On the pursuit of professionalism

April 2011 edition
Interview with Reynier van
Bommel
QUESTION PIECE
How is it going with the startups from previous editions?
IN BUSINESS SPECIA
Contemporary Themes in
Entrepreneurship
PROFESSOR ARTICLE
14
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
<On the pursuit of professionalism >
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graduates who share our pursuit of professionalism. Personal
and professional development are the key-elements of
the Program: in-company training in co-operation with
the Amsterdam Institute of Finance; working side-by-side
with professionals at all levels and in every financial discipline
is part of learning on the job.
We employ top talent from diverse university backgrounds,
ranging from economics and business administration, to
law and technology. If you have just graduated, with
above-average grades, and think you belong to that
exceptional class of top talent, apply today. Joining NIBC’s
Analyst Program might be the most important career
decision you ever make!
Want to know more? Surf to www.careeratnibc.com.
Interested? Please contact us: NIBC Human Resources, Frouke Röben, [email protected]. For further information see
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Editor-in-chief
Lotte Diepenmaat
Coordinator
Alex Claassen
Lay-out
Niels Nooijens
Christian Markwat
Editors
Jasper Eerden
Nienke de Jong
Anton Kupava
Anne Lafarre
Christian Markwat
Contributions
R. van Bommel
X. van Burchem
R. van Buuren
J. Eerden
D. Hermsen
I. van der Heijden
Drs. S.H.J. van der Hoogen
W. Horala
M. de Kort
B. van Langen
E. A.H.M. Lefferts
P. Meeren
J. Merks
Dr. K. Pitsakis
J. Romijnders
R. Sijtsma
J. Slaats
Dr. J. Small
L. van der Swaluw
R. Theunissen
Drs. M. Vitullo
M. van der Zande
Z. Xi
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Reactions concerning this edition or future editions
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preface
L.S.
After graduation, most students go out and look for
a challenging job. Various multinationals are at the
top of the wish-list of students. But, there are more
options. In this edition of the FIRST Quarterly the
topic ‘entrepreneurship’ will be discussed. Over the
last four decades this topic developed into a popular
research theme. Universities are spending an increasing amount of effort into teaching students about it.
Together with the University of Eindhoven, Tilburg
University developed the Brabant Centre of Entrepreneurship programme (BCE). This programme
includes various entrepreneurial courses to teach
you the basics of entrepreneurship, but it also gives
students the opportunity to work out their own business idea.
What does it take to be an entrepreneur? Or maybe
even more important, could one be classified as an
entrepreneur? One of the first topics in this field that
developed a cumulative body of knowledge is the
‘Entrepreneurial Orientation’ (EO) (Lumpkin &
Dess, 1996)1 . It is a sort of entrepreneurial checklist. First of all, you need to value autonomy. The
freedom should be one of the aspects that draws you
into developing your own business ideas. The size of
the company plays a very important role in the level
of autonomy. For an entrepreneurial start-up this
freedom is not hard to achieve. But for corporate entrepreneurial companies, that is, existing companies
valuing an entrepreneurial spirit, this is more difficult. Flattening hierarchies and giving people time
during their regular working hours to develop their
ideas has become a trend.
The second aspect of EO is innovativeness. Entrepreneurs tend to challenge the regular code of conduct.
This is what often makes them so successful. You
need to be able to step aside for a minute to come
up with innovative solutions. People associate the
word innovativeness with new products, but lots of
innovations are not product-marked based, but are
technology based instead. An recent example is the
tablet-technology. This industry is growing rapidly.
Risk-taking is another feature of EO. People tend to
think that entrepreneurs are high-risk takers, but recent research found out that this is certainly not the
case. Entrepreneurs are moderate- or calculated risktakers. Entrepreneurs are relativists and they do not
always act upon intuition. But you do need to dare to
take risk in order to fit the next aspect of EO: being
pro-active. You need to see a solution, before someone else does. Entrepreneurial companies do not
focus on what the customer already demands, since
that is re-active behaviour. Entrepreneurs develop
ideas of which they think the customer is going to
demand it. They create demand.
The last trait of EO is competitive aggressiveness.
This refers to firm responsiveness directed toward
achieving competitive advantage (Lumpkin & Dess,
1996)1. It is important to be unconventional when
competing in a market. So being innovative is again
very important. The target of most entrepreneurs is
to outperform the industry leader.
The goal of this issue of the FIRST Quarterly is to
show how various entrepreneurs interpret these dimensions. We start off with an interview with the
CEO of Van Bommel Shoes, Reynier van Bommel.
He and his two brothers are the ninth generation
shoemakers of the Van Bommel family. Their strategy changed a lot over the years and you can read
more about that on page 7.
A regular article of this magazine is the ‘In Business’.
In this article a starting entrepreneur tells about his
or her business venture. This time we have a special
edition of the In Business. Four entrepreneurs who
told their story in the FIRST Quarterly before tell
about the progress of their companies. Some businesses succeeded, while others did not or at least
not yet! In the Opinion Corner we open a discussion around the question whether entrepreneurs are
born or made. Or in other words, is entrepreneurship
teachable?
I hope you all enjoy reading this edition and you
might come up with a great business idea!
Lotte Diepenmaat
Editor-in-Chief
1
Lumpkin, G.T., & Dess, G.G. (1996). Clarifying the entrepreneurial orientation construct and linking it to performance. Academy of Management Review, 21 (1), 135-172.
April 2011 edition
3
table of contents
contact
articles
Board Asset | FIRST International
21 Professor Article: Contemporary Themes in Entrepreneurship
In Business Special: How is it going with the start-ups from previous editions?
Current Topic: Chamber of Commerce: linking talent and entrepre34
neurship
24
6
Simone Heesben
Vice-Chairman
[email protected]
Niels van Leur
Secretary
[email protected]
question pieces
Kenny jagers
Treasurer
[email protected]
Interview: Reynier van Bommel
Alex Claassen
Education Coordinator
[email protected]
12 Company Focus: PwC
columns
11
Harm van Kemenade
Chairman
[email protected]
Small: What could the iPad, kitchens and entrepreneurship have in
common?
16 Vitullo: A question of priorities
OPINION CORNER
18 Topic: Is entrepreneurship Teachable?
Fatima Abasari
Public Relations Officer
[email protected]
Committees
Activities Committee
[email protected]
Combi Symposium
[email protected]
Consultancy Day Committee
[email protected]
Design Committee
[email protected]
European Travel Committee
[email protected]
FINALS
[email protected]
Finance Expedition Committee
[email protected]
regular features
17 Study Abroad: Vienna, Austria
26 Internship: Kempen&Co
27 Starter’s Experience: Twynstra Gudde
28 In Business: O+ Adviesbureau
30 Career Path: Two students, two careers
32 Event Report: Language Study Tour to Madrid
4
FIRST Quarterly
FIRST Impression Committee
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FIRST Quarterly Committee
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First-Year Committee
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Intercontinental Travel Committee
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International Committee
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International Business Administration Committee
[email protected]
Master Committee
[email protected]
Symposium Committee
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Yearbook Committee
[email protected]
upcoming activities
4-14
April
Economic Business
Weeks Tilburg (EBT)
The Economic Business weeks Tilburg is the perfect
opportunity to prepare yourself for your future career.
Through this unique cooperation, all the approximate
5000 students of the Tilburg School of Economics and
Management of Tilburg University are reached, making
the EBT by far the largest career event in Tilburg. Whether you are just orientating yourself, willing to develop
your skills, or actively searching for a traineeship or a
starter’s position, the EBT is the perfect event for you.
3
MAY
Alumni DInner
During the alumni dinner on the 3rd of May, participants have the opportunity to talk with alumni about
their career perspectives in an informal setting. This
dinner will be organised in the city centre of Tilburg.
So if you want to get to know more about your career
perspectives, join our alumni dinner!
6
May
Brussels Excursion
18 April
Finals Activity
The next Finals activity will take place in Utrecht on Saturday the 16th of April 2011. We will start with an afternoon activity around 16.00h; afterwards we will go out
for dinner and continue the evening with drinks in the city.
23-13
april-may
I n t e r c o n t i n e n ta l
Study Trip to VietnaM
The study trip takes place from the 23rd of April until
the 13th of May, 2011. During this trip we will visit companies, so that we get insight in the typical Vietnamese
style of Business. Additionally, we will participate in social and cultural activities to get involved in the Vietnamese way of living. Mekong Delta, Nam Cat Tien
National Park, Marble Mountains, and Halong Bay
are only some of the things that we will experience.
For first-year International Business Administration students and Economic students an excursion to Brussels will be organised on the 6th of
May. During this excursion the European Parliament and the European Commission will be visited.
At both institutions the students will get a presentation and subjects from the courses will be discussed.
21 JUNE
Announcement Drink
This evening the board of 2011-2012 of Asset | FIRST International will be announced. The new Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Education Coordinator will present themselves with a spectacular act. There will also
be two free barrels of beer, so we hope to see you there!
April 2011 edition
5
introduction.
Body
Subtitle
Body
Interview: Reynier Van Bommel
CEO of van Bommel Shoes
Interview By: ALex Claassen, Lotte Diepenmaat
Could you briefly tell us something about your
company and how you became an entrepreneur?
My career in this company started almost
twelve years ago. After some years of study in
Maastricht, I decided to go abroad to learn
the art of shoemaking. Upon return I stated as
a sales representative. I did this job for about
two years and in those years I gradually took
over some of the work from my father, who
was also the commercial director at the time.
After becoming commercial director I started
working together with somebody from outside of the family, who served as general
manager of the company. However, almost
two years ago we parted ways and I became
the general manager of Van Bommel.
When did you decide that you wanted to join the
family business?
My father always tells me it was at the fatherson day in Maastricht. At the end of the day
when my father and I were walking home I
told him: did you ever realise that I want to
come and work at your company? This is the
story of my father, however, I believe that I
decided to keep the option to come and work
at this company open.
After some years of study at the University of
Maastricht, you decided to learn the original
craft of shoemaking in Italy. How did both these
studies affect your career?
That is a good question. I studied Economics in Maastricht for some years, but I did not
finish. I regret that I was not able to complete
my degree because now, looking back, I realise that I was capable of completing those
studies. At the time, I did not have the discipline to study every day and it was at that
moment I realised that it was not for me. I
learned that it is very important to stick to
something you like, to find the discipline inside you to advance, otherwise it is just not
worth starting at all. At the moment I am,
together with my two brothers, responsible
for 140 people in this company and many
more outside the company. So today, I do
not have the privilege of deciding to not finish things that I have started. As to my time in
Italy, France and Germany, it was the general
knowledge about the shoes and shoemaking
that I found was most important to me.
You own the company together with your two
brothers. Was the division of the responsibilities/
roles immediately evident?
Partly, yes. Floris and I joined the company
approximately at the same time. After his
fashion-focused studies he went into the
marketing division because he had studied in
that direction previously. Back then, nobody
knew that Floris would have such the talent
for designing the actual shoes. The fact that
one of our lines is named after Floris is actually just a coincidence; it was one of the brands
my father created long before my brother and
I joined the company. However, my father anticipated the role of marketing for Floris and
the commercial part for me, as I had studied
Economics as well as worked in Parisian shoe
shop for a long time. In order to create these
career perspectives for us without firing anyone, my father simultaneously took over both
the marketing and the commercial jobs in
order to introduce my brother and I into the
company. As for my younger brother Pepijn,
he also joined our company fairly recently.
His arrival was not as predetermined as Floris’ and mine. Pepijn and I are rather similar;
however, he fits the position of a commercial
director more than me. Amazingly, all three
of us fit into the company like the pieces of
a puzzle.
What lessons concerning entrepreneurship did
you learn from your father?
Not so long ago my brother Pepijn was approached with the same question and he
answered, and I agree with him: ‘customer
goodwill’. It means your customers want you
to succeed. You may be the most caring and
honest entrepreneur, however, your business will be unsuccessful if your customers
do not care about your business. My father
has managed to attain and keep this “nice
guy” image during his 40-year career. I hope
I achieve the same ‘customer goodwill’ as my
father because we serve hundreds and hundreds of customers, and most of them still
speak highly of him.
