Old challenges, new connections
A new addition to the arsenal of events is the Strategy Tour. The former Asset Strategy & Logistics committee is now a joint venture. This merger faces new and old challenges under the new committee.
Text by: Guus Vlaskamp
Asset Strategy & Logistics is the department of Asset with an interest in strategy and logistics. They support students in the (pre-)master programs Strategic Management and Supply Chain Management. In addition to this they also support students from the bachelor of Business Administration. The scope of this department is therefore a great match with ours. In our event this translates to the Econometrics students generally having the same interests, only deviating in a mathematical approach instead of a more theoretical one.
The Strategy Tour will take place on the 6th and 7th of March. During these days a group of roughly 20 to 25 students will visit four different companies. The group of students consists of both Econometrics and S&L students and is selected partly by using CV selection. We are not able to provide a strict CV selection since all students need to visit all four companies. During these visits an introduction to the company will be presented, followed by a case prepared by the company giving the students insight in the daily dealings. On both days two companies will be visited, giving the companies the chance to accompany the visit with either a lunch or drinks. In between these days an overnight stay will be provided.
The new connection between S&L and Econometrics provides new insights especially concerning the case and the selection of companies. A strict econometric case would be prone to be more focused on the mathematical and analytical part of business, where the cases presented to our mixed audience generally will have a broader scope. Combining the perspectives of both our department and S&L we hope to achieve the best solutions for these cases. Furthermore the selection of companies is affected by this new collaboration. At least, we hope so. At the current stage of our committee we are not able to provide a comprehensive list of companies. We are however aiming at the traditional branch of econometrics-oriented companies as well as more “alpha”-companies, since we do see possibilities for an econometrics-perspective in business there as well.
As the title suggests we have run into the well-known traditional problems with acquisition, “Nobody answers!”, “Why do they answer so late?” as any other committee does. And as always, perseverance is victorious. Another challenge is the marketing towards students, which is influenced by our collaboration because we have to make sure that a healthy mix of students from both departments is present. The marketing also has to take place at multiple lectures and times to ensure that students from both departments are reached. This new dimension to the marketing is not too heavy but is something to keep in mind.
In addition to this we also face some new challenges, for example we have spent quite some time to find out what branches and companies to actually focus on and how to combine strengths from both our departments to increase the value of our event in the eyes of the company. In the next section we would like to present the solutions to these challenges, this however is a still ongoing process.
In conclusion, we hope to present you at a later date with a beautiful event. And hope that you have become interested in the collaboration with other departments of Asset, such as Strategy & Logistics to make our events even better.
