When we look for young graduates to employ at A.T. Kearney, we look for people from top schools that speak perfect English and potentially other languages, have substantial international experience and work experience, but also show special

sports or arts. Only candidates who meet all these expectations are then invited for further rounds. Though still a substantial number of our young consultants come from economic or business schools, we intensively look for young graduates with law, engineering, political science or arts background. These people bring the needed diversity to our company that fosters a generation of creative ideas.

Good opportunities for students to experience the real-life work place are internships or summer internships offered nowadays by most leading companies. Internships in A.T. Kearney run throughout the whole year. A number of CEMS students all over Europe have spent three months in A.T. Kearney working with our teams on client sites, taking on interesting and challenging topics. In addition to standard internships, A.T. Kearney has recently launched The Global mobility internship.

Global Mobility Internship was a student of the TU Munich & University of Augsburg in Germany. This particular internship focuses

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Dana Kreppke, HR Manager Eastern Europe, A.T. Kearney

Dana joined A.T. Kearney as a consultant working for clients in Telecoms, Utilities and Financial Institutions. After nine years, she switched to Human Resources function to enjoy the operational side of

work and taking care of her two children. Dana is responsible for Human Resources in 8

A.T. Kearney.


on our Strategic IT practice and spread over three month period both in the US and Dubai.

as bringing in talent is keeping them motivated, developing them further and retaining them over their life cycle. The main source of motivation in A.T. Kearney is the work itself. We do projects for top clients in a broad range of industries on topics that are high on the CEO agendas. Projects are not restricted to a small region,

around the globe or even transfer in a long term. For young consultants, learning is key and therefore they are assigned to projects in multiple industry and service areas to test their appetite for a later specialization.

a crucial motivator within our company. If people enjoy working together with their colleagues, it makes for a pleasant and productive work environment.

Consulting industry is built around

each consultant at A.T. Kearney receives a mentor, who plays the role of an advisor and a coach. A mentor is an experienced consultant, who guides new consultants in the career development, supports them on achievement of their goals, and introduces them into the network. Next to a mentor, young consultants often have an informal relationship with a buddy, a peer-level

of months longer and can help with all the questions that young colleagues have on their mind.

The growth of skills and knowledge is supported by professional development and extensive training curriculum. The obligatory part of the curriculum focuses on the general skills such analytics, written and oral communication, team and project

management and others. The selective part of trainings enhances consultants’ know-

and business offerings. Most popular amongst young consultants is the Summer Academy, a row of workshops from different industries where you can, within one week, get to know a broad range of industries and offerings. Trainings are not

only a great opportunity to develop skills, but also an occasion to meet consultants from other regions and to network.

For the young graduates of today, maintaining of work-life balance is high on priority agenda. Consulting in its nature is a work hard – play hard business. A.T. Kearney actively promotes and encourages balance between business imperatives

that lie outside the company’s doors. We regularly organize social activities for our employees where their families are welcome. Next to it, we offer extended vacations, leaves of absence or sabbaticals

that the employees use to take a company sponsored MBA degree, to travel around the world or to spend time with their family.

One of the main challenges of the consulting industry globally has been attracting and retaining female consultants to climb the consulting career ladder. A.T. Kearney strongly believes in women in consulting and has already committed itself to building a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. If you look at our A.T.

almost 30% of consultants and among the young consultants the percentage is even higher. Globally, we offer special trainings and mentoring programs for senior women that support them in their rise to top level positions. The war for top talent continues. Chances of young graduates to get the job of their dreams are greater when they prove their potential to be among those most talented. And as Peter J. Laurence said “If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else”. You need to know what the job of your dreams is, so that you can achieve it.

A.T. Kearney is a global top management

the world’s leading companies with the realization of their strategic projects. It is active on the Czech market for 20 years.

The philosophy of the company puts a great emphasis on “Forward thinking.” The used methods lie in practical use of market foresight to deliver both immediate impact and growing advantage to our clients.

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Talented people are our key resource for generating the best solutions for our clients.

