cems insider spring 2015

Spring 2015

CEMS Insider

Student Board Meeting in Warsaw CEMS Global

CEMSies at HILTI Real strories from the job frontiers

Business Projects 14/15

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A word of welcome from the CEMS office and Club President

CEMS Global Student Board Meeting in Warsaw

CEMS Club Presidents meet-ing in Warsaw

Plzeňský Prazdroj and RGL Seminar

CEMSies at HiltiGroupe SEB. With you, No mat-ter where (or who) you are!

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What is in...

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From the Editor...

Dear readers,

On behalf of the CEMS club Prague, I would like to warmly welcome you to read the latest issue of CEMS Insider for the summer semester 2014/2015.

Once again, we are slowly coming to the end of the semester and also of the academic year 2014/2015. I am sure we can all agree that the whole semester was exciting and has brought a lot of memorable moments. As students of CEMS programme, we had a privilege to attend interesting events, seminars and workshops organized by CEMS Club and corporate partners. The first year students had also the opportunity to work on business tasks in the offices of our corporate partners and participate in remarkable projects.

It has been a great pleasure to work on the magazine and to wrap up all the moments of the semester. We are also happy to present you thrilling articles from our corporate partners, share the news from the Student Board and bring other relevant information that you find interesting and which give you the insight to the CEMS community.

I sincerely hope you all manage the remaining duties and goals before the summer holiday and still find the time to enjoy reading the issue. I believe we will meet once again in the fall semester to continue our successful cooperation and to invite new and fresh members to our community.

Daniela Zemanová

Editor in Chief

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It has been a great pleasure to work on the magazine

and to wrap up all the moments of the

semester.

Dear Cemsies,

It´s my pleasure to have the chance to share a few words with you.

Today, it has been almost 5 months since I became a part of the CEMS community. Again, and for the second time in my life. A few years ago, I was like you, a motivated, enthusiastic and demanding student enjoying my term abroad in Vienna or CEMS drinks and Gala Casino Nights. I was trying to understand corporate finance and was frustrated about the results from my first microeconomics test (taught by Mrs.Hořejší, of course). Just a typical CEMS life.

However, you can plan any career or future you want, sometimes life organizes everything in another, more surprising, way. And so, I didn’t follow the traditional CEMS path including a consulting or marketing career in an international company. I thought that my way will never cross the CEMS´s path again. And now, 6 years later, I´m sharing several words with you to CEMS Insider as the new CEMS Programme manager.

I hope, I will be able to exploit my experiences from the past and use them in the future, even though I have changed roles a little bit. I also believe, I will be able to see some CEMS issues more through your, students´, eyes. And I hope, I will have the chance to eventually change or improve these issues. Simply said, I trust, we will do a great job together and that we will manage to make our CEMS Prague even better.

And finally, since we are approaching the end of this term quite quickly, I would like to wish to all of you good luck in your exams, much success with you Business Project and at least some free time to enjoy the beautiful spring time.

Best regards,

Ing. Klára Vítečková

CEMS Programme Manager

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A Word of Welcome...

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A few years ago, I was like you, a motivated,

enthusiastic and demanding student

enjoying my term abroad in Vienna or CEMS drinks and Gala Casino Nights.

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Dear CEMSies,

It is my pleasure to welcome you in the name of the whole CEMS Club Prague to our new Insider edition. You have an unique opportunity to go through all the amazing activities that we prepared this semester, update from our Student Board representative, insights from the CEMS conferences shared by Prague’s students and much more.

The change of the entire CEMS Club happened unexpectedly in winter and our new team did not have much time to plan the early semester events. Nevertheless, we managed to prepare the traditional Welcome Party, which brought together students, corporate partners, our CEMS office staff and alumni. In March, we all enjoyed the Team-building Weekend right under the highest peak in the country. At the CEMS Gala Night, this time with the theme “Moulin Rouge”, we could experience a trip to the famous Parisian cabaret and see the best burlesque show in town. We made sure that the fresh CEMSies would get the proper welcome to our community at the Rookie Weekend. Moreover, the Prague’s CEMSies had the opportunity to take part in number of events with the corporate partners, meet together at CEMS drinks and have fun during many other activities.

We would not be able to make such great events without our corporate partners and therefore I would like to thank them for their support throughout the whole semester. I also cannot forget our CEMS office staff who helped us every time we needed. Last but not least I would like to thank all the CEMS Club members who devoted their time and energy into making this semester an unforgettable one.

