Slidecast

Seminars
Shahab Shiri

The 5 Seminars

Paul Melkebeke Sourcing in Asia (16/10/2015)

Dirk Buyens Working & living abroad (01/12/2015)
Steve Miller ACE it! (12/02/2016)
Joeri Van den Bergh Whos up Nxt? (01/03/2016)

Paul Melkebeke Sourcing in

Asia

Who & What?

Paul Melkebeke

Vice President Samsonite

Belgian
Samsonite
Had HQ in Oudenaarde once
Number 1 luggage company in the world

Content
Europe China : big differences in life, culture and working
Samsonite is the number 1 in the luggage world, Asia is the
biggest market

Remember that the way of travelling has changed a lot in

Europe (for example: RyanAir with their hand luggage)

Content
Samsonite had 2 crashes: in 2001(WTC) and 2009 (crisis)
Their focus is to oursource things that can be outsourced
A lot of things in Samsonite gets outsourced
Per day, around 120 000 pieces gets outsourced
86% is outsourced , 14% in house manufactory (everything else is
outsourced)

Content
Requirements preferred supplier for Samsonite:
Development skills & sample room
Consistent Quality
On-Time delivery
Customer Service & Communication!
Competitive prices
Customer should always be on number 1 priority

Content
Chinas competitive advantages
Chinese business men have entrepreneurial spirit, they take a lot of
risks
Skilled, they know what they are doing
Logistics: in China it is a lot more efficient. The logistics are very good.
Advantages of communism: they want a bridge/port, they will easily
make it
(in comparison, the Indian logistics are very bad)
Speed & competitive prices,

Content
Chinas Challenges
Manpower (boy>girl, availability & costs: the ware
increasilingy raising)
Social compliance: get degree in university => no job
available
Respect for intellectual property (copyright/patents)
Exchange Rate
Number 1 market is the United States, very soon it will
be China

Content
4 challenges for manufacturers
1. Rising Factory Costs (most demanding customers are
Chinese & South-Korean)
2. Rising consumer sophistication
3. Rising value chain complexity
4. Heightened volatility
RESOLVE THE PROBLEM, dont fix it!

Content
Future?
Rising competition outside of China
New sourcing

Eastern-Europe for European Market

Mexico
South-east Asia
India
Africa

Content Summary
Rules that change, the impact is the still the biggest
challenge in Asia
India is the closest to be like China. They still have a long
way to go. No other East-Asian country is currently
capable of taking over.

Samsonite as a company needs to be

ready at all times for possible changes in
the market

Reflection
This seminar was really interesting, as the teacher taught
us a lot of new ideas and facts about e-commerce in
China. However, I wished it would be more about other
countries in China as well. The seminar really gave us a
good insight on how big Samsonite is in China.

Dirk Buyens Working & Living

Abroad

Who?
Dirk Buyens
Has lived abroad
Valencia & Minessota
Professor at Vlerick Business School
Up to 80% of students are international on the
Belgian Vlerick campuses

Content
The times, they are changing
Working and living abroad is very essential
for our future
We learn and experience things we will
never forget

Content
The 5 core competences to go international
1. Language/Communication skills
2. Outside-in-View
3. Multi-ethnocentricity reflex
4. Homelessness skill
5. Seeing through the cultural facade

Content
The 4 phases on how to encounter the world when

you go international
Seeing the nationality
Seeing a human who is like me, but still different
Seeing things which I was not aware of, and I do not
understand
Seeing patterns

Content
It is difficult to describe how wet
water is, without diving into it
Language, pragmatic, proximity advantage

Content
Useful tips for internationalization
Search for international experiences
Get in touch with other peoples cultures and identity
Read books/articles from other countries about different
cultures
EXPERIENCE the world

Content
Preparation in advance
Everywhere in the world is good. There is no wrong place
to go.
Do research about the country and culture.
Know yourself
If possible, learn the language of the country you are going
Be open minded, show interest and work hard when
you are there!

Content
When you are back
Everyone will love to hear your story
You will have learned many new things
It will be a lifer changer
Enjoy what you have experiences
Reflect on what you have experienced!

Reflection
This seminar about working and living abroad was very
interesting in combination with IBM. We will all have to go
abroad twice next academic year, and this seminar
motivated me even more to look forward to it! Very
interesting and good seminar.

