Studying responsible business in Finnish nature

Sauna. Snow. Santa Claus. Pure nature. These are the words that usually come to a foreigner's mind when thinking about Finland. Many foreign students are willing to come to Finland to get some international experience. This year Lahti University of Applied Sciences (LUAS) offered them some information about the recycling business and about a tree’s journey from wood to waste. What does it required to organize an international week, and what could it offer to students and companies?

In spring 2014 some teachers and students at Lahti University of Applied Sciences organized an intensive course together with local companies. This was aimed at students who are interested in environmental matters. The theme of the week was “Responsible Business - Life cycle and environmental management”. Altogether 48 students from ten different countries arrived in Lahti to participate in this course. To get a more specific understanding about organizing this kind of week, we interviewed Annika Myllyoja, a student at the University, and Anna Pajari, a lecturer from the Faculty of Business Studies, who both took part in organizing the international week.

- The preparations start by deciding a good theme for the week. It has to be interesting for both business studies and environmental engineering students. The theme must also be something in which competence from both fields can be used. After the theme has been chosen, we contact companies that might find it interesting, Anna Pajari says.

This year the companies who helped to organize the international week were Isku, Kuusakoski, UPM, Päijät-Hämeen Jätehuolto and Heinolan Latu. The programme of the week was created around a tree’s life cycle because wood is such an important raw material in Finland. 

- The week started with a visit to UPM's forest, where we went to see logging areas. In addition, UPM staff told us about their jobs and the procurement of wood in general. Heinolan Latu made the programme of the day possible by serving us coffee and tea. In the forest, we also had some activities and a competition related to nature. Next we went to Isku to get to know the different production stages of wood, and finally we went to Kuusakoski and PHJ to hear about the recycling of wood, Pajari tells.

Together with the participating companies, teachers planned a preliminary assignment for students, and the students completed this in national teams before the course started. The best of them were presented to the companies during the international week, so the companies could benefit from the students' output.

- Generally, the companies have their own interests when they plan the assignments with teachers. In some previous years, the companies have wanted to do preliminary assignments that differ from each other. They have even said from which country they would like to get students to do the assignment, Pajari mentions.

LUAS students had a big role in organizing the international week especially when it came to entertaining and giving guidance to the foreign students. They took part in the programme during the week and also planned some evening activities for the foreign students, for example bowling. But how did the LUAS students benefit from this week?

- I was the leader of the organizing team, so I got a lot of experience on how to lead a team. I also had a great chance to get to know students from different cultures, Myllyoja says.

As a conclusion, this kind of week and intensive course is very rewarding to all parties. Hopefully the collaboration with companies will continue in the future and students and companies will benefit from it in the best possible way. It’s always more meaningful to do assignments and projects to real companies than to imaginary ones.

Text: Tella Krigsman and Pauliina Huovila

Photos: Jorma Lempiäinen

Studying beneath the palm trees

Imagine creating a marketing plan for a winery. All right, sounds boring, but what if you had the chance to do it with fun people from all around Europe and in the beautiful city of Valencia? Sounds better, right? Well, that’s what I did when I participated in the International Marketing Week in Valencia, Spain, which was held from 2^nd to 7^th March. In this article I am going to shortly tell about my experiences, and most of all, what I learned. 

The International Marketing Week was organized by Universidad Europea Valencia, and there were participants from all over Europe, altogether from eight different countries: from Finland, Spain, Latvia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands. From our University, Lahti University of Applied Sciences, there were five students including me. The purpose of the week was to produce a marketing plan for an imaginary winery and, at the end of the week, to present the plan to the whole group and the  teachers. 

At the beginning of the week, the whole group of participants visited a real winery located on the outskirts of Valencia. The purpose was to get an idea on how a winery actually operates and what is required to produce different kinds of wines. In the winery, we were able to see the whole production process, and of course,  taste some of the wines. 

After the winery visit, small teams of six people were formed, and the task was given. My team had students from Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Belgium and Spain. It was interesting to work in such a multinational team, because each member had his or her own perspectives about things and lots of different kind of knowledge about different topics. 

For each day, there were different assignments to be done. For example, we had to figure out  our product (red or white wine), the size of the target market and so on. The days were filled with intensive work. After all, this was a competition, and we wanted to give our best. 

When the week was coming to its end, it was time to finish the assignment, finalize our PowerPoint presentation and present it to the whole group and the teachers. 