I wish everyone great summer holidays, enjoy your jobs, internships and travelling and I am looking forward to seeing you all next semester.

Jan Volný

CEMS Club Prague President

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I wish everyone great summer holidays, enjoy

your jobs, internships and travelling and I am looking forward

to seeing you all next semester.

After the previous Student Board Meeting (SBM) during the Annual Events in Brussels, this time the 29 representatives gathered from 20th to 24th April in the beautiful city with numerous historic sights that never sleeps, Warsaw. It was hosted by the Warsaw School of Economics, the leading educational institution among Polish business schools. The highlight of the week was the 1-day mini CEMS Club Conference (CCC), where the CEMS Club Presidents including our Jan Volný joined us to discuss several key topics and ongoing projects of the Student Board.

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- Jakub Mazal

CEMS Global Student Board Meeting in Warsaw

The kick-off was devoted to the feedback from our universities and cohorts and was followed by the team updates about finished, ongoing and planned projects. As the SB is divided into 6 teams (MIM Affairs, Marketing & Communication, Corporate Partners, Global Sustainability, Alumni Relations and CEMS Club Support), we had unique opportunity to work face to face on the relevant topics during the whole week.

I am a member of the CEMS Club Support team, where we constantly pursue improvement of the CEMS Clubs and students’ experience. We revised evaluation criteria for Best Practices and CC Awards, worked on strategies for better cross-border communication and cooperation between the CEMS Clubs and concentrated on the knowledge sharing, as well as account management to overlap the gap between the SB and the CEMS Clubs wareness of the SB or preparing the first regional event in the Asia-Pacific, the Asia-Pacific Forum.

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How to stay updated about the Student Board’s activities:• Like the CEMS Student Board fanpage on Facebook• Visit the Student Board section on cems.org• Read the Student Board Newsletter• Directly contact Jakub on [email protected]

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Among the other key topics, the SBM focused on integrating entrepreneurship into the CEMS curriculum, enhancing the existence of sustainability within CEMS students’ experience, increasing the awareness of the SB or preparing the first regional event in the Asia-Pacific, the Asia-Pacific Forum.

To mention a few projects, the SB currently works on creating a new CEMS job market to enhance the CEMS experience for students and alumni alike. Furthermore, the Alumni Relations in cooperation with the MIM team finalized Local Governance Structure project which should be implemented from the next semester onwards with the purpose to boost cooperation among all relevant stakeholders. There is also an ongoing project on internationalization, which looks for potential new CEMS Schools in the Asia Pacific region. Last but not least, the Global Sustainability team worked hard to advance with the CEMS forest in order to allow soon CEMSies to offset the CO2 emissions and help create a better world. You can also expect the new board of the New Generation Consulting shortly so look out for interesting pro-bono consulting projects on facebook.com/ngccems!

It’s been already 15 years since the

CEMS Global Student Board has been #YourVoiceInCEMS. The SB has numerous

remarkable achievements that will be presented throughout the year but there is

still much more to come!

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In general, the CEMS Global Studdent Board Meeting was fruitful in many ways. Firstly, it had introduced me the network of all Cems Clubs and Student board representatives. Having attended this meeting, I believe I had contributed to the excellent job of Prague CC a lot more.

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Together with the traditional semester Student Board meeting, also a gathering of CEMS Clubs Presidents was planned on April this year. Since the decision about the presidential meeting was reached and announced rela-tively late, together with the fact that the global CEMS office would not cover the travel and living expenses in Warsaw, only a limited number of presidents actually arrived. It did not, however, limit us from fruitful discus-sions and best practices sharing.

CEMS Club Presidents meeting in Warsaw

The program was prepared for the members of Student Board and us (presidents from Barcelona, Lisbon, Cologne, Warsaw and Prague). In the morning we joined the session with the CEMS head office representatives that shared updates from their side and were opened to our ideas for improvement (e.g. more CSR activities or support of young entrepreneurs).

After the morning gathering, we continued to work separately with the Student Board members focused on CEMS Club support. They, for instance, taught us how to operate more effectively with Podio (a platform for communication among presidents and SB) or, for example, explained evaluating of the CEMS Club awards and the best practices in detail. At this point, we discussed how to split the financial rewards and shared our recommendations. Consecutively, representatives of remaining areas (MiM Affairs, Marketing and Communication, Sustainability and Alumni Relations)

presented what are their responsibilities. The head of MiM Affairs introduced the concept of Round Tables that will bring together representatives of CEMS Club, alumni, office staff and corporate partners at the beginning of each semester at every partner school. Alumni Relations SB members presented the GAMP (Global Advisory & Mentoring Platform), which is useful for students who want to get in touch with foreign CEMSies experienced in specific areas.

