I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. With the university temporarily closed due to the Corona virus, we’ve transitioned to online instruction and meetings. It certainly comes with its own set of challenges, but our class has approached it with a positive attitude and a desire to make it work. From meeting classmates’ children over Zoom to getting a sense of their personal aesthetic through glimpses of their home décor, it has been an interesting way to get to know everyone better.
The MBA Advisory Board
This past fall, armed with knowledge gained from classes ranging from economics to human resources management, I was itching to apply what I had learned to real business challenges. Fortunately, the Advisory Board (A-Board) was just around the corner with exactly that opportunity. When I visited Copenhagen Business School a few years prior, I sat in on an A-Board team meeting as they prepared to advise a firm launching a refrigerated coffee drink. This small peek inside of the A-Board process left me excited for my chance to experience it and exceptionally curious to find out with which firm I would be paired.
A brand new sector
At long last, it was revealed that my team would work with a company that produces an organic soil enhancer. My teammates and I lacked any agricultural background, which was both a challenge and a great learning opportunity. In our first meeting with the entrepreneur, we were surprised to learn that he too was brand new to the agricultural sector, meaning we were all learning on the fly together. His passion for the product was contagious and, through exhaustive research and by applying our diverse professional and academic backgrounds, we were able to develop an understanding of how the industry operates and advise the firm on its growth strategy. Our recommendations revolved around which markets they should expand into after Denmark, how they should structure their distribution network, and how they should design the new roles in their growing organization.
Takeaways
The most valuable outcomes from this experience include how A-Board:
- Brought me much closer to my fellow team members;
- Allowed me to apply what I’ve learned through the Copenhagen MBA curriculum to real-world business challenges;
- Introduced me to the start-up scene in Denmark;
- Helped me better appreciate the role and importance of corporate boards;
- Gave me the opportunity to deep dive into a completely unfamiliar industry;
- Most memorably, allowed our class to ring the closing bell on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange.
Having worked in financial services in New York City for several years, Kevin had always wanted to work abroad and chose the Copenhagen MBA to launch his international career.