You still have a lot of personal contact with the
customers?
Yes, I believe personal contact is very important, especially for small and medium sized
companies, but also for family-owned companies. Interestingly, the way we do business
in the Netherlands and in Belgium, where
we have been selling shoes for generations,
is completely different from the German
market at this moment. Germany has a constantly changing business environment, so if
I have new interviews, it is with new people
most of the time. Big German companies
do not like to develop relationships with the
suppliers, it is their strategy. They just want
people straight from the university, who work
according to the books. It is not the way we
do business. I am used to sitting down, talking to people, making personal agreements
and not writing everything down to the very
last detail.
What are the advantages of a family company
compared to a publicly owned company?
The most important difference is that we can
work, think and act in the long term. We can
think in generations instead of quarters. For
example, it is not a problem if a company
does not make profit this year. We have a nice
salary and I do not need the dividend on my
bank account. It is much better to have the
money in the company and invest it in new
businesses instead of keeping it for personal
consumption. If you are a public company,
however, the board of directors cannot make
that decision as the company has to make
profit to be able to pay dividends to its shareholders. And if you are not solely going after the money, you can focus on making the
company more beautiful.
There are three reasons why we still have our
production in Moergestel. Firstly, quality. By
having our factory here we believe we have an
advantage over other trade companies, that
outsource their production. Secondly, our
work force (140 people) is all here. Thirdly,
marketing. We are the only shoe factory left
April 2011 edition
7
interview
Towards the end of the nineties my father
and his sales team introduced, besides those
lines, a more fashionable and younger line.
Our customers, however, were reluctant to
sell this new Van Bommel line in their shop
and chose in favour of brands like Hugo Boss
and Timberland. The company could not afford to give up, knowing that it might get into
another crisis in the coming years. New initiative was needed and it came in 1997. The
new brand name for more fashionable shoe
line, Floris van Bommel, was created. As simple as it sounds, it led to an increase in sales
and by 2007 we sold 420.000 pairs of shoes.
in the Netherlands. There are many companies that produce more shoes than we do, yet
people come to visit us, because we still have
our own production site here in the Netherlands.
In the nineties you started the Floris van Bommel brand, targeting at a younger public. What
was the main reason to do this?
The brand for young people was created by
my father in 1997, and up until then we only
8
FIRST Quarterly
had one brand, Van Bommel. The early eighties brought times of big crisis to the company
and the need to differentiate became imminent as we had one famous collection which
was selling less and less shoes. So, the boat
shoe came into our collection. We created
a discover shoe, designed for walking long
distances, and an ultra fit shoe, classical shoe
with the comfort of a sneaker shoe. Shoe differentiation did raise the sales, yet everything
was still made under the brand Van Bommel.
Your brother, Floris van Bommel, is the face of
Floris van Bommel shoes, also for the TV commercials and advertisements. Could you tell us
more about the idea behind this marketing campaign?
Floris became the face of the brand in the
later stages of the campaign. During the first
year we were selling the same shoes under a
new name. In 1999, we managed to get a supplier deal with Formula 1. We did that for
three seasons, focusing only on one particular shoe, not the brand or a company. With
the help of all the media attention we were
able to sell more of that particular type of
shoe than our famous broke shoe sold in two
years. We noticed that by doing things that
are not compatible with what people think
of our brand, the media starts writing about
it. Cooperation between Formula 1 and van
Bommel was the real start of the brand Floris van Bommel. It was not until 2006 that
an advertising agency had the nontraditional
idea of putting Floris in front of the brand.
Previously, Floris as a person was just an employee and not visible to the consumer. The
campaign became even more unique when
Floris started starring in the ads, with his own
music at the background. The television ads
were launched on MTV, TMF and the Box
with Floris as a designer, a musician and the
face of our brand.
What are the plans of the company for the coming years? What markets will you focus on?
At this moment, we are selling our shoes in
Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.
Some years ago we decided to stop selling our
shoes outside those three countries. Six years
interview
ago we were selling our shoes in 20-25 countries. We decided to focus on these three markets and look for a new export market when
we are satisfied with the markets that we currently supply our shoes to. Van Bommel is not
large enough to benefit from having several
shoe owners in different countries. We are
doing very well in Germany at the moment
and we are planning to expand to Scandinavia
in two to three seasons. Besides producing
and selling shoes, doing retail ourselves and
doing retail together with our customers in
big shops is yet another focus of ours.
Why did you decide to open more stores?
My family comes from a shoe making tradition. In the last 15 years, however, we shifted
from being a shoe factory to being a trade
company. Nowadays, I believe, it is not possible to just be a trade company anymore.
You need to have a retail company in order to
keep up with street and the internet culture.
In essence this means that you have to be
vertically integrated. Times are changing and
we have to change too. Quality was a primary
target for my grandfather some 25 years ago;
marketing your product was the period of my
father; information is what we have to prioritise in the 21st century. If we do not know
what is happening in the shops we can lose
even our long-term customers. Ugg created a
big hype lately and we want to keep shops’ focus at van Bommel. We have to be in control
of the information and the only way getting
that information is by selling the products
to the customers yourself. That is why going
into the retail field is very important.
gether. The second department attaches the
upper to the innersole and the walking sole,
which touches the ground. The art of making
shoes is in attaching those three elements together. There are ten to fifteen different ways
of making shoes and they all have a name in
shoe tradition. For example, moccasin is not
the name of the shoe but the name of the assembling process. In the last 15 years, though,
“There are 10 to 15 different
ways of making shoes and they
all have a name in shoe tradition”
almost all the shoemaking companies in the
world have focused on one or two arts of
making shoes. We have focused on one of
the most traditional ways – Goodyear way. It
is a very expensive way of shoemaking as it
involves 280 steps. Out of the 450000 pairs
of shoes we sold last year, 170000 were made
the Goodyear way. It is worth mentioning
that the Goodyear uppers that we need for
our domestic production are made in India
or Tunisia while all the other shoes are produced in Portugal.
What does a regular day at the office look like
for you?
If you make shoes, a lot of things can go
wrong. Since I have become a General
Manager of the company there are a lot of
meetings to make sure that things do not
go wrong. I am also busy with changing the
procedures of the company. Currently I work
close with my younger brother Pepijn, sharing my knowledge with him as he is relatively
new to what he does, whereas I have about
ten years of experience.
Our traditional ending question: do you have
any advice for our student readers?
Yes, finish what you started!
What is the reason that van Bommel is only focusing on the male market?
It is not actually a choice we specifically
made; we have been making men shoes for
nine generations and that is what we are good
at. We have tried hard to sell female shoes as
well, but unfortunately with limited success.
Could you tell us more about the shoe making
process? Are all the shoes produced in the Netherlands?
No. Process of shoemaking requires two big
departments, so to say. One makes the ‘uppers’, a leather jacket of the shoe, by cutting
the pieces of leather and stitching them toApril 2011 edition
9
Duisenberg school of finance
New thinking in finance
Text: Melissa Ruggles
The story behind Duisenberg school of finance (DSF) is an exceptional one. DSF is venturing a new path in financial education, bringing
both real world pragmatism and top intellectual insights to its students through an unprecedented synergy between industry and
academia. DSF is an educational institution that focuses on producing tomorrow’s top echelon of financial experts. Experts who are
financial masterminds, but also grounded, dynamic leaders. Experts who are readily prepared to move from the classroom to the
boardroom. Experts who can apply ‘new thinking in finance’ to discover innovative real market solutions for real market issues.
Founding partners
Admitting Only the Best
The past years’ global economic crisis and
Meeting the minimum admissions require-
In 2007, DSF was established. The corporate
financial market calamities clearly indicated
ments is only the first step in DSF’s chal-
partners are: ING, NYSE Euronext, Houthoff
the need for change in financial thinking and
lenging application process. The Admissions
Buruma, ABN Amro, De Nederlandsche Bank,
approaches. In response, Dutch academic in-
Committee, comprised of professors, staff
AEGON, APG, RBS and SNS Reaal. The acade-
stitutions and leading international corpo-
and industry experts, closely evaluate a
mic institutions are: RSM Erasmus Universiteit,
rations in the Netherlands joined together
candidate’s combination of Knowledge, Skills
VU Amsterdam, Tilburg Universiteit, Tinbergen
to find and develop a solution. Their shared
and Attitude (KSAs) as presented in a can-
Institute, and Universiteit van Amsterdam.
vision was to create a single, distinctive pri-
didate’s application and a personal inter-
vate financial academic institution that would
view. Only the best, most well-rounded and
pave the way in creating ‘new thinking in
motivated candidates from around the world
finance’ – a way of thinking that integrates
are handpicked and invited to attend DSF.
DSF Makes Landing that Dream Job
the latest financial industry knowledge and
Only 30 students maximum are admitted to
in Finance a Reality
developments with acute intellectual foresight.
each programme. What is further noteworthy
It is no secret that DSF graduates are strongly
is that DSF goes above and beyond most
favoured by prospective employers, which is
educational institutions to provide admit-
evident by its impressive placement records.
ted students guaranteed access to incredible
The rigorous academic training – the teaching
funding opportunities, in the form of scholar-
methods, demanding research ambitions and
ships and a specially-developed loan scheme.
heavy emphasis on career development – ef-
The same criteria used to evaluate candidates
fectively prepares graduates for employment
for admission to the school are also applied in
in fields such as: risk management, consul-
the awarding of scholarships.
tancy, financial law, private equity, mergers
and acquisitions, corporate reinsurance, in-
Master’s in Finance Programmes
vestment banking, portfolio management,
World Class Faculty
DSF has 4 highly-specialised, intensive 1-year
and more. Next to our sponsor companies,
DSF attracts leading finance, economics and
Master’s degree programmes in: Risk Manage-
some examples of companies employing
business academics as permanent teaching
ment, Corporate Finance and Banking, and
DSF graduates include: UBS, JPMorgan,
faculty, visiting professors, guest lecturers
both a LLM and MSc programme in Finance
Bain, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital and
and advisors. Not surprisingly, DSF faculty
and Law. In addition to the core courses, each
Goldman Sachs.
are affiliated with the world’s top universi-
Master’s student is required to perform an
ties, conducting cutting-edge financial and
internship, to write a thesis and complete the
economic research, as well as advising the
Duisenberg Leadership Programme (DLP). The
world’s major corporations and governments
DLP is designed to develop financial experts
on fiscal matters. In addition to academics,
as experts who can also act and lead with
though, some of DSF’s faculty are current or
integrity. The DLP includes courses, such as:
former executives from the financial industry.
Ethics, Professional Communication Skills,
Symphony Building
This combination of academic and industry
Incentives and Behavioural Finance, Financial
Gustav Mahlerplein 117
knowledge in the DSF classroom forms the
Regulation, Economics of Risk, and Interna-
1082 MS Amsterdam
core of DSF’s educational philosophy and is
tional Corporate Governance.
+31 (0)20 525 8590
pivotal to preparing well-rounded, highly
[email protected]
capable future financial leaders.
www.dsf.nl
small
What could the iPad,
kitchens and entrepreneurship have in common?
Well you may start to think of Apps that help with cooking, offering recipes or creating shopping lists. Or you
may think of an App to design your own kitchen in glorious colour and 3D. Yes, but where is the link with entrepreneurship? Maybe you think of small, young firms or
individual entrepreneurs churning out whacky Apps and
adding them to the thousands of Apps in Apple’s App
store.
Alternatively, you may think of Apple itself. Clearly, Apple is an innovative company challenging the established
giants with alternative operating systems, PCs, music
players and mobile phones, and then the iPad. Let us
look though at one of their most brilliant business concepts – the App. For the reader above 25 year of age, Apps
are applications or programmes. In the Smartphone and
“tablet PC” world, Apps and OS (operating systems)
are where the battles for the consumer’s Euros are being
fought. Once you have chosen your phone or tablet PC,
you have chosen an OS and thus the Apps you can buy.
