Graduate Studies Blog
Article written by Venkatsubrmaniam Wuppuluru
Nanyang Fellows MBA, Class of 2017
Barcelona, Spain, was chosen as the location for Business Study Mission (BSM) trip for Nanyang Fellows MBA 2016-17 cohort. The school makes it a point to ensure that BSM is NOT all work and no play. The objective of the BSM is to provide the students with a comprehensive platform to understand the economy of the country, understand their business culture, liaise with key authorities from the government/ or government appointed agencies as well as understand the local culture and visit places of importance.
Typically, BSM lasts for a week and for 2016-17 cohort, the BSM was scheduled in the beginning of the 2nd trimester, between 7th and 13th November 2016. High level overview of the schedule of events are as follows:
7th Nov 2016
Following a quick catch up of the cohort, we had an appointment scheduled with Catalonia Investment Agency. Topic of presentation centred around Spain – From a model country to deep crisis and back. The cohort were educated about the highs and lows of the Spain business environment and how they are the currently attracting investments from Asia.
Post this, our next pit stop was with the leaders of Caixa Bank (Spanish Financial Services company)- it is Spain’s third largest lender by market value, has 6,631 branches, serving 13.2 million customers, confirming its status as the most extensive branch network in Spain (sourced from wiki). During this visit, we were given presentation on the management of a corporation in Catalonia, the current banking system, financial policies and the business strategy followed by Caixa Bank.
Evening was dedicated to explore the legendary tourist attractions of Catalonia, such as Plaza De Cataluna, Via Laietana, the Cathedral and its cloister, the Gothic Quarter, Generalitat and Town Hall. We also managed to squeeze in visits to Villa Olimpica, the Olympic harbor and Montjuïc Mountain, which offers a panoramic view of the city of Barcelona.
8th and 10th Nov 2016
These days were dedicated to conduct business. Although, the Fellows cohort, did connect with their respective client, prior to this trip, this was the first time, we connected with our clients in person. We interacted with the founders, Senior Management, business partners, as well had a chance to personally visit the business establishment. Further, these 2 days were spent primarily to understand their client business model, understand their requirements, draft consulting project goals, discuss and finalise the goals, to be completed by Feb 2017.
9th Nov 2016
Personally speaking, this was a day to remember. In the first half of the way, we had an appointment scheduled with Hard Rock Cafe – Barcelona (one of the direct establishments run by Hard Rock Cafe head quartered in Orlando, Florida, US). The topic of presentation was Adjusting Marketing Strategies – How to boost a descending demand. The Senior Sales & Marketing Manager of HRC Barcelona, led the session and gave us valuable insights on the functioning of the organisation, their business model, how they constantly innovate and thrive in trying market conditions and how they stay manage to remain both successful and consistently contribute to the society by incorporating their CSR in their business model. This was followed by a yummy lunch, at HRC.
In the second half of the day, we were privileged to meet up with the Strategy Director at the Port of Barcelona. The purpose of this visit, to get a first-hand information about how business is transacted at the Port of Barcelona, the primary challenges faced by the port authorities, labor issues encountered by Port authorities with the labourers and how they deal with them, frequent escalations faced from the customers, how they manage to plan their containers and prioritise storing, etc… This was followed by a boat cruise, to give us a first hand of account of how difference cruise ships are parked at the harbour, how various container lines have set up their loading and unloading spots within the port, look at the loading and unloading of the containers, witnessed how the vehicle manufacturing industry export the complete built up models, etc… As a bonus, we also were given a sneak peek at the most exotic yachts and speed boats owned by some of the who’s who of the world’s richest people.
11th Nov 2016
First half of the day was reserved for our final meeting with our clients and finalising the consulting projects
During the second half of the day, we visited local brewery – Grupo Damm. This purpose of this visit was to help us witness the end to end brewery making process and also get an understanding of the factory establishment. A small presentation was also arranged on the topic – Local product under the pressure of global competition. We finally rounded off the day, with generous serving of in-house manufactured beer for the cohort.
12th Nov 2016
The day began with a trip to the famous Montserrat (mountain). It is a multi-peaked rocky range located near Barcelona. The highest point of the peak stands at 1236 m and the weather was kind enough, allowing us to enjoy once in a lifetime opportunity to enjoy with our cohort.
Post which, we ventured on our cava tour. We visited the winery facility of Gramona – one of the oldest establishment still manufacturing cavas and wines. Not only were we given a royal tour of the facility, we were also given a comprehensive guide on the wine making procedure. The tour ended with the Fellows cohort given a taste of the different wines produced by Gramona.
The evening was dedicated for a team dinner, followed by a live performance of flamenco – an art form native to Spanish region.
13th Nov 2016
Team begins their journey back to campus in Singapore.
While, the above just provides a gist of our Barcelona BSM trip, what it also did, was to create a bond for life, amongst the Nanyang Fellows 2016-17 batch. This was a very well planned event, from the beginning till the end.
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