EFR-Eclaire Special 2011

claireJAARGANG 31 > MARCH 2011 > NUMMER 3

GUIDE TO THE DREAM INTERNSHIP

YOUR THESIS

E F R - B U S I N E S S W E E K 2 0 1 1

WORLD LEADERS VISIT THEEFR-BUSINESS

WEEK

DE AVOND VOOR HET AFRONDEN VAN

HET FUSIER APPORT VOOR EEN

INTERNATIONALE BIERBROUWER

W W W.GA A AN.NU

© 2011 KPMG N.V., alle rechten voorbehouden.

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

How to Take Charge in 9 days

Are you familiar with all those self-help tests, books and mo-

vies? You can’t open a magazine anymore without finding out

what the 7 steps are to quit smoking, how to find the love of

your life (and how to get rid of him/her after you get down

from cloud nine) or what type of friend you are. The tests offer

you all kinds of solutions and lead the way to a problem-free

life. But is that all you need to be, problem-free? Don’t you

also want to be in total control of your life and give it direc-

tion? Don’t you want to create your own goals, follow your

passions and make your own decisions? This much is clear;

a more professional self-help program is needed. Thank God

the EFR-Business Week 2011 came along to offer you a fool

proof solution to that and show you how to Take Charge of

YOUR life in just 9 days!

Day 1: Opening Day

Take Charge-features: inspires, enhances general know-

ledge, stirs up passions

On the first day of the EFR-Business Week, you will get a

chance to hear the inspiring stories of world-leaders and

other international guest speakers. Your own ambitions and

passions will be triggered. Perhaps you will develop an in-

genious idea yourself and become a leader of the future.

Day 2 and 3: Company Days and Dinner

Take Charge-features: offers career opportunities

During Day 2 and 3, you will be offered the opportunity to

meet some of the best employers in the world. YOU are in

charge of deciding what companies you would like to meet

and how you will develop your career opportunities.

Day 4: Day of rest

Take Charge-features: relaxes, helps finding inner self,

de-stresses

This day gives you time to reflect on all the new insights

you have gained during the last couple of days and decide

how you will implement them in your day-to-day life.

Day 5, 6 and 7: Business Week on Location

Take Charge-features: internationalizes, opens eyes

The Business Week on Location offers you an exclusive

insight in the business scene of London. It will help you

decide whether you aspire an international career or not.

Day 8: Conference Day

Take Charge-features: motivates, stimulates expressing

personal opinions

Day 8 is the most interactive day of the EFR-Business

Week. It offers you the chance to debate on current topics

with prominent national and international speakers and

express your opinion. You might be able to inspire people

and make a difference to the whole world!

Day 9: EFR-Business Week Party

Take Charge-features: fraternizes, intoxicates

During the last day of the week, the EFR-Business Week

Party will take place. Here, you can share you experience

with others, have a drink and party as long as you like.

Work hard and play hard; find out if that is something

that suits you.

After participating in every single day of the EFR-Business

Week 2011, you will be ready to go into the world and Take

Charge of every situation that is thrown at you. We guarantee

you that our program will be a success and I hope to welcome

you all on the 30th of March, when Day 1 of the EFR-Business

Week kicks off!

Phoebe Huurdeman

Chairman EFR-Business Week 2011

Letter

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Editorial address:

Burgemeester Oudlaan 50

3062 PA Rotterdam, Kamer CB-03

Tel. 010 408 1146/47

Fax. 010 408 9021

E-mail: [email protected]

Editor in Chief:

Kim van Adrichem

Writers:

Timothy Langstraat

Youvale van Dijk

Madina Ismailova

Katharina Dees

Nadia Zafi rah

Pieter van Notten

Want to be a freelance writer?

Mail [email protected]

Marketing Offi cer:

Hubert W. de Nie, [email protected]

Commercial Offi cer:

Bart van Heeswijk, [email protected]

Visual styling and printing:

OCC dehoog media partners

www.occ-dehoog.nl

Circulation:

26.000 units

EFR Membership:

Maarten Groen, [email protected]

Subscription:

Price: 29.-

Contact EFR-Eclaire at [email protected]

Frequency:

Sent fi ve times a year to all students of the

Economic Faculty at the Erasmus University

Rotterdam, including the one time special

edition: the EFR-Eclaire Special with a cir-

culation of 26.000 units.

Copyright ©2011, EFR

Colofon Index

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EFR-BUSINESS WEEK: COMPANY DAYS >24

THE STRANGE MISCONCEPTIONS >33

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JAARGANG 31 > MARCH 2011 > NUMMER 3

THE STRENGTH OF SOCIAL MEDIA

E F R - B U S I N E S S W E E K 2 0 1 1

WORLD LEADERS VISIT THE EFR-BUSINESS

WEEK

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This time around the Eclaire committee wanted to shake things

up, so instead of a letter, we decided to come up with our very

own Bucket List. Taking charge of life means that you do the

things you dream of. Below are some examples of the things we

would like to experience:

Enjoy this special!

Kim van Adrichem

Photo clockwise: Kim, Hubert, Tim, Nadia, Katharina, Madina, Youvale

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Editor-in-Chief

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Take ChargeDuring your entire life you will have to face many different

challenges. Some expected, some unexpected. Some you

will have to face unwillingly and some may be a long-awaited

desire. During all those challenges you will have to make

certain choices. Your life is the sum result of all the choices

you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can

control the process of choosing, you can take control of all

aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes

from being in charge of yourself. But how do you deal with

these challenges and choices? How do you take charge?

There are thousands of different test and management

trainings that try to help you with that question and with

‘managing’ your own life. In spite of that it still is hard to

determine what you want to make of your life when you are

still studying. So many students are wondering what their

true passion is, what direction is best to take and how they

can accomplish their goals. We must look for ways to be an

active force in our own lives. We must take charge of our

own destinies, design a life of substance and truly begin to

live our dreams. But that is easier said than done…

In order to inspire and encourage you, this EFR-Business

Week is all about taking charge. All kinds of different

speakers during the Opening Day will tell you more about

how they took charge of their own lives and what amazing

things that has brought them. You can debate interactively

with inspiring people during the Conference Day and you will

have the opportunity to find out what your career ambitions

are during the Company Days. Furthermore, the Business

Week on Location might stir up your international ambitions.

