Research & Programs - HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

8 Partners
Review of two successful years
of HHL Open School Initiative
In order to draw greater attention to the
exchange processes between academia and
business, HHL bundled its activities into the HHL
Open School Initiative which was awarded first
prize in the nationwide competition “Exchange
processes between academia and business” in
April 2007 by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche
Wissenschaft (Association of Donors to German
Research) and the BMBF (Federal Ministry of
Education and Research). Since then, HHL has
built on its outstanding reputation as the place
and the partner for collaboration between
management scholarship and practice. In
November 2008, HHL-Unternehmergespräche
took place in a further development of the
existing forum “HHL: Partner for business”,
providing a theoretical and practical insight into
the challenges of ownership transfer in family
businesses. In addition, one outstanding result of
the knowledge creation processes between
academia and business practice within the HHL
Open School Initiative is the publication of the
book “Strategies for Innovators: HHL Open
School Case Book” by Professor Dr. Kathrin M.
Möslein and HHL alumnus and Research
Associate Dr. Emilio Matthaei. The field projects
completed by HHL students as part of their
studies (see page 21) and of course the
executive education programs in HHL Executive
(see pages 10-11) are other core instruments for
the knowledge transfer between HHL and the
business world. On June 25, 2009, HHL once
again showed the strength and importance of its
partnership with businesses in the region when
it presented cooperation opportunities to
regional enterprises at the meeting of the
Industrieverein Sachsen e.V.
Delegation from Lanzhou University visits HHL
Professor Dr. Hans Wiesmeth welcomes Professor
Guoxian Bao (Dean of Lanzhou University) and his
delegation
European business schools’
belief in openness results in birth
of new network
From left to right: Professor Dr. Gianluca Spina (MIP Politecnico di Milano), Dr. Jean-Pierre Helfer
(Audencia Nantes School of Management), Professor Dr. Hans Wiesmeth (HHL)
In a move designed to help Europe’s firms by
fostering a shared spirit of openness and responsibility,
three top business schools in
France, Germany and Italy have formed the
nucleus of a new business education network.
Audencia Nantes School of Management,
HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management
and MIP Politecnico di Milano are the
founding members of an initiative that pools
talents and key resources to anticipate and
address businesses’ new recruitment needs.
The partnership coordinates recruitment,
corporate relations and placement efforts.
The three schools will act together both on
In 2004, HHL and the School of Management
at Lanzhou University signed an agreement
on future academic cooperation. Dur-
ing the last few years, HHL has been
fortunate to host several exchange students
and junior professors from the Chinese university;
one Lanzhou graduate is currently
enrolled as a doctoral student at HHL’s Chair
of Microeconomics.
In April this year, HHL had the opportunity to
welcome good friends for a brief visit. The
Dean of Lanzhou University, Professor
Guoxian Bao, and the Head of the International
Department, Ms. Yajia Yu, were among
HHL NEWS – SUMMER 2009
post-program elements – the supply of graduates
to employers – and, in the future, also
on pre-program activities – the management
of potential students. In this way, the new
network of accredited business education providers
offers companies pan-European access
to exactly the sort of future managers
that match their specific requirements. The
agreement, signed in Paris in April 2009, also
opens the way for the three schools to explore
the possibility of joint executive education
and in-company training in the future.
Jana Vogel
the delegation from our partner school who
came to Leipzig. Both schools agreed to
extend the successful cooperation, and set it
on a higher level in the future.
HHL will assist Lanzhou University to introduce
an international MBA program with the
support of its faculty. The Deans and the International
Directors of both schools have
signed a document extending the agreement.
Frank Hoffmann