The meeting with other presidents and Student Board was beneficial for all participants. We got insights of how the other CEMS Clubs work and received valuable information from the Student Board. Similarly, the Student Board could learn from our suggestions and recommendations. I truly believe that such meetings will be scheduled for the beginning of each semester because only this would ensure improvement in functioning of all CEMS Clubs and consequently strengthening the whole CEMS community.

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- Jan Volný

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The Job Fair Šance at the University of Economics, Prague was held on March 24 - 25, 2015. The CEMS programme had an info-stand in Rajska Building atrium and prospective students could gain valuable information and find answers to their questions from current CEMS students.

During Tuesday afternoon, the CEMS Mock Assessment Centre in English took place. Those students, who attended this session, were able to experience various aspects of the real CEMS assessment center. This center was supervised by doc. Daniela Pauknerová and organized by Martina Fischerová (Department of Managerial Psychology and Sociology, Faculty of Business Administration). The next mock assessment center will be held during the CEMS Day in October 2015 at VŠE.

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CEMS at Job Fair Šance

The Development and Counselling Centre

organizes twice a year a popular job fair called

“ŠANCE” (CHANCE) taking place at VŠE.

This job fair takes place in the premises of

the UEP – companies come directly to the

university! This job fair is for students and

graduates of the UEP. The entry is for free!

Last year the job fair took place during

two days and there were more than 40

companies with different specializations!

You are invited to take part as well!

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- Groupe SEB

Equal opportunities for everyone regardless of age, gender, nationality, skin colour or handicap. Diversity is a key element of Groupe SEB’s culture and one that makes this company “employee friendly”.

Different worlds crossing

Groupe SEB has French origins. It is now a multinational company established in 60 countries and selling its products in more than 150 locations worldwide. Nowadays it employs more than 25 000 people of almost 70 different nationalities! According to the latest local employee satisfaction survey, 86% of Groupe SEB employees in the Czech Republic are proud to work for their employer.

Why is that? It is because Groupe SEB advocates a unique company culture, shared values, management practices, constant employee care and a multinational open environment offering a great variety of jobs and career opportunities.

Groupe SEB considers diversity to be a source of dynamism and open-mindedness. It therefore aims to promote diversity in all forms – cultural diversity, gender equality, mix between young and more experienced employees, integration of disabled people, a mix between different ethnic and social backgrounds but also diversity in terms of different job opportunities, geographical presence and access to positions of responsibility.

Day-to-day employee care

Groupe SEB is an innovative company focused not only on the product development but also on team growth. The Group’s investment in training represented almost 3 % of total payroll in 2014 and about 70% of employees at global level have attended at least one training session last year. “According to our climate survey, the majority of our employees are eager to learn new things. In the Czech Republic, we invest almost 3 % of payroll costs to the staff training and development.” says Dita Maternová, HR Manager for Central Europe. She also adds: “Our people are offered many internal courses or choose to participate in hard /soft skills external training sessions. They can also attend language courses. On top of that employees who are considered as High Potentials or Young Talents might be invited for the corporate training sessions organized by the Groupe SEB University”

Inter-generational cooperation

In 2013, the company has signed an agreement relating to inter-generational contracts closely linked with the Group’s GPEC programmes (GPEC stands for Forward planning careers and skills management programme in France).

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About Groupe SEB

Groupe SEB is the world reference in small domestic

appliances. It has over 20 well-known brands such as

Tefal, Moulinex, Krups and Rowenta. While the company

has its headquarters in France, it is also well established

in 60 countries. The Central European region (Czech

Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) is led from Prague and in

the whole region employs around 120 people, working in

the field of Sales, Marketing, Trade Marketing, Customer

Care, Business Finance or Logistics.

“WITH YOU. NO MATTER WHERE (OR WHO) YOU ARE!”

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It aims at integrating young people at the beginning of their professional lives and hiring older employees, keeping them in work and ensuring that skills are passed on. By 2016 Groupe SEB aims at 25% of recruitments to consisting of young people. This figure rises to 33% where replacing people retiring at industrial sites is concerned.

The Group also cooperates with universities and every year offers over 300 internships and work placements for graduates. The number of young people undergoing training as part of their work placement at French sites has tripled in the last five years.