All in all the whole week was amazing and a different kind of experience, partly because of the exotic study location. In the evenings, there were lots of activities arranged by Spanish tutors, and it was nice to see Valencia through their eyes and experience. In fact, I  believe that Finnish companies could benefit from these kinds of excursions. Companies could act as clients and give assignments to universities which could then assign them to international students. Consequently, companies could get fresh ideas and new perspectives from students.

As a conclusion, I learned a lot from my team members about different kinds of study methods and how to make a working marketing plan in such a short time. Although the week consisted of lots of stress and hard work, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Text: Tiina Kiviniemi

Photos: Tiina Kiviniemi

Export planning and tulips in the Netherlands

Groetjes uit Nederland! Greetings from the Netherlands! At the moment I am spending my spring semester studying at the InHolland University of Applied Sciences in Alkmaar, the Netherlands. The spring has already sprung here. The tulip season has started, and the trees are getting greener fast. Time is also flying at the University where we have to do, or have a chance to do, school projects.  Generally, the school doesn’t have actual real-life companies for the projects like we have in Finland, so the projects are mostly based on role-play.  However, in this period we started a new project which was assigned by a real company called Rondje Regio. 

Rondje Regio is a Dutch tourism company which arranges trips and events for groups and companies. Now the company is launching a new product to the market, the amfibike. The amfibike is a combination of a bicycle and a boat. It has pedals, and it can go both on land and on water. Rondje Regio has found the legislation in the Netherlands to be too restrictive, and that’s why the company wants to present the amfibike in international markets. Now the company has asked us students to study the markets in five different countries, and based on the study we have to make an export plan for the company. One part of the project is to interview someone who is from or has a very close connection to one of the countries. Our project group’s countries are Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary and Poland. The project ends in May and we’re excited to hear what the company thinks about our research.

- I don't think I have ever done a school project for a real-life company, this is the first time. We have had some projects where we had to contact a company, but they were not our commissioners. In general, I think the role play projects are very boring. Some are interesting because of the subject, but they are fake in many ways, says Allard Jansen from my project group. 

There are ten exchange students from Europe in Alkmaar: two from Latvia, two from Spain, two from France and four from Finland. We were divided into four classes with Dutch students. We, the exchange students, have been taken in quite nicely. Although Dutch people speak very good English, many of the students seem to stress a little about speaking only in English.

- One of my weaknesses is my English language. We are “forced” to speak English. It’s hard for me, because of my bad English. Sometimes I have noticed that I am a little bit quiet. If I want to say something and I can’t find the words in English, I quickly give up. Although with every conversation I have, I keep learning. So it’s good training for me, Allard says.

This project has been a new way for the students to learn about business life and also for the company to get to know some possible future employees. The project will end at the end of May, and we can’t wait to see and hear how the company feels about the results of our project.

Text: Anna Ritvanen

Photo: Anna Ritvanen

Online information improves public procurement

Public Procurement websites act as the information catalyst centres that link the customer and the service provider. This can happen independently from which part of the globe investors access such an information databank.

In a recent research project done through Global Research and Data services the findings proved that there is a growing number of countries that have levelled up to open public procurement websites. One aim of the project was to review if the websites offered opportunities for online registration, variety of language preferences, and prices for the items that are needed for the contracting deal. How well the website were laid out was looked at in terms of smooth navigation. Most important, the legitimacy of the information that goes with the business trades and contracts was checked.

The project aimed at select African and Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Iran, Pakistan and a few others. Many of these rapid developing countries in Africa and the neighbouring Middle East have taken into account the importance of investors to be able to rely on procurement websites. Also the different sectors of the governments are challenged to provide more information on contracting and subcontracting in such websites.

Innovative thinking for better solutions

Another important tool that investors and international suppliers would want to associate with their trade, is the need to let innovation to work alongside with public procurement. Many of the challenges that can be faced with any given community, say the need to build a facility such as a school or a hospital, can be done at any level of skill.  Through quality information gathering and innovative thinking, it brings in a far better solution in the areas that need expertise in it. 

Investing in innovative solutions for the procurement sectors plays a big role for a given company that deals with machinery that handles certain resources. It can improve the skills of the workers and make additions to the Research and Development department within the company. 

The project team learned improving public services and wanting to reduce certain costs, can partly be achieved by becoming more innovative in public procurement procedures.

Through innovative thinking and reliable information gathering for contracting, the project brings to the fore front the needs of the community, maintaining transparency within all levels in an organization. Importantly, this can be done without jeopardizing the employment rate or the correct use of the taxpayers’ money.

Text: Stanley Gitonga King’ori