Research & Programs - HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

Chair of Marketing Management
Research & Programs 27
Focusing on emerging markets –
Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft on a trip to India
India is known around the world for Bollywood
movies, spicy food, and for its rich and ancient
culture. Nonetheless, in recent years all this
has paled beside the impressive development
of its soaring economy. India has become a
global center for IT services and Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO). But the skills of the
country’s engineering and business graduates
have also gained a global reputation.
February 22-28, 2009, members of the Wissenschaftliche
Gesellschaft für Marketing und
Unternehmensführung (Academic Society for
Marketing and Business Leadership) vis- ited
the Indian IT metropolis of Bangalore and the
country’s capital New Delhi to gain first-hand
experience of the outstanding economic and
societal developments and the opportunities
in this market. The trip was organized by HHL’s
Chair of Marketing Management.
In Bangalore, the group at first had the opportunity
to visit Hindustan Unilever’s research
center. There, the specificities of the Indian retail
structure were introduced as well as new
tailor-made and locally developed products
for the Indian market. The group was impressed
by the company’s efforts to improve
the still underdeveloped drinking water supply
in India’s countryside by means of innovative
products that at the same time permit a profit-
able business model. Further corporate visits
HHL students develop marketing
concept for the Designers’ Open
On April 9, 2009, five students from HHL’s
M.Sc.3 class presented the results of their
field project, which is an integral part of their
studies, to the Leipzig-based project partner
H&R Kultur- u. Projektmanagement GbR. The
project, which ran from mid-January to the
end of March 2009, allowed the student team
to combine theoretical knowledge from their
studies with hands-on experience. The results
for the project partner, which organizes the
annual Designers’ Open, included an international
competitor analysis and a newly devel-
led the delegation to Bosch India, the country’s
largest automotive supplier, and to Infosys
Technologies, one of the world’s leading suppliers
of IT business solutions. Here, the group
was welcomed by Kris Gopalakrishnan, one
of the company’s founding fathers.
For the second half of the trip, the HHL delegation
had to travel 2,000 km northward to
New Delhi where visits to McKinsey & Company
and a subdivision of Henkel Asia-Pacific
were scheduled. But the society’s academic
aspect was also incorporated into the trip in
oped financial concept with an examination of
the present legal form. Based on the outcome
of an online survey which achieved an aboveaverage
response rate, the students defined
which marketing measures the project partner
should focus on in the future. The declared
aim of the project partner is to raise awareness
of the Designers’ Open throughout Sax-
ony and the neighboring states. The student
team also gave valuable advice regarding different
strategies for involving several stakehold-
ers in the project. After an exciting final pre-
HHL NEWS – SUMMER 2009
the form of visits to the Institute of Marketing &
Management, and to the Management Development
Institute, one of India’s leading business
schools and partner of HHL. During a
closing dinner, the society’s members had the
opportunity to exchange thoughts about
India’s future development with represent-
atives of the German business community in
Delhi and with the German Embassy’s Chargé
d’Affaires, Christian-Matthias Schlaga.
Gunther Greven
sentation by the students, the project partner
and the student team moved on to the more
relaxed but no less exciting part of the day - a
delicious business lunch at the nearby China-
brenner restaurant.
For further information on the Designers’ Open,
go to www.designersopen.de
Beatrice Ermer