“From time to time, French students come on internship at our Prague office. We offer a great international experience, giving students work opportunities for their professional career. If a student confirms him/herself in his/her position then he/she might be selected for one of the positions located in our French headquarters.” confirms Dita Maternová.

Equal opportunities for women

In many countries and companies, women struggle against the lack of the equal opportunities as men. This is not the case in Groupe SEB. The Group’s fair approach and regular comparisons of compensation to the market data ensures equal salaries as well as access to positions of responsibility for women. As far as balance between men and women in management positions is concerned, progress is being made here too. In 2014, 36% of the management positions worldwide were occupied by women, compared with 25% in 2005. Similarly, more and more women are occupying management positions outside their home countries.

This represents a significant increase of the percentage of women in management positions over the last 10 years. In addition, Groupe SEB has recruited proportionally more women than men to managerial positions over the last 10

years. This did not take place solely abroad – for example the Central Europe’s Prague head office was led by an expat woman for 2 years.

In 2011, Groupe SEB signed an agreement on the professional equality between men and women clarifying the principles of career management - promotions, training, working conditions and salary. It is because of this agreement that women now have access to technical and industrial positions that to date have been carried out mostly by men.

“In addition, in Groupe SEB Czech Republic we always try our best to make room for mothers’ needs by e.g. offering reduced working hours for women returning to office from maternity leave or having to take care of a small child in case the business operations allow it”, adds Dita Maternová.

Employment for disadvantaged

Groupe SEB is changing views towards disability and aims for better integration of disabled workers and their long-term involvement in the Group’s French companies, whether these are industrial or commercial. In 2013 a Disability Agreement has been signed by Groupe SEB. The agreement provides for a proactive communication campaign aimed at changing employees’ view of disability as well as changing its recruitment procedures. The company also shows concern about the health of its employees and as such has introduced what is known as the Preventive Group’s Health Plan.

“In the Czech Republic, where the employment of a certain percentage of disabled employees is legally required, we employ disabled employees and also purchase specific goods, for example office supplies, from sheltered workshops and companies employing handicapped people”, explains Dita Maternová.

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Krisztína Fekete

• Country of the internship: Schaan, Lichtenstein

• Length: 4 Months

• Department: Diversity and Inclusion team, HR department

How did you get there?

During my CEMS studies I was looking for a company, where there is an inspiring working atmosphere and the opportunity for further personal and career development is possible. On a CEMS event I had my first informal interview, which led to various follow-up interviews until I ended up in the Customer Care department. Here I was supporting also the HR department by creating a Phone Selling Skills training. After 8 months I ended up in the Headquarter, in the recently formed D&I unit of the HR department of the Hilti Corporation in Schaan, Liechtenstein. My role during the internship was to analyze the current situation of inclusion, gender, generational and global diversity at the Hilti Corporation with a special focus of the market organizations in the Czech and Slovak Republic. Based on this I wrote my Master Thesis.

About Diversity and Inclusion at Hilti:

Although D&I has long been embedded in the company values and culture of Hilti, it is only recently that a concise global D&I framework is being developed. Hilti has realized the need to leverage the growth potential that lies in the further exploration of diverse thoughts, skills and talents, thus D&I is a core element of the strategic imperative “high-performing global team” of the strategy Champion 2020. At Hilti inclusion is highlighted probably even more than diversity. Hilti strongly believes that an inclusive behavior is about welcoming, valuing and respecting differences and connecting to people with different backgrounds. Without inclusion there is no diversity in the long run.

Diversity means all the ways people differ in various – visible and invisible – aspects like ethnicity, age, language, gender, nationality, religion, family status, education, skills, talents, value systems, thought processes etc. Hilti has decided to primarily address only three diversity dimensions that will presumably have the highest impact on the organization: gender and generational diversity and on a corporate level, the global diversity in leadership. The aim is not to leverage these three dimensions just for the sake of - for example - having more women, but with the intention of gaining different thoughts and ideas underlying the different gender backgrounds. global D&I framework is being developed. Hilti has realized the need to leverage the growth potential that lies in the further exploration of diverse thoughts, skills and talents, thus D&I is a core element of the strategic imperative “high-performing global team” of the strategy Champion 2020. At Hilti inclusion is highlighted probably even more than diversity. Hilti strongly believes that an inclusive behavior is about welcoming, valuing and respecting differences and connecting to people with different backgrounds. Without inclusion there is no diversity in the long run. Diversity means all the ways people differ in various – visible and invisible – aspects like ethnicity,

- Hilti

Nowadays the topic of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is becoming a top strategic priority on the agenda of many companies. Here in this article, we will try to bring a closer picture of this topic at Hilti by explaining how it is understood at our company and how it is reflected in everyday life by introducing 3 CEMSies that had the op-portunity to go abroad with Hilti for their CEMS internship.