Steve Miller ACE it

Who?
Steve Miller
American Expat
Leadership Coach & Trainer
Experience in HR and Teambuilding for over 30 years

Content
To ACE it!
To what?
To fulfil something with excellence (A+)

Content
Playing
There is no passion to be found playing small in
settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable
of living Nelson Mandela
Playing for outcomes
Actions (skills)
Challenges (learning)
Experiments (passion)
ACE

Content
The ACE Model
Allows you to reflect on yourself based on the actions,
challenges and experiments using the game plan and
outcome.

Content
TED Talk: 30 days challenge
This video taught us a new tool/way to push our challenges. The
30 days challenge is very simple: you take a challenge, something
you have wanted to do for a long time, and you try to keep it up
for 30 days. In my personal case, this would be playing the guitar.
I always wanted to play a guitar, but I have never managed to do
it. If I could keep up a schedule for 30 days straight, I definitely
will be able to play a few tunes.
The 30 days challenge is a very smart idea and I will
definitely use it in the future.

Conent
Deciding Tool: Cartesian Questions

This Tool allows you to review all possible options

when making a decision. This is a very useful tool when
making a tough decision.

Content
Responding Tool: SODA
Stop, Observe, Decide, Advance
This tool allows you to know how to respond in certain
situations. When something happens, you stop, then
observe the situation. After observing, it is important to
make a decision, and to continue (advance) with life.

Reflection
Steve Miller had a brilliant English accent and voice. It
was very lovely listening to him, and we got some pretty
useful tools about how to think more broadly. I especially
liked the 30-days challenge video, as I tried to do a 30days challenge myself immediately a few days after the
seminar. I worked out hard for 30 days straight, so this
speaker motivated me a lot to go for what we really want
to do!

Joeri Van den Bergh Whos up

next?

Who?
Co-founder InSite Consulting
Focuses on the different generations of people
Marketing between the different generations
Gen Y Expert

Content

Useful facts to know for this seminar:

People that were born between 1996 and later on are Gen
Z
People that were born between 1977 and 1996 are
Millennials or Gen Y
People that were born between 1965 and 1976 are Gen X
People born before 1964 are called Baby boomers

Content

NXT Gen
We can clearly see that Gen Y and Z are very influenced in the
decisions that parents have to make. Especially in the food that
is consumed, the holiday destinations and the products they buy.
These are just a few examples of how Gen Y and Gen Z are very
important for todays marketing.
Characteristics of Gen Z: A very common stereotype for Gen Z is
that that these young adults and kids are mostly messaging
while watching television.

Content
The age of impatience
The new generation is often seen as very impatient.
Generation Z uses their laptop, smartphone or tablet to
watch movies and series that are not even out yet.
Tl;dr is a abbreviation for too long didnt read, which
perfectly states that the younger generation is very
impatient.

Content
The on-demand experience
This is a way of life where everything is very easy and user
friendly to use. For example: Uber allows you to just order
a taxi with a few clicks. It is ready whenever you need it.
This generations loves that kind
Phygital
Buying your coffee before you even arrive at the coffee
shop, to reduce the waiting time.

Content
Gender Equality
You would think the baby boomers do not pay a lot of
attention to gender equality. In fact, it is the other way
around. The baby boomers are the ones that are the most
busy with gender equality. The younger generations do not
pay a lot of attention to men and women being equal.

Content
Traditional Society
Is changing impressively
Is becoming more female
Marketers have to follow the trend, to change their
ideas to these new societies
However, the youngest generation is dreaming of a
better world and they want to be part of it.

Content
Imperfection
Is the new perfection
Example:
Nikes new slogan: Just Do It, which focuses on the
imperfection, rather than on the perfection.

Reflection
Very well given presentation about the new marketing
generation! Loved it, as you could feel it had something to
do with the present and the future.

Own Seminar: Flyse presents

ZERO to ONE (22/04/2016)
When I saw this seminar on Facebook, I thought it would be
very interesting. I saw that one person of Uber is coming, and I
knew that he would be a very good speaker. He told us a lot
about how the way Uber works in a professional way. This was
definitely a speaker which I will not forget soon. Out of the 3
speaker, I liked Filip Nuytemans the most. He even changed the
language from Dutch to English, which was very sweet of him,
since we were an international group. The other 2 speakers
(Wouter Adriaens from Quivr and Wouter Van Hauwermeiren)
were less interesting, but still good to hear!