Message from Manila by Douwe Henny

Hi,

I am Douwe Henny from the Netherlands and I am currently doing an internship in Manila. I have been here now for 3 months and I have been enjoying myself here incredibly and I will tell you why…

First of all my internship. I am working at Headway Holding, a consultancy company that has been set up about 3 years ago. Headway Holding exists of 3 different departments, Headway Dynamics, Headway Business Logistics and Headway Business Services. I am working within Headway Business Services (HBS). HBS helps companies from abroad establishing a subsidiary in the Philippines. That means we help our clients with program management. Within 8 months we are able to set up a subsidiary from scratch to its operations. That involves registration at government agencies, finding an office space and providing designs, contracting suppliers and managing the build out. In the mean time we provide our clients with estimated cost calculations of the build out, timelines and we monitor the whole process.

At the moment HBS exists of 5 employees, including me. That is what makes my internship so interesting. The company is very small and I have great responsibilities. In bigger companies I would never have these responsibilities that I have now. Because there is a lot of work that needs to be done, I work at least from 9am till 7pm. I sometimes had working days of 14 hours, which is crazy, but nice to experience. Anyway, HBS is growing and it is good to see it gaining more clients. Despite that we are still very small, we experience that there is a great potential for HBS as investing in the Philippines is very popular.

Furthermore next to the internship, the Philippines itself is an awesome country! It exists of 7000 islands and you are able to travel easily by boot or by plane for only a few bucks. The nice thing here in my company is that as long as you do your thing and show a lot of effort, they will not make a problem giving you some days off. In these three months I have been to Boracay for 4 days, to Negros for a week (islands in the middle of the Philippines, called the Visayas) and I have made a trip to Indonesia for 4 days. And I am actually planning to travel more. Things you can see and do here are amazing: waterfalls, volcanos, rice terraces, beautiful white beaches, diving and a lot more!

Manila itself is a city of 10 million people. The city is very big en polluted and cars are driving without applying any rules. But more important, the nightlife in Manila…it is great! There are a lot of bars, hip and trendy nightclubs, and there are always parties during the whole week. I am going out about 3 times a week which I can still combine with work. Also what I have noticed is that there are a lot of international people living and working here. So I have been able to build up a network of both Filipino and international friends.

My overall impression is that the culture, the nightlife, the internship and the traveling possibilities make my stay here in the Philippines great!

Greets from Manila,

Douwe Henny

IBS student Elmar Friedrich: Greetings from China!

Since March 2007 I am working as an intern in the National Sales Department for BMW China. First of all, BMW is a great company. Especially in China, an intern at BMW is treated as a regular foreign employee with all related responsibilities and challenges. In daily business this leads to a very interesting and tough job: I have to start early in the morning and come home earliest 7 pm., sometimes even later. But that is not a result of my job restrictions but of interesting and very challenging projects.

I assist an international team of Area Managers and, in addition, I have projects of my own. In my current project, I am planning a dealer incentive for the best sales consultant of each dealership in the whole of China. I am the project leader and responsible for everything: from deciding on a location to inviting the best dealer of every BMW dealership in China. This requires cultural tactfulness and a high degree of flexibility. On a more practical note, it means many business trips through China to get firsthand impressions of different event-locations and the expectations of highly qualified sales consultants.

In addition, I support my colleagues during their daily business, for example by arranging the re-allocation process of a specific car model from one dealership to another. Especially these tasks make my internship incredibly interesting. You never know what to expect today!

But of course working in China also brings along some difficulties. First of all, culture and language are a serious problem when living and working in Asia. Many Chinese, even general managers of companies, can not speak English. For my part, I don’t speak Mandarin very well but after studying one semester in Taiwan and thanks to my Chinese colleagues, I have always been able to understand the other side and express myself in a proper way.

From my point of view, working in a different culture is a great experience. Thanks to my university I was very well prepared for this year abroad. Not only the knowledge gained during two years at IBS but also working with and in international teams has provided me with the cultural sensitivity needed to be successful in Asia.
So if you want a challenge, Asia is the place to be!

Best wishes,

Elmar Friedrich
BMW China

IBS student Tom Willems says hello from Vietnam

Hi there!!

As a third year IBS student I was asked to write something about my experiences during my internship here in Vietnam. At the moment I’m doing an internship at Dutch Lady Vietnam Food and Beverages Co. Ltd, an affiliate from the Dutch company Friesland Foods. For a period of 5 months I’m working in the management accounting department of the company.

The office and factory are located just outside Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the city where I’m living at the moment. It is a very lively city, there is always something happening here, which makes it a great city to live in.

