Students are split into one of the two projects

• BCG| European Automotive Industry  
  

  The focus is to develop a strategic perspective on the future of the European automotive industry in light of profound structural change. The project aims to assess how European OEMs and suppliers can sustain competitiveness while navigating key disruptions such as electrification, software-defined vehicles, autonomous driving, shifting global value chains, regulatory pressure, and increasing competition from new global players.
  The project includes three phases:

  1. Analysis of the current state of the European automotive industry, including competitive positioning, technological capabilities, regulatory environment, and key market and geopolitical trends;
  2. Identification of strategic options and opportunity areas for European automotive players across the value chain with a focus on technology, partnerships, operating models, and industrial policy levers;
  3. Development of a roadmap that outlines strategic priorities, initiatives, and implementation steps to secure the long-term competitiveness and resilience of the European automotive industry.

• GreCo| Strategic Risk Advisory

  If you’re excited about global business, future‑oriented challenges, and contributing real strategic impact from day one, step into the world of GrECo - where risk becomes opportunity, and your ideas help shape tomorrow’s strategy. 

  You will work directly with top management, gaining visibility and influence rarely offered to graduates. From day one, you will contribute to strategic decisions that shape the GrECo Group’s corporate strategy across 21 countries. 

  You’ll experience what real consulting feels like: analysing clients and markets, investigating transformation risks, developing forward‑thinking concepts, and presenting recommendations that drive company‑wide action. This is not a research project; your work will have a direct operational and strategic impact. 

  GrECo’s international footprint will give you exposure to multiple markets and diverse industries such as financial institutions, renewable energy, construction, logistics, agriculture, and more - providing a unique panoramic understanding of risk landscapes early in your career. 

   
• In all projects, the challenge is to connect theory to a real-life business case, paired with data collection and evaluation. Constant status meetings will ensure the exchange of ideas and feedback among all three groups as well as the academic supervisors and the partner companies

The aims of the projects are

• to investigate and structure a complex management challenge that an international company faces
• to provide an in-depth analysis of the current status by undergoing a thorough survey
• to provide strategic solutions that are viable under the given organizational conditions

After completing this project students will have

• gained insights into what challenges a global company faces in an international management environment and how it deals with such issues
  
• learned how to analyze and structure real-life management situations in a global context
• combined and applied several theoretical concepts to the international management challenge
• received feedback from practitioners on the outcome of their analysis and the viability of their recommendations

• develop critical thinking and defend their developed arguments in class and in front of practitioners
• organize teamwork including presentation skills
• present and "sell" their solutions in a professional way, through presentation skills and support of suitable media

You need to attend all sessions. However, we will not meet in class at every unit indicated in the course catalog as some of those sessions are blocked for group work. Hence, you will not have to attend all of those meetings but only those for your group (please block all of them in your calendars). More information will be given during the kick-off. Note that there may also be scheduling changes (e.g. due to unforeseen travel by corporate partner managers)

Sessions with mandatory attendance are likely to be the following (ATTENTION, subject to change):

For GreCo

• March 16, ~14-16:30
• March 24, ~14:30-17:30
• April 20, ~14-16:30
• May 11 (replacement for April 20), ~14-16:30
• June 22nd, ~14-17:30

For BCG

• March 16, ~16:30 - 19:00
• March 24, ~14:30 - 17:30
• April 20, ~14-16:30
• May 11 (replacement for April 20), ~16:30 - 19:00
• June 26, ~14-18:00 

This business project uses a combination of discussions with company representatives and external solution providers, feedback sessions, presentations, group coaching, as well as individual/group work outside the classroom. Groups of students will be formed before the kick-off session.

In a first kick-off session with the supervising faculty, the challenges and milestones of the case will be outlined. At the same time, students will be familiarized with the guiding principles of project work, with the project plan and rules in handling the supervising faculty/ company interaction. Afterward, the students will officially kick-off the project in collaboration with their company. In a plenary session, the company will outline the challenges from their perspective and provide useful input for the project (e.g., experience on former, related projects) and the specific challenges to be dealt with. As a result of that, students will come up with the precise scope of the project. Subsequently, the students will receive information on the tools and will start the collaboration with the company.

Throughout the process, various feedback loops (in coaching and feedback sessions with the faculty and/or the company) will be installed to make sure that students are on the right track and get relevant input needed in each project phase.

Results will be presented to company managers at the midterm and end of this process. The verbal and printed presentations will be assessed. Students will have to actively participate in class, hold group presentations and summarize their findings in a final report (final presentation document). It is the policy of the class that no late assignments will be accepted under any circumstances. As this course format heavily relies on personal interaction between students, company and faculty, presence in sessions is mandatory. More than two times absence during the sessions announced at the beginning of the seminar will lead to exclusion from the seminar.

Allocation to one of the projects is done based on students' interests (survey) and CVs.

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Please note that due to the nature of projects, information as stated on this page is subject to potential changes. Specifically note that most classes will be reserved for work-on-project and/or coaching sessions (except for the ones indicated above). Consequently, you most probably do not have to be in class every week all the time

However, we expect that you are available and working on your project in the overall timeframe between first and last session as indicated in the syllabus. 

Note also that additional meetings or telcos will come up to allow for extended interaction with the corporate partner (these will be arranged flexibly between you and the corporate partner).