And last but not least, since life is of course not all about

working, the EFR-Business Week comes to an end with an

amazing party!

With all the challenges and choices you will have to make

during your time as a student, this week is a perfect way to

help you take charge of your life.

Therefore I encourage you to participate in the EFR-Business

Week; Take Charge is the symbol for YOUR ambitions!

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Naam Bouwe Taverne

Functie Head Sustainable

Developments Rabobank

Netherlands

Naam Marco van Kalleveen

Functie Senior Vice President

at BainCapital London

Naam Peter Mous

Functie IBM Managing

Director Integrated Account

Philips & NXP

Naam Rene Weijers

Functie Managing Director at

ING Wholesale Banking

Naam Tex Gunning

Functie Member Board of

Management of Akzo Nobel

N.V

Naam Jan-Willem Hoogeweegen

Functie Manager Marketing

& Business Development

Consumentenbond

Naam Deen Sonneveldt

Functie Partner at Deloitte

Accountants

Naam Lex Hoogduin

Functie Executive Director of

De Nederlandsche Bank

Naam Steven van Eijck

Functie Voorzitter Actal and

Chairman Dutch Advisory Board

on Administrative Burden

Naam Erik Hoving

Functie Board Member

KPN Asia

Naam Bart Schlatmann

Functie Chief Operating

Officer ING Retail Nederland

Naam Henk Schmidt

Functie Rector Magnificus

Erasmus Universiteit

Rotterdam

Board of Substance

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Mr. Achmed Aboutaleb

Mayor of Rotterdam

Former Prime-Minister of Spain

Drs. ing. Peter Bakker

Chief Executive Officer TNT N.V.

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Former Secretary-General of the

United Nations

Prof. ir. Wim Dik

Former Chairman of the Board of

Management of KPN

Vice-Chairman Supervisory Board

Randstad NV

Mr. Tex Gunning

Managing Director Decorative Paints

Akzo Nobel N.V.

Dr P. Moerland

Chief Executive Officer Rabobank N.V.

Prime-Minister of Luxembourg

Dr. Alexander Rinnooy Kan

Chairman of the Social Economic

Council of the Netherlands (SER)

Mr. Frederik de Klerk

Former President of the Republic of

South Africa

Mr. Wim Kok

Former Prime-Minister of the

Netherlands

Former Rector Magnificus of the

Erasmus University

Director-General of the WTO

Prof. dr. Eric Maskin

Winner of the Sveriges Riksbank

Prize in Economic Sciences in

Memory of Alfred Nobel 2007

Mr. Michiel Muller

Dutch Serial Entrepeneur

Nobel Prize Laureate

Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi

Secretary-General of the United

Nations Conference on Trade and

Development

Mr. Anton van Rossum

Former Chairman of the Supervisory

Board of Erasmus University

Rotterdam

Former Secretary-General NATO

Prof. dr. Schmidt

Rector Magnificus of the Erasmus

University

Former Chief Executive Officer Aegon

N.V.

Mr. Morris Tabaksblat

Former Chief Executive Officer

Unilever and chairman Committee

Corporate Governance

Mr. Michel Tilmant

Former Chief Executive Officer ING

Group

Former Chief Executive Royal Dutch

Shell plc

Mr. Ben Verwaayen

Chief Executive Officer Alcatel-Lucent

Mr. Hans Wijers

Chief Executive Officer of Akzo Nobel

N.V.

Board of Recommendation


E F R - B U S I N E S S W E E K

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EFR-Business Week: Opening Day

Every year the EFR-Business Week committee faces

part of those questions, is ‘Take Charge’. With the recent crisis still circulating in our thoughts, it is crucial that individuals do not only dream, but also execute their dreams. Everybody has goals and ideals and is presented with opportunities to pursue them, so the real question is what you do with those opportunities and how

do you try to achieve your goals. With the speakers we invited to the Opening Day this year, we can promise you an inspiring beginning of the week. You will be enlightened by their stories, but more importantly, we hope you’ll be enthused and motivated to reach for your ambitions.

Opening Day Theme: Influence

This year’s Opening Day is not only about ‘Taking Charge’, but has an underlying theme as well: ‘Influence’. It is easy enough to tell people to reach and achieve their goals; the real question is how. What do you need to succeed, and who?

During the Opening Day we will present you with several examples of speakers who have achieved their goals. They will enfold through which influences they have established themselves in the market of today and, more importantly, which influences they still use to maintain their position. This year we have the honour to welcome Richard Newman, who is an expert on body language. In addition, Ray Zahab, an ultra marathon runner who has run through the Sahara in 111 days straight, running 70 km each day,

Date: March 30th, 2011Location: Auditorium, Erasmus University

ON MARCH 30TH, THE OPENING DAY WILL KICK OFF THE EFR-BUSINESS WEEK 2011. AS MOST OF YOU PROBABLY KNOW, THIS DAY HAS BEEN THE CHARACTERISTIC OPENING CEREMONY OF

THE EFR-BUSINESS WEEK FOR YEARS NOW AND HAS A REPUTATION TO ATTRACT MANY DISTINGUISHED, INTERNATIONAL INDIVIDUALS TO THE ERASMUS UNIVERSITY.

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will share his experiences! (Watch the Trailer: Running the Sahara) His unique story about expanding your own boundaries and achieving your ideals together with his personally experience, will truly be extraordinary.

Each year, EFR awards a World Leader Cycle (WLC) Award to prominent individuals, who have not only excelled in their profession, but also act as an ambassador between different nations in the world. Usually, this award is presented during the Opening Day and we even have the honour of awarding two WLC Awards on this day during the EFR-Business Week 2011. This year, we are proud to welcome Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of the NATO, and Jakob Kellenberger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC, at our university to receive a WLC Award.

For the presentation of the WLC Awards, we have developed a unique concept. We will introduce a hypothetical case, in which there is a food crisis in the world and, with that, all the facets such a crisis brings forth. Both Mr. Rasmussen and Dr. Kellenberger will address the topic and unfold how their organisations would handle the crisis at hand. What does NATO do when governments disagree and cannot present solutions? How do they stay neutral? Does the Red Cross aid the weak first? How do they cope with the extreme logistical challenge? If you have any question, you are invited to come and ask them after the WLC-speeches on the Opening Day. There will be time for Q&A, so make sure you do not miss this opportunity.

