Monday
On Monday, 13 February 2017 the Prepartatory Seminars of all four international student projects were kicked off by the Head of School of Business, Prof. Dr. Ruedi Nützi who lined out “the USP of this school is the practice orientation, we are very proud of our students”. Prof. Pieter Perrett, Project Supervisor of Focus India, affiliated that the project is not only about business, it is about the context: the experiential learning.
For the very first speech of Focus India 2017, the Delegation had the honour to listen to Ms Suki Dusanj, the interim Executive Director of the Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce. As an Indian living in England, she is considered as a foreigner in many ways in both countries. Nevertheless, she went to live in Mumbai for four years, as she describes the life in India as “a medley of sounds, smells and colours when you step out the door. I always go to India with fresh eyes”. To get a greater understanding of the colourful culture of India she provided a lot of personal photographs and brought even some of her own wedding clothes and jewellery to also not only see it but also to feel it and even to try the clothing on.
The afternoon was continued by Mélanie Auer, Head of Controlling and Accounting at Roche. Ms Auer is a former project team member of Focus India and was sent to Roche Mumbai for an international assignment. She told us about her personal experience coming from an organised Switzerland and arriving to a rather chaotic India. She lined out how the closeness between rich to poor in the cities but also how helpful and welcoming Indian people are and how they enjoy togetherness among families and generations. Her advice to us was: “Go there, be open and try new things!”
Mr Michael Cottier, Coordinator South Asia of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) had the final speech of a very interesting first day. He focused on the international relations between Switzerland with Asia and the importance of India: “Diplomacy is about interest, it is about finding win-win solutions and to avoid conflicts.” Switzerland stands out with their unique education systems and their innovations. On the other hand, India stands out with their human capital. The main competitor of India is China. In order to have a successful relationship between India and Switzerland, the two countries need to have regular dialogues in order to cooperate in innovation, research and education. There is a close collaboration between business hubs, the embassies and swissnex India in order to succeed in the three before mentioned areas. The bilateral relations really need to be intensified.
Tuesday
“India is a little bit chaotic of course, but you will feel the energy from the people.”
On Tuesday the Focus India 2017 Delegation had the honour to welcome the Ambassador of India Ms Smita Purushottam who shared with us the ongoing and potential digitalisation in India. During her speak she pointed out that India has a lot of opportunities and hundreds of initiatives to take. “Where is the greatest advance of India? It is the Human Resource!” Despite her belief that India could develop in this field, there are still obstacles to overcome, such as old structures, the anxious society or the democracy. However, she believes that the digitalisation could enhance and should be included in the educational system of India not only due to their large software industry. In addition to that, Ms Purushottam showed a large interest about the education of our delegation members and was impressed of how much practical experience the Generation Y in Switzerland gains during their training.
“India is maybe something you never experienced before.”
After some “Gipfelis” and a coffee break the Delegation Members prepared themselves for the speech of Mr Jonathan Mansour from Schindler AG. Originally from Australia, where he worked for Schindler for ten years before moving to Switzerland, he started his job as the Head of Sales and Marketing of The Schindler Group in Switzerland two years ago. During these past years he travelled 17 times to India due to the subsidiary of Schindler that is located in Pune.
Schindler has subsidiaries in over 140 countries around the globe. During his speech about the digitalisation, innovation and transformation of Schindler Mr Mansour pointed out several times that India has vast of opportunities and that it cannot be left out when considering doing business, especially in the field of The Schindler Group. They invested in India not because it is inexpensive, but because of the very talented people that live in this country. The quality of India is that they focus in their own innovation and are passionate about what they do. In addition to the digitalisation, other factors such as urbanization, mobility, gamification, humanization and convenience will influence the prospective operations of The Schindler Group and all markets worldwide.
“Information has more power than anything, even more than water.”
FHNW alumni and former member and co-founder of the international student project connectUS Mr Michael Schranz, highlighted how digitalisation changes innovation processes and business models. By starting at Swisscom and working his way up to Apps with love, he demonstrated the changes and influence of digitalisation using personal experiences. He showed us what levels of digitalisation nowadays exist and where it could lead us in the future. Digitalisation also includes innovation, which is vital for doing business. A company must rather look at the opportunities then the risk of new ideas.
