Syllabus
Registration via LPIS
| Day | Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | 03/28/17 | 09:00 AM - 02:00 PM | D1.1.074 |
| Tuesday | 04/04/17 | 09:00 AM - 02:00 PM | D1.1.074 |
| Tuesday | 05/02/17 | 09:00 AM - 02:00 PM | D1.1.074 |
| Tuesday | 05/09/17 | 09:00 AM - 02:00 PM | D1.1.074 |
| Tuesday | 05/16/17 | 09:00 AM - 02:00 PM | D1.1.074 |
| Tuesday | 05/23/17 | 09:00 AM - 02:00 PM | D1.1.074 |
| Tuesday | 06/13/17 | 09:00 AM - 02:00 PM | D1.1.074 |
| Tuesday | 06/20/17 | 09:00 AM - 02:00 PM | D1.1.074 |
The International Business Projects reinforce the CEMS partnership between universities and companies in jointly shaping international management education. The course is designed as a real life learning experience for students. It provides students with a unique opportunity to gain insights into corporate practice. International student teams solve a real business, strategy and/or management problem as a one-term activity tutored by university faculty and the company.
For more than a century, L‘Oréal has devoted its energy and its competencies solely to one business: beauty. It is a business rich in meaning, as it enables all individuals to express their personalities, gain self-confidence and open up to others. L’Oréal has set itself the mission of offering all women and men worldwide the best of cosmetics innovation in terms of quality, efficacy and safety. By meeting the infinite diversity of beauty needs and desires all over the world.
L’Oréal Luxe opens a unique world of beauty. Its international brands incarnate all the facets of elegance and refinement in three major specializations: skin care, make-up and perfume. L’Oréal Luxe products are available at department stores, cosmetics stores, travel retail, but also own-brand boutiques and dedicated e-commerce websites.
About Biotherm: Water is the origin of life. Mostly unexplored, the earth's living waters are rich with millions of microorganisms, plankton and algae. Because they share specific biological characteristics and affinity with our skin, aquatic active ingredients have the remarkable ability to regenerate, repair and protect it. A pioneer in skin biology since discovering the healing benefits of Life PLanktonTM in 1952, Biotherm uses the incredible force of these aquatic ingredients in advanced skincare solutions. Through expertise in Blue Biotechnology, L’Oreal infuses these powerful actives in unparalleled fresh and pleasurable textures for a healthy sustainable beauty. These iconic products include Life Plankton Essence, Aquasource, Blue Therapy, Lait Corporel and Biotherm Homme men skincare.
New international Biotherm skincare line focusing on the global detox trend – recruiting new target groups on the Austrian market
Group 1: Selective (perfumery) market shoppers
Group 2: Mass market (pharmacy) shoppers
Group 3: E-commerce-only shoppers
All 3 groups will:
- Conduct a quantitative study researching shopper habits according to a specific distribution channel
- Conduct qualitative consumer visits in order to create relevant consumer insights
- Define relevant touch points and formulate a 360° marketing mix strategy
- Suggest additional product or service offer(s) according to gained consumer insights
The aims of the course are to:
● investigate and structure a complex strategic management challenge that a company faces in its international market environment,
● conduct an in-depth analysis of the current status,
● provide alternative strategic solutions that are viable under the given organizational and financial constraints,
● propose a decision for the most promising solution, and
● support this decision with key arguments based on theoretical considerations and empirical findings.
This business project uses a combination of discussions with company representatives, feedback sessions, presentations, group coaching and feedback, as well as individual/group work outside the classroom. Groups of students will be formed in the kick-off session.
In a first kick-off session with supervising faculty, the challenges and milestones of the real-life international strategy and/or management case are outlined. At the same time, students are familiarized with the guiding principles of project work, with the project plan and rules in handling supervising faculty/corporate partner interaction.
After familiarizing the students with the international strategy and/or management challenge, contact with the corporate partner is established. In a plenary session, the corporate partner outlines the business challenge from their perspective and provides useful input into the business, the market situation, and the specific challenge to be dealt with.
Subsequently, groups of students work on their assigned real-life international strategy and/or management case the firm is currently facing. Groups collect relevant data through secondary and primary (qualitative and/or quantitative) market research. Based on these analyses, recommendations for the specific international strategy and/or management challenges are prepared and substantiated through theory and market research results.
Throughout the process, various feedback loops (in coaching sessions with the individual faculty supervising group work, in plenary sessions with all groups/academic supervisors (tentative presentation), or in coaching and feedback sessions with the corporate partner) are installed to make sure that students are on the right track and get the input needed in each project phase.
Results are presented to the corporate partner at the 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.
It is the express 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, corporate partner, and faculty, presence in sessions is mandatory.
Assessment is based on the quality of the tentative presentation and final presentation, the participation during the classes, group members’ peer rating, and the final report. The minimum score to pass the course is half of the highest score for each of these elements.
Students will be assessed on their ability to
● understand and analyze international strategy and/or management challenges,
● use appropriate analytical techniques and deliver relevant market research information,
● present results in high quality.
This implies an ability to work in teams. Students failing to participate in their teams will lose the marks for that piece of work and thereby fail the entire course.
Group level (70%)
- Tentative presentation (20%)
For the tentative presentation, student groups need to prepare a ppt-file to be presented within 30 minutes that summarizes their first findings concisely and to the point.
- Final company presentation (30%)
For the oral presentation, student groups need to prepare a ppt-file to be presented within 45 minutes that summarizes their findings and recommendations concisely and to the point.