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Trainee Program in Automotive Industry

when did you graduate?After graduating from a business academy I decided to continue at ŠKODA AUTO University, where the bachelor’s degree program caught my attention. A part of the curriculum consists of a single-semester work experience, either directly at ŠKODA AUTO or even at foreign companies, namely within the Volkswagen Group. This is a unique opportunity to gain experience and combine the acquired theoretical knowledge with the hands-on practice. After receiving my bachelor’s degree in 2008, I decided to follow it up by pursuing a master’s degree in Corporate Finance Management in the Global Environment, which I successfully completed in 2010.

Did you work while you were still

looking for a job after getting your

I chose ŠKODA AUTO University not only because of the interesting area of study and the excellent teachers, but mainly because of its very close ties to a global company with a great future. As early as my second semester in the bachelor’s program I decided to take up an offer of work experience with the Customer Care department at ŠKODA AUTO. I gained a very valuable experience there, and the necessity to deal with customers every day also helped me in developing my communication skills. I stayed in this department for almost three-and-a-half years and also collected materials and received valuable advice towards my bachelor’s thesis. I remained at ŠKODA AUTO even afterwards and went on to another placement with the Public Relations department. While there, I had a very interesting and valuable experience when I was asked to moderate a session of a panel discussion at a conference on

“Sustainability in the Automotive Industry.” After receiving my master’s degree, the decision to join ŠKODA AUTO was very straightforward. Not only because it is a company with a strong position in the market and because I had the chance to get to know it well in the course of my internship, but also because most of the people dear to me have decided to pursue their careers with this exact company. The only decision I had to make was to either

take part in the Trainee program – a one-year development and adaptation program offered to graduates by ŠKODA AUTO.

Although I already had a chance to get to know ŠKODA AUTO throughout my studies, I decided to go with the Trainee program, which enabled me to familiarize myself with the company from many aspects. As a Trainee, I went through work experience in production, a foreign placement within the Volkswagen Group

and work experience with a ŠKODA sales representative. In parallel to this, I also took part in a number of training courses and interesting tours. I had been attracted to working with people ever since my internship days and I therefore chose HR as my target area. I went through a number of rotations in this department and worked on many interesting projects.

do you work and what are your future plans?I now work in the HR Marketing department where I have taken over the responsibility for the Trainee program discussed above. We use this program to nourish university graduate talent development and prepare

Olga Grusova was born in Mladá Boleslav in 1984. In 2004, she graduated with honours from the Business Academy in Mladá Boleslav. After graduating, she considered continuing her studies at university, eventually deciding on the ŠKODA AUTO University, primarily for the possibility of gaining practical experience whilst studying. During her studies, she began to work for ŠKODA AUTO as an intern in the Customer Care department and later moving to the department of External Affairs. She joined ŠKODA as a Trainee in the HR department in 2010 and, a year later, she took over the position of a Trainee Programme Coordinator, which she has held since. In the future, she would like to travel abroad to work on an overseas project.

“I took the opportunity to be an intern at ŠKODA AUTO while I was still studying. I am currently in charge of the Trainee program and helping to develop the talents of university graduates.”

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The objective of the TRAINEE PROGRAM is to search for talents, to develop them and to adapt them to our corporate culture.

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various training courses, seminars, mentoring, etc. to make this possible. Working with young people is not always easy, but it is interesting and has been a challenge for me since the beginning. Young talents are indispensable for the company and the investment into their growth will pay its dividends. Everyone is unique, but with different needs and requirements. ŠKODA AUTO has also launched a program for foreign graduates this year, which I am also in charge of and which gives me an opportunity to work with people from different cultural backgrounds. I am also a member of a team, which oversees activities in the area of HR marketing, which means that I take

part in job fairs, lectures at universities and student events organized by us. And as for my future plans? I would like to travel abroad on a foreign assignment and to gain experience in international HR at a location within the Group.

students who are new to the job

I would recommend that they use work experience opportunities while still at school, gain experience at foreign internships or by studying abroad, and get a good handle on foreign languages. I could sum this all up by saying “be active”, because even the activities not related

to work give students a chance to display their experience and knowledge (e.g. taking part in student bodies, leading a sports team, etc.). My second advice is to keep their head out of the clouds. In today’s world I am frequently asked about how to grow your career. Yes, building your career is important to all of us, but as a

ability to adapt to corporate culture, to gain professional experience and to be able to step up to responsibility. If the student or graduate can take this all in, nothing will keep them from getting an interesting job and being successful in it.