There is a lot of healthy competition in the industry, just
what all good entrepreneurs thrive on. Among the major
competitors are Google’s Android OS and significant alliances are being built, such as that between Nokia and
Microsoft. Their goal is to win back old customers from
Apple and win the new customers too. Where we can
look in wonder at firms like Apple and awe at their creativity, daring and ability to create new markets, or what
have been called “Blue Oceans”. There is another side to
this war, which is to “lock-in” customers to just one OS.
stores. In the end, I would feel tired but satisfied that I
had been diligent in my search, and then I would make
up my mind and buy.
In the Kingdom of Kitchens, where you would think that
the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and driving competition
to bring value to its customers, however, the real choices
you have may be more like those faced by publishers of
digital media – not very many! According to the press, if
you visit many of the larger kitchen stores you are really
just being led a merry dance. You are offered discounts to
compare with those in other stores owned by the same
empire or kingdom of companies and – hey presto you
think you are getting a really good deal. This is similar
to having two identical cars for sale, I price one of them
higher than the other and I end up being able to sell the
cheaper one for what is in fact the full price!
Where does this leave entrepreneurship in a world of
iPads and kitchen kingdoms. When we talk about Understanding Society this has an aspiration that entrepreneurship is not just the creation of new products and
services, wealth and jobs. It is also creating value for customers as well as having respect for them. It seems that it
is rather easy for successful businesses to take advantage
of, or abuse their positions of power. Entrepreneurship
should lead to customers having a real choice between
alternatives. So that you do not need to “lock them in”
but that they choose to buy your product or service and
choose to come back to you because they want to.
As reported recently in the press, Apple has taken this
one step further in the subscriptions to online newspapers, like the digital NRC for example. It was reported
that Apple was insisting that digital newspapers were no
longer allowed to sell their digital newspapers directly to
their subscribers. Instead, customers would have to buy
their digital papers and subscription via the Apple webstore. In this case Apple would allegedly require 30% of
the revenue to be paid directly to them. Just when we
were all thinking... WOW an iPad + digital media = freedom. Well freedom is of course not the intention in the
land of lock-in, and the romance between the iPad and
the publishers is on the rocks.
What does this have to do with kitchens and entrepreneurship? Well let’s take a look at the world of kitchens or
should that be the Kingdom of Kitchens. I never bought
a completely new kitchen, since it was already installed
in my house, when I bought it. If I were keen to buy a
new kitchen I would most likely engage in comparison
shopping, look for a good deal or even a bargain. Without
an iPhone App to help me I would look at the internet
and then visit the stores with the best prices. I would
take notes and go back and forward a few times between
April 2011 edition
11
company focus
PwC
With: Reinier Sijtsma - Financial Trainee
Interview by: Alex Claassen & Anne Lafarre
PwC is a global professional services
firm that offers global assurance, tax and
advisory services. It is one of the world’s
largest professional services firms and
one of the “Big Four” accountancy firms.
six months. During my first six months I
worked in the regular Audit practice, focusing on large corporate enterprises. The
second period of six months takes place
in the Transaction Services unit. This unit
supports clients through mergers and acquisitions (such as corporate finance activities, due diligence and creating value
after acquisitions). I will spend my third
rotation at the Business Assurance Services
Group. This unit advices clients with issues
in the areas of IT, controls, processes, improvement and revenue assurance. Finally,
the last six months are in the Audit practice
past 8 in the morning. You will have meetings with colleagues to discuss the progress
of projects, but you will also have your regular audit work that needs to be done. Furthermore, you will have to make reconciliations between annual report general ledgers
or be working on the important pitch for
the takeover of a large multinational. Most
working days contain many different tasks.
Yesterday, for instance, I had to go through
binders at a client’s desk just to perform a
consolidation on various financial items.
The work can be very different; sometimes
we are focused on just one line item and
sometimes we are talking about entire processes to get to a single profit margin. This
shows that we work on different levels. You
can have an entire day of meetings with clients about processes and how to improve
certain areas. This is because you are not
only looking at the financial statements
but also at improving the processes around
them, together with the client.
Based on your experiences so far, what do you
enjoy the most about this financial traineeship?
Overall, I am really enjoying the traineeship so far. The thing I like most is the diversity of my clients and the people within
PwC. Every day I meet new people and
discover different insights, which makes
every day at PwC different and interesting.
In addition, getting to know four different
business units throughout the entire company in two years is in my opinion the best
experience you can get as a starter.
Could you briefly tell us something about
yourself and your career so far? Where did you
study and how did your studies affect your career?
My career at PwC started on the first of
September 2010, after my graduation from
Tilburg University in August 2010. When
I had almost finished writing my Master
thesis I applied for a position as a
financial trainee at PwC and shortly “The thing I like most is the diversity of my
afterwards I was invited for an inThe theme of this edition is entrepreneurclients and the people within PwC.”
terview. Because I had already comship. Does PwC work for large clients
pleted an internship at PwC Amonly or for small firms as well? When
sterdam before, I was already familiar with again. However, during this period, we fo- working for smaller firms, is your approach
PwC. This made the decision to choose for cus on smaller private and public compa- generally different?
nies, which are usually not listed.
PwC quite easy.
We work for both smaller and larger firms.
A few weeks ago, I was working on a projCould you tell us more about the Financial Can you describe a regular day at work?
ect for a small firm, with only three PwC
At PwC, every day is different. This is what employees. It is different from working
Traineeship at PwC?
This programme starts every September makes working here so appealing. A regular with large firms, because the atmosphere
and takes two years to complete. The pro- working day within audit, where I am cur- is much more informal. Working on projgramme is divided into four periods of rently working, would start at around half ects for small businesses is totally different
12
FIRST Quarterly
company focus
from working for larger companies. At large tually does and it also gives you an insight
companies you quickly notice that the lines into the structure of an organisation. Beof communication are longer and that you sides working on the business case, you will
are spending more time talking to people also be able to experience the nightlife of
to find the right information. As a Trainee, the city and, most importantly, get to learn
the advantage of a
the people of PwC
smaller client is that
“In short; a traineeship is and the firm itself.
you are able to see all
the processes within very attractive, not only in the I chose for this trainthat firm. At large direction of accounting, but eeship because my
listed clients the PwC
master
Financial
also in other directions.”
team is split in several
Management
was
teams for different
more finance-orientprocesses, so you only see parts of those ed. The transaction business is one of the
clients.
things about the traineeship that appealed
to me. The Financial Traineeship offers you
What do you feel is the greatest advantage of to start at PwC and find out more about
being a consultant?
the different lines of service they have. In
If you work for a normal production com- short, a traineeship is a great opportunity,
pany, you are usually working in the same not only if you are looking for a career in acoffice with the same people every single counting but also in more finance specific
day of the week. This means you are only directions.
involved with a small number of processes.
As a consultant, however, you see more Can you tell us something about the way you
than that small selection of processes, and are coached by your co-workers and your suthis overview improves your insight on the periors in your work?
general condition of a company. During the Coaching is an important element of the
first six months of my traineeship at PwC, traineeship. At PwC, trainees are constantI have seen so many different companies ly coached by their direct colleagues and
of which I could not even imagine they by special coaches. Each group of trainees
existed. Through this experience I gained has a performance coach who is supported
a lot of knowledge about how companies by a senior manager. When you move to
function.
another business unit, you will also get a
new performance coach. At the beginning
What are the possibilities for students to learn of every six-month block the performance
about PwC as an employer? Does PwC offer coach discusses your goals for that particuin-house days or master classes?
lar period. Together you discuss what you
PwC organises in-house days and business want to achieve in the next six months and
courses, which I can highly recommend. I how you are going to achieve that. If you
participated in a business course to Dublin come across problems in achieving these
a few years ago. During a business course goals or if you like to complete different asyou work on a case study for a local compa- signments, your coach is there to help and
ny. The case we had was about the merger guide you.
of a large beer company, which is of course
an appealing subject for students. To get a You are also coached on the job by both the
better impression of the beer brewery busi- performance coach and the people you are
ness, we went to the Guinness brewery working with on a particular project. There
where a private tour was organised for us to is always room to ask questions,to expand
see more of the company. These visits give your knowledge and learn to improve your
you a clear overview of what a company ac- skills, which is very important for PwC as a
consultancy firm. This means, for example,
that you are always well prepared when you
are discussing something with a client.
Are more senior managers also approachable
for trainees?
Yes, definitely. If you have a question and
you feel the need to discuss this with someone you can always approach any of the
seniors. The door is always open and they
are willing to help you with problems and
questions. They can also help you with setting and aligning your goals. You do have to
take the first step yourself, but if you take
the initiative, everybody is willing to help
you.
April 2011 edition
13
company focus
To what extend can you define your own
path within the traineeship? Do you have any
choice in the project and clients you work for?
As I said earlier, the traineeship is divided
in four blocks of six months and each block
is spent at another business unit. Within
these rotations you can, to some extent,
determine your own path. This means
you can choose for directions such as the
consumer and telecom branch or the financials, which include banks and insurance companies. You can choose a specific
direction, but you can also speak to your
coach and say you would like to be assigned to, for example, a particular project
for a large insurance company. The planning department will then check whether it
is possible to have you rescheduled to that
specific task or specific client. My initial
choice was to start working on the larger
clients. For the next block I have chosen
for the financial companies. If you show
initiative and ask for it, a lot is possible.
“When you start the traineeship you immediately get a permanent contract. This means
they invest in you and truly
believe in you.”
Do you think your future is with PwC?
When you start the traineeship you immediately get a permanent contract. This
means they invest in you and truly believe
in you. After two years, I can make up my
mind on what I liked the most and for
which line of service within PwC I would
like to work. If there is a place available in
the unit of my preference I can start there
immediately. At that point I already have
a contract and because of the experience
gained in the traineeship, I can start working straight away. In the end, the ultimate
goal of the traineeship is to prepare you for
placement in one of the four services that
the PwC Traineeship offers.
14
FIRST Quarterly
What does PwC require from students?
To be considered for the financial traineeship you need to have a Master degree in
a financial direction. The second condition,
which I believe is the most important, is
that you must be motivated to start working for PwC. Without the right motivation
and drive you will not be able to complete a
traineeship like this.
“In the end, the ultimate goal
of the traineeship is to prepare
you for placement in one of the
four services that PwC offers. “
Do applicants have to complete an assessment
during the application procedure?
Yes, an assessment is indeed part of the procedure. The entire application procedure
consists of one online assessment and two
interviews.
What makes PwC different from other companies?
For me, this traineeship makes the difference. It is an opportunity to see all the
processes and all the services of PwC and
make a decision about the business unit
you would like to work in afterwards. And,
of course, I think PwC is the most appealing company to work for. This is not only
my opinion, but was also stated by the Intermediair. They recently did a survey on
the way companies invest in their employees regarding training and development.
PwC was ranked number 4 of the Netherlands in Finance. PwC invests in their staff
and they can offer you all the opportunities
you need through this financial traineeship,
which is particularly interesting for nonaccountancy students.
Our traditional ending question: Do you have
any advice for our student readers?
Enjoy your student life as long as you can,
because as soon as you graduate and start
working you will spend your days in the office. So enjoy it now it’s still possible. When
you are about to start working, make a solid
decision about where you want to work. I
wanted to go into accounting or transaction services. Therefore, I before did an internship at both MeesPierson Corporate finance and PwC. I was not sure about where
I wanted to work, so I started surfing the Internet to find a company where those two
fields were combined. This search resulted
in returning to PwC. You have to look for
the thing that you do best to get the best
out of your career, which is the most important thing.
www.werkenbijpwc.nl
Of heb jij een
beter idee om
alle facetten
van de financiële
wereld te
ontdekken?
Financial Traineeship
Informatiemiddag
19 april 2011
Judith Verschoor
088 792 53 79
[email protected]
Sta je op het punt een financiële master af te ronden, dan ligt
de wereld aan je voeten. Het bedrijfsleven staat te springen om
talent met een financieel fundament. Wil je meer weten over dit
tweejarig coachings- en opleidingstraject, neem dan contact op met
Judith. Of meld je aan voor de informatiemiddag op 19 april via
www.werkenbijpwc.nl/financialtraineeship
© 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers B.V. (KvK 3412089) Alle rechten voorbehouden.