Interested in joining us? Sign up now at one of our promotional stands at the Erasmus University or online at www.efr-businessweek.nl.

Preliminary Programme Opening Day

11.00h Doors Open

12.00h Official Opening

12:30h Key Note Richard Newman

13.45h Mystery Speaker

14.10h Break

14.45h WLC-case introduction

15.00h Key Note Mr. Rasmussen

15.45h Key Note Dr. Kellenberger

16:30h Key Note Ray Zahab

17.30h Drink


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EACH YEAR, EFR ORGANIZES THE EFR-BUSINESS WEEK, ONE OF THE BIGGEST AND MOST PROMINENT STUDENT CON-GRESSES IN WESTERN-EUROPE. THIS YEAR, WE, AS EFR-

BUSINESS WEEK COMMITTEE, HAVE THE PLEASURE OF ORGANI-ZING THE 27TH EDITION, WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE FROM MARCH 30TH UNTIL APRIL 7TH 2011.

The theme of this year’s week is ‘Take Charge’.

With this theme, we don’t only want to inspire

the students of the Erasmus University, but also

encourage and motivate them to take charge of

their own dreams and ambitions.

As EFR-Business Week Committee, we have

set the example by stretching our limits and

taking every opportunity to achieve our goals.

We are crossing boundaries, by organizing an

international Business Week on Location to

London, and have reached for the stars, by inviting

the biggest and most interesting speakers and

companies to the Opening Day, Conference Day

and Company Days. Also, our EFR-Business

Week will go out with a bang, with a big party on

an exclusive location in Rotterdam.

All in all, we had a great time organizing this event

and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we will.

EFR-Business Week Committee 2011

Phoebe Huurdeman- Chairman

Joost de Ronde- Commissioner Opening Day

Ellen Noordhof- Commissioner Conference Day

Mark Koppejan- Commissioner Company Days and Commercial

Officer

Jacqueline Markslag- Commercial Officer and Business Week on

Location

Pieter van Notten- Marketing Officer

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By Nadia Zafirah

EVER DREAMED OF WORKING IN AN INVESTMENT BANK? WOULD LOVE TO DO IT BUT HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO START? ECLAIRE INTERVIEWED DENNES VAN DER VLIST, AN IBEB GRADUATE WHO RECENTLY DID A SUMMER INTERNSHIP AT GOLDMAN SACHS (GS) IN LONDON. DENNES SHARED WITH US HIS ENTHUSI-

ASM FOR ECONOMICS AND FINANCE AND HIS AMAZING EXPERIENCE DOING AN INTERNSHIP AT GS.

IBEB pioneers. Compared to the

I’m a typical Dutch guy. I grew up in

Schoonhoven and have always lived in

Holland. I thought a great addition of

studying IBEB was to study amongst

international students. Besides, ever

since high school I knew I wanted to

study economics. It was my favorite

subject! After IBEB, my interest in

economics only increased, especially

regarding the finance sector. Currently,

I’m finishing my master in Financial

Economics, finishing my thesis at

the moment, and doing a master in

Financial Law.

Well, as you know, GS is one of the

most prestigious banks in the world.

How it happened actually is that in the

master course Pension Funds, a guest

lecture was provided by an employee

of GS (a girl that also studied at

Erasmus). I talked to her afterwards,

sent an email and had a few telephone

conversations with her. Then I decided

I wanted to apply. Luckily, I got through

all the interview rounds! I looked at a

couple of other banks as well, but

Goldman Sachs was the place for me.

I might be biased here as well because

I went there and I liked it a lot, but I

think it’s one of the most amazing

employers in the financial sector.

Can you tell us something about the

I had worked before, a couple of jobs

at the university as a student assistant,

but this was my first internship so I was

quite excited. For the internship, you

first send a CV and a motivation letter.

My contact person at GS, the Erasmus

graduate I referred to earlier, advised me

that at Anglo-Saxon firms, it is common

to send in a one-page CV (unlike what

most Dutch employers perhaps

expect). Furthermore, she gave me

advice on how to structure my CV (First

education and grades, then working

experience, languages and finally some

extracurricular stuff). After I applied,

GS scheduled a so-called ‘phone-

interview’ with me. In this interview,

I got interviewed over the phone by a

The Guide

to the Dream

Internship

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GS executive director calling from the

London office; we chatted for about half

an hour. Luckily, my performance in

that interview was convincing enough

and I got a call for my final interview

rounds! GS flew me over to London for

a day, where I got 5 or 6 back-to-back

interviews, which was quite exhausting.

Aside from your past working

Do you mind telling us your

It definitely helps. It’s difficult for me

to speak for the recruiters but in my

experience, not just for GS, employers

like it if you have a high average grade.

My current average grade for my masters

is 8.9 and for IBEB it was 8.6. I honestly

think it helps cause it shows that you’re

willing to work hard for your grades,

right? On the other hand, I noticed in

the interviews that they asked a lot of

questions about how I was as a person.

Therefore, I think it’s good to keep in

mind that it’s not all about your grades

but it’s good to have.

Did anyone from the university help

Not really. The internship was in the

summer and I did not get any ECTS

for it. From some friends, I received

certain guides that outline what kind

of questions you can expect during

interviews with an investment bank. Of

course, that helped me a lot.

What did you do during your

I started at the end of June until the end

of August. There’s a summer analyst

class and I was there in the investment

management division program with about

30 other interns. I was working on an

individual project and gave a presentation

on that at the end of the internship.

Furthermore, there were a couple of team

projects to work on as well with my fellow

interns. The most interesting was working

with the actual team I was interning with,

the Benelux Institutional Sales team. You

really get a good insight of what the team

does and how they operate; basically,

what GS is doing. Furthermore, we

received several training classes to teach

us more on finance.

You mentioned that you enjoyed

The working environment was actually

really nice! People are very friendly,

everybody focused on quality, which is

quite demanding but also something

that I liked. I think it is an experience

that you wouldn’t get here in Holland.