ŠKODA AUTO approaches university students with a comprehensive offer of cooperation while they are still at school. The applicants then have an opportunity to receive work experience or to

offering a one-year Trainee program to university graduates.

ŠKODA AUTO has been offering the Trainee program since 1993. Aimed at university graduates with a master’s degree, the schedule sees Trainees completing a one-year adaptation and development program with the objective to acquire talents with expert or management potential, and to further develop them and adapt them to corporate culture in accordance with the company needs. „Searching out, caring for and developing talents is an important tool in human resources management. This applies not only to how we educate aspiring managers, but also to how we acquire and keep

Marketing department.

In March of last year, ŠKODA AUTO has also launched a pilot project designated as the Global Trainee program, targeting foreign university graduates with master’s degrees. The Global Trainee program was set up in reply to the constant need to acquire talents not only from domestic sources, but also from abroad, and also due

to the ever growing trend of our company’s internationalization.

The program is divided up into on the job and off the job activities. On the job training consists of the trainee touring the production area, with at least two rotations in different departments, and then

off at ŠKODA brand sales representative. Off the job activities focus primarily on developing soft skills, complemented for example by communication and presentation skills training, self-management, etc. In comparison to graduates directly joining the company at a

to get acquainted with the company and its processes from many aspects, and therefore have a chance to better grasp how the company functions.

The Trainee program opens twice per year, always at the beginning

their studies.

Additional information for applicants is available at:

www.employerforlife.com

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October

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At Unilever, we work together to create a better future every day, with brands and services that help people feel good, look good, and get more out of life. We want

our customers and stakeholders; thus, we believe that we’re building a talented organisation renowned worldwide for its leadership. To be able to meet our

prospective graduates on the market, as well as looking after our talents internally.

Unilever’s key goal is to double the size of its business while reducing its overall environmental impact. This goal is not an easy one, but we’re on the right track – mainly because of our leadership’s commitment to deliver and also because of the contribution of our employees.

Employing talented individuals is not just about selecting the best graduates who display the right hard and soft skills during interviews. It’s much more than that; we seek people with certain characteristics that would broaden our organisation

important factors for the success of our company is our personal development, something we invest in on a continuous basis. An ability to learn is key for achieving our corporate goals and strategy. Therefore, we want people who are keen on continuously learning and would like to actively develop.

Moreover, we also need talented employees who can adapt to the continuous changes

that are a necessary part of our fast-moving consumer goods business; hence,

though we are truly a global corporation,

we work closely together locally and with other countries. We build trust between each other and work in a collaborative way.

We are looking for people who are capable of being true members of a team, who can communicate effectively with their various, and most importantly will cooperate, not compete. In short, it is crucial for us to seek out and choose the best talents who

respects our values of integrity, respect, responsibility and pioneering.

talents. That’s why we proactively search for them in the market in various ways, both face-to-face and online. Still, we believe that

the most valuable way for both graduates and ourselves is direct interaction where they can get to know us in an informal way and chat with our leaders. We are a partner of many student organisations and collaborate with different universities all over the country and in the CEE. The

best matches for our career opportunities, but also to contribute to the educational system and offer young graduates more experience, as well as show them the connection between the world of studies and real business. Students have a number of opportunities to gain professional experience such as internships, business shadowing, the Erasmus programme, memberships of student clubs, etc., and we would like to encourage them to go for it.

When we select the right employees who

personal characteristics and bring them on board, they set off on an exciting journey of continuous learning, developing and increasing their performance. We offer the right tools and processes to support this journey, but it’s important to remember that it’s the individual’s responsibility to do their best and push themselves further.

We truly believe that our individual leadership behaviour can be the sole discriminator that either drives us forward ahead of the competition, or holds us back. We sharpen our performance edge to win every day in the marketplace. While we have the brands, people, innovation and the execution capabilities to deliver

Solutions to the world’s biggest challenge MADE BY YOU. Our work is high impact, varied and challenging. You’ll never live the same day twice.

Living the performance culture is absolutely critical.


