Internationality - Strength in today's businessworld

In today’s business world, international experience is highly valued. Lahti University of Applied Sciences gives its students a great chance to gain international study experience. Internationalization has always added value to university studies but nowadays it’s even more important to gain intercultural competence. Companies appreciate it and are willing to help students to get it. Because internationalization is so important these days, we decided to choose it as the theme for this spring’s @Sight.

Lahti University of Applied Sciences is an international community. The University receives foreign students, who come to study here, and sends Finnish students abroad. For example, the University encourages students to get international experience by offering a chance to spend a semester studying at a partner university. Students can also complete their practical training abroad or take part in an international week either abroad or in Finland, in which case students from different countries are invited here. It should also be noted that the international week usually includes collaboration with local companies, so they also benefit from the University's international activities.

This spring issue of @Sight presents articles from students who study management and communications, and marketing, and one article from a foreign degree student. Naturally, we asked the students to write their articles in English in order to promote Lahti, its companies and the University as an international community.

The @Sight articles discuss how students can gain international experience and how they might benefit from this. There are also some interesting points for companies that might want to have more collaboration with the University. Finally, as the articles reveal, internationalization provides many benefits both for students and companies.

We hope you enjoy reading this international issue of @Sight. Happy and sunny times!

Editors Tella Krigsman and Pauliina Huovila

Editorial Assistant Arla Kirjonen

Executive Editor Jaana Loipponen

Marketing Fashion Design in Liège

At Lahti University of Applied of Applied Sciences in the Faculty of Business all students are encouraged to become international either by taking part in an international marketing week or by studying abroad as an exchange student. Studying abroad improves your language skills and helps to make friends from all over the world. It also gives you the possibility to practice your language skills in the real world instead of normal lessons. Especially English skills are really important in the business life nowadays.

We participated in the international marketing week at HELMo University College in Liege, Belgium, from 16^th to 19^th March. The week was organized by Businet, a global business education network of institutes of higher education around the world. Lahti University of Applied Sciences is also part of the Businet network.

During the Fashion Design week, we were divided into six groups of four or five people. We were then assigned a task to create a marketing plan for a recently graduated HELMo Mode student. There were two designers: Charlotte Zink (in the picture) and Robin Huberty. They chose the groups who would market them based on “Our thoughts of fashion” mood boards that we created in the groups.

Even though we spent three days in Belgium, we only had around five hours to create our marketing plans for the designers. Our program for the week also included lectures and visits to local museum and to HELMo Mode fashion school. At the end of the last day, we presented our plans to a jury which included teachers from HELMo, marketing experts and of course the two fashion designers. The jury then chose the winning marketing plan, and they also awarded the team with the most innovative ideas.

Lack of time wasn’t the only obstacle on the way to creating a victorious marketing plan. As newly graduated designers, our clients didn’t have a huge budget to spend, so we needed to come up with ideas that were effective but cheap to execute. Many teams used their own contacts and planned to use HELMo’s students for their marketing projects. Many teams also considered that social media is one of the most important marketing channels. For example, some groups planned to do a Facebook page, to open a Twitter account and to create a website.

Working with a foreign designer and in an international group of students was challenging but rewarding. The working language in the project was English even though the designers spoke French as their mother tongue, as did the majority of the students. There were of course some language barriers, but all the students and teachers were very helpful in translating English to French, and eventually everybody understood each other. 

The designers received three different ways to develop the marketing of their products. Every group had various visions in their marketing plans, and the designers can therefore benefit from these plans in the future. They can also adapt the different ideas from each plan. In general, this kind of marketing week is a good way for designers to get new ideas. The students worked a lot with their marketing plans, and all this was free for the designers. 

The marketing week in Liege was a great experience. We learned lots of new things about marketing related to fashion design and about studying in Belgium. Most of us had never been to Belgium, so we also learned  a little bit about Belgian culture.  We also got some new international friends, and studying abroad was a nice change from our business studies at home in Finland.

Text: Emma Laaksonen and Heta Lehtinen

Photos: Emma Laaksonen

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