Looking Back: Block Seminar 2025 with Plzeňský Prazdroj
As part of the students’ compulsory CEMS MIM curriculum, this year’s Block Seminar’s topic “Beyond Beer: Building a Future with Non-Alcoholic Innovation” was prepared in cooperation with CEMS Corporate Partner, Plzeňský Prazdroj, for a group of 46 students from 12 CEMS partner universities.
The whole seminar has been supervised by Ladislav Tyll, MBA, PhD, CEMS Academic Director, Jan Wegert, PhD, eCommerce Manager CEE & Middle East at Colgate-Palmolive, Serhiy Bobrytskyy, Business Development Manager for CEE & Middle East at Colgate-Palmolive, CEMS alumnus and Ph.D. student at the Department of Marketing, and Heřman Kopkáně, lecturer at the Department of Strategy. For Plzeňský Prazdroj, they were Radek Záhorovský, Senior Finance Business Partner – CZ&GE&AT, Timotej Ušák, Finance Business Partner – Manufacturing CZ/SK, Adam Legerský, CFO – Finance Director CZ&SK&GE&AT, James Winch, Head of Finance Business Partnering (CZ, SK, GE, & AT, and Kristýna Potůčková, Talent Management, all based in Plzeňský Prazdroj HQ in the centre of Prague.
The aim of that year’s Block Seminar was to simulate a real-world consulting engagement. Student teams acted as consultants tasked with advising Plzeňský Prazdroj on the potential acquisition of a real non-alcoholic beverage company. The primary goal was to assess whether the acquisition represented a sound financial investment and whether it aligned with the group’s strategic shift toward a long-term sustainable business model. Participants were not assigned a specific company. Instead, they selected a real company themselves, used publicly available data, and evaluated its suitability as an acquisition target for their client.
During the Block Seminar students visited Plzeňský Prazdroj in Pilsen, where they also experienced the famous Pilsner Urquell Brewery Tour. From then on, the students attended lectures, workshops, and get-togethers intensively collaborating in teams on their projects to get ready for the presentation day.
Final presentations and winner announcement
On the last day of the seminar, 6 student teams turned their week-long efforts into final presentations that they delivered before a jury made of Plzeňský Prazdroj and VŠE representatives, who then announced the winner at the gala dinner.
The jury’s pick went to team #4, whose members were Jacob Gad Almer, Lara Blumoser, Esha Chhabra, Johannes Gundersen, Sorina Gutu, Julian Selinka, Natálie Starková, and Thom van den Heuvel.
VŠE representatives would hereby like to extend their gratitude to Plzeňský Prazdroj and all stakeholders for their contribution to this successful seminar.
>>> Applying to CEMS School of the Year 2024 <<<
The admission procedure for the CEMS/Master in Management Programme at VŠE offers 2 intakes.
Please note that admissions for the AY 2026/27 will open in November 2025.
The 1st intake deadline is on February 28, 2026, upon which selected students have to pass the assessment centre.
The 2nd intake is subject to available spots, the deadline is on April 30, 2026.
Students have to submit the required documents before the application deadline.