I should also say that it I had to make

long hours; 60 to 70 hours a week. I

guess it’s work hard, play hard. So you

have to be focused and willing to work

hard because it’s tough. At the end of

the whole experience I’m really glad to

have had the privilege to have such an

amazing experience.

You did this internship when

you were a master student.

Do you think it makes a difference

if you are a bachelor student or a

Actually in England, I know that the

British fellow interns hadn’t even

finished their bachelors yet. In Holland

however, you are a lot more interesting

to companies when you are busy with

your masters. I noticed, when I was in

the third year still doing IBEB, it was a

lot harder for me to apply to company

dinners or these kinds of events than

it is for me now that I’m in my master.

I think that when companies see you

are doing your masters, you’re almost

going to start working. If you’re in your

first year and you want to apply for an

internship, companies know they can’t

hire you for the next three years.

Any advice for students who

want to go in the direction of

It was probably the most valuable

experience in my career so far. I would

definitely recommend this to others!

AkzoNobel’s annual Masterclass takes place over two high-energy, mind-stretching days. You’ll learn about our products, our structures and our beliefs. You’ll meet top management and recent graduate employees. Above all, you’ll work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to see if you can crack a real-world business case.

When: May 16 & 17, 2011For: Masters students approaching graduation

Please visit www.akzonobel.nl/masterclass for more information and to apply online. But be quick - the deadline for registration is March 27, 2011.

AkzoNobel Masterclass 2011Give your mind a two-day workout

E N T E R T A I N M E N T

Singlish: An Outlandish LanguageBy Timothy Langstraat

At first glance, Singapore seems like

a place where you would encounter

perfect English. A former British co-

lony, it’s one of the wealthiest nations

in the region, with a GDP per capita

that’s in the top three of the world,

and a world-class education system.

On top of that, their official language

is English. So, when you get off the

plane, you’d expect people to speak a

language you at least recognize. Un-

fortunately, the opposite is true.

The local language in Singapore is

something called Singlish. It’s En-

glish, with bits and pieces borrowed

from the other dominant languages:

Tamil, Hokkien and Malay. But while

it’s normal to use local terms and

names, Singapore has refined it to an

art. Instead of adding a few words to

the existing dictionary, they’ve decided

to go overboard (as Singaporeans are

wont to do), and just create a new dic-

tionary altogether.

When you talk to the locals, it might

take a while to figure out what they’re

talking about. The ubiquitous ‘lah’

seems to appear every other word,

while its meaning is unclear to most,

even the locals. They’ll warn you of the

Ah Bengs in some parts of town, while

other spots are prime locations to see

the Ang Mohs. They’ll tell you to chope

seats in the kopitiams, whether you

have makan yet, and ask you to stop

talking cock. The students go mugging

until late at night, and yell walao when

they see the time. In short, you don’t

have a single clue what they mean.

That last bit is something the govern-

ment’s noticed as well. Their intensive

campaigns to get their subjects to speak

proper English have gone on for years,

without any noticeable improvements.

In the eleven years since the campaign

first took off, not much has changed,

and the scope of the campaign has

remained the same. But while the go-

vernment is trying their best to eradica-

te the Singlish language, Singaporeans

cherish it. In a show of how much they

care, the usually placid Singaporeans

have launched countermovements

protesting the government’s decisions,

claiming it’s part of Singapore’s culture.

And so far, Singlish is there to stay.

So next time you fly to Singapore, enjoy

the language. Talk to the locals, to the

aunties and uncles in the coffee shops

and hawker centers. Have fun while

you’re there, while trying to figure out

what they’re saying. Just go with the flow,

as long as you don’t talk cock.

IT IS SAID THAT, NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO, YOU WILL FIND SOME-ONE WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH. FROM THE ICY COLD OF THE SIBERIAN PLAINS TO THE SCORCHING HEAT OF THE SAHARA DESERT, THERE

WILL ALWAYS BE SOMEONE TO TALK TO. NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO, PEOPLE WILL SAY THEY SPEAK ENGLISH. BUT NO ONE EVER SAID, IT WAS ACTUALLY THE SAME LANGUAGE..

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How do you see your

future?I have always been an optimist. So the first word that sprang to mind was ‘bright’.

Although the Dutch like to whine, this never got the best of me. I believe we can

shape our own future. We are struggling with the world’s financial crises, the euro

is under pressure, and unemployment is lurking. However, we have enough to look

-

young professionals will arise. My Eastern investments will pay out and at the same

time the American and European competitive position will recover with revaluation

of the Chinese Yuan. Interest rates can only go up and money can be made again. A

big task lies upon us to reform our economy and financial system. A task for the new

generation. A task for us.

When a person asks you how you see your future, so many scenarios come to mind.

You can be anywhere, doing things you will not believe, or never thought would happen

to you. Nevertheless, it is really fun to look back at what you had planned for yourself.

In the future, I definitely want to be more educated and knowledgeable than I am to-

day – not like having a second master degree or PhD, but know more about the things

that surround us, expand my views of life, and have more time to read different types

of scientific books when I am done studying accounting and finance. Once I have read

them I want to never revisit them again. Plus, I want to learn some exotic language (but

not Klingon, even if there are many people in the world speaking it).

nd year Bsc IBCom

I am currently a second year student studying the International Bachelor of Media

and Communication (IBCom). In the future I would most definitely work someplace

in the media sphere. I originally come from Indonesia, but I have lived in the United

States and Singapore, which inspires me to travel around the world. My aspiration

is to work in the ICT and development field in order to help less developed nations

such as Indonesia become technologically savvy, especially in rural areas. This

goal of mine could be reached by learning the current state and trends in the media

and technology sphere by working in a prominent multinational media corporation.