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the strategic points, living the performance culture is absolutely critical. That is why we have put together a continuous annual cycle that brings the performance ‘edge’ to our Unilever culture. Our culture can accelerate us towards our vision, but only if we manage our behaviour consciously and accept continuous improvement as the norm. We believe that the majority of learning and development is done on the job through challenging assignments, unique job experience, job changes and rotations. However, we understand that this is not enough and we need our talents to have more opportunities to grow. That’s why we provide coaching and mentoring programmes where we help people to attain

deep managerial insights into their talents

not only by mentors, bosses and role models, but simple feedback plays an extremely important role and we strongly emphasize it on each and every occasion. Finally, we provide formal learning opportunities such as general, professional and leadership skills courses.

We also have well-developed talent management programmes which help prepare our talents to take on a higher-level position and greater responsibilities. Our graduate management development programme, the Unilever Future Leaders Programme (UFLP), aims to turbo develop

perspective graduates to become leaders in just three years. We also have various internal talent management programmes, based on the individual’s potential and performance.

Talents need continuous development and new challenges to stay motivated in their roles in today’s fast-changing environment. Unilever does everything it can to stay ahead of the market in this respect. One of our key thrusts here is to keep our competitive advantage in the form of strong, developed,

who are proud to work for Unilever now – as well as in the future.

There are two great ways to get a taste of what Unilever is all about, before you even graduate. Join us on a part-time or full-time internship programme to get hands-on experience while working on a genuine business project alongside Unilever managers.

You can choose a project area that best suits your aims: Marketing, Customer Development, Supply Chain, Finance, HR etc.

The Unilever Future Leaders Programme (UFLP) is about helping create the business leaders of tomorrow. In just three years, we’ll make sure you gain the skills, experience and commercial insight to come up with the next one. You’ll take on real challenges, work with inspiring leaders, and rapidly progress to become a leader yourself.

You can choose the business area that best suits your aims and skills: Marketing, Customer Development, Supply Chain, Finance, HR etc. To see the impact, and the career, you could make with us, visit our local websites.

As we’re global, there’s plenty out there to satisfy even the most adventurous minds.


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Prazdroj

Doug Brodman is a Chief

Prazdroj since October, 2009. Doug comes from the U. S. A. He has been working in the brewing industry for twenty eight years, and back in 1999 joined The Miller Brewing Company which is a part of the global SABMiller brewing company. He graduated from the St. John’s University in New York and obtained his MBA at Hofstra University, also in New York

I think it is always a challenge when you introduce change or something new in your company. The critically important criteria is to communicate the rationale of

you need employees to believe in to make it successful. Our organization is becoming much more open to innovation, and that is largely due to the fact that we have introduced a lot of innovations over the last two years. There are still some hurdles to overcome; for example, our breweries need to be keener to make innovative products, and the marketing department has to

way. We are learning our way through it and that is part of the process of change - changing more toward innovations.

opinion more important?Importantly, when we are dealing with products or packaging, we look at some fairly precise consumer study. This largely sets our company around understanding consumers’ needs in the occasions they want to consume beverages and then

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with new products or packages from our portfolio. In this sense it is a more proactive move toward identifying new opportunities. At the same time we are just as positive in reacting to innovations in the market and fast adapting to provide

In order to be successful it has to be a balance of both, but I think bringing the news is more important and then you have to have capability to react to the competitive offering as well.

should not?We have an internal steering committee which helps us steer the innovations into the business. It is structured around several of the key disciplines such as marketing,

are aiming to do is to understand what the performance indicators are to bring a

in the near term, is it meeting an unmet need of our portfolio, as well as with the consumers? Those are the key criteria that are critical in the decision-making process.

your organization, how do you make

will remain sustainable?That is a million dollar question! The important thing to improve your chances on sustainability is that you must have a rigorous change management program in place: understanding what you want to change, having a plan to communicate early and educate people about the change, and then making sure it is sustainable in the organization by driving the right incentives for employees.

This is a great question too. It is something new to us at SABMiller because we usually develop our businesses on a country and local basis. With that being said, we have learned that there are certain things we should take advantage of since we operate in many countries across Europe, and scale innovation is one of those things. We are developing products now that can be offered across Europe and we are also sharing the best practices on innovations to ensure that our SABMiller colleagues are aware of what we are developing here in the Czech Republic as well as we have a better understanding of what is being developed in other countries. Thus, knowledge sharing is becoming even more critical as we successfully innovate around our brands and company.