A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES
As the approach in the course involved a good deal
of case studies a number of corporations were discussed in some detail and as a language skills coach
I was given a survey of the developments and challenges in the world of contemporary operations.
As is desirable of all academic-didactic endeavors,
though the students are admittedly the real target,
I left the course with my perceptions of the world
around me somewhat altered. That is to say, for at
least a small period in my life, I looked at the world
through operational eyes.
One example worth mentioning is that a number
of weeks into the course I happened to stop by my
local pharmacist to pick up a prescription for eye
drops. It should be pointed out that said eye drops
are of crucial importance to me. As a sufferer of a
somewhat uncommon form of glaucoma, I need
to use the drops on a daily basis or face the distinct
possibility of going blind within the foreseeable future. Upon arriving at the pharmacist’s shop, I was
told that the drops had had to be ordered and that
they were on their way, but that the pharmacist had
no idea how long it would take before they were in
stock. Interestingly, one of the companies that had
just been discussed in the O.M. course was Heineken, and the team that had studied the beer maker
had pointed out, to some amusement in the class,
that their delivery tracking system was now so advanced that if a customer called about a delivery
of beer, they could tell the customer, pretty much
down to the minute, how far away the order was and
how long it would take to reach its destination. I
could not help being struck by the contrast.
16
FIRST Quarterly
We live in a world where much is determined by
market forces. The market determines the priorities; the greater the demand is for a product, the
more likely it is that measures will be taken not only
to produce the commodity but also to deliver it expeditiously to the consumer. In other words, there
are millions of beer drinkers in the Netherlands,
and thousands of cafes, bars, and restaurants trying
to provide this commodity to them. Therefore, the
market has seen and fulfilled a need to deliver beer
in the most efficient and accommodating fashion
possible. There are, however, but a handful of glaucoma patients waiting for eye drops. And given the
paltry number of consumers, it is likely we will continue to wait, in a profound degree of oblivion, for
years to come.
vitullo
A while back, I had the privilege of being assigned
as an English instructor to the course in Operations
Management that is taught as part of Tilburg University’s combined instruction approach. The idea
is that even as students are learning the ins and outs
of a specific content course, in this case O.M., they
are also picking up the academic skills needed to
function and communicate within the field. As a result, the various instructors wind up learning a thing
or two about each other’s fields along the way.
For you see, the market moves not on the basis
of urgency, but on the basis of numbers. In a universe where mass is all, the degree of need is a moot
point, and the few who are desperate for a product
are trumped by the many who have a marginal need.
So if you ever wonder why I have a love of, but also
a healthy distrust of, the market mechanism, keep
in mind that I like beer but love my eyesight, even
as the market would rather see me blind drunk and
just plain blind.
Mark Vitullo is a senior lecturer at the Tilburg University Language Center. He has written on various
topics for a variety of publications.
STUDY ABROAD
Vienna, AUSTRIA
By Jan Romijnders
vitullo
I was given the opportunity to go on exchange
and when you get such an opportunity you take
it with both hands. But why Vienna, of all places?
I already took a German course in my second
year at the university and I wanted to improve
my German skills even further. I did some research and it turned out that Vienna is the largest
student city in German speaking countries. So I
applied for Vienna University of Economics and
Business and I got in.
I went to Vienna in the beginning of September, even though my courses did not start until
the 19th of October. The reason for that was an
introduction programme of the university. I arrived on the 3th of September. My brother and a
friend of his took me by car to Vienna and they
stayed for the weekend. This was great because
I did not feel alone in the strange city where I
knew almost nobody. The university has a student organization called the Buddy Network,
which offers you the chance to get a buddy in
Vienna. He or she can arrange certain things
for you, for example picking up the key of your
room or helping you register in Vienna. My
buddy was Julia, a really sweet girl. She invited
us for a pre-party at her place before we ever met
face to face, we had only had some contact over
email. That was quite impressive for me but that
shows the hospitality of the Austrian people. We
were all speaking German, however when Dutch
people do not know a German word then most
of the time they ‘Germanise’ the Dutch word.
This works fine, nine out of ten times. But the
one time that it does not work is really funny,
especially when you see the expression on the
faces of the Austrians.
We had a cultural program during the introduction which showed us all the touristic hot spots
in Vienna and cities close to Vienna, which was
all really nice. But the most important thing for
me during the introduction was meeting the international students. The atmosphere amongst
the international students was really good,
everybody wanted to get to know everybody.
You’re starting to slowly become a group of
friends. So we decided that we would have an international dinner every week. It is a great way to
get to know the different traditional meals from
over the world.
A lot of trips were organised by the Buddy Network, for example a skiing trip and a trip to Krakow. But the trip to the Oktoberfest was the first
trip. We went to Munich in a party train, which
was crazy but great. Sleeping was not an option
since we were partying all night. The Oktoberfest was amazing the only
downside was that I dropped
my camera in a beer.
After already some really
cool parties it was time to
study. There was a different
setup for lectures and examinations in comparison to Tilburg University. The shortest
lecture that I had was three
hours and the longest one
was nine hours. Every lecture that I had was mandatory, and we had to present
in groups a lot, mostly case
studies or special assign-
ments. The level of the classes was not that high
which gave me more time to do other things.
There was a good interaction with the Austrian
students which was really nice.
When you are in Austria it is really easy to go
skiing, so when ESN organized a skiing trip I
decided to join. It was organised for all the exchange students in Austria so in the end we were
on the slopes with 350 exchange students. It was
my first time skiing and I loved both parts of skiing; the skiing and the après skiing.
The club scene is really nice in Vienna, there were
a lot of clubs. It does not matter which day in the
week you want to go out, there is always a party
somewhere. And of course Austria is a country
where beer and meat are cherished, which was
perfect for me because I cherish them as well. So
when we were in a restaurant and they had three
litre beers and two kg hamburgers on the menu
it was an easy choice. I did finish two beers but
the burger was a bridge too far.
The exchange really opened my eyes, you get a
broader view on the world and its many cultures.
My view on the world is not based on prejudice
anymore. Afterwards it really felt like I stepped
into a rollercoaster and that the ride took five
months. It was amazing, I hope to see all my
friends from the exchange in Lapland around
the New Year, why Lapland you think, because
we can.
April 2011 edition
17
opinion corner
Enterpreneurship
You may have heard about some of the
common quotes – and therefore maybe
pitfalls – on entrepreneurship. Ones that
say: “Entrepreneurs are born, not made”,
“All you need is luck to be an entrepreneur” and “All entrepreneurs need, is
money” (Morris et al., 2008). In practice
they appear not to be entirely true. Of
course we all know the famous examples
of the so-called self-made entrepreneurs
like Steve Jobs as the personification of
Apple and Freddy Heineken. We actually
know many more like Michael Dell, Walt
Disney, Henry Ford, Ingvar Kamprad
and Levi Strauss. They have pursued their
ideas with their unique vision, endurance
and creativity and eventually made it into
the success it is these days. Can we label
an entrepreneur like that? Does he or she
make everything a success?
In practice, it turns out to be the case that
entrepreneurship is a subject lectured at
many business schools and universities
across the world, also at Tilburg University. Consequently, there is a wide range
of research available on different subject
matters, like social entrepreneurship and
corporate entrepreneurship. The traits of
the perfect entrepreneur are also often
researched. This makes us able to define
entrepreneurship as “the process of creating something new of value by devoting
the necessary time and effort, assuming
the accompanying financial, physical and
social risks, and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and interdependence” (Hirsch and
Peters, 2002).
Having this definition, we still do not
know whether entrepreneurship is teachable. Also the quotes mentioned in the beginning of this introduction do not really
help. However, we do know that entrepreneurship is widely lectured, but still this
is no guarantee of becoming a successful
entrepreneur.
The question remains: What is an entrepreneur and what are its characteristics?
Many people have asked this question, yet
there is still no consensus on the matter.
Therefore we asked one of our very own
professors and students from Tilburg University about their opinion on our statement. Furthermore, we will provide you
with the opinion of two entrepreneurs.
This leads to the following statement:
Is enterpreneurship teachable?
Lecturer drs. Stijn van den Hoogen
“I think that there is an “image” about entrepreneurship that it can be done without any education.”
To a large extent I agree with the statement. Research shows that successful entrepreneurs usually have more/higher education. This way,
they have learned about the possibilities, traps and caveats about entrepreneurship.
I think that there is an “image” about entrepreneurship that it can be done without any education. This is because there are some successful
examples of “self-made” entrepreneurs that are well-known to the public (for example Harvard drop-out Bill Gates or in the Netherlands
self-made-man Hennie van der Most). These people, however, seem to be the proverbial “exception to the rule”, as most research shows that
entrepreneurs usually have had quite some education and this also helps them in being successful.
By teaching our students all aspects of entrepreneurship, we think that they are better prepared once they start up their own business. Next to
that, some skills training is offered and students get to experience how it is to write their own business plan. This whole package gives them a
head start on other entrepreneurs.
On the other hand, some elements of entrepreneurship like taking responsibility and action are elements that also should be part of the personal characteristics of the entrepreneur; those elements are hard to teach. Some basic level should be inside the person, and when it is there,
it can be enlarged and kindled by entrepreneurship lessons. Learning-by-doing is an important part of the start-up process, and new entrepreneurs will surely run into situations they had not expected to happen, but I think that they can cope with such situations much better thanks
to the things they have heard and learned in their education.
Drs. Stijn van den Hoogen is a lecturer at Tilburg University and teaches various courses, among others for the Brabant Center of Entrepreneurship.
18
FIRST Quarterly
opinion corner
Student Zhicheng Qi
“Entrepreneurship is a practical knowledge that you
have to gain by jumping into the field directly.”
From my personal point of view, I do not think entrepreneurship
is teachable. Why? Because I think entrepreneurship is a practical
knowledge that you have to gain by jumping into the field directly.
Of course some theoretical knowledge is needed, however, these
just focus on the basic framework of what entrepreneurship is. Unlike accounting and finance, there is no strict guidance, set of rules
or one-perfect-way to act in the field of entrepreneurship. What entrepreneurs are doing is taking risks by their own experience, which
is hardly teachable. So I suppose entrepreneurship is not teachable.
Zhicheng Qi is a pre-master student at Tilburg University for the Master
Marketing Management
Chairman Academic Business Club Inge van der Heijden
“There is also a personality factor I think that is hard
to teach”
As chairman of the business club of Tilburg University I meet a lot of
young (student) entrepreneurs that are starting up a company without having ever worked for a (large) company before. They have a
strong vision about a product or service in which they truly believe,
and make a go for it by starting on their own. Almost all of these
young enthusiasts seek a lot of help from organisations that provide
courses that can be of help with the different aspects of setting up a
business. Entrepreneurs can learn a lot about being better at networking, finance or the marketing of their product. So these courses are of
great use. But there is also a personality factor I think that is hard to
teach: the part of actually making a go for it, having the guts to start
on your own!
Inge van der Heijden is a student at Tilburg University and is currently
finishing her Master Marketing Management.
Managing Partner of MassMovement Joost Merks
“Entrepreneurship is a trait”
Entrepreneurship is a trait. In my opinion everyone has this trait, although some people exploit it more than others, but it is always there.
I am a young entrepreneur and during the day I am busy turning problems into challenges. The effort is to turn these challenges into the
best benefits for the stakeholders, or to satisfy them with the final result. Being an entrepreneur often brings you into situations in which
you have never been before. Basically, entrepreneurship is to motivate
yourself continuously and always look for opportunities.
How to start a business, how to motivate people and everything you
need to manage your business are things you can learn. But eventually
you will find yourself in a situation you have never been before or do
not have the knowledge of to handle it. Then your entrepreneurship
will carry you through, instead of your knowledge. However, through
business education you can delay this situation as long as possible.
Joost Merks is Managing Partner of MassMovement which is an interactive advertising agency that supports companies in creating and implementing online marketing campaigns and strategies.
Web enterpreneur Erik Lefferts
““Entrepreneurship is all about mentality and having the eagle eyes to see solutions and opportunities to
problems other people are blind off””
Entrepreneurship is something you do not learn from a professor
in a classroom. The most important aspects of entrepreneurship are
not teachable. I think that about forty percent of entrepreneurial
skills are teachable, but that the other sixty percent you have to be
born with.