CEMSies at Hilti

Moreover, Hilti invests in the education and training

of its employees and supports the movement to

different functions both nationally and internationally,

starting with interns. A good example of this is

the fact that many CEMSies had already had the

opportunity to make their internship in one of the

market organizations abroad. For instance, Lucia

Oravcová in Kaufering, Germany and Jiří Jindrák in

Moscow, Russia. Here is a short introduction from them.

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Lucia Oravcová

• Country of the internship: Germany, Kaufering


• Department: Logistics Central Europe – Materials Management / Materials Manager; Master Thesis Intern


My first contact with Hilti, as for a girl not completely involved in engineering and handymen work, was during the introduction of business project topics last year at VŠE. I got interested in the company and its core values. Throughout the semester everybody I met from Hilti just supported the “charisma” I thought Hilti represents. Therefore, I decided to apply for a part-time position within the company. I got an offer for Brand Intern in Strategic Marketing department in Czech republic with the future possibility of internship abroad. After 8 months I got relocated to Logistics department in Kaufering (near Munich). Currently I am put into planner’s shoes experiencing daily material manager’s business. Moreover, I am responsible for a project as a part of my Master thesis.

Main learning point:

Always aspire for the best in you and it will get recognized.

How do you perceive diversity and inclusion in the everyday life of Hilti?

Hilti up to great extent dwells on choosing right people for the company, who share same values as themselves. It may seem that there is no diversity as a result; the opposite is true, though. Both teams, I have had the opportunity to be in so far, have been very unique in its composition of different personalities. That has challenged individuals to cope with various people’s characters, find common ground for cooperation and in the end it has stimulated team’s performance. Furthermore, since we are the largest Logistics region within Hilti world and supply 14 foreign countries, national diversity plays role on the daily basis.

Jiří Jindrák

• Country of the internship: Russian Federation, Moscow


• Department: Strategic Marketing / Business Analyst


My journey with Hilti started 3.5 years ago and it has been an awesome ride so far! At that time I knew couple of current Hilti employees from the CEMS events. Having that little inside information about the people-oriented way of management all over the company, made me apply for an internship by Hilti. Even though there was no official internship opening on the website, I have sent a motivation letter and CV anyway. Couple of days after Hilti invited me for an interview, which was followed by a couple of phone interviews with the global HR and Moscow office and exactly 1 week from the first interview, I got the offer to join the Moscow office team for a one-year internship starting in 3 months. I have spent an incredible year in the Moscow office, working on diverse projects that had an immediate impact on the business, interacting with the global team and top management. When I was leaving back to Prague to finish my studies I got not only the offer to join sales team in Prague office for part-time but also the offer to come back after my graduation on the position of Product Manager responsible for Eastern Europe and CIS region.

Main learning point:

If you want go fast go alone, if you want go far go from the basics and with the team (better if divers)

How do you perceive diversity and inclusion in the everyday life of Hilti?

From the first day I joined Hilti I am constantly impressed by how much the company reflects the importance of diversity and inclusion and how much the company invests into diversity across all functions. The topic of diversity gets even more complex if you take into account the size of the company and industry segment of Hilti operations. Already from the beginning of my internship I was a part of cross-national project teams that were built to have maximum diversity in order to bring the most complex solutions. As a Product Manager I have relatively big international exposure and interactions not only with the Headquarters in Lichtenstein but also with organizations around the world and there is a visible significant shift from German speaking, male type of organization to an international, gender-equal company. This gives enormous number of possibilities to move up and across the departments in the whole company.

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How big an emphasis do you put on equal opportunities in the workplace?

Our company makes a great effort to promote equal opportunities. Last year, Plzeňský Prazdroj was awarded the Family & Work Audit Certificate by the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The audit focused on a number of our business activities and its scope included many different areas such as corporate culture, working hours, work arrangement, people development, etc.

Research has shown that it makes sense to pursue these topics and that it brings benefits not only to employees but also to the employer. Those businesses which are led by gender-balanced teams achieve better financial results, for example.

What particular things do you do to put these findings into practice?