How do you get your employees

do your ensure their support and

Engaging employees in the innovation and change management process is crucial. We do make it a part of the normal everyday work schedule; ensuring they are involved in the change initiatives whether it is a new product roll out, or a different way of working, we make sure we listen to our employees, get their opinions and incorporate that into our thinking. One example is our internal initiative called Prazdroj IDEA, which is designed to stimulate and support employees in bringing innovative and creative solutions related to business areas. Finally, we make sure that the incentives for performance are lined up against what we are trying to achieve, whether it is a bringing the innovation to the market or a way of doing business.

2012?We have introduced fourteen new

products/packages. They have delivered about 6.5 % of incremental revenue, which

have also adopted new ways of working with new sales structure, as well as how we interface with our customers. We have

journey to become much more customer and consumer facing organization.

is to restructure our company to enable us to face the future in a much more effective way. We actually called it “becoming Fit to Fight.” There were several components to this iniative. We knew being excellent at key account customer developing was critical to our success, so we applied more resources there than we had in the past. In the On-Trade segment (segment of bars, pubs and restaurants), we now have sales business developers who assist our On-Trade partners in developing their businesses, rather than being order takers. In addition, we took cost out which is not as effective in terms of developing customer facing mindset, so we outsourced warehousing capability and put the savings back into front line selling. While it has been a three year journey to implement change, we know that we are becoming a more effective company. Of course, we did plan the change to be

expectations. With that being said, moving investments where we need them within

more productive for the future will be our next key change.

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Interview on Innovation with Rostislav Brzobohaty, Customer Business Development Team Lead, CEEMEA at P&G Proffesional

In P&G we integrate innovation in anything we do. It is a part of our essential “Purpose, Values and Principles” model that is the heart of the company. In recent years behind the economic crisis, the importance of innovation became even more critical element of the company’s success.Now, in P&G we understand innovation much broader than it was ten years ago. Innovation can be represented by a new product, new design, but also in a better

business model, the way we go to the market or more effective cost structure.Product innovation of P&G’s 175-year

stackable potato chip (Pringle’s, which later dropped the apostrophe, in 1968). Researchers typically have leveraged technologies already used in P&G products to come up with entirely new ideas. For Crest Whitestrips, launched in 2002, they adapted bleaching methods from P&G’s

food wrap business, and glue techniques from the paper business.For much of its history, Procter & Gamble didn’t just launch new products, it created

mass-produced disposable diapers to Crest teeth-whitening kits. That’s one reason P&G has more than 1,000 Ph.D.’s among the 8,000 employees at its 26 innovation facilities around the world.

the market?At P&G we create communities of cross-discipline practice, so they connect and share. We have found that some of the best innovators at P&G are the best connectors.Often connection of seemingly disparate technologies delivers disruptive ideas. The magic in a big company is how to create space for connections, so an ideological person can bump into a technological person. P&G spends over proportionate money on the consumer research and I believe it is one of the best in the world in translating the insights coming out of these studies

the company is in its multifunctional culture where people from different departments – R&D, marketing, sales, etc. – are organized in productive working groups where the ideas not only come to life but may be further improved leveraging the input of such a diverse group. Thus, I believe that the majority of our past innovations weren’t coincidence, but rather well understood insights and applied ideas. They might have been be both reactive (e.g. new scents reacting to upcoming seasonal trends, premium line-ups catching up on the need for higher performance products) or proactive (disposable Pampers diapers and wipes long time ago, panty liners Always/Discreet/Naturella for every day feminine hygiene, Ariel liquid tabs for easier dosing and many more).

Rostislav Brzobohaty is leading the Customer Business Development team at P&G Professional, CEEMEA. P&G Professional is the Away-From-Home division of Procter & Gamble providing key business decision makers with superior products and solutions designed to help their businesses thrive. P&G Professional leverages P&G’s scale, trusted brands, and strengths in market and consumer understanding

in a wide range of industries, such as foodservice, building cleaning and maintenance, education, hospitality, and care homes.