Afterwards, I would like to start-up my own business, which covers the ICT and

development field and also entertainment field such as a publishing company. This

is in order to keep a balance between doing something for the community and fol-

lowing my own interests.

nd year Bsc International Economics and Business

I have actually been thinking about this a lot lately. Of course I would like the

basic things; a job and a family. I would like to have children, but I do not want to

be the dad who does not have time for his kids. I want to stimulate them to live

up to their potential. That is what my parents did for me and I think they did a

good job. Currently, I am in charge of this part of my life and hopefully I can give

a similar upbringing to my own kids someday. Besides that, I have no desire to

become extremely rich, I just want a job to take care of my basic needs and give

me the opportunities to explore the world. I do not want to live in the Netherlands

my whole life, I would like to live in at least a few different places. Particularly, I

would not mind living in Australia or USA for a few years just so that I can experi-

ence different cultures by actually living them.

nd year Bsc International Economics and Business

Ever since you were little, family members would always ask you what you

would like to become when you are older. Back then, you always had a pro-

fession you admired, like a firefighter or doctor. Now, my answer would be

that I do not precisely know, nor do I want to know. Setting a long term goal

is very difficult, and the chance of reaching it is very slim, while failing might

feel disastrous. So I have set my goal on the most desired outcome there is:

to be satisfied with whatever destination I reach. So, how will I get there? By

finishing my Bachelors degree, choosing the appropriate Master, and ending

up working as a marketing strategist for a multinational firm. If it's actually

possible, I don't know, so let me get that Bachelors degree first, one step at a

time, and then I will see how bright my future will be.

st year Bsc Bedrijfskunde

It’s a tough question, how you see your future. People try not to

dream too much, because they think their dreams won’t ever come

true. To be honest, I sincerely hope mine will come true. My dream?

Starting my own restaurant, someplace sunny and by the beach,

maybe in the Caribbean. It won’t be a very large restaurant, but it’ll

be large enough that I can live comfortably. You might ask, why do a

bachelor of business then? That is to make sure that if all else fails,

I have skills and experience to fall back on. And these same skills

will help me on my way to my dream, making sure that any hurdles

on my path are taking with ease. So far, my future is looking up.

And with hard work, and just a bit of luck, my future will hold that

restaurant on the beach.

U N I V E R S I T Y

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It makes little difference which part or edition of these

games you buy, presented here to you are first-person

shooters (FPS). The main goal is simple – shoot all the

enemies in range of your sight. Although the shooting

games are always called stupid, you may encounter some

challenges in handling an enemy invasion. You need to

think clearly, manipulate the camera and turn around

quickly, aim accurately and the most important thing –

never stop. Shooting games develop a lot of skills, most

noticeable of which is quick reaction to the environment.

The player can be equipped with lots of different types

of weaponry, from a pocket knife or a shovel to a long-

range sniper rifle or a bazooka. So you have to know how

and when to change the weapon. It’s so intriguing that

teenagers (and sometimes adults) of both genders spend

hours competing with real players over the internet or just

drowning in the world full of extremists and terrorists.

Only slaughtering monsters on a secret base can be more

entertaining than shooting people, in an underground

or underwater facility, or throughout an entire timeline,

travelling from one age to another. Endless labyrinths of

laboratories with corpses of people in white coats, a long-

abandoned city with radioactive zombies, large-scale, hi-

deous boss monsters and a crowbar or an army knife as

a companion can make a wonderful escape from difficult

reality and hard studying.

Attention the Biggest Distraction!

AT THE BEGINNING OF EVERY SEMESTER STUDENTS GET A GLIMPSE OF THEIR PREVIOUS GRADES. HAVING DISCOVERED THAT THINGS ARE NOT WORKING OUT AS WELL AS EXPECTED, EACH OF THEM GIVES A SOLEMN VOW: “I WILL START

STUDYING FROM THE VERY FIRST DAY”. UNFORTUNATELY, IT IS QUITE COMMON FOR THE PROMISE TO BE BROKEN. WHAT IS THE EVIL CREATURE THAT TAKES ALL THE DETERMINATION AWAY? WHAT IS IT THAT DISTRACTS A LOT OF GOOD STUDENTS FROM STUDYING? THE ANSWER IS PRETTY EASY: COMPUTER GAMES. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A SITUATION WHERE A PLANNED 15 MINUTES OF RELAXING GAME TIME TURNS INTO HOURS AND SOMETIMES DAYS? HERE YOU WILL FIND A SHORT LIST OF THE MOST POPULAR GAMES THAT WE LOVE SO MUCH, BUT TAKE SO MUCH TIME AWAY FROM THE IMPORTANT STUDYING (AND OFTEN SOCIAL LIFE AS WELL).

By Bauyrzhan Dosmakov and Madina Ismailova

The screams like:

that no one can be blamed for drowning in the

world full of extremists and terrorists.

We bouwen bij de gemeente Rotterdam aan de

stad én aan de samenleving. We houden de regie

goed in handen, maar geven veel ruimte voor

initiatieven. Met 13.500 medewerkers zijn we een

grote werk gever in het Rijnmondgebied. En met

een paar duizend uiteen lopende functies ook een

veelzijdige. Samen werken wij voor bijna 600.000

Rotterdammers aan de stad.

“Dit traineeship is voor mij een uitgelezen kans om

ervaring op te doen en een stevige basis te leggen

voor mijn carrière. In twee jaar tijd rond je vier

opdrachten af bij vier onderdelen van de gemeente.

Een dag per week krijg je training of bezoek je een

gemeentelijk bedrijf. Ik zit nu bij Audit Services

Rotterdam. Deze interne dienst voert onder andere

fi nanciële controles uit en doet intern onderzoek.

Een onderdeel van het traineeship is, dat je samen

met je collega-trainees een zelf gekozen sociaal

project organiseert. Hiervoor zijn we ons nu aan het

oriënteren bij Bureau Frontlijn. Dit bureau doet allerlei

projecten in probleemwijken en biedt onder andere

hulp aan gezinnen met jonge kinderen. Voor ons

project denken we aan het organiseren van een dagje

uit voor deze gezinnen of het geven van training aan

de ouders. Wat me zo aanspreekt aan Rotterdam is,

dat het een stad is die durft, die uitprobeert. En

daardoor een echte voorloper is op vele gebieden.

Als trainee ontmoet ik heel veel mensen, bouw snel

een groot netwerk op. En ik kom overal in de

organisatie. Als je ziet hoeveel mogelijkheden je hier

hebt! Zelf heb ik economie gestudeerd, maar met

elke achtergrond kun je hier boeiend werk doen.”

Wat bieden wij je? Een veelzijdig trainee-

programma in een interessante stad die durft!

