A personal review by Fleur and Michael
In April 2016, the eighteenth edition of the Economic Business weeks Tilburg took place. During the EBT, students have the chance to make a connection to the business world. With over 75 companies participating, there will always be a perfect match for you! These companies offer you Training Sessions, CV Checks, LinkedIn checks, Company Presentations, Workshops, Business Lunches, Individual Conversations, Speed Dates and much more.
This personal review focusses on two parts of the EBT. First the FrieslandCampina case day will be reviewed and secondly there is a review about a case during the company days.
The difference between the FrieslandCampina case day and the business case of Achmea is the timespan. The FrieslandCampina case day is a whole working day while the case of Achmea only takes three hours of time.
FrieslandCampina Case Day
This year FrieslandCampina made the decision to get in contact with students of Tilburg University in an intensive way, by participating in the Case Day. The Case Day of the EBT (Economic Business Weeks Tilburg) took place at Villa de Vier Jaargetijden, a beautiful Villa in the middle of the city centre of Tilburg. 22 students were chosen to participate on this day.
The weather was beautiful and therefore the students and employees of FrieslandCampina started the day with enjoying a lunch in the garden of the Villa. After the lunch an introduction was given. FrieslandCampina is a cooperation owned by (around 19.000) farmers. They are obliged to buy all the milk that the farmers sell to them. Farmers know the risk of getting a lower price for their milk when a lot is produced and benefit from how well business at FrieslandCampina goes because they are the shareholders. FrieslandCampina is a quiet informal company, which has subsidiaries all over the world.
To get more insight in how business is going at Friesland Campina, the students had to play a game. The farmers sold their milk to the factories and the factories sold their products to the customers. Additionally, Supply Chain Managers were appointed that had to make sure the processes ran smoothly. Milk exists of 4 different ingredients, parts of the ingredients could be traded among the different factories. The beginning of the game was quiet chaotic but after some meetings the students divided the tasks efficiently, delivered all orders and payed the farmers. The game was discussed and different strategies came up. It was a good way to give the students a clear impression of the business.
At the end of the day, we had a drink in front of the Villa, where students had the opportunity to ask any remaining questions.
During the company days, there are a lot of companies present. These companies provide a presentation and business case. They try to get new insights about issues they are facing or they will face in the new future. The students then will be asked to think about these questions. The next paragraph reviews the business case of Achmea.
Case Day Achmea
A typical case day of the Economic Business weeks Tilburg starts with a company presentation. This was the same for the case day of this year’s EBT, provided by Achmea. In the company presentation they elaborated on their business and the structure of the firm. They focused on who are the people of Achmea, the experience of their employees and the possibilities for new entrants. The presentation had an unique selling point in the fact that they did provide information that is not available online.
After the presentation the company case followed. During this case, students were asked to think about problems and opportunities this firm faces. According to Achmea, the insurance of self-driving/autonomous cars will have a big impact on insurances in the nearby future. They were trying to answer questions like “what is important for consumers?” and “What is essential for society?” Because regulations on this matter are changing, the insurance products are changing too. Consequently, we had to think about what kind of product Achmea could introduce for the self-driving cars. In the end, every group was asked to pitch their ideas.
Attending a case day or business case is a good opportunity to get more feeling with a company’s day to day work and there is the possibility to get connections within the firm. It is a good start to get in contact with a company you think is interesting, and, which could potentially be your future employer.
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