Dear reader,

Welcome to the November edition of the SIMT newsletter. 

The last few months at SIMT have been busy with many events to report on, including the symposium of the SIMT Board of Governors and the SIMT HR Forum. In addition, one of our exchange students shares his perspective on our recent Taiwanese automotive forum and we give a preview of the upcoming events and important dates at SIMT. As this will be the last newsletter before the Christmas and New Year holidays, we'd like to take this opportunity to wish a happy holiday season to all our readers!

Best regards,

SIMT Business School

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SIMT NOVEMBER 2006 NEWSLETTER

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Contents

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I. Recent Events

SYMPOSIUM OF THE SIMT BOARD OF GOVERNORS

On Monday 9th October 2006, the annual SIMT Symposium of the Board of Governors was held in Heidenheim. The topic was "Global competition - growth and employment in Baden-Württemberg". This event was attended by 120 participants, mainly CEO's and top managers, from industry and economy.

The event was presided over by Prof. h.c. Dipl.-Ing. J. Menno Harms, Chairman of the SIMT Board of Governors. The event opened with a welcome from Prof. Harms and from the Lord Mayor of the City of Heidenheim, Mr Bernhard Ilg. The speakers were Minister Ernst Pfister MdL, Minister for Economic Affairs for Baden-Württemberg, Dr. Dieter Brucklacher, Chairman of the Executive Board of Leitz Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Oberkochen, and President of VDMA Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e.V., Frankfurt/Main, Dr. Michael Rogowski, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Voith AG and President of the Shareholders Committee of Voith Group of Companies, Heidenheim, Mr. Hermann Mader, District Administrator of the District of Heidenheim, Dr.-Ing. Markus Flik, Chairman of the Executive Board of Behr GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart, Prof. Dr. Karl-Friedrich Ackermann, Managing Director of SIMT and Thomas Pontow, MBA Graduate SIMT Class of 2006.

The press conference prior to the symposium. L-R Prof. Dr. Karl-Friedrich Ackermann, Managing Director of SIMT, Prof. h.c. Dipl.-Ing. J. Menno Harms, Chairman of the SIMT Board of Governors and Dr. Hermann Jung, Member of the Board of Management of Voith AG

The audience in the Heidenheim concert hall 

Below is an executive summary by Prof. h.c. J. Menno Harms and Prof. Dr. Karl-Friedrich Ackermann of the event:

Through this symposium, the SIMT Board of Governors wants to engage companies in reference to the opportunities and requirements of world-wide trade. The opportunities offered by the globalization of the German economy were examined and, in this context, the excellent possibilities at the International Business School SIMT in this location were also outlined.

Humans' striving for improvement of their economic situation by exchange of goods and services, such as today in the context of globalization, is not new. But the dynamics have increased enormously and for this reason so have the fears of mis-informed citizens. But trying to shut off from the effects of the world-wide trade would be fatal.

We owe it to the internationally and globally aligned companies for getting the ball rolling and creating the steady economic upswing that has been seen for some time. Our globally active companies in Baden-Württemberg profit from the increasing world-wide demand. This is crucial to yield profitable achievements and with this, secure jobs.

In order to remain competitive world-wide, companies open up global markets with exportable, intelligent components, systems and services as well as by extreme customer proximity in sales, service and manufacturing. Companies have different measures to achieve this. In the future even more intensive co-operation and partnerships will occur within and, in particular, between companies of all sizes, and increasingly this will also be on the basis of exchangeable, digitized services.

All of this requires strong leadership qualities, internationality, openness and reliability. The ability to recognize when your own strategies and behaviors must be adapted to the rapidly changing global conditions will also be important.The speakers at our symposium demonstrate which changes are necessary and which have already been made. The city of Heidenheim, in which the symposium took place, has the vision of a "knowledge world". For the Minister of Economics, the area of education is crucial for the future sustainability of the economy and society. The Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau VDMA (federation of German machine and equipment construction) firmly emphasises to its member companies that their homeland market is already the world market. VOITH AG recognises that it needs capable and motivated workers for challenging managerial functions in its globally active company, in order to continue on the successful course of the previous years. The district of Heidenheim undertakes various efforts, in order to ensure its competitiveness in the region of East Württemberg. For the Behr group, company culture is an essential factor, and will be especially important in the future to achieve peak performance against competition. 

Thus it is clear: International and global competition is the standard. This applies equally to companies and to universities. Therefore, we particularly need the elite and talented here in Baden-Württemberg, for creating future 'added value' as well as employment and growth. For the transformation into business practice, there will also be a need for the abilities of young college graduates for cross-national co-operation and for the leadership of international teams. In addition, strong language skills, not only in English, but also in additional languages, and appropriate social skills will be needed.

The SIMT Board of Governors has in the past and yet again, asserted and justified that the demand for highly motivated, highly qualified and internationally oriented workers will continue to increase. In view of the global challenges, stronger abilities in the leadership of systems of politics, science and economics are needed. At the same time, to achieve the most, more investment in the education area is necessary, through which the world-wide change processes trigger structural change in the business location of Baden-Württemberg.

