From May 17^th to July 29^th, 2016, SEM successfully hosted a group of 22 SAP-BASF Global Management Trainees from Hochschule Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany, for a 2.5-month program on “Information Technology Management Education Training”. It is the 8^th year of collaboration between SEM and Hochschule Ludwigshafen am Rhein since 2009. With the continuous improvement on program design, this program has become a SEM’s high-quality and star customized program.

1. Program Background

SAP, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, is the world largest enterprise management and collaborative e-commerce solutions provider, and the 3rd largest independent software provider; BASF is the largest chemical company in the world and is awarded as “Global Most Admired Company” in the Chemical industry by Fortune. Jointly supported and sponsored by SAP and BASF, the Global Management Trainees participated in SEM’s Information Technology Management Education Training this summer.

2. Students Background

The 22 trainees were selected from over 900 high school graduate applicants by SAP, BASF and Hochschule Ludwigshafen am Rhein. The whole program is customized for SAP and BASF, students take academic classes and internship in a 3-month rotation.

3. SAP-BASF Global Management Trainees at Tongji-SEM

• Courses

Based on training requirements of SAP and BASF, SEM combines with its mission “to create management knowledge and develop leading professionals for China and the world who are capable of solving practical problems while addressing the challenges of business and society with a global perspective, responsibility and in a sustainable way”, aiming to create a glocalizational program that combines theory and practice, as well as practical knowledge, critical thinking and communicative skills. Students gained solid theoretical and professional knowledge by learning a series of academic courses, such as Management Information System, and Fundamentals of E-Business and Supply Chain Management. The program also help students to get adapted to local culture and life by taking supplementary courses as Chinese Culture and Chinese Language courses. Now bargaining in Chinese when go shopping is a piece of cake for them. In addition, the program help them have better understanding about practical enterprise operation and the latest technology through various lectures by company executives from SAP and Apple. Participation to the international conference of 3^rd China Logistic Day help them obtain the latest global supply chain trends. Moreover company visits to Yangshan Port, Kang Pin Hui and BASF help them gain a clearer idea about companies’ current opportunities and challenges by communicating with the company management.

• Consulting Project

Consulting Project is a newly added module this year, and it is a distinctive feature of this program. Instead of traditional teaching approach that involves with professors, classroom, books, libraries, and exams, the consulting project allows students to solve a real business cases without correct answers. Apart from the German students, 10 Chinese students from SEM also participated in the consulting project, and they were divided into 5 mixed teams. SEM’s German Prof. Christiane Prange is the host professor of this project. Students’ task is to practice real business case analysis and provide development solutions for a local company, Kang Pin Hui (KPH), an O2O Food Business Company. The problems assigned to students to solve are the real challenges the company currently is facing. To strengthen students’ practical competence, SEM not only arranged KPH offline supermarket visit, so students can talk with employees and customers face-to-face; but also assigned a company coach for each team to ensure their solutions are effective and applicable. 5 groups are required to provide their solution plans from 5 perspectives, which include Industry and Competitor Analysis, Customer Analysis, Business Model Analysis, and Operational Management, Internal Resource Audit, Marketing Plan and Implementation Guidelines. At the end of the program, students submitted their final business reports and delivered group presentation for SEM host professor and KPH marketing director.

The Consulting Project is designed to improve students’ practical skills, data analysis hard skills and business presentation soft skills. The mixed teams of Chinese and German students helped students to strengthen their cross-cultural team working and communication skills.

Students Testimonial:

Nadjia Bolik

“I think the consulting project is a great chance for international and national students to gain more knowledge about the Chinese market as well as about methods to evaluate market situations. The fact, that one is working together with a real company creates additional value to this project. Since none of us ever worked on such a consulting project, it was a completely new situation to solve a problem from the beginning: Problem formulation, problem analysis and recommendations/solutions. Unfortunately, our solutions could not be directly adapted to KPH due to a lack of information regarding numbers. I am sure that the project could have been a bit more useful for KPH, if we got concrete numbers and points of reference.

All in all, I recommend the consulting project to future consultants – not only because of the enhancement of consultation skills, also because of getting in contact with Chinese students.” 

Zhang Yujie

I highly recommend my future peers to participate in this consulting program. This program is a perfect opportunity for anyone who wants to have some practical, serious experience working with international professionals on local cases. Not only management consulting skills will you learn, but also life-lasting friendships with the group members which would be the treasure for your college life! 

Laura Vollmer

During our semester abroad at Tongji SEM, we had the chance to participate in the Consulting Project, which was a great opportunity to apply our theoretical knowledge to a real company case. By that we could not only improve our practical and analytical skills, but additionally increase our knowledge regarding the Chinese market, consumption behavior and online grocery shopping. I really enjoyed the international team: By working together with our Chinese team members, we gained a deeper inside into the Chinese culture, as well as it was enhancing regarding the understanding of a new market in this (for us) completely new culture. I definitely can say I improved my skills in terms of intercultural understanding. I highly recommend this project to everybody who is interested in intercultural team work, applying theoretical skills to a real life case and getting a deeper understanding of the Chinese consumption and online shopping behavior. 

LIU Jiaxi

The consulting project is a very good starting point for those who are interested in the consulting industry. It used a local company as the consulting objectwhich is totally different from the case study that we have in class. You will need to complete a comprehensive set of related document readings and to search up to date information in order to build up an industry image. Theworkload of the “pre-work” might be a little bit high, but it is defiantly worthy. By doing so, you will figure out how to do the effective data collection and what analyze framework is suitable for the specific case. Besides, the project will be guided by the professor with rich consulting experience. You can check your ideas with the professional and find out whether there is any logic loophole of how your conclusion was made. The most valuable thing of this project is that you can make a lot of foreign friend. They are friendly and sociable.If you are planning to work in an international corporation, you really should sign up for this project. Working closely with the foreign student can let you have a better understanding oftheir culture and mindset. In short, this consulting project is a valuable opportunity, which can bring you an unforgettable memory and rich knowledge.