One of our objectives is to support the development of talented women. Among the key barriers we identified in this regard were: low flexibility of the working environment, the limited room women have to balance their professional and private life, and a male-dominated culture. Therefore, we decided to implement our own mentoring program focused on key talents among our women,

we have engaged in the programs already existing on the market, we support maintaining contact with our employees on maternity or parental leave and make it easier for them to return to work, and we have introduced home office and integrated diversity into our people management processes.

In addition, we review our internal processes on a regular basis to check whether they provide equal opportunities to women and men. For example, we monitor whether remuneration for work in the same positions is gender-neutral or, in a selection process, if there is a gender balance between the candidates to fill vacancies. We have also been successful in challenging the cliché that certain jobs can only be done successfully by men, such as in sales, or, vice versa, by women in human resources.

How do you handle maternity leave and women returning to work?

We make efforts to keep in touch with our colleagues on maternity or parental leave. Sometimes they leave their job for quite a long time when the childcare is continuous, i.e., they look after more than one child, and then come back to work only after five or more years. Naturally, the departments in which they worked before they

left have gone through some major changes during that time. People have changed, organisational structures have changed, and so has the working environment, tools, systems, ways of doing things...so it is crucial for those interested in returning to work that they stay in touch and take an interest in what is happening in the business. In our policies and guidelines, we have embedded the option of working from home – the home office, which can be used by all employees whose job makes it possible, including men, of course. Occasional or regular work at home office is a significant support for many of our employees in that it helps them balance their professional and family life.

Supporting diversity is part of our responsible approach to doing business, but we also view it as a competitive advantage. Among the key triggers for us to take the initiative in this particular area were the results of the “Woman Matters” survey, which focused on the status of women in business as well as the confidence voiced by our company leaders that greater gender diversity can lead to greater diversity in thinking, innovations, better engagement and communication with female consumers, and better teamwork, explained Drahomíra Mandíková, Corporate Affairs Director at Plzeňský Prazdroj.

The ability to promote diversity is a competitive advantage for a business

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- Plzeňský Prazdroj

The Responsible Global Leadership

Seminar (RGL) is a two-day course,

which takes place at the beginning of

Term 2. The main goal of RGL Seminar

is to bring together representatives

from Corporate and/or Social partners,

professors and students, for an

experiential learning experience. This

seminar is relatively new in the CEMS

curriculum and we organized it for

the second time in our CEMS Prague

history. After a great feedback from

the last year, the seminar was held

in cooperation with our corporate

partner Plzeňský Prazdroj again.

Our RGL Seminar took place in Velké

Popovice, where Velkopopovický

Kozel (one of the brands of Plzeňský

Prazdroj) is based. We started in the

morning with a presentation held by

Mrs. Pavlína Kalousová (Business for

Society). In her opening presentation,

she introduced us a general insight

into the CSR issue. This presentation

was followed by a discussion and

another presentation of CSR issue,

this time focused on concrete CSR

programmes running in Plzeňský

Prazdroj. The rest of the morning was

dedicated to a students’ team work.

After a great lunch in Kozel’s branded

restaturant Kozlovna, we started the

afternoon with presentations of team

work outcomes, students’ suggestions

and ideas. Some of these ideas were

so good, that the Plzeňský Prazdroj’s

representatives brought into the

consideration possible implementation

into the real business life. In the end of

the day, we had a chance to visit the

Kozel’s brewery, and finally, we could

enjoy the highlight of the tour - we met

the goat Olda, the mascot of the Kozel

beer and the whole brewery.

The second day of the seminar was

devoted to environmental and social

issues. Except of interesting lectures

covering approach of Plzeňský

Prazdroj to these topics, we could visit

a water treatment plant, which was for

the most of our students unforgettable

experience.

I believe, we all enjoyed this seminar

and I look forward to our cooperation

with Plzeňský Prazdroj next year again.

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The main goal of RGL Seminar

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- Klára Vítečková

Responsible Global Leadership Seminar

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Business Project within the CEMS Programme

The Business Project is a consultancy-like project. international teams of 3-4 students solve a real business problem as a one-semester part-time activity tutored by both the company and a professor in parallel. Business projects reinforce the CEMS partnership between universities, students and companies. It amounts to 15 ECTS.

How are Student Teams Created?

At the beginning of the term (usually during the first half of February) students get a list of topics and project details via e-mail. At the beginning of the term they are required to attend a session where corporate representatives present the project topics. Students have possibility to find out more about all topics and they get answers to their questions. After the presentation, student give preferences to topics. Based on personal preferences, the teams of 3-4 students are created.