The next speaker was Dr. Andrea Braga from eedoctors AG which resulted from a collaboration with Apps with love. The application shows the future of medical health care where you can consult a doctor via an app solution of time and place. Eedoctors will be available as of May 2017.
Wednesday
On the third day we had the opportunity to welcome some of our partner. The day was started by the team of Accenture. Accenture is our main partner and collaborates with Focus India since eight years. Mr Andreas Volz, Senior Manager, gave us an insight in the business areas of Accenture: “We have learned to be close to the clients. We are passionate about them because they are key to our business!” Mr Volz then handed the microphone over to Mr Zohaib Burney, Consultant at Accenture, who talked about cultural awareness and his experiences as an Indian born and raised in Germany, how it was a culture shock for him arriving the first time in India and also how important it is to him to keep the connections to his roots. Moreover, Mr Burney than provided us with some model on culture such as the Iceberg Model or the Onion Model. With the Globe Smart Chart, Mr Burney showed us a comparison between the average Swiss and Indian preferred working behaviours. Mr Burney gave some real life examples by demonstrating his and Mr Volz preferred behaviours. It was very interesting to see how they differ in various dimensions. Mr Burney closed his speech with an advice for the delegation: “No matter where you are going, with whom you are going or why you are going, always show respect towards the other human beings!”
After a short break, Ms Marina Laube, Manager Digital at Accenture, explicated us the depth of Design-Thinking in the Digital Area. “Digital is a vast and very fast growing area and it is an enabler for innovation and business models.” Digitalisation is changing all aspects of our lives. Ms Laube explained to us her approach: always start with the person, based on its needs solutions can be developed. To understand the before mentioned Design-Thinking Methodology she provided us with a small group exercise, where we had to interview, map and brainstorm a process and ideas in a very short amount of time. It was exciting to see how many good ideas can be produced in such a short amount of time.
The afternoon was kicked off by LEONI Studer AG, which collaborates with Focus India for the very first time. Mr Ales Cutuna introduced us to their company and their core business. LEONI is worldwide Nr. 3 in cable and wires solutions and one of the leaders when it comes to solar energy. The LEONI Group is celebrating their 100 anniversary this year. Ms Valérie Herzog then talked about when LEONI decided to move a part of their business to India. LEONI started to build a new plant in Pune in 2012 and since then, they face various unforeseen obstacles such as change in custom restrictions or the demonetization. Sometimes, there was nothing they could to except for waiting and rescheduling their timetable. It was a big investment in a rather unknown market that only pays off slowly. LEONI has in Pune a fully Indian Management Team, which is challenging to transfer the “LEONI DNA”. “In the end it is about finding the right balance between introducing necessary structures and standards and accepting foreign traditions and attitudes”, said Ms Herzog. 2017 is a very important year for LEONI and they are very excited to see what the future brings.
Straight after, Mr Amol Thakare from SULZER Chemtech AG took over to talk about India’s key to competitiveness. Sulzer was founded in 1834, and was according to Mr Thakare innovative from the beginning on. At Sulzer they are following an innovative culture in product development in order to stay competitive. “We keep our people motivated by innovation.” The Sulzer plant in India is growing very fast, even though difficult market perspectives cannot be avoided. Furthermore, he elaborated that India is more than just a country that is driven by low cost. The key point to its competitiveness is the favourable government policies, “Make India” campaign, the ongoing digitalisation process and the young and skilled workforce that is entering the labour market. On the other hand, Sulzer and other businesses are also facing some challenges. First of all the conditions of the infrastructure, legal and regulatory environment, secondly the education reforms, the research and development expenditures etc. “Nothing could be more complex, than trying to speak of one India. It is not India it is “Indias”. It is a country of countries.”
The last speaker we could listen to on this day was Mr Ross Walker from Swiss Re, which is our golden sponsor and collaborates with us for the second year. His speech lied under the topic of “Digital activities”. Swiss Re is well diversified across geographic regions and business segments. New technologies have three major implications for the insurance industry: First of all, the change of the risk pool, the transformation of the value chain and the disruption of the industry structure. This also leads to a change how you bring insurance to an individual. To keep up with the rapid change and to stay innovative, Swiss Re also supports start-ups. Swiss Re has launched the first-ever corporate accelerator at the global scale and also the first insurance focused start-up accelerator in India. “Just because we have done something in some way for a long time, it does not mean that we have to continue this way.”