Successful entrepreneurship is all about mentality and having the
eagle eyes to see solutions and opportunities to problems other
people are blind off. You must have a feeling for it; but you also have
to recognise your personal weaknesses and take actions towards it.
That is why there is always room to learn, especially from your previously made mistakes.
If you are a creative spirit who is inventing one thing after another,
but who is not working things out, it is important to find a good
business partner or coach who is exactly the opposite of you. Besides, you also really have to like what you are doing. Because, if you
like what you are doing, you never have to work another day in your
life.
Erik Lefferts is a third year Economics student. Besides, he is a website
entrepreneur.
April 2011 edition
19
Can you ever
hope to be
successful
yet still be
yourself?
Can the world of work be a place where doing
the right thing is rewarded? We like to think so.
Because at AkzoNobel we believe that business
needs to work within a framework and that ethics
play an essential role. We also know that if we do
the right things, people will trust us, work with
and invest in us, optimizing our long-term growth.
This approach has helped us to become the world’s
largest coatings and specialty chemicals company,
with a presence in more than 80 countries worldwide.
And, owing to our long-standing commitment to
responsibility and sustainability, we have been
in the top three of the Dow Jones Sustainability
Index since 2006.
www.akzonobel.nl/careers
Professor Article
Contemporary Themes in
Entrepreneurship
By dr. Konstantinos Pitsakis
independence and creativity. Those with
profound quantities of these traits are often
transformed to “serial entrepreneurs” that
engage in successive new venture formation, only because a single new entity is not
enough to satisfy their hunger. At the same
time, successful entrepreneurs do not always
go through positive feelings. Unsuccessful
projects generate negative emotions such as
depression, disappointment and grief, similar
to those experienced by any individual who
loses one of their relatives (Shepherd, 2003).
Thus, it is more likely that entrepreneurs will
have some sort of emotional intelligence,
either inherent or acquired, that most “common” people lack.
Over at least 100 years, our knowledge on
entrepreneurship has evolved on several
simultaneous directions. For example, we
now talk not only about individual entrepreneurs’ special traits and personalities but also
about the social and industrial context within
which entrepreneurs exploit opportunities to
form new ventures. In this article, I will first
provide a short overview of the most classic
developments in the field. My attention then
moves to contemporary sociological theories of entrepreneurship that focus on new
venture survival through re-writing the rules
of the game within which they emerge. This
perspective constitutes my main focus in the
article. I believe it is interesting because classical theories often implicitly assumed that
individuals run their new organizations in
stable environments where norms and regulations are taken for granted. Instead, the new
developments point to the significance of the
social surroundings of entrepreneurs.
Classic studies
Several approaches have been used to explain
entrepreneurship. Early studies focused on
unique individual traits that distinguished
entrepreneurs from the rest of us. We know
that people who start up new ventures are
motivated by their desire for distinction,
Recent work highlights explicit skills that are
required to set up new ventures. Our knowledge of how new ventures are created focuses
on how business opportunities are identified
and exploited in an environment (Shane &
Venkataraman, 2000). Opportunities exist out there independent of our willingness
and ability to identify them. Yet, those who
do identify them a) possess unique access
to information and b) have special cognitive
properties in framing things as means-ends
processes. Once lucrative opportunities are
identified, people are likely to pursue them
either, because they think they are doable,
or because they own boundless resources
that allow them to overcome temporal and
budgetary constraints. For instance, access
to high-quality resources may exist due to an
entrepreneur’s education, prior experience,
networking or geographical location.
Classic economic theories highlight the
role of technological developments as core
sources of business opportunities. Entrepreneurs are highly alert individuals who like to
experiment with new tools, machines and devices and try to put them into new usages. In
a “creative-destruction” process (Schumpeter, 1934), they constantly innovate through
the rejection of old practices in favor of new
combinations and business solutions. But
not all individuals are in close proximity to
new technologies. The creative-destruction
process is basically a self-reinforcing vicious
cycle: Entrepreneurs usually flourish in countries where technological progress and inno-
vation are already accumulated. Indeed, this
story lies at the heart of uninterrupted wealth
creation in Western European and American
capitalism over decades, if not centuries.
Liability of newness
However, whereas business opportunities
may be identified easily as above, their exploitation can be problematic. Researchers
acknowledged early on that, as a process,
new venture creation suffers from what they
called the “liability of newness” (Stinchcombe, 1965). Despite the initial stock of
resources and unique personal characteristics, entrepreneurs inevitably lack political
leverage, access to customers and suppliers or
a combination of these elements. Examples
of new ventures that failed for these reasons
are ample. To overcome these weaknesses,
entrepreneurs must therefore mobilize such
tactics as a) forming alliances and b) manipulating their environment. This view is relatively new and prominent among scientists
that deal with the sociology of organizations,
that is the social foundations of business life.
“...new firms must prove to audiences that they are legitimate
entities that perform useful,
appropriate functions.”
To illustrate, in the early stages of their life
cycle, new firms must prove to audiences
that they are legitimate entities that perform
useful, appropriate functions. They are therefore required to safeguard their short-term
existence and avoid criticism or indifference
before aspiring to become profitable. Barnett
(2006) and others forcibly argue that collective action with other firms provide new ventures with respectability and banish claims
of illegitimacy by customers, competitors or
governments. Collective action capitalizes
on the sheer size of the alliance to build momentum for small and vulnerable new ventures. Once they have become accepted, they
can then differentiate from others in order
to build their performance and reputation.
Young entrepreneurs must also prove that
their business models are legitimate during
times of economic crisis and uncertainty; the
April 2011 edition
21
professor article
best way to do this is through alliances with,
ideally, reputable corporations. When the
business environment stabilizes, firms can focus on performance and reputation building.
This line of research is obviously important
for many reasons. Managers and consultants
traditionally assumed that new organizations
will go out to compete with each other. Paying attention to the liability of newness forces
organizations to consider cooperation as a
strategic option; by extension, weighting
their possibilities before choosing partners
becomes crucial.
Institutional entrepreneurship
While the above refers to reactive behaviors,
researchers have found that entrepreneurs
may also proactively manipulate their environments. Instead of assuming that new
ventures will enter an industry and play by
the existing standards (competitive strategy), new ventures can enter an industry by
altering them or by creating completely new
22
FIRST Quarterly
standards of practice (institutional strategy)
(Lawrence, 1999). They do so by carefully
negotiating the regulatory, normative and
cultural underpinnings of their industry
through careful work that challenges widespread assumptions. For instance, innovative
entrepreneurs that operate at the margins of
an industry may want to lobby, so that the
regulatory environment that applies to them
is less stringent or restrictive. They may also
negotiate the production and distribution
methods of their products to suit their own
particular procedures, setting aside existing
expectations and norms. Finally, “institutional entrepreneurs” as they are often called
(Battilana et al, 2009) may manipulate local
cultural perceptions and/or business ethics
through the media and other means of mass
communication.
Consider the example of Sun Microsystems
when it launched its Java platform (Garud
et al, 2002). The company was embarking
on some form of internal, corporate entre-
preneurship through the development of a
software program that would enable several
electronic devices to run applications distributed to them over a network. Competing platforms existed or were being developed by firms such as Microsoft. Sun aimed
not at competing with them but at creating
universal standards of practice for the entire industry. They succeeded in doing so by
mobilizing support from other smaller firms
(cooperation) as well as through political and
social pressures. Given the constant harassment by external competitors, they also had
to use careful language/discourse and innovative solutions (for example placing some
of their technology to the public domain) to
persuade others to follow them. The adoption of the Java standards gave Sun Microsystems a huge reputational and competitive
advantage in the computer industry and is a
typical example of how altering industrial arrangements can work in a firm’s favor.
professor article
Academic entrepreneurship
the University of Wisconsin-Madison tried
So far, I have shifted my attention away from to balance its social and business roles to suppersonality traits and economic studies to port human embryonic stem cell research.
the liability of newness and to legitimacy is- Stem cell research was notoriously controversues of new venture creation. I extend this sial in the United States. The TTO employed
discussion to a different form of entrepre- a range of actions aimed at protecting, propaneurship, i.e. academic entrepreneurship. The gating and influencing the value and trajecacademic world had traditionally been linked tory of their new technology. TTO officers
to teaching and research as its core activities. manipulated their immediate environment
However, since the 1970’s and particularly through alliance agreements, media and PR
in the USA, a new mission emerged across campaigns, and lobbying and negotiation
North American and European universities. directed at the surrounding stakeholders.
They now engaged
The study by Jain
in commercial acGeorge (2007)
“Interested readers need look no &highlights
the fact
tivities either by
further than the top 50 UK uni- that entrepreneurselling licenses to
in sensitive
corporations or by
versity spinoffs1 or at the many ship
fields such as biospinning off new
and
firms based on pro- Science Parks in the Netherlands technology
y
prietary intellectuto appreciate the importance of nanotechnolog
may be particularly
al property coming
controversial and
out of their laboraacademic entrepreneurship. “
firms need to mantories. These acaage the legitimacy
demic commercial
activities are now a major source of university of technology production before they can
funding worldwide. Interested readers need build their own reputation for excellence.
look no further than the top 50 UK university Avoiding this aspect of the university’s work
spinoffs1 or at the many Science Parks in the would have had fatal consequences for its enNetherlands to appreciate the importance of trepreneurial activities.
academic entrepreneurship.
Conclusions
Nevertheless, academic entrepreneurship In the limited space I had, I have tried to
was initially seen as a threat to the mission of achieve two targets. First, I quickly summacontemporary educational institutions (Bok, rized trends in entrepreneurship research and
2003). As a result, Technology Transfer Of- practice. I pictured a very rough division of
fices (TTO) that managed internal commer- the literature between early economic and
cial activities encountered strong opposition personality studies on the one hand, and reboth from within (academic staff) and out- cent sociological accounts of entrepreneurside universities. Not only were moral values ship on the other. Second, I underlined the
being challenged; critics doubted whether significance of this division as far as practice
universities would be able to sustain their tra- is concerned. My main conclusions were that
ditional teaching and research functions with entrepreneurs must not only consider hard
impartiality and non-partisanship now that facts on how to set up new ventures but also
business was part of their operations. Legiti- pay attention to perceptions of legitimacy
and acceptability among their audiences. I
macy was a concern.
provided a few examples from different types
New studies have examined how universi- of entrepreneurial work (in universities and
ties overcame their liability of newness and in high-tech industries) to highlight how inclaims of illegitimacy against academic en- dividuals have mastered the context within
trepreneurship in general. For example, Jain which they operate in order to successfully
& George (2007) document how the TTO at build their businesses. The most important
concepts one must take away are those of
cooperation and manipulation during entrepreneurial endeavours.
References
Barnett ML. 2006. Waves of collectivizing: A dynamic
model of competition and cooperation over the life of
an industry. Corporate Reputation Review, 8(4): 272292
Battilana J, Leca B and Boxenbaum E. 2009. How actors
change institutions: towards a theory of institutional
entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Annals,
3:65-107
Bok D. 2003. Universities in the marketplace. The commercialization of Higher Education. NJ: Princeton University
Press
Garud R, Jain S and Kumaraswamy A. 2002. Institutional entrepreneurship in the sponsorship of common
technological standards: The case of Sun Microsystems
and Java. Academy of Management Journal, 45(1): 196214
Jain S and George G. 2007. Technology transfer offices
as institutional entrepreneurs: the case of Wisconsin
Research Foundation and human embryonic stem cells.
Industrial and Corporate Change, 16(4): 535-567
Lawrence TB and Suddaby R. 2006. Institutions and institutional work. In Clegg SR, Hardy C, Lawrence TB and
Nord WR (eds) Handbook of Organization Studies, 2nd
Ed. London: Sage: 215-254
Schumpeter J. 1934. Capitalism, socialism and democracy. NY: Harper Row
Shane S and Venkataraman S. 2000. The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1): 217-226
Shepherd DA. 2003. Learning from business failure:
Propositions of grief recovery for the self employed.