Student teams also presented the results of their Business Projects to top-management of a particular company.

VŠE CEMS Team would like to thank all students, company representatives and tutors for their efforts through the whole term!

- Šárka Otčenášková

On Friday, May 22, 2015 International Management/CEMS Students at the University of Economics, Prague gath-ered to present the results of their Business Projects. VŠE CEMS Team wanted to enable students, corporate part-ners representatives and tutors to see also other teams Business Projects solutions. Each student presentation was followed by comments from the corporate representative and the tutor, fellow students asked many ques-tions. This form of business project presentation was realized for the third time.

CEMS Business Projects – Term 2 2014/2015

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Students are thus offered the opportunity:

• to gain insight into business life

• to train their analytical and problem-solving skills

• to apply research methods

• to transfer theoretical knowledge into practice

• to learn process management

• to acquire social skills

• to get to know potential employers and re-define

their professional goals

Students are expected:

• to take responsibility for the project

• to strive for the best results

• to share the workload equally within the team

• to communicate well with their tutors

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Company Topic Logo

1. ABB B2B (business-to-business) online marketing and its contribution to sales

2. A.T. Kearney Go-To-Market Strategy of a new Joint Venture of Large Czech Telecom and Utility Players

3. Google Czech Digital Growth Engine: Supporting Digital Entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic

4. HILTI Define strategy and activities for Hilti to penetra-te B2B rental market in civil engineering segment

5. L‘ORÉAL Driving traffic to the point of sale

6. McKinsey & Company

New marketing and sales model for an insurance company (as part of its overall rebranding and brand repositioning program)

7.SABMiller/Plzeňský Prazdroj

“Winning the next generation with cool beer”

8.SABMiller/Plzeňský Prazdroj

Where will be the future of Czech and Slovak beer ON-trade market in second half of 21st century, what are synergies and main differences in each market?

9. Škoda Auto Customer satisfaction strategy for fleet custo-mers in automotive business

10. Unibail -Rodamco

How to retain customers despite construction works in a shopping centre?

10 Business projects topics:

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Following the submissions procedure of the 1st round, 80 students advanced to the 2nd round of the admission procedure and thus participated in the CEMS assessment center. There are 2 psychologists, 2 members of the CEMS office, 3-4 company representatives and 15 students per day. Students are assessed through many perspectives – how they work individually, in groups, their motivation, behavior in stressful situations, responsibility, flexibility, self-confidence and communication skills. At the end of the day, each student gets feedback from psychologists and is also interviewed by the academic director and programme manager. After careful consideration, 51 of the original 80 participants were admitted.

The whole admission procedure is completed in the 3rd round. The enrollment takes place on July 3, 2015, by which time the students must have successfully completed their Bachelor’s Degree.


The CEMS assessment center for new CEMS applicants was held between March 23 – 27, 2015. Our own CEMS assessment center is organized for the purpose of choosing the best CEMS students at the University of Economics, Prague.

CEMS Assessment Centre

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The programme management realizes that long-term development of the CEMS/International Management programme is only sustainable if all stakeholders participate. For this reason, representatives of all stakeholders – corporate partners, students, alumni and teachers - were invited to jointly propose solutions for further programme development.

Participants were divided into 4 teams. In each team there was a representative from each type of stakeholder. The “Ice-Breaking“ game in the introductory part proved to be very successful, the game encouraged creativity and relations within each group.

The main part of the event was focused on 2 topics: “Ideal candidates entering the CEMS programme” and “Ideal alumni 2 years after graduation”. Another task, on which the groups worked, was the identification of one particular problem, which each team considered as the most relevant, and presentation of possible solutions. The conclusions of the workshop will be subsequently assessed and may be implemented into the curriculum.

The last “Round Table” took place in February 2013 and was, besides other issues, also focused on the profile of CEMS graduates. The first event of this kind was held in December 2011, with the key agenda being promotion and academic aspects of the programme.


Representatives of the CEMS/International Management Programme at the University of Economics, Prague, which is taught at the Faculty of Business Administration, organised a workshop “Round Table“ on April 21, 2015. The aim of this event was to get suggestions and ideas that will lead to the further development of this programme.

Workshop CEMS Round Table

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- Daniela Zemanova, Kristina Baraćová

CEMS Club Corporate events

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Cems Day @ Google

Have you ever wonder, what is the Google magic all about? We had a chance to visit Google offices at Smíchov and spend the whole morning with Google representatives. Through marketing strategies and brainstorming, we learned about online marketing activities. After the educative part, seven Google employees, including Tania le Moigne, shared with us their career story together with useful tips about getting into Google.