In the upcoming years, SIMT also plans to examine topics relevant to the economy for selected measures and hopes, with this, to contribute to ensuring the competitive ability of companies and for the growth and employment in Baden-Württemberg.

To read the complete summary of this event (in German) please see our publications webpage here.

SIMT HR-FORUM

In October, SIMT hosted its regular HR-Forum for recruiters and HR personnel. For the fall meeting on 20 October 2006, we had chosen the topic "Companies facing changes and the impact of change on HR issues". More than 30 HR specialists joined SIMT on this Friday afternoon to discuss relevant questions. Reinhard Hamburger, long-term friend of SIMT and formerly Chairman of the Executive Board at Agilent Technologies in Germany, spoke on his experiences in regard of change management and kicked off a lively discussion on the topic focusing on how to put theory into practice and on lessons learnt from experiences in the past.

HR professionals listening to the guest speaker, Mr Reinhard Hamburger

The HR-Forum is an event series with sessions twice a year. The next event is scheduled for Friday, 16 March 2007; 14:00 hrs. If you would like to receive further information on the next event please contact Ms Sandra Romahn on telephone 0711/45 10 01 36 or email romahn(at)uni-simt.de

TAIWAN AUTOMOTIVE FORUM 

On 30th October SIMT hosted an event on the topic of the German economy and automotive industry and collaboration between German and Taiwanese companies. The delegates from Taiwan were treated to presentations from Mr. Jürgen Anger, on Supply Base Management at DaimlerChrysler and Mr. Hartmut Feilhauer from Robert Bosch GmbH, on Technology trends in automotive sensors.

In the afternoon the guests participated in a workshop on German Business and Culture: The Essential Know-How for International Business Executives presented by Ms. Jacqueline N. Burgoa of LANGUACOM Management Academy.

In addition to this forum, the delegation were engaged in other activities related to the automotive sector during their 4 day visit to Stuttgart. One of SIMT's Exchange students from Taiwan, Mr. Kai-Yuan Cheng, was lucky enough to particpate in some of these activities. You can read more about his view in section III, further in this newsletter.  

MANAGEMENT EDUCATION NETWORK (MEN)

From 9th - 13th October, 23 Executives from the companies Alcatel, Behr, Dürr, Festo, MAHLE and TRUMPF completed their third-and final, seminar week of the Management Education Network Program at SIMT. During the program the participants have transferred into their companies knowledge on the topics of "Strategic Management", "Innovation Management", "Supply Chain Management" and "Organizational Management?. This culminated with their final presentations on 13th October 2006, when they presented proposed solutions.

Currently the second MEN group, comprised of 20 Executives from the companies Fischerwerke, Freudenberg, Kärcher, Kern-Liebers, LGI, Leitz, Schuler and Alcatel are at SIMT for their third and final week of the MEN Program.

II. News in Brief

NEW SIMT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD

During the last members' meeting of the Alumni Association a new executive board was elected. The new board is as follows:

• President: Mario Haas (MBA Technology and Innovation Management, Class of 2004, Germany)·
• Vice-President: Stefan Zügner (MBA International Management, Class of 2004, Germany)
• Marketing and Communications Officer: Dr. Armin Sulzmann (MBA Finance and Investment, Class of 2004, Germany)
• Finance Officer: Pedro González (MBA International Management, Class of 2006, Spain)·
• Secretary: José A. Cortina (MBA Management Information Systems, Class of 2002, Mexico)

Members of the Extended Board:

• Member Care: Shankerrajen Dharumarajhan (MBA Finance and Investment, Class of 2006, India)
• Educational Programs: Roland Ebner (MBA International Management, Class of 2005, Germany)
• Assistant Operations: Timo Haug (MBA International Management, Class of 2006, Germany)
• SIMT Interface: Denis Tejada (MBA Technology and Innovation Management, Class of 2007, El Salvador)
• Independent Supervisor: Jing Lin (MBA Management Information Systems, Class of 2002, China)

SIMT PART-TIMERS TRAVEL TO ITALY

From 2-6 October 2006 14 participants from the Class of 2007 Part-time MBA Program completed a block course in 'International Controlling' at the Italian Business School SDA Bocconi. The students participated in classes, discussions, a company visit and an exam in the form of a case study.

INTERNSHIPS WANTED

Currently, we have 22 Full-time students in our Class of 2007 who are about to graduate from SIMT with their MBA degree early next year. They have all successfully finished their first degree and already gained substantial work experience of about 4 years on average. A number of those students are currently looking for an internship position here in the Stuttgart region to successfully round off their MBA degree.

If you are interested in hiring an MBA intern for a qualified internship (period of 4 to 6 months starting from January 2007 or later), please contact SIMT's Career Center Manager, Ms. Sandra Romahn : Telephone 0711/45 10 01 36 or Email romahn(at)uni-simt.de.

STUDENT VISIT TO INFINEON

On Monday 13th November, a group of SIMT students traveled to Infineon Technologies in Regensburg, where they visited Infineon's chip production facilities. In the future, student company visits are planned to IBM and bulthaup.

SIMT students in protective gear for their visit to Infineon Technologies

III. Student View: SIMT Forum Report by Cheng Kai-Yuan, Exchange MBA Student 2007

On 30th October 2006, Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology (SIMT) held a unique forum on "Parallel to the Automotive Industry in Euro Market", examining the German automotive market and opportunities for Taiwanese automotive companies. The forum participants included not only Taiwanese representatives but also representatives from the German automotive industry as well as consulting companies and school representatives.

To begin, DaimlerChrysler gave an informative presentation about its supply base management, giving us an insight into its global procurement and supply operation. This gave me a good understanding of how Procurement & Supply Chrysler Group (P&S) and Procurement Mercedes Car Group and Vans (PMC) cooperate together both globally and locally in order to gain purchasing power. Successful interaction with its suppliers enables DaimlerChrysler to achieve goals in "quality, cost and time to market", making it a brilliant enterprise. Taiwanese companies will keep improving their quality, cost and technology to meet the high standards, in the hope of building long term relationships with outstanding automotive makers such as DaimlerChrysler.

The next presentation was from Bosch about technology trends in automotives, highlighting the application of automotive electronics. We could witness the integration and size reduction in automotive devices and also see the comprehensive use of sensors in automotives. In developing and producing automotive components, Bosch utilizes knowledge in semiconductor technology and silicon micro-mechanics to enhance the vehicle controlling systems. Taiwanese companies are famous for manufacturing electronic consumer products and now aim at extending their capability to producing automotive electronics.

The forum also included an interesting presentation on "Germany: Essential Know How for International Business Executives". This highlighted how it is important to recognize cultural differences especially when interacting and working with a culture totally different to our own. I gained intercultural awareness and practical advice about intercultural management. During the workshop, we brainstormed on cultural differences and discussed about our cultural experience. With the presentation, we learned fundamental concepts and skills about international business communication in the workplace.

The next day, the group participated in a company visit to DaimlerChrysler (Mercedes Car Group) and a guided tour of its Sindelfingen plant. Built in 1915, this is the biggest DaimlerChrysler plant worldwide and manufactures C-class, E-class, S-class, CL-class, CLS-class and Maybach. We got to see the fully automatic body shell work and technician teamwork at the assembling line. This was a great opportunity for the Taiwanese companies to closely observe the world class automotive production processes.

I found the forum and visit to DaimlerChrysler to be an interesting and useful experience and was pleased to participate.

IV. Upcoming events

IHK INFORMATION EVENT

Competitive companies need qualified executives. In addition, there is a special demand for expert communications abilities, 'Management Know-how', social competencies and an international orientation. Quality-oriented advanced education must measure up to these requirements.

Business schools from the economic areas of Stuttgart - Heilbronn - Reutlingen will present their benefits and answer questions from companies.

Date: 20 November 2006

Time: 15:30 - 18:30

Venue: IHK Region Stuttgart, Jägerstraße 30, 70174 Stuttgart

Sitzungssaal Württemberg, Ebene 2, Gebaüde L

For more information please contact Ulrike Weber of IHK on telephone 0711 2005 338 or email ulrike.weber(at)stuttgart.ihk.de.

To download the brochure for this event please click here. 

HOBSONS ABSOLVENTEN-KONGRESS

The annual Hobsons Absolventen-Kongress will take place in Cologne from 29 - 30th November 2006. This event is a great opportunity to find out more about SIMT's MBA Programs and discuss your MBA career plans with the SIMT Admissions Officer and SIMT Career Center Manager.

You can find us at Stand B 18, in Hall 11.2.

Date: 29 - 30 November 2006

Venue: Koelnmesse, Congress-Centrum Ost, Eingang Osthallen, Deutz-Mühlheimer Straße, D-50679 Cologne

Opening hours:

Wednesday 29th November: 9:00 - 18:00

Thursday 30th November: 9:00 - 17:00

For more information about this event please visit the Hobsons website here.

SIMT MBA INFO SESSION

A SIMT MBA Info Session is the ideal opportunity to hear first-hand experiences of studying at SIMT. In addition SIMT personnel will be on hand to answer any questions you have ranging from admissions, to course curriculum to post-graduate career development opportunities.  

SIMT hosts an MBA Info Session monthly, with the next session on Tuesday 5th December, at 6pm. If you are interested in attending please register with Ms Vanessa Franklin on Telephone 0711/45 10 01 516 or Email franklin(at)uni-simt.de

For a list of upcoming Info Sessions please visit the SIMT website.

All upcoming events are also listed on our events page here.