Academy of Management Review, 28(2): 318-328
Stinchcombe AL. 1965. Social structure and organizations. In J.G. March (Ed.), Handbook of organizations:
142-193. Chicago: Rand-McNally
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/6867210/Top-50-University-spin-out-companies.html
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April 2011 edition
23
InBusiness SPECIAL
A Glance at the past
What happened to the enterpreneurs of our previous editions?
For this edition we choose entrepreneurship as the theme. And what article
fits this topic better than the In Business, where young entrepreneurs talk
about their experiences as a starter? We
decided to publish a special edition of
this article and asked a few of our previous contributors how they look back at
the period between their first writing for
the FIRST Quarterly and now.
Entrepreneur:
Company:
Prev. edition: Website: Patrick Meeren
Blip
April 2008
Edition 2
www.blipstrip.com
Exactly three years ago I wrote an article for
the FIRST Quarterly about our Blipstrip, a
revolutionary packaging concept which reduces the packaging volume of medicines
about forty percent. At that time, I wrote
about our ambition, to establish a new preferred standard in the packaging of medicines.
Now, three years later I am still working for
our company Blip. It is pretty hard, since
the pharmaceutical industry is a very conservative market and there are some big
multinational companies dominating the
market. Furthermore, this industry has
very long sales processes that take up to
five years. At the time we started with our
company Blip we were not naïve but very
enthusiastic. But gradually you find out
how the market works.
We contacted one of the biggest phar24
FIRST Quarterly
maceutical companies in the world and
worked out a few business cases for them.
The negotiations proceeded even to a stage
that we were investigating how we could
adapt existing production facilities to introduce our Blipstrip packaging. It seemed
to go very prosperous, until the economic
crisis popped up and investments were put
on hold. This resulted in a situation where
the cash flows to Blip were not enough for
me to get a normal income out of it. At the
moment there are no companies using our
packaging, and thus we cannot sell our
product. But I think it can be an advantage
for us that the product is not being used
yet. Now, we have used the input from the
market to make it even better. For example
we are developing a dispenser for the Blipstrip, the Blispencer, which optionally can
record at what time someone needs a pill.
The future of Blipstrip is uncertain. The
past five years I did a lot of pioneering on
a new form of packaging for medicines and
to promote this new form to the conservative pharmaceutical industry. And since
I believe in our concept, I do not want to
give up. We just need some patience and a
lot of perseverance!
Entrepreneur:
Company:
Prev. edition: Website:
Bas van Langen
Travel Approved and
Pixxir
September 2008
Edition 4
www.pixxir.com
In September ‘08 I contributed to the
FIRST Quarterly with an article about
Travel Approved, which was a time-consuming effort to create an informational
and profitable travel website. Travel Approved has taught me lots of invaluable lessons in the mean time, which at some point
lead me to the conclusion that I needed to
do things differently. I saw no opportunities to generate substantial revenue in the
near future, so I started working on something more promising – Pixxir.com.
Pixxir is completely different from Travel
Approved. Pixxir is a massive project, providing companies in the Netherlands and
across Europe with high quality photos and
illustrations for commercial use. We provide an extensive website with various payment options and a smart search system;
artists upload the much needed images
that are licensed through our website. We
are basically an intermediate party; bringing the buyers and sellers of commercial
images together.
So far nothing unique, there are numerous
companies that license such ‘stock images’.
But we make a real difference with our licensing options. Besides having a large selection of royalty-free images, Pixxir boasts
an extensive collection of exclusive images
– only sold through us. This collection
meets our highest standards of quality. Furthermore, the individual images are never
licensed more than fifty times to ensure the
buyer a certain degree of exclusivity.
Our exclusive collection is a unique proposition, but our platform also offers added
value to the market of stock images in itself. With attractive licensing options and
a user-friendly website, we aim to enhance
the experience of our clients in the Netherlands and across Europe.
We are now about to open up to potential
buyers, so we have a very exciting and challenging period ahead of us. In less than a
year, we hope to be fully up and running –
with dozens of sales every day and a daily
inflow of hundreds of images.
INBUSINESS SPECIAL
Entrepreneur:
Company:
Prev. edition: Website:
Dennis Hermsen
Building Blocks
July 2009
Edition 7
www.building-blocks.nl
Meanwhile, we are more than one year
away from the entrepreneurship centre at
Tilburg University, and we have located
next to the sports centre. Here we have
more room to grow. Nevertheless the connection to the university is stronger than
ever. Knowledge is in fact the distinctive
point of Building Blocks. Therefore we
are always looking for talented people, not
only after but also during the study. 2011
will become an important year. We expect
to make a breakthrough in the insurance
market. If we describe the past two years
as a crisis, we are looking forward to a next
economic boom!
Sometimes, people ask what it is like to
start a business in crisis time. This question
is hard to answer since we have never had a
business in good economic times. It looks
like this crisis is giving people’s confidence
a tap. People think a little longer before doing an investment and they only do business if results have been proved.
Building Blocks has become a specialist in
customer intelligence these past two years.
This means we help insurers optimize the
value of their customers through insight
into their customer’s needs based on customer information. For example, we make
clear which customers have opportunities
for cross-selling, which product this is,
when the customer needs to receive this
offer, and how much this action may cost.
The nice thing is that this service largely
overlaps with courses such as Marketing
Information Management and Advanced
Marketing Research at Tilburg University.
To become the best in our area, we will
need a couple of years. The nice thing is
that this process is established together
with our clients. We truly believe in this
type of innovation. Nobody is able to tell
you better what customers want than the
customer itself. And in fact, that is where
Building Blocks is about: listen to the customer by using data. Although in practice
this is not as easy as it seems.
Entrepreneur:
Company:
Prev. edition: Website:
Wojtek Horala
StuGood
April 2010
Edition 9
www.stugood.org
In the April 2010 FQ edition we had a
chance to talk about StuGood.org, which
is a local portal exclusively for higher education students. It is simply a tool that students use to connect and share information
with each other in their student city. The
nice thing about the portal is that the more
people use the website, the more opportunities can be explored, be it trade, services,
news or events. Even though the FQ article
was published only a year ago it seems like
ages for us. From today’s perspective we
laugh at problems that seemed serious back
then, and in that sense we are richer in experience as entrepreneurs. It’s a true ‘learning by doing’ process.
We have been operating StuGood.org for
17 months now. With countless meetings
and growing interest from students, organizations and institutions we are surer
that the path we chose is correct. We have
learned a lot about our users and formalized local and national partnerships. We are
also getting ready to launch a new version
of our portal in April 2011. The upgraded
version has extended functionalities when
compared to the old one and is better integrated with the higher education IT solutions and with social networks. Also from
the organizational point of view we plan
changes to allow for more participation
from individual students and student organizations in creating the website. In the end
it is a tool for them and they are the ones
who know best what interesting opportunities are available in Tilburg.
Even though so much has changed we stick
to our goal of facilitating student life in
Tilburg by providing a platform for users
to connect with each other and find local
information. To accomplish the mission of
exposing local opportunities we would like
to cooperate with local associations or simply anyone who has an interesting initiative
to promote. If you would like to contribute
or get involved with StuGood.org, feel free
to contact us.
April 2011 edition
25
Internship
Kempen & CO
By Robin Theunissen
My name is Robin Theunissen and I am currently studying International Management at
Tilburg University. As of February 2011 I have
been doing an internship at Kempen & Co
where I work at the structured products division. The internship will take 6 months and my
main responsibilities are to:
1. Improve the current website of the structured
products division;
Recently, the main website of Kempen & Co
(www.kempen.nl) was updated. The website
has a new layout and now contains more content than before. Kempen & Co’s structured
products division has its own website (www.
kempenvaluations.nl), which is used to provide
information to the customers about the products offered. This website will also be updated
in the near future in line with the main Kempen
& Co website. I will assist the structured products division in reaching this objective.
It is my responsibility to find out what elements
are important for a successful website for a financial services company. Next, I will assist in
implementing these key elements to the new
website. In order to determine these key elements, I will combine the research with my
master thesis.
2. Make the process of creating brochures, term
sheets and quarterly reports more efficient;
Another objective of my internship is to improve the efficiency of the process of creating
brochures, term sheets and quarterly reports.
These marketing documents contain standardised elements that do not need to be rewritten every time. Creating a standard document for these information products will result
in a more efficient process.
3. Organise a seminar about sustainability.
My final objective is to organise a seminar in
May 2011 about a financial topic. This year’s
seminar will focus on the combination of the
themes “Sustainability” and “Life-Sciences”.
The purpose of the seminar is to inform customers about recent trends and to gain from yet
another opportunity for Kempen & Co to offer
a network event to its clients.
Challenges
The products sold at the structured products
division are often perceived as being quite complex. A key challenge is to ensure that these
products are understandable for our customers.
26
FIRST Quarterly
This means that our communication towards
the customers, by means of brochures, quarterly reports and final terms, should be easy to
comprehend.
Another challenge of my internship is to combine my work at Kempen & Co with writing my
Master thesis. For my Master thesis I would like
to study what elements of a website drive customer satisfaction for the financial services industry. These results can be used to determine
what elements are important for the new website of our division.
Why Kempen & Co?
First of all, I am interested in both Finance and
Marketing. The internship at Kempen & Co offers me the opportunity to combine these fields
of business. The internship is about understanding the essentials of Finance and communicating this to the outside world by using Marketing
concepts. Secondly, Kempen & Co has a select
focus on a number of sectors, mainly consisting
of small- and medium-sized, life sciences and
real estate companies. By focussing on a selective part of industries, Kempen & Co tries to
be the best in these fields. Finally, even though
Kempen & Co is originally a Dutch company, it
has offices in New York, Zurich and Edinburgh.
As a result, Kempen & Co has many international corporate and institutional clients. This
international aspect appeals to me and is also in
line with my current study International Management.
Arranging the internship
I arranged the internship through a recruitment
agency. This recruitment agency functioned
as a connection between me and Kempen &
Co. After this introduction, Kempen & Co approached me in order to make an appointment.
In total, I had two interviews with members
of the Structured Products division. During
these meetings we discussed, amongst others,
my resume, my extra-curricular activities, my
motivation and why I was suited for the internship. Two weeks later, I received an offer to join
Kempen & Co as an intern.
Evaluation internship
Until now I have been working for a month at
Kempen & Co and I have got a good impression of what working for a company is like. On
my first day at Kempen & Co a lot of things
had to be arranged such as getting my own key
card, office supplies and my own workspace. I
also got a tour through the building and was
introduced to all members of the Securities Department. Even though it was a very exhausting
day, I really enjoyed it. All in all, this was only
the first month, and there are 5 more months
of fun, challenges and hard work ahead. If you
ever have the opportunity to do an internship at
Kempen & Co, I can really suggest you to take
it!
Starter’s Experience
By Rob van Buuren
Consultant at Adviestalent
Writing this article is actually a good moment
to reflect on my 90 days (a bit more when you
read this) starters’ experience as consultant at
Adviestalent, the ‘traineeship’ of the management consultancy firm Twynstra Gudde
(TG).
Thinking about my starter’s experience, it
started right after I graduated. I met quite
some companies during my studies, but I
liked some many things that I still had no clue
what I wanted. I had two requirements: My
work should enable me to develop myself,
professionally and personally. Also, it should
offer a lot of variety. Not surprisingly, I was
left with many options, particularly management traineeships and consultancy. So I decided to go travelling for a few months; this
was the perfect way to postpone the ultimate
decision of taking the first step towards a career (maybe that is why travelling is so popular among just-graduates).
Before I left, I applied to some large, ‘sexy’ international companies like KLM and McKinsey. For various reasons, I did not get the job.
This was not only frustrating, but it made me
doubt about what I was actually looking for.
Therefore, I had a conversation with a career
counsellor and he gave me the best advice:
“Look for a job that entails the things you like
to do and allows you to develop the things
you want to do”. With this advice, I went to
Africa and on the very last day of my trip I
met a former partner of Twynstra Gudde, a
company I had never heard of before. And
here I am, three months ago I started working
with TG.
lunch with your colleague as with a partner.