- Final report (20%)
The final report includes a documentation of the final recommendations and the methodology applied (overview of data collection process, which primary and secondary data sources were used, etc.).
Individual level (30%)
- Peer review (10%)
On an individual basis, group members are asked to evaluate the contribution of fellow group members to the work process throughout the project (in terms of contributing to the content but also to workflow issues).
- Participation (20%)
To assess individual course participation, we use the following indicative marking scheme
● Excellent contributions 10 points.
● Good contributions 8 points.
● Satisficing contributions 6 points.
● Weak and insufficient contributions 4 points or less.
WU will retain a copy of all coursework for Teaching Quality Assessment as part of the ongoing quality assessment programme. It is important, therefore, that students make a second copy for their own purposes.
Only CEMS MIM students are eligible to take thiscourse. 10 students make a course viable at MSc level unless specialcircumstances prevail. If fewer than 10 students register, the course will notrun.
Viktoria Koch - Marketing Manager BIOTHERM | HELENA RUBINSTEIN - is your corporate partner coach
E-Mail: viktoria.koch@loreal.com , Tel. +43 1 536 51 489
Univ. Prof. Dr. Jan Hendrik Fisch is your faculty coach
E-Mail: jan.fisch@wu.ac.at , Tel. 01 31336 5121.
Mrs. Ursula Zeller-Nürnberger provides administrative support for this course
E-Mail: ursula.zeller-nuernberger@wu.ac.at, Tel: 01 31336 5120.
All matriculated students automatically receive an e-mail account from the University. This is known as a student’s WU email account, and the email address is of the form: h1234567@wu.ac.at. Students can access their emails via a direct web interface, allowing access from most web browsers virtually anywhere on the internet.
The Institute and other University services such as the Library and CEMS office will use this email address (only) to contact you. You should therefore check this email account frequently and regularly. Should you wish to read your email on an account other than your WU email account, you should enable an email auto-forward from your WU account to this other address by following the advice on the IT Services (ZID) web pages: http://www.wu.ac.at/zid
The course website can be found on the Learn@WU system, which you can access through the WU Student portal (https://learn.wu.ac.at/). You will be able to find a copy of this course outline, course handouts, announcements, etc. It is important that you regularly check the Learn@WU system in order to keep up to date with the course. Course instructors and secretaries will use the system Learn@WU Mail function to send out important announcements to the whole class. It is vitally important that you check your WU mailbox regularly or set it up so that it forwards messages automatically to your regular e-mail account.
Time frame: Tuesday 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, actual course times to be confirmed
28.03. 10:00 – 14:00 h: IIB Kick-off Meeting – plenary session
Location: course room
Learning objectives
After this session, students will be familiar with the international strategy and/or management challenge presented to them as a real-life case. They are exposed to the key questions of their real-life case. Moreover, they are informed on organizational details of the course, milestones of the project and guidelines for deliverables, as well as grading.
04.04. 14:00 – 16:00 h: Corporate Partner Kick-off Meeting – plenary session
Location: L’Oréal Österreich GmbH, Am Europlatz 3, Gebäude B, 1120 Wien // Meeting-Raum TBC
Learning Objectives
After this session, students will have gained substantial insights into how the corporate partner sees the international strategy and/or management challenges. Within this session, students will have time to polish their research questions and work plan.
02.05. 10:00 – 14:00 h: IIB Coaching I – plenary and group sessions
Location: course room
Learning Objectives
Students have the opportunity to discuss their research findings, the research process and open issues with the faculty coach. After discussing questions of general interest, we split up in groups.
09.05. 10:00 – 14:00 h: Corporate Partner Coaching – plenary and group sessions
Location: course room
Learning Objectives
Students will have the opportunity to substantiate/evaluate the findings from their first project phase with the corporate partner. This will deepen the students’ understanding for the corporate partner’s business and the related challenges.
15.-16.05. Individual Coaching Sessions – group sessions
(contact Ursula Zeller-Nürnberger for individual appointments)
Location: Faculty office
Learning Objectives
Students have the opportunity to discuss their research findings, the research process and open issues with the faculty coach. In particular, students will have the opportunity to present a draft of their tentative presentation.
23.05. 10:00 – 13:00 h including group lunch: Tentative Presentations - plenary session
Location: L’Oréal Österreich GmbH, Am Europlatz 3, Gebäude B, 1120 Wien // Meeting-Raum TBC
Learning Objectives
Besides methodological issues (which research design will be applied, sources used in secondary data analysis, etc.), students will present their findings after a first phase of research to the IIB faculty and will have the opportunity to discuss their research findings, the research process and open issues.
13.06. 10:00 – 14:00 h: IIB Coaching II – plenary and group sessions
Location: course room
Learning Objectives
Students have the opportunity to discuss their research findings, the research process and open issues with the faculty coach. After discussing questions of general interest, we split up in groups.
20.06. 14:00 – 17:00 h: Final Presentations to the Corporate Partner with L’Oréal Luxe management / HR attending TBC - plenary session
Location: L’Oréal Österreich GmbH, Am Europlatz 3, Gebäude B, 1120 Wien // Meeting-Raum TBC
Learning Objectives
Students get the chance to present their work – research and recommendations – on the international strategy and/or management challenge to the corporate partner. They get feedback from the corporate partner on the outcome of their analysis and the viability of their recommendations.
Please note: The syllabus and all information related to this project may be subject to change.
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