Het traineeprogramma start jaarlijks op 1 november

en 1 mei met elke keer tien trainees. In twee jaar tijd

werk je aan vier projecten bij vier verschillende

diensten of deelgemeenten.

Afhankelijk van je leeftijd en opleiding ligt het

aanvang salaris tussen 2.300,- en 3.000,- bruto

per maand bij een 36-urige werkweek.

Durf jij? Ben je geïnteresseerd en heb je een (bijna)

afgeronde universitaire of HBO-opleiding? Solliciteer

dan via de website www.rotterdam.nl/werkenbij

Meer informatie over het traineeprogramma vind je op

www.rotterdam.nl/rotterdamse_traineeprogramma

Rotterdam is in veel

opzichten een voorloper,

een stad die durft.

Zonder durf had de

modernste haven ter

wereld niet in Rotterdam

gelegen. Zonder durf

was Rotterdam de

wolken minder dicht

genaderd. Zonder durf

waren veel debatten

over grootstedelijke

problemen niet in

Rotterdam gestart.

Rotterdam zoekt

medewerkers met

bezieling, die hun

verant woordelijkheid

nemen en ook de minder

gebaande paden durven

te betreden.

rotterdam.nl/werkenbij

De stad die durft, geeft initiatief de ruimte.

“Als trainee ontmoet je heel veel mensen en bouw je snel een groot netwerk op!”

Ruud den Haak, 24 jaar, trainee bij de gemeente Rotterdam

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Farm Ville

It’s probably not as popular as last year, but in honor

of hard working farmers from Facebook we would like

to mention it, too. The game is not very difficult. All you

need to do is to plow a field, place the seeds and harvest

them after a certain time. There are side quests such as

decorating the farm and keeping various animals that do

not need to be taken care of much. As crazy as it sounds,

Farm Ville got very popular among users of Facebook.

Many users received requests from their friends to fertili-

ze their crops or send them a detail for the house building

and eventually got stuck with their own farm. That’s how it

starts: plow, seed, and harvest for the years to come. And

people did enjoy it…amazing, is it not?

Sometimes people are not happy about who they are and

they try to become someone else. The most popular and

easiest way to do it today is entering a Mass-Multiplayer

Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). They have enor-

mous worlds full of non-playable characters (NPCs), who

give you all kinds of quests for a remuneration; monsters

to slay, dragons, beasts and horses to ride, houses to

from all over the world to compete with. You can become

a powerful mage, a strong warrior, a quick and invisible

thief, an accurate archer, or you may combine those clas-

ses as you wish. This is how people try to create a perso-

nality they wish to be and run away from cruel reality. All

they need to do is pay a certain amount for the game and

then keep paying for the online registration and enjoy a

whole new world. Endless upgrades, secret hideouts, a

lifetime of gameplay and you may become a local cele-

brity, find friends with common interests and meet them

in real life.


Attention the Biggest Distraction!

[Continued].

Games are love, sometimes passion for some

people, and life itself for the others. Personal

computers open a whole lot of different worlds

and dimensions, turning into their best and

only friends. Although computer games do

help to put problems aside and relax, it is

highly recommended to spend more time in

real life. Virtual reality is a great place to play,

and only to play. Do not immerse yourself too

deep, otherwise you might end up losing your

actual life. While your friends learn to play the

guitar and speak Chinese, don't be the only one

with abilities of performing Guitar hero and

knowledge of fluent elvish.


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Inhouse days

Each in-house day gives you the opportunity to get a feeling of a company’s

culture, working environment, opportunities for starters and day to day

activities. Some companies choose to show you around in one of there

factories and others give you the experience of solving a real life case.

Want to know what the company you’re interested in has planned on the

31th of March or the 1th of April? Take charge and look on our website:

www.efr-businessweek.nl or drop by our stand and fi nd out!

Company Days

MARCH 31TH & APRIL 1TH

THE COMPANY DAYS ARE A TWO DAY RECRUITMENT EVENT CONSISTING OF IN-HOUSE DAYS AND A COMPANY DINNER. IT IS THE PERFECT CHANCE TO, AS WE SAY IN DUTCH, “TAKE A LOOK IN THE KITCHEN” OF THESE INTERESTING

COMPANIES. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU WILL START YOUR FUTURE CAREER? THE COMPANY DAYS IS THE PLACE TO FIND OUT! WITH ORGANIZATIONS VARYING FROM BANKING, GOVERNMENT, CONSULTING, AGRICULTURE, CHEMICALS, SPORTSWEAR, ACCOUNTANCY, ENERGY TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY!

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Company Dinner

Hungry after the fi rst day of impressing recruiters? The EFR-

Business Week has the solution the Company Dinner. The goal

of the Company Dinner is to meet recruiters and professionals

of companies you’re interested in, and talk in an informal

setting about the opportunities for you. During the dinner

you will dine with a different company during appetizer, main

course and dessert. So in one evening you will meet three of the

participating organizations and have a nice diner on a location

you won’t forget! So simply give your preference when signing

up for the Company Days and we will see you there!

Important

The deadline to subscribe for the Company Days is

March 13th!

If you subscribe before March 4th you have the chance

to win some pretty cool prices! So subscribe and send

your CV on www.efr-businessweek.nl or drop by our

stand in the C-hal or the T-3.

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1C B S

AFTER HIS STUDY IN MAAS-TRICHT, FLORIS JANSEN DID NOT WANT TO BEGIN

HIS CAREER AS A TRAINEE, BUT WANTED TO START WORKING STRAIGHT AWAY. TAKING CHAR-GE OF HIS CAREER, HE APPLIED AT STATISTICS NETHERLANDS (BETTER KNOWN AS ‘CENTRAAL BUREAU VOOR DE STATISTIEK’, CBS), WHERE HE HAS WORKED FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS. SOME PEOPLE MIGHT CALL IT A NUMBER CRUNCHING FACTORY, BUT ACCORDING TO FLORIS, THIS IS NOT ALL THERE IS TO WOR-KING AT CBS.

When Floris started at CBS, he got used

green when I started at CBS. I had this

feeling I was constantly asking ‘foolish’

questions. However, as you go, you le-

arn so many things that I eventually

laughs. Soon even the old hands started

to ask Floris for his opinion, coming as

it were from a new point of view.