My colleagues at Adviestalent have many
different backgrounds. Where I was used
to everyone knowing more or less the same
(about economics and business), it is totally
different now. The combination of so many
different insights creates a dynamic working and learning environment. It creates an
inspiring atmosphere in the courses I take
together with the ten colleagues of my year
group.
It also amazes me how much I have learned
in these first months. The three-year-program
includes a lot of training, which focuses on
knowledge, skills (e.g. project management)
and self-development. We get extensive training, but also the assignments are challenging.
I get a lot of responsibility. For example, I just
started and I am already responsible for the
recruitment of new colleagues in 2011!
You can imagine, I am quite surprised to
find myself working at Adviestalent, where I
do assignments as consultant and as project
manager for organisations in the public and
the private sector. At TG, colleagues like to
ask what surprises me as a freshman. Quite
some things, to be honest, some of which I
want to share with you.
An unpleasant surprise I had to get used
to is that I have a job, but not always work.
Especially in these (economic) times, it is difficult to get
enough assignments. Last
week, I was getting a bit nervous as I had not much to do
since my first assignment was
done. I was ‘on the beach’, as
consultants like to call it. However, this week I unexpectedly
got a procurement assignment
which takes me to Eindhoven
three days a week. I also started
with an assignment in which I
advise a senior TG consultant
about a business plan in a social safety project for the city
of The Hague. On top of that,
I also got invited for a lecture
by the CEO of KLM this week.
So, suddenly my agenda was all
full. And even better, my agenda varies by the day.
The best surprise is that I like it so much. Adviestalent employs 30 consultants, all of us
just graduated, so it is a lot of fun and easy to
feel at home. It helps that TG is a very informal organization, where it is as easy to have
What amazes me most is that
I actually like this new life. As
I student, I got allergic reactions as soon as I heard stories
about working five long days a
week, living together and no more partying
during the week. Fortunately, I got used to
the ‘new phase’ and the most important part
of it is that I have a job that I like, in which I
can develop myself and that still surprises me
every day.
So do not worry when you do not want to
start working yet. It grows on you. And if you
have no clue yet what kind of job you want to
do, you might find it as unexpectedly as I did.
Just do not hesitate to grab the opportunity
once it comes along. And in the meanwhile,
try to meet as many companies as possible
and tell people what you are looking for.
Rob van Buuren is consultant at Adviestalent,
an initiative of Twynstra Gudde. He studied International Business and Strategic Management
at Tilburg University. Rob was chairman of
VITE and FIRST International in 2007-2008.
April 2011 edition
27
INBUSINESS
O+ Adviesbureau
Marieke De Kort
With her company O+ adviesbureau (O+
consultancy) Marieke de Kort initiates,
develops and executes projects within the
field of social issues - in the Netherlands
as well as in a global context. By means of
facts, figures, research data and case studies she examines themes as gender, cultural diversity, ethnicity and entrepreneurship. Within the projects there is a strong
focus on the social, political and economic
situation of female entrepreneurs. Therefore, one of the initiatives of O+ consultancy is the O+ community, a Dutch online platform for female entrepreneurs.
O+ consultancy
Before I even started my studies in psychology, I was already triggered to start my own
business. As a matter of fact I did not really
have the ambition to start for example a traineeship after my studies or to work in a large
well-known company. My first assignment
was handed to me by Prof. Vianen and with
this project O+ consultancy was born. In this
period I also started as the praeses of the Academic Business Club (a club for student entrepreneurs at Tilburg University). Because
of this function I visited lots of business and
network meetings and time after time I was
surprised that there were so few female entrepreneurs at these meetings. However in
the online world female entrepreneurs were
much better represented. This resulted in my
idea for the O+ community: an online network for female entrepreneurs.
O+ community
Nowadays the community reaches about
7000 female entrepreneurs a month and is
still contributing to its two main goals. On
the one hand it is a platform for early starters to get inspired by the stories of other entrepreneurs, learn from their tips and tricks
and have the opportunity to get in touch with
others. The second goal and starting point of
this initiative is that I wanted to create a place
where the media could see what kind of beautiful business ideas and companies are managed by women. This was caused by the fact
that I came across the same entrepreneurial
role models again and again in the big news
papers and magazines, i.e. male business
owners with many employees, operating internationally with huge cash flow. For me this
did not represent reality and I got struck by
the lack of female entrepreneurs in the media.
Nowadays a lot of journalists use the website
to find women for interviews on business
matters, or a short note from their expertise.
Male versus Female Entrepreneurs: Not that different?
Of course this is always the first questionA
that people ask me. Are female and male en-
trepreneurs really that different? Does it not
contribute to more diversity when we look
at them in a separate way? In any debate, it is
easy to revert to anecdotes and highlight examples that exemplify one point of view, especially when it comes to gender. Therefore,
it is especially daunting to compare male and
female entrepreneurs. Fact is that during the
1970s and 1980s major studies of the small
and medium business sector did not consider
gender as a variable that might influence the
process of business formation, or the experience of enterprise ownership. Even the fact
that there are hardly any academic analyses
of gender-related issues reflects a male-dominated approach. This approach assumes that
women act from similar motivations and look
for similar rewards from entrepreneurial activity as their male counterparts. Today we
can see that there are differences (as well as
the fact that there are similarities) between
the sexes and in addition, while entrepreneurship researchers continue to debate the
extent and causes of the gender, the question could be what we can learn about entrepreneurship in general by studying female
owned business. This interest is testimony to
the growing importance of entrepreneurs in
the small firm population and the fact that
university settings will be more prominent
to encourage young female students in entrepreneurship as a career opportunity.
And this is what I love to do most with my
company. To give advice, do research, set
examples and find new ideas or models that
produce results that can be implemented
within an organization, thus changing stereotypes within our culture in a modern way.
Background information:
O+ adviesbureau: www.advies.oplus.nu
O+ community: www.oplus.nu
T: 06-47122903
E: [email protected]
28
FIRST Quarterly
FACULTEIT ECONOMIE EN BEDRIJFSWETENSCHAPPEN
Al eens aan
Accountancy gedacht?
Opleiding tot registeraccountant
Inlichtingen
Drs. R.C.W. Eken RA
(coördinator en studieadviseur van de opleiding)
tel.: 013-466 3404
e-mail: [email protected]
Studiegids aanvraag
Secretariaat Opleiding tot Registeraccountant
tel.: 013-466 34 22
Start
1 september
Toelatingseisen
fax.: 013-466 26 11
e-mail: [email protected]
internet: www.uvt.nl/RA
zie website
Universiteit van Tilburg, Postbus 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, www.uvt.nl/RA
CareerPath - Two students,
Study mates Xander And John talking about the
Name:
Study:
Year of Graduation:
Current employer:
Xander van Buchem
International Business
2006
Newell Rubbermaid
Let me first introduce myself to you. My name is Xander van Buchem,
graduated in 2006 in international business with marketing as my
main subject. My current job is at Newell Rubbermaid, Data
Integrity analyst. I have been in this position for more than
three years now and have enjoyed my time at our company
ever since.
I have had some hurdles to overcome before I found
out what I really wanted. A number of students might
recognise this. Finding out “What do I want? What
are my ambitions? Where do I want to be in say, five
years from graduating?” is for some straightforward whilst for others it simply is not. I preferred
to actively sort out things for myself at a relative
early age. Sometimes one is confronted with a
number of matters, which require well-argumented
decisions, rational thought, and intuition. It is this
fragile balance of your thoughts, listening to your
heart that makes sure you take the route you need
to take in life.
During the second semester of my third year I went to Finland. Why
Finland, you might argue, it is cold and dark in winter and located in
the far north of Europe. Well I just felt I had to go there because of the
quietness I expected to find there. Now five years later I realize this
was the time I needed to find my true self. I met so many new people,
mainly other exchange students, learned so much about different cultures and their habits, and in turn about myself. Our road trip into
Russia and to the North-Cape will stay with me forever.
After my graduation I could not find a job immediately and as a short
term solution to earn money for a living I worked as project assistant
at a healthcare institution via a temporary employment agency. When
finished I started to work on a data verification project at the European shared service of Newell Rubbermaid. Our company is a multinational company, present in more than 90 countries worldwide, having around 5,6 Billion of USD sales and around 19,500 employees. A
number of well-known international brands are under our umbrella,
Parker, Sharpie, Papermate, Waterman, Dymo, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, and Irwin.
I was expected to coordinate supplier data verification. Next to that I
worked for the disbursements team where I identified where certain
problems in payment transfer originated from. With this knowledge
I made sure the data integrity function was created at the shared service centre. It used to be at a different location and due to some pro30
FIRST Quarterly
cess and documentation shortcomings it was not very
well managed at that point in time. At first the work
included supplier database maintenance only and
support to local users in terms of process requirements, approvals and documentation.
Our current job as data integrity analysts is to make
sure a number of databases are maintained properly according to internal and external standards and policy. A high level of trust and
integrity is expected within our team as we
work with volatile data. At the same time
sharing information and documentation
from different databases can be quite
beneficial in identifying bottlenecks in
(automated) processes and finding ways
for improvement. This way we give ourselves the opportunity to learn from
each other, identifying interrelationships between teams in terms of
cause-and-effect.
In our company, high emphasis
is put on collaboration, integrity and working as one. You
might say a family, as that is
what we prefer to be. I feel in
our company it is more about
relationships than real one-to-one competition between employees. For me this
provides the opportunity to show the
talents I have got. I cannot emphasize
enough that stress is not practical for anyone. A certain level of adrenaline is good
to focus, but that is it.
Over the years I developed myself from
being quite introverted to becoming more
extraverted with a clear goal. I strive for the
best and to be loyal to our company in the
long run. The next step will be to head towards the direction of internal control and
develop further as time goes on.
two careers
eir careers after they graduated together
In 2001, I started studying International Business at
Tilburg University. As part of my studies I went on exchange and spent one semester abroad in Katowice,
which is in Poland. After that experience, I realized
that I wanted to work abroad to see more of the world.
When finishing my master in accounting, I found out
that I preferred to actually pursue a different
career path than accounting could provide
me.
While attending several career events I
came in contact with Norfolkline (until
last year part of the AP Moller Maersk
Group). I applied for the group Global
Management Traineeship and was accepted for the program. So I started
working for Norfolkline after finishing my studies.
Norfolkline is a logistical company located in the Western part of
Europe. It has its own ferries and
trailers and the company mainly
focuses on the market between the
European continent and the UK/
Ireland.
The big advantage of this traineeship
was that I had the chance to work in
different positions within the company. This gave me a good overview of
the future career specializations I could
pursue.
The traineeship consisted of two parts:
working and studying. The focus of
the traineeship was on understanding
the basics of the business in order to
grow into management positions in
the future.
During my traineeship I worked in
five different positions in The Netherlands and The United Kingdom.
I experienced all parts of the business. These are: Ferries Netherlands-England and the channel
Dover-Dunkirk, but also
the Customer Service for
our continent trucking
department and the head
office project to optimize our
payroll administration were
all different parts of the business. I
really liked working for Norfolkline; especially the positions close to
operations were nice, because I was then able to actually experience
Name:
Study:
Year of Graduation:
Current Employer:
John Slaats
International Business
2006
AP Moller Maersk Group Belarus
the core business.
During the two years, there were four modules of each
two weeks in Copenhagen. Worldwide about 450 trainees started the program and about 320 ended it successfully. In each module, we went in groups of about
110 students to a business centre close to Copenhagen for two weeks. Here, we received training in
various fields; logistics, economics, law, personal
growth, business ethics etc. At the end there were
exams combined with an outdoor week (some
kind of teambuilding).
After finishing the traineeship and studies successfully, I could apply for a job abroad within the
AP Moller Maersk Group. The purpose is to work
two years as an expat and gain more experience and
knowledge and then returning to your home base
(In my case Norfolkline).
I preferred to go to a country with a different culture and
for this reason; I applied for jobs in China, India, Brazil and
Belarus. Within a week, I got accepted for the one in Belarus
at a company called Damco (I guess they were happy to find
someone who was willing to go there). Damco is the freight
forwarding company of the AP Moller Maersk Group. It is
present in over 110 countries and is growing rapidly.
