Flashback: Block Seminar with Plzeňský Prazdroj

The academic year 2019/2020 for the new CEMS class at the University of Economics, Prague has been kicked off with the Block Seminar, which was held on September 2 – 6, 2019. The Block Seminar is a compulsory part of the CEMS MIM curriculum. An attractive topic “Managing Consumer Experience in Pubs and Restaurants through Digital Technologies for Plzeňský Prazdroj” has been prepared in cooperation with the CEMS corporate partner Plzeňský Prazdroj for a group of 32 students of 15 nationalities coming from 10 CEMS partner universities.

The whole seminar has been supervised by Ladislav Tyll, MBA, Ph.D., CEMS Academic Director, Petr Král, Ph.D., Head of Department of International Business at the University of Economics, Prague, Jiří Ševčík, Customer Development Manager On-Trade CZ&SK, Jan Krafka, Sales Director ON Trade and Karel Kraus, Trade&Shopper Marketing Director CZ&SK at Plzeňský Prazdroj, a.s.

Within the rich program, students were expected to analyze the existing situation, map needs & opportunities, design digital solutions and come up with strategy how Plzeňský Prazdroj can launch them on market in order to gain critical scale. Sales marketing workshop, qualitative research workshop, lecture on consumer behaviour, consulting sessions and a visit of the brewery in Pilsen were on the schedule to deepen the students‘ knowledge to get the best project outputs.

During the last day of the seminar, 6 student teams presented the results of their whole-week effort. A jury of Plzeňský Prazdroj and VŠE representatives decided on the winning team, whose members were Francesco Cerchier, Tímea Křížová, Marc Oliver Pitz, Elena Schäfer, and Gabriela Švecová.

The Block Seminar was closed by a dinner in the restaurant Kolkovna Savarin, one of the original restaurants of Plzeňský Prazdroj, where the winning team was awarded. VŠE representatives would like to thank Plzeňský Prazdroj and all stakeholders for their contribution to this successful seminar.

In 2018 the Block Seminar was also organized by the company Plzeňský Prazdroj a.s. on the topic “Propose a 2025 HORECA Innovation Program for Plzeňský Prazdroj a.s.”. In 2017 and 2016 the Block Seminars were organized by the company Hilti (also CEMS corporate partner), the realized topics were “Business Model Innovation in the Context of Digital Disruption” and “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.

The admission procedure for the CEMS/Master in Management Programme at VŠE consists of 2 intakes. The 1^st intake deadline is on February 28, 2020, selected students will pass the assessment centre. The 2^nd intake is subject to available spots, the deadline is on April 30, 2020. Students have to submit the required documents before the application deadline.