Floris has always had the drive to teach.

During his study he was a mentor and

this habit continues. Some articles he

has written have also been published in

national newspapers and popular news

responsible job. Not only are the topics

very complex, but they have to be un-

As a national accountant, Floris analy-

ses national and corporate budgets to

calculate relevant figures for the go-

vernment’s stakeholders. He does not

achieve this just by looking at facts and

from interaction with my colleagues. It

is important that we communicate the

best and most effective ways to calcu-

late figures, but also exchange ideas

regarding factors that influence the

Next to his day to day tasks, Floris is

also a member of ‘YoungCBS’. Young-

CBS is an association that allows new

employees to use their network to get

to know other people at CBS. Quite an

addition in such a large organisation.

am a pretty active member myself. For

instance, we have organised a debate

for YoungCBS members. The concept

behind the debate was to get original

insights in the running of CBS from the

perspective of new employees. Without

any preconceived notions about CBS,

we came up with several innovative ide-

as regarding our internal operations. In

all, YoungCBS is a good way to do more

Do you want to rack your brains to fi-

gure out the figures? Maybe CBS is the

right place for you!

Figuring out CBS

BIG HOLES IN THE GROUND, TREES BEING CUT DOWN AND NEW

BUILDINGS RISING UP. THIS IS THE VIEW WE NOW HAVE ON THE CAMPUS OF THE ERASMUS UNIVERSITY. ALL THESE DEVELOPMENTS ARE NOT BEING DONE WITHOUT A REASON. THE ERASMUS UNI-VERSITY HAS DEVELOPED A MASTERPLAN TO BRING RE-NEWAL TO THE UNIVERSITY. NEW BUILDINGS WILL RISE UP, CARS WILL BE PARKED UNDERGROUND AND AN EN-TIRE STUDENT PAVILION WILL BE CREATED.

The preparations for a plan like

this take a lot of time. For the

Student Pavilion, more than 35

architects have sent in a proposal

for the design of this architectural

eyecatcher. In the end the choice

was made for the most sustainabi-

lity and lively design proposal. But

it not only the architects that are

concerned with the Masterplan.

Many other parties like national

and local governments are also in-

volved in the huge plans. On smal-

ler scale, the neighbors of the EUR

have been involved in the project

too. The impact of these stakehol-

ders are not small either. In deli-

beration with the neighbors it has

been decided that in the Master-

plan most of the new buildings are

situated on the south side of the

campus. On the north side of cam-

pus the current parking area will

be replaced by an attractive park

with ponds and places to study

here as well.

Not only new buildings will rise, old

ones will be renovated too. The C-

building will undergo a complete

makeover to facilitate the modern

needs for learning. As a result of

this renovation the C-building will

be closed during the next academic

year. As a large proportion of the lec-

ture rooms are situated here, these

will not be available for the lectures.

This problem will be solved in se-

veral ways. On the parking area op-

posite to the M-building, a tempo-

rary building is now in construction.

Besides the new ‘V-building’, the

lecture times will also be different

in the next academic year; more

lectures will be in the early morning

and in the end of the day.

All these plans are nearing now and

we can clearly see this on campus.

For now the campus may look like a

building excavation but soon we will

see the first results of the Master-

plan ate the campus of the Erasmus

University Rotterdam.

Re- modeling the University28

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Prepping

In the Netherlands 105.000 people,

out of 2.5 million people who consider

starting their own business, actually

take the leap. The attraction of owning

your own business often comes from

independency, being your own boss

and being able to do what you really

want. However, just 50% still exist af-

ter five years. The 50% that fails are

often caused by a bad preparation. It is

said that a good preparation is half the

battle. It does not have to be difficult,

as it takes on average only ten days to

meet the legal requirements of starting

a company in the Netherlands. Howe-

ver, starting prepared might be the dif-

ference between success and failure.

Just answer three things: what, whom

and how.

W O R L D

A good preparation is half the battle.

IN 1995, COMPUTER PROGRAMMER PIERRE OMIDYAR STARTED AN ONLINE AUCTION WEBSITE, KNOWN TODAY AS THE SUCCESS STO-RY EBAY. HE TURNED HIS IDEA INTO A COMPANY, WITH GOODS SOLD

WORTH $60 BILLION IN 2009. HIS STORY IS ONE OF SUCCESS, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO STARTING A COMPANY IN THE NETHERLANDS, JUST 50% STILL EXIST AFTER FIVE YEARS. FAILURE IS CAUSED BY THE MANY PITFALLS ALONG THE WAY AND THEREFORE PREPARATION IS A KEY ELEMENT IN SUCCEEDING. BUT OF WHAT SHOULD STARTING ENTREPRENEURS BE AWARE?

By Youvale van Dijk

GO!

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Every successful entity has to start with

a good idea: a good or service for which

there is a need and you have a passion.

It can be considered the hardest part of

the process, since creating something

new, different or better requires creati-

vity and expertise. Google, for example,

took an existing service, a search engi-

ne, and made it better by creative thin-

king. They started capturing customers

and gradually took over the market.

Which points out a second element of

preparation: Who needs to buy or use

the product? By mapping the niche of

interest you get information on what

your customers really want, and there-

fore need. Furthermore, it gives an in-

sight into what your main competitors

are offering. With this information com-

panies all over the world have diversi-

fied themselves from competitors, and

tried to convince customers that their

product is what they need. However,

wondering what the customer really

wants is an ongoing process. Google

did not stop after making their search

engine and Nike did not leave it at just

producing shoes.

The third question is to how the compa-

ny gets started; funds, name, structure

and more. In the Netherlands the Ka-

mer van Koophandel (chamber of com-

merce) exists to help you with this and

to inform you about starting your own

business. Moreover, you can check with

them whether the intended name of

your company already exists. The name

has to be recognizable, stick and cla-

rify what you offer. Further, make sure

there is an available domain on the In-

ternet, which gives you the possibility of

starting an Internet site with the same

or a similar name.

Business plan

All your plans and business goals should

then be summed up in a business plan.