In the past 11 years working at P&G he gained experience across several areas including sales, shopper marketing, shopper and consumer understanding and category management.

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important?Both of the above mentioned types of innovation have its role – while reactive ones keep our business sustainable and competitive, the proactive ones help us

business potential for the future. Though, we have to consider other measures when bringing in the innovation like the cost of

least the market/consumers’ readiness to accept the innovation. There were cases when the product with obvious consumer

consumers weren’t ready to adopt it, or

understandable way.

should not?Considering what I mentioned before about the width of our understanding of innovation there is not a simple answer. In general, we have a clear process on all types of innovation that are put in trade. The decision is usually made on the regional business unit and/or GM.

How do you get your employees

do you ensure their support and

We have several years of innovation pipeline – i.e. on the back of our internal processes supporting the innovation development we are able to plan the innovation well ahead. We know that we have to have a

year to drive our competitiveness in the markets. Having this approach enabled us to not only develop new products, but the whole categories or processes that became industry standards. That’s what makes a brand-driven company like P&G growing. Each innovation coming to the market is consisting of a minimum three years

and how we want to further grow. Usually such plans are related to the portfolio and/or channel extension. The plans are regularly updated in line with the product and market development. The

whole multifunctional team consisting of

Commercial Operations unit provides the input and contributes to the product development in line with the plan.

2012?For example, Oral-B Deep Sweep Power Brush cleans like a power brush and moves like a manual brush ” to “remove more than two-times the plaque of a regular manual toothbrush.

Simply stated, one of our major shifts in the company’s strategy is “to be wherever shoppers shop”. This leads us to open new selling channels that are either a white space for P&G or are emerging. One of the most visible examples can be the online shopping where in the Czech Republic

consumer goods companies who started to penetrate the channel and today we have a sizeable business with practically all major online retailers. The fact that we stepped in early helped us to continuously learn and thus get the competitive advantage from the very beginning. Furthermore, we are making a lot of effort in so-called Away-From-Home channel, the B2B industry cooperating with the professionals serving the people out of home.

New part of the company’s strategy is “to be wherever shoppers shop.


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CEMS Club Prague under magnifying glass

Speaking in business terms, the vision of the Club is to “Promote a good name of the CEMS program in Prague among the CEMS community and outside of it, through professional approach, high quality events and unconventional activities”.

In simple words, we are trying to create a friendly atmosphere in Prague CEMS community, give opportunities to network as well as to enjoy student life and make Czech CEMS experience an unforgettable memory. Teambuilding weekends, Gala Nights, 3 issues of the CEMS Prague

Quarterly, Rotation Dinner, Running Dinner, CEMS Drinks, Rookie weekend for newly selected students, sport events – those are some examples of activities that have become a tradition over the past years.

In Prague, the CEMS Club gets elected every year. The mandate of the current CEMS Club ends in July and elections of the new team will be announced at the

the most important factor as not always everything will go smoothly,” says David

Kolesa, the current President of CEMS Club Prague. “If the team is able to stick together it will not only manage, but more importantly enjoy the work”, he continues. The elections are held at the end of April and every CEMS student, whose home school is University of Economics in Prague, is eligible to apply.

CEMS Club and its activities have evolved over time. To capture this, we asked last four presidents a few questions about

Is there anything that you started?Staying true to our plans, we brought some new to the table as well – Laser Tag, Go-Karting or Beach Volleyball Tournament are some of them and we hope we will still manage to add some more. Also, we managed to continue the tradition of a running dinner, started by the club led by Martin.

the future?More openness towards wider public is the topic of the day. We believe a good way to reach the goal is through a series of public speeches featuring

Leveraging on the well-connected CEMS network we have a big advantage in bringing in successful personalities who have something to say. We were planning to do this, but due to various factors it has stayed “parked” so far.Another activity we were wishing to bring to life is a mentorship system. Through mentorship students get a chance to sign up for a mentor from a particular company for one semester (and more if both sides agree to continue). CCP serves as a middleman in the whole process, bringing CEMSies and corporate partners together.

What are you most proud of from the time of

I am proud of the revival of the CEMS Club Quarterly magazine. We have seen the concept in the past and liked it so much that we decided to bring it back to life. It later proved to be a lot more work than we expected, but the magazine was well reviewed and we were mentioned several times on CEMS site as well as the global site of one of our corporate partners.

Another thing I would mention is the teambuilding. Our outdoor games were so challenging that they made a tight group out of the participants united by their antagonistic feelings towards the organizers.

Is there something you were planning to do

We wanted to make our own CEMS Prague Brand


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What are you most proud of from the

This is rather a question you should ask the students, but in my opinion, we did a decent job in the corporate relations area. We started negotiations with new partners and we gave a good ground for a new concept of cooperation between the Club and the partners, beyond the CEMS partnership. We also worked on PR – we took the CEMS Day concept one step further and we managed to secure coverage of CEMS in two major Czech newspapers - Lidove Noviny and Hospodarske Noviny. But PR is still an area where much work must be done.

I would say two things. First, I believe there should be more initiatives to cooperate with the other student organizations at VSE - possibly a big event, which would bring members of different organizations together. That could become a very nice tradition. Secondly, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of PR of the program. The awareness of the program should be much higher between both, students at and outside VSE.

improvement, so we decided to make our own little store in Prague. But in the end, the project proved way too time-consuming. I think we still miss a big charity event. There

have been some attempts in the past, but I see the potential for something much more...how to put it...spectacular.

What are you most proud of from the

CEMS Club. Back then, only students could vote, so the value of such an award was very high to us. We managed to fully integrate the exchange students into our activities and student lives.

We started the Gala events of every semester, where students, alumni, professors and corporate partners meet. We also founded the “Meet the …” concept, so that students have an

in different industries in an informal setting. We also started the tradition of the teambuilding at

the beginning of each semester.

Is there something you were planning to

We wanted to start a CEMS Summer University in Prague, taught by professors from both Czech and abroad.

I am not exactly aware of the events organized by the current CEMS Club. But overall, what have worked well are the informal student events. That is where life-long bonds are created.


18 ....................................................................................

Bringing the fresh air into today’s world

Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one. Throughout Google’s evolution as a privately held company, we have managed Google differently. We have also emphasized an atmosphere of creativity and challenge, which has helped us provide unbiased, accurate and free access to information for those who rely on us around the world.

Larry Page & Sergey Brin, Founders of Google

Our employees, who have named themselves Googlers, mean everything to us. Our strategy is simple: hire great people and support them in turning their aspirations into reality. Googlers are bright, passionate people with diverse backgrounds coming together to create a unique culture. One that fosters spontaneity and creativity, where accomplishments are recognised, and where the open exchange of ideas is encouraged, no matter what position you happen to hold. Working at

Google is as much a mindset as it is a job!

Though Google is an innovative, fast-paced, and challenging workplace, there is ample opportunity for Googlers to have fun and apply their personal passions. Googlers thrive in small, focused teams and high-energy environments, believe in the ability of technology to change the world, and are as passionate about their lives as they are about their work. Google is also committed to diversity and inclusion in the

workplace. Our variety of backgrounds and experiences help ensure that our ideas are diverse, well-rounded, and rooted in the desire to help users all over the world.

At Google, we know that every Googler is integral to our success and has something important to say. Google is more like a family than a workplace full of colleagues. This includes students, whether as new grad hires, undergraduate interns, or MBA interns.

Graduate OpportunitiesContrary to popular belief, we don’t just hire engineers. Whether it’s developing new business strategies, enhancing customer

to market, there are plenty of graduate opportunities at Google that don’t involve algorithms. In fact, our work requires ideas

marketing, business, communications and analytics.

InternshipsBeing an intern at Google means you will be a fully integrated member of our business team. You will receive ongoing mentorship and training, and will have a mentor assigned to you with whom you’ll work closely to identify project goals and professional development opportunities. In addition, you will participate in a structured program of educational and social activities to ensure you have a productive experience at Google that helps you grow both your personal and professional skills.


CEM

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Prag

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erly

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2013

CEMS Club Prague, o.s.University of Economics, Prague

nám. Winstona Churchilla 4Prague, Czech Republic

Silvie Dittertová

EditorsDavid KolesaMartin Strnad

Silvie Bihelerová

Jan Verner

Jan Verner

No reprints without prior permission of the publisher


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