Block Seminar 2017

The academic year 2017/2018 for the new CEMS class at the University of Economics, Prague has been kicked-off with the Block Seminar, which was held on September 4 – 8, 2017. The Block Seminar is a compulsory part of the CEMS MIM curriculum. An attractive topic “Business Model Innovation in the Context of Digital Disruption” has been prepared in cooperation with the CEMS corporate partner Hilti for a group of 39 students of 20 nationalities coming from 16 CEMS partner universities.

The whole seminar has been supervised by Ladislav Tyll, MBA, Ph.D., CEMS Academic Director and Josef Plachý, HR Manager Talent & Acquisition at Hilti. Within the rich programme students gained the knowledge which should help them to work on their project assigned by Hilti on the topic “Define a Business Model Innovation for Hilti”. Professionals, who contributed to the Block Seminar, were:

  • Jan Radil, Head of Sub-region Eastern Europe (EU), Hilti – Hilti Corporate Strategy
  • Jiří Jindrák, Head of Marketing, Hilti – Hilti Business Models, member of the jury
  • Josef Plachý, HR Manager Talent & Acquisition, Hilti – supervision of the whole Block Seminar, member of the jury
  • Petr Šmíd, Head of Consumer Marketing, Central and Eastern Europe, Google – Marketing 4.0 lecture and worskhop
  • Martin Hruška, SMB Segment Lead CZ&SK, Microsoft – Digital Transformation
  • Senta Čermáková, Director, Brand & Strategic Innovations, Deloitte – Critical Thinking in Business Futurology
  • Ladislav Tyll, CEMS Academic Director, VŠE – Business Model Innovation Workshop, member of the jury
  • Tomáš Ryška, Department of Strategy, VŠE – Gathering Customer Insights

“Hands on Hilti” was also the part of the programme. Hilti ČR employees introduced the job opportunities, company premises in Průhonice and students also could experience how to work with the top-quality Hilti tools, such as anchors or drilling-machines. Moreover, team members had to pass different workshops on Digital Marketing, Trade and Product Marketing, Engagement or Services led by Hilti experts. One member of each team also participated in the “Field Rides” – visiting costumers with the Sales Managers.

During the last day of the seminar 8 student teams presented the results of their whole-week effort. A jury of VSE and Hilti representatives decided on the winning team, whose members were Florian Březina, Viktória Haász, Axelle Charlier, Choi Seo Young and Michaela Tallová.

The Block Seminar was closed by a gala dinner and awarding the winning team. VŠE representatives would like to thank to Hilti and all stakeholders for their contribution to this successful seminar.

In 2016 the Block Seminar has been organized also with Hilti, the realized theme was “Digital Strategies of Family Businesses – Case of Hilti”. In 2012 – 2015 the topic “Marketing in Automotive Industry” was introduced in cooperation with another CEMS corporate partner ŠKODA AUTO.

In case of your interest, see the photo-gallery.

CEMS MIM (Master in International Management) is taught at the Faculty of Business Administration. The admission process at VŠE has 3 rounds, for the 2018/2019 intake, students have to submit required documents by February 28, 2018.