So far I’m really enjoying my internship, however sometimes it can hard be hard because of the cultural differences. For example: colleagues answer your questions in a very narrow way, information that is related to the topic you are asking about is often not communicated. Communication can also be difficult because some of my colleagues don’t speak English very well.

One of the most difficult parts of working in Vietnam is that people often say ‘yes’ when they actually don’t understand you. At first I thought this was just some nice theory you learn at school, but in fact it is true and can really be hard to deal with. Also difficult is that some of them seem to have a huge amount of respect for you just because you are European. Because of that it can be hard to establish a social relationship, let alone friendship. Luckily, over time the contact with most of them has become much better than in the beginning, this makes going to work a lot more fun.

Fortunately most of my colleagues are very friendly, they are always willing to help and have time for my questions. They are also interested in other ideas, languages, habits, etc just like me. During the first week they already invited me to a wedding and a karaoke party. Both were great to experience and helped to get to know my colleagues on a more personal level. During lunchtime they also try to teach me Vietnamese, but that has not been a big success so far because it’s a really difficult language.

Although I lunch with my Vietnamese colleagues most of the time it is also completely normal here that you, as a trainee, have lunch with the (Dutch) general manager and other MT members.

One of the best things about coming to Vietnam is that there is plenty to do in your free time. The country is beautiful and for a few dollars you travel through the whole country by bus. In Saigon, the city where I live, there are plenty of places to visit, during both day- and night-time

So far it has been a great experience to live and work in Vietnam and it is something I can definitely recommend other students to do as well.

Tam biet!

Tom Willems

Inspirational launch of IBS in Business

'It seems simple and it is!' This was one of the lessons learnt during the opening event of IBS in Business on 22 January 2007. Nearly 100 guests coming from various companies in the region attended a festive afternoon programme at the Meerwold conference center. Guests were welcomed by four futuristic looking figures on hight stilts (called 'steltlopers' in Dutch), dressed in silver, who showed them the way to the conference room.

After a word of welcome by IBS Dean Paul Ganzeboom, Wiebe Wieling (member of the Board of Hanzehogeschool Groningen) took the floor. He gave a presentation on knowledge circulation, applied research and knowledge centres at the Hanzehogeschool. Wiebe Wieling put the launching of IBS in Business in a broader perspective, by taking account of the strategic plans of the HBO Council and the Hanzehogeschool. He stressed two important focus points of the Hanzehogeschool by 2010: to develop from an educational institute into a knowledge institute, and to operate from an international perspective. The IBS in Business initiative fits perfectly in this strategy.

The word was then given to Ron van Gent, Director of MKB Noord. He focused on the importance of small and medium-sized companies in the region. He was followed by Ger de Bruin, Director of Zernike Group Holding, whose speech had the catching title ‘IBS in Business for Dummies’. His message, borrowed from the Dutch organization Loesje, was ‘it seems simple and it is’ (in Dutch: ‘het lijkt simpel en dat is het ook’). Something to keep in mind at all times, even in business!

After an introduction by the new IBS lector Frank Jan de Graaf on applied research for northern businesses, IBS in Business manager Bram ten Kate gave the official kick-off of the Business Match International. Business Match International’s goal is to stimulate local companies to become more international. In this competition, a company and a student are linked to each other in an assignment. Acting as a team, they work on this assignment the entire school year. In June, the best executed assignment goes home with a trophy. The aim is to have ten teams competing this year, of which six teams have been formed already. All teams will be coached by a professional jury.

Once the afternoon had come to an end, the visitors made their way to the ‘borrel’ and were approached once more by the ‘stiltwalkers’, this time dressed up as mysterious Buddhas, with exquisite body painting. All in all an inspiring launching event of IBS in Business!

Kick-off BusinessMatch International

The BusinessMatch International kicked off on 22 January. In this new match, students of the International Business School (IBS) assist companies in the northern region of the Netherlands to strengthen their international trade position. Students and companies are invited to participate!

BusinessMatch International is a cooperation project between BusinessMatch Groningen and the International Business School (IBS) of the Hanzehogeschool Groningen.
IBS students come from all over the world. They know the language and culture of new markets and put their business knowledge into action in favour of the northern business world, for example for your trade with China, Vietnam, the Baltic States, Ukraine, Russia, America, but also France, Germany, Spain and Finland.

In the BusinessMatch International, graduates will actively approach companies and entrepreneurs in the north to acquire graduation projects. Think for example of export promotion, developing new markets or developing a network in another country. Together with the company, the student will form a team which will be coached by a jury of representatives coming from businesses in the north of the Netherlands. Are you interested in participating or would you like to receive more information on this new exciting project? Please send an e-mail to international@business-match.org.