Writing a business plan might take

some time, but as stated earlier prepa-

ration is half the battle. Besides being a

big help to you, it is also used by banks

to determine if you are worth a loan. As

some people are not eligible for a loan,

there exists ‘micro finance’ in the Ne-

therlands. 30 million Euros is available

for micro finance, with a maximum of

35.000 Euros per person.

Running

Once up and running you are dealing

with taxes, administration, and insu-

rance. When it comes to this you can

choose to hire someone, which will cost

you money (Do you have money to spend

on this?), or you can do it yourself. In

the Netherlands the federal tax ser-

vice does not mind how professional

the data is presented. They only want

to receive four things: invoices; bank

statements; contracts, agreements and

other deals, and proof of you meeting

the requirement of working hours.

Besides meeting all the legal require-

ments, it is also a good idea to write

down any deals you make with part-

ners, if any. The Kamer van Koophandel

warns people against partnerships with

friends and family without contracts.

When things go wrong you are not only

dealing with a failing business, but of-

ten also with a failing friendship.

Pitfalls

However, being prepared does not mean

that you will not encounter pitfalls. A

common pitfall is unclear agreements.

For example, you are doing catering and

you buy the food and drinks in advance.

You will charge the invested money to

your client, but have not made clear

agreements on this. When the client

cancels, you have a problem. So try to

make agreements on prepayments, on

cancellations, and so on.

Also diversify your risk by having more

than one client. A lot of small busines-

ses tend to focus on one big client,

which makes them dependent on this

one client. When this client is not able

to pay or goes to a competitor, your

business is doomed to fail.

Starting your own business takes time,

courage and creativity. It is a long road

with pitfalls and no guarantee for suc-

cess. Your chances of success will for

sure be higher if you prepare yourself

by writing a business plan, contracts

and gather information. Just do not be

afraid of the hard times, and begin your

journey. GO!

W O R L D

Being prepared does not mean that you will not encounter pitfalls.

Harrods is committed to helping its people achieve their ambitions, because that’s what helps Harrods to achieve its world-class reputation. The company works hard to build the greatest department store in the

world and recognises that it needs exceptional people working as a team to deliver excellence every day. Every member of the team goes to incredible

lengths to create the ultimate retail experience, which is why our graduate programme is focused specifically on achieving this.

Our graduates demonstrate a passion for retail, integrity and a

customer-focused approach to business. For information about our graduate programme, visit www.harrodscareers.com/graduates

World-class careers

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The Strange Misconceptions that Only Exist in

WE ALL KNOW THAT MOVIES LIE, FROM THE CONSIDERABLY OLD DETECTIVE WHO HARDLY DIES TO WEARING SPRING CLO-THES IN SNOWFALL. HOLLYWOOD MISLED TO BELIEVE THAT

THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN ON SCREEN CAN HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE. WE KNOW THAT THE CHANCE OF SITTING NEXT TO SOMEONE HOT ON A PLANE RARELY HAPPENS, LET ALONE FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM OR HER. REGARDLESS OF HOW OBVIOUS THE LIES ARE, THERE ARE THINGS THAT SOME OF YOU MAY STILL BELIEVE.

The recent infamous apocalypse movie,

2012, told us that if we knew the world

is going to end in three years, we could

still prepare for that. Unfortunately, that

is not exactly true. I’m not talking about

the possibility of a massive escape plan

unknown to most people nor how an

airport could be the last thing to go

down in an earthquake. I’m just going

to discuss the basic things that would

make the plans impossible. Some of

you might remember how the modern

arks were built on, they were built on

a gigantic dam structure. Building

the structure made of cement alone

in three years is impossible, let alone

manufacture giant ships on it. Besides

waiting for the first cemented section to

dry before you can continue and so on,

you also have to factor in the possible

cracks and supply shortage. That’s how

impossible it is.

Action movies probably lie the most.

They always have exploding things ran-

ging from the extreme, such as atom

bombs, to the more common things,

like the car. One of the exploding scenes

that you see a lot in action movies is the

one with a flame catching up with the

car due to leaking petrol, causing an

explosion. Mythbuster, the tv show on

Discovery Channel, proved this wrong.

Even as one of the hosts drove the car

slowly, ordinary petrol could not make

a flame move fast enough to catch up

with the car. Shooting into the gas tank

won’t do the job either. Regardless,

don’t try this at home.

Even in ordinary movies, Hollywood still

feels the need to make us believe the

unfeasible. In Easy A, Olive, the main

character, is seen wearing corsets to

school and shoes with really thin high

heels. Those of us who have never been

to public schools in the US may won-

der if they can really do that. From real

life experiences that I’ve heard, some

schools only allow tops with no less than

two fingers wide straps, and do you still

think they allow students to wear cor-

sets? Besides that, wearing killer high

heels for the whole day is painful. The

star probably wore flip-flops or flats

when the camera was not rolling.

All in all these unfeasible things are

what make movies interesting besides

a good story line. Hopefully they will

come up with something new and not

maintaining the obvious clichés.

becomes possible

only creates

By Nadia Zafirah

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1E F R - B U S I N E S S W E E K

-

lity for your business and feeling responsible for the people

around you. Taking charge is not only something for the lea-

der of a group, but it is important for everybody. Be and feel

responsible for what you are doing, take charge of your own

I’m doing in my work is what I’m passionate about. Honestly,

you can’t be successful in general if you don’t have a passion

Which decision in your career had the biggest impact on

my work and to follow my passion. At one stage in my life,

when I was already successful in my job and economically

independent, I became a mother. At some time my husband

decided to start his own company, which meant that I was

responsible for the family income. It was no longer possible

for me to quit my job if I didn’t like it. Therefore I decided that

I should make my work something to feel good about, resul-

What advice would you give to students on how to follow

very easy for all students, since most of them don’t have a

clear picture of what they want to do. Give yourself time to

explore what your dream is and go after it. Don’t be impa-

tient and climb the ladder too fast, but take time to broaden

yourself and get experience. After that, you will accelerate in

Interview Eclaire Special: Annerie VreugdenhilHead of ING Commercial Banking Netherlands

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THE JOURNALISTIC LANDSCAPE IS CHANGING. NEWSPAPERS, ONCE POWERFUL INSTITUTIONS, NOW SCRAMBLE TO ATTRACT NEW READERS.

REