Our summer break officially started this week. As my blog-mate Nick mentioned in his previous post, we continue the IMD spirit even in the summer time and are engaged in all kinds of company projects all over the world. I chose a project with a Swiss company in China to help them with a go-to-market case. This opportunity will require my entrepreneur experiences as well as my Chinese language and culture knowledge. I will be staying in the south of China for a week to understand better the company and the industry.
The company offers kitchen equipment and solutions for institutions such as restaurants and hotels. I love going to the restaurants and enjoy a good meal with family and friends. But I didn’t know that the businesses involved in the gastronomy equipment were quite complex. It starts from the upstream companies such as manufacturers which produce the equipment or the materials for the equipment, to the downstream consumers. Horizontally it also involves companies that provide facility services, kitchen planning, interior design and engineering, etc. To be able to do a good market analysis and have an in-depth understanding of the value chain, I interviewed different people from related businesses. I had great talks with people who were passionate about their fields of work. Quite a few people were really happy to help me out by sharing their experiences and giving me contact info of other people who could help me further. Among them is an IMD alumnus Bruno Vanhaelst, CEO of Personal and Home Services in Sodexo, France, who kindly took time for me answering questions and helped me with further contact people for the project. It is also amazing to see how strong the IMD net-work is in terms of the variety of industries and geographies.
I am happy about the good start of my company project, and looking forward to developing it further. I will keep you updated, and you will hear more than that from us. We will be reporting news from other classmates of their summer projects.
Stephanie
My Chinese visa is ready for the trip!