CEMS Rotation Dinner

The rotation dinner brought together our corporate partners and students at the beautiful restaurant Pálffy Palac. During three course meal students rotated to meet company representatives of of P&G, Hilti and Unibail-Rodamco. Even though the food was delicious, the students were mainly hungry for information and networking. Company Representatives answered all the questions about career opportunities, corporate culture and everyday business, all in very relaxed atmosphere.

Breakfast with Group SEB

A world leader in small household appliances, Groupe SEB, has invited us to spend the morning at their offices. We had a chance to meet various managers, who shared with us their career paths and presented us their departments. Apart of it, we learned something new about marketing and growing strategies. The whole morning was rounded off with Group SEB product presentation.

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Plzeňský Prazdroj Skill seminar

This time, we met at the office of Plzeňský Prazdroj to discuss the topic change management. The tutor infected us with her enthusiasm and encouraged us to learn about how to influence people and enforce the change in the organisation.

Škoda Skill seminar

The two day long skill seminar took traditionally place in Mlada Boleslav. During the first day, we learned how to deal with pressure and controversial topics together with mastering our communication skills. The second day, after the hard work of first day, we had a lot of fun during test drives, visit of Škoda museum and factory or other sightseeing.

Brunch with managing director

Great minds came together for brunch and had a unique opportunity to meet Arnaud Burlin, managing director for Central Europe and Austria of Unibail-Rodamco, Europe‘s leading commercial property company. We have experience what is like to be the managing director of high performing regions in real estate. Moreover we. discovered insights of business leadership and the most challenging questions in the business.

CEMS Club Partners

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CEMS Welcome Event

In the beginning of summer semester CEMS Club Prague organized Welcome Event for all the CEMS students and corporate partners. This event was held in Malostranská Beseda and all of the corporate partners presented their companies and also job opportunities for CEMS students. Completely new CEMS Club Prague as well as its president was introduced during this event. After the formal introduction part everybody was networking and meeting their new classmates and the corporate partners.

CEMS Teambuilding

Every proper semester has to start with a teambuilding weekend and this is the reason why Cems Club Prague organized one. First grade students and new foreign students spent the whole weekend in a weekend house enjoying beauties of Czech nature out of Prague. Many sports activities as well as night games were prepared for everybody. The topic of this weekend was Sea Villains and students prepared many original costumes so the party could start.

CEMS Drinks

Every Thursday night CEMS students are gathering in a different club or bar to share their studying experience and get to know each other much better. These events were positively perceived by foreign CEMSies who started to feel more as a part of CEMS Prague community.

CEMS Gala Nigh

This summer semester Gala Night was inspired by French burlesque and the whole event was held in Royal Club that perfectly fitted this topic. Red color everywhere, boa, burlesque show and moreover great atmosphere could our guests feel everywhere. Students, corporate partners and alumni enjoyed delicious food, welcome drinks and great music.

Farewell party

With the amazing view over Prague, we gave a farewell to the summer semester 2015 at the restaurant Zvonařka. Full of burgers and great Czech beer, we shared our plans for the upcoming summer holidays, stories from the classrooms and tips for exams. We also said goodbay to some of our foreign students and second year students, who are about to finish their studies, with the promise to see each other soon.

CEMS Rookie Weekend

Since we had a pleasure to welcome new and fresh Cemsies in our community, we prepared a weekend full of teambuilding games for them. In Kanina, beautiful village near Mělník, we spent two days getting to know each other better, playing outdoor games and getting wild during the Wild Wild CEMS party.

- Kristýna Haškovcová, Daniela ZemanováCEMS Club Events

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http://cemsmim.VŠE.cz/englishhttp://cems.czhttp://www.cems.org

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Published byCEMS Club Prague, o.s.

University of Economics, PragueNám. Winstona Churchilla 4

Prague, Czech Republic

Editor-in-ChiefDaniela Zemanová

Contributing writers Daniela Zemanová, Ekaterina Ilinskaya

Jakub Mazal, Jan Volný,Klára Vítečková, Kristýna Haškovcová,

Šárka Otčenášková,

Graphic DesignEkaterina Ilinskaya

PhotographyVarious sources

Our CEMS Corporate Partners

No reprints without prior permission of the publisher

cems insider spring 2015

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