Thursday
The 4th day of the Preparatory Seminar differed from the usual speeches but did not hold itself back from being interesting. The first hurdle to overcome was the completion of the visa application form in the morning with the whole delegation. By filling out the four pages of the form the Project Team members gave their best to support the delegation which involved more than one laughter and questionable moment. Due to the circumstance that the application took longer than expected, the delegation was pressed for time for the next surprise. Happily making it on time, the Focus India Delegation made its way to the train station where it took the train in the direction of Bern. Arriving in the capital city a delicious Indian lunch was waiting in the Indian Restaurant Okra. After enjoying some Pot Pourri, Curry, Naan and other delicious delightful dishes the PostFinance Innovation Lab was the next destination to reach.
Being welcomed by Ms Monika Blaser, Head of the PostFinance Innovation Lab, the delegation entered the small but creatively decorated room which contained a working place for the four team members of the PF Lab as well as some places to relax and think about new innovations. Ms Blaser first introduced what the PF Lab is about and why innovation is necessary. Innovation is needed due to the exponentially changes in the world and the developing needs of customers. The PF Lab focuses mainly (but not only) on the Finance and Banking sector. With their innovation process, www.co-star.ch, they are also supporting start-ups from diverse fields which was represented by a small tour including a fictional story about an entrepreneur “Matt” working together with PostFinance. After the presentation, the delegation was treated with Coffee and some sweets.
At the end of the day the delegation had the opportunity to listen to Ms Tanya Wüthrich, UX-Designer at Google, who was talking about Gender Diversity especially in the technical business area. With the organization www.weshape.tech they want to reach their vision: “Our vision is to unite Product Owners, Coordinators, Researchers, Designers, Frontend Engineers, Developers and Marketers to create the leading community in this field.” After her remarkable and interesting speech the delegation had the honour to participate in the weekly hotdog and networking event where they could talk and network with other PostFinance employees.
Friday
The last day of the Prepatory Seminar is traditionally a joint Friday. That means that all four international student projects Insight China, ConnectUS, exploreASEAN and Focus India of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW get together. The Joint Friday was under the theme “Globalisation”. Around 150 students, professors, supervisors and partners had gathered in the Aula in Olten as they had the honour to listen to Mr Prof. Dr. Phil. Jean Pierre Lehman, Emeritus Professor at IMD and founder of the Evian Group. Globalisation means the integration of markets and the cross-border movement of goods, markets, information, technology and labour. This means that it is not a new world order rather than a chaotic transmission to uncertainty. Which are known as “black swans”. We all know black swans: 9/11, financial crisis 2008, the Brexit etc. There were other events that triggered the 21st century globalisation. In 1989 the fall of the wall of Berlin and the World Wide Web was created. There were five major revolutions supporting the globalisation process: ICT revolution, global market revolution, Chinese economic revolution, demographic revolution and the climate revolution. The world moved from a divided world to an integrated world. Mr J.P. Lehmann then also lined out the impact of China and Asia in general on the globalisation process. “China could not do without global capitalism (1978), three decades later global capitalism could not do without China.” The greatest threat towards globalisation is that, as Mr J.P. Lehmann states, “in this world there is enough for every man’s need but not enough for every man’s greed.” Globalisation in the 21st century is about a common planet, common humanity and a common rule book!
After his inspiring speech there was a short coffee break before the morning went into the second round: Panel Talk on “The current issues of Globalisation”. The four projects invited Mr Jan Atteslander, Head of Foreign Trade of economiesuisse, Mr Dr. Rudolf Strahm, former price surveillant, Ms Dr. rer. Pol. Kristyna Ters, postdoctoral research at FHNW and Mr J.P Lehmann. The talk was moderated by Mr. Micheal Jeive, Head of International Student Projects.
In the afternoon all delegates and attendees of the Joint Friday had the opportunity to network with the partners of the projects at the career fair and to get a feedback on their CVs. After a very exciting and inspiring week the students, professors, supervisors and partners were invited to an Apéro to get not only culinary delighted accompanied by a live piano player.
The Focus India Project Team 2017 wants to thank all speakers, sponsors, delegates and everybody who contributed to a successful Preparatory Seminar. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!