Research & Programs - HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

6 Highlights
Term starts at HHL with 129 students from 26 countries
A grand total of 129 students from 26 countries
enrolled in HHL’s programs for the Fall
Term 2010. Among them are 38 exchange
students from HHL’s ever-increasing network
of partner universities. The proportion of international
students at Germany’s oldest business
school thus currently lies at around 30%.
The Welcome Days focussed on a debate on
values and on demographic change. The enrollment
ceremony for all new students took
place on September 14, 2010. In his speech
entitled “Leading through values”, Professor
Dr. Michael Junker, executive director of Accenture,
emphasized: “Leadership means form-
ing a community of values, in which all in-
volved can find/rediscover themselves and
their own values.” Professor Dr. Arnis Vilks,
Dean of HHL, warmly welcomed the new
members of the HHL community: “The education
of effective and responsible leaders
begins right now during the Welcome Days.”
The second day of the enrollment event was
supported by Accenture, BASF, Evonik,
Generali Deutschland and ecosense both financially
and with plenty of food for thought.
During the afternoon activities, the new HHL
students learned about their school and the
city of Leipzig in a lively way. Divided into
teams consisting of students from all aca-
demic programs, they went on a paper chase.
They headed for the offices of the chairs and
administrative staff on the Jahnallee Campus
and the City Campus, where questions such
as ‘What is the meaning of ‘MeCe’ (strategy)?’
had to be answered. The winning team was
rewarded with a little surprise.
The second day was organized by the Dr.
Werner Jackstädt Chair of Economic and
Business Ethics. An intense but enjoyable day
was made possible through the generous
support of the above-mentioned sponsors.
Dr. Johannes Meier (member of HHL’s Supervisory
Board, Managing Director Xi GmbH
Michael Porter honors HHL’s M.Sc. students
From left to right: Professor Dr. Wilhelm Althammer, Professor Michael Porter, Professor Dr. Manfred Kirchgeorg
HHL News – wiNter 2010/2011
and former member of the Executive Board of
the Bertelsmann Foundation) provided an introduction
focussing on the challenges and
opportunities of demographic change. Afterwards,
students had the possibility to find out
about how companies implement strategies
to face demographic change. In the afternoon
session, students had to complete their first
group task, answering questions directly
posed by the partnering companies. One of
the elements was to identify key desired future
employer characteristics, e.g. in terms of worklife
balance, working hours, salary or non-
monetary incentives. One interesting result
was that a good work-life balance seemed to
be much more important for students than
high salaries. The day concluded with a great
dinner and party at DaCapo restaurant in Leipzig.
With music by Jamtonic, it was a perfect
day for both company representatives and
new students.
Hans-Christian Erdmann / Volker Stößel
A high distinction for HHL in the field of cluster
management: Ankit Kumar, Bert Förster, Denise
Engel, Ivelina Florev, Philipp Hahn, Sebastian
Zureich and Svenja Klups (all MSc4) won the
“Best Paper Award”, beating 16 teams from
around the world. An international panel
of experts attested the excellence of the
students’ analysis of the Israeli biotech cluster.
During a cluster conference at Harvard
Business School just before Christmas, the
world-renowned cluster expert from Harvard
Professor Michael E. Porter (center) presented
the certificates for HHL’s Master students to
their professors, namely Professor Dr. Manfred
Kirchgeorg (right) and Professor Dr. Wilhelm
Althammer (left).