Looking back I made the right choice by choosing for Damco and
to move to Belarus. I understand that there are many prejudices
about former Soviet states. Some are true, but it is not all that
black and white as often shown in the Dutch media. The country
has two sides, old classical soviet styles on the one side, and on
the other side you will find the most modern hotels and clubs. The
people are nice and helpful, but when going there for a short time,
you can get a biased feeling due to the fact that they have hardly any
experience with marketing and customer service. This makes it look
like the people do not really care, while this is not the case.
Now I am here in Belarus for almost two years, and as according
to plan I should return back to my home base (Norfolkline) soon.
While working here, the AP Moller Maersk Group actually sold
Norfolkline to DFDS. We are now negotiating my contract to keep
working for Damco in Belarus for another year. I am happy to stay
here a bit longer and to learn more. There are many opportunities and
it could be that I will move to Russia or Ukraine in the future. April 2011 edition
31
32
FIRST Quarterly
Event Report
Language Study Tour to Madrid
BY Jasper van der Eerden and Monique van der Zande
From Saturday the 15th of January until
Saturday the 22 of January. This Language
Study Tour (LST) was organised by Anouk
Schaap, Freek Jansen and coordinator Niels
van Leur of the LST-committee of Asset |
First International. Nineteen excited students studying Spanish in Spain for a week;
it was too good to be true!
Saturday
When we arrived in Madrid in the evening, we
immediately went to the hostel by metro to drop
off our bags and suitcases. We instantly were immersed in the Spanish culture; there was a lot of
activity and atmosphere in the city. Afterwards,
we explored the nightlife of Madrid in an Irish
Pub called O’Connells. It was a perfect evening
to start this exciting trip. The group atmosphere
already evolved here. From this moment on we
knew this was going to be an amazing week.
Sunday
This would be a day full of culture. We went to
visit the former capital of Spain, Toledo.
We could sleep late this first day: we only had
to get up at 9:00. The city itself was completely
surrounded by walls and looked quite impressive. Everybody started to explore the city and
also had a lunch at the bars and cafés. But the
best was yet to come; the city has an unbelievable view over the surrounding area.
In the afternoon, we took the bus back to Madrid and we enjoyed another well-deserved
siesta. Doing it the Spanish way, we went for
some dinner at about 22:00 in an Italian (!) restaurant to have some great-tasting food.
Monday
Finally time to study! Getting up at 7 o’clock,
everybody was a bit moody for this first Spanish class. Starting at 9:00, our knowledge of the
Spanish language was refreshed by two lovely
teachers, Maria and Rebecca. We only guessed
that they were quite shocked by our basic level.
Since, at the beginning of the week, much more
than ¡Hola! ¿Como estas? and ¿Que? did not
came out of our mouths.
After four hours of struggling with the Spanish
language, we deserved some a nice lunch at one
of the numerous cafés in Madrid. Afterwards,
tour guide Niels van Leur took the word and
guided us through the city, showing the most
beautiful places, such as Parque del Retiro and
the Gran Via. Tired of walking, we all enjoyed
our afternoon nap.
In the evening we got some free time to enjoy
a dinner and perhaps even one drink or more,
which we of course all did.
Tuesday
More studying! With a bit more knowledge,
we had our second Spanish class. The level improved rapidly and we all enjoyed the classes.
After a short lunch, we visited one of the universities of Madrid, Universidad Pontificia Comillas. It was really different from Tilburg University, having small classes and a really old building,
which included a church. We got a tour and
some presentations for possible exchange students in our group.
After this visit we had an evening full of free
time. So we got ourselves some tapas and perhaps too much red wine. In the evening we
went to a bar named Mona Lisa, were we partied, maybe a little too long.
Wednesday
Almost halfway the classes, the atmosphere was
quite good and we liked the way of teaching.
Although everyone had a hangover, all students
could follow the lessons. Wednesday was also
the day to visit one of the world’s most famous
museums, namely Museo del Prado. The museum even has a Dutch painting by Rembrandt,
which was hidden quite well in the enormous
building.
After this cultural experience, we went to the
cinema to watch a movie called: ‘Her name was
Sarah’. We thought it was emotionally very intense and stunningly beautiful. This tearjerker
made us all very hungry and we had to find ourselves a place to eat and, as usual, we had some
tapas, paella and red wine to conclude this day.
Thursday
The fourth day of the classes was already there.
Again, we had to get up very early, which remains hard for the common student. After four
hours of hard work, we visited one of the most
impressive football stadiums in the world, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, which is for every soccer fan a dream come true. To celebrate this moment, we did the stadium tour and passed the
trophy room, which was very impressive, the
dressing rooms and the press room. We could
even sit in the dug-out, in the chair of headcoach José Mourinho.
In the evening, a night program was planned,
which of course consisted of drinking ice cold
Coronitas.
Friday
Today was the final study day, which was too
bad, because everybody really enjoyed the
classes. We had a great time studying Spanish,
which was mostly because of our lovely teachers. After those five mornings of studying, it was
time to have some free time in the afternoon to
do what you liked.
It was not totally strange that all the girls went
for some shopping in the numerous stores
in Madrid to buy clothes and shoes to fill the
empty spaces in their suitcases. The guys were
more interested in the culture and spent their
afternoon in the Museo del Jamon. The final
evening, we again went to the Italian place from
the first evening to have a nice pizza or a pasta.
To conclude this fantastic week, we went to Joy,
a well-known club in Madrid, where you could
get beers as cheap as 9 euros (!). Not the kind of
prices you hope for as a student. Therefore, we
went to the Irish Pub again to have some affordable drinks as a nightcap.
Saturday
Following this great night, everybody was quite
tired after a week of culture and study.
We had to leave our rooms before 10:30, so everybody needed to hurry and pack their bags
and suitcases. Everyone was ready in time and
so we were to leave Madrid. Travelling by metro, we arrived at Barajas Airport. Nobody wanted to go back to Holland, but we had to leave
this great city since our study programmes were
anxiously awaiting our attention.
We would like to thank the organisation for all
the effort they put in this wonderful trip. We
can speak for everybody in saying that we all
had a great week!
Adios mis amigos!
Asset | First International organises a Language
Study Tour every year to Madrid in order to improve the level of Spanish of the participants. It
usually takes place in the beginning of the second
semester.
April 2011 edition
33
Current Topic
Linking talent and
entrepreneurship
By CHantal Ottens
The Dutch Second Chamber is talking
about discharging the obligatory grant,
which entrepreneurs have to pay to the
Chamber of Commerce. They doubt the
value of this organisation for entrepreneurs. Some entrepreneurs share this
opinion. We asked the Chamber of Commerce to make clear its activities and value
for the entrepreneur. And especially for
the young entrepreneur.
And the need is urgent, since more and more
professions have to stand on their own two
feet. The Brabant Chamber of Commerce
(KvK) is therefore doing its utmost best to
get entrepreneurship on the educational map
by giving guest lessons and co-organising the
annual Brainport Entrepreneurship Week as
well as publishing information material like
the Starters Guide in English for both entrepreneurs and students.
Linking talent and entrepreneurship
The Chamber of Commerce (KvK) has three
statutory tasks: To register entrepreneurs, to
provide information and to stimulate the regional economy. This last task can only flourish when enough entrepreneurial spirit is
present in the region. And since this spirit often begins at school, the KvK leaves no stone
unturned to promote entrepreneurship in
education. With success, it seems: entrepreneurship is ‘hot’ among young people.
The link
Another key area the KvK is focusing on is to
ensure that education and employment are
well linked. There are still too many educational programmes that are too distant from
day-to-day practices. The KvK is also pushing for enough well qualified personnel in
the high-tech sector. Over the next ten years
there is an expected deficiency of around
40,000 technical employees. By encouraging
entrepreneurs to take on international trainees and knowledge workers, the KvK is trying to attract talent to the region, like Patrycja
Michalak from Poland for example (see the
interview on this page).
More and more students, ranging from secondary school to university level students,
are starting up their own companies. During the last academic year there were a total
of 11,800 new companies. Next to that, the
Young Entrepreneurs Association (Stichting
Jong Ondernemen) has seen registrations for
entrepreneurial courses rise by at least ten per
cent. That nowadays youngsters are becoming entrepreneurs is a good thing as they will
develop qualities like perseverance, flexibility and a sense of responsibility more quickly.
The Chamber of Commerce is putting items
on the agenda by, amongst others, establishing networks and bringing parties like the
government, industry and education together. Furthermore, the KvK initiates projects, often in cooperation with partners like
Aiesec (see interview below) and the Young
Entrepreneurs Association. The KvK also
publishes information, has an advisory role in Brabant’s employment
policy and organises seminars for
entrepreneurs on topics like ‘scoring with international talent’.
“I continue to meet interesting people and
cultures”
Patrycja Michalak comes from the Polish city
of Poznan and recently began working within
the management of the global company Ancra, specialist in automatic truck loading and
unloading systems. More specifically, Patrycja focuses on (online) marketing, public relations and search engine optimization (SEO).
She came to the Netherlands via Aiesec, an
organisation that helps university students to
develop their talents all over the world. The
Chamber of Commerce often works together
with Aiesec, for instance to help the industy
by placing talent from abroad within their
company.
Some 35,000 students from around 17,000
universities are affiliated to the international
Aiesec organisation. Patrycja Michalak is one
of them. She travels a lot and enjoys it. “All the
exchange periods and possibilities to work
abroad give me the opportunity to meet new,
interesting people and cultures. I continually
experience something very special.” Patrycja
has only been in the Netherlands for a very
short time but she has already noticed how
clean and well organised the country is, and
that it is a mecca for cyclists. “In Poland we
do not cycle.” She also likes Tilburg because
of all the young people there, although she
hoped to find a bit more history in Tilburg.
Who knows what Patrycja will yet discover?
She will be here untill December. And then?
Maybe she will set up her own online marketing company. In any case, what she wants to
do for the meantime is to travel and discover
as much as she can.
For more information about the activities of the Chamber of Commerce in the areas of education and entrepreneurship, contact policy officer
Chantal Ottens: [email protected] or call (040) 232 39 68.
34
FIRST Quarterly
© 2011 KPMG N.V., alle rechten voorbehouden.
W W W.G A A A N . N U
Marleen van Dijsseldonk, 25 jaar
Junior adviseur KPMG Advisory
“Onderweg naar een opdracht bij een klant
in #Barcelona. Weekendje shoppen eraan
vastgeplakt met vriendin daar.”
Voor 24/7 updates over werken bij Audit of Advisory, check de KPMG-bloggers op www.gaaan.nu
April 2011 edition
35
Wat doe je? als je alles
wilt meemaken aan het
begin van je carrière
Het Achmea Management Traineeship
Veel doen, veel zien en vooral heel veel meemaken in
kun je de ene periode aan de slag bij Interpolis en de
AV É R O A C H M E A
korte tijd. Waarbij je ongetwijfeld wel eens voor
volgende bij Centraal Beheer Achmea. Een van de
CENTRA AL BEHEER ACHMEA
verrassingen zult komen te staan. Dat kenmerkt het
vier opdrachten vervul je in het buitenland. Zo
FBTO
Achmea Management Traineeship. Je kunt je breed
ontwikkel je een brede blik en ontdek je wat je echt
INTERPOLIS
oriënteren en opdrachten doen op het gebied van
leuk vindt en waar je goed in bent. Intussen leer je veel
Z I LV E R E N K R U I S A C H M E A
bijvoorbeeld bedrijfskunde, marketing en HR. Maar
mensen kennen, krijg je intensieve begeleiding en de
je kunt er ook voor kiezen de focus te leggen op
gelegenheid om trainingen en cursussen te volgen.
Finance door alleen financiële opdrachten te kiezen.
Dit is een mooi startpunt voor een succesvolle carrière
Meer weten?
binnen de financiële kolom bij de grootste verzekeraar
Kijk op onze website www.werkenbijachmea.nl wat
van Nederland. In de twee jaar dat het traineeship
het Achmea Management Traineeship allemaal voor
duurt, krijg je vier opdrachten van zes maanden. Zo
jou in petto heeft.
Ontzorgen is een werkwoord