Student Team Presented a Study on Forestry Sustainability in Žďár nad Sázavou
To educate, research and connect. These are the main goals of the Centre for Family Businesses, which were put into practice on Friday, July 3, when the main representatives of the forestry and wood processing industry met with students and teachers of the Faculty of Business Administration, the University of Economics, Prague, at the chateau in Žďár nad Sázavou.
A stepping stone for the discussion was a study drawn up by students of the NextGen Consulting minor specialization under the guidance of experienced teachers (Ladislav Tyll as a team leader) and graduates (Vojtech Oplestil). The research was ordered by Constantin Kinský, who consulted with the team throughout the whole analysis.
Students focused on sustainability from three perspectives: ecological, economic and socio-political. To propose solutions they first did a comparative analysis of states with similar forests structure (Slovakia, Austria, Germany, France) and they then identified the main challenges: calamities (eg. bark beetle), emissions production, low productivity and poor pricing policy.
All this served as a basis for an extensive discussion of a number of stakeholders from the private and public spheres, including the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic.
Jakub Valníček, NextGen Consulting and CEMS student
The project we worked on as part of this year’s Growth Strategies course was unique mainly due to its possible impact on the development of the forestry and wood industry in the Czech Republic. It was already clear during the project that the Czech Republic lacks a unified approach of individual stakeholders to increase the sustainability of this sector. Therefore, it was very interesting to be part of the final discussion with experts, which was attended by directors of major processing companies, as well as people from ministries and representatives of forest owners. This is how I imagine a combination of theoretical education with practical experience.
Ondrej Hanuska, NextGen Consulting student
This project within the Growth Strategies course brought me a lot of experience. What I appreciated most was that I worked on something that would have a real impact on society. In this case, it was the sustainability of the forestry and wood processing industry in the Czech Republic. During the project, I had the opportunity to regularly discuss issues with industry experts, to whom we also presented the final version of the project. After submitting the project, I was also part of an interesting discussion with experts about potential sustainability solutions. I definitely recommend such a practical experience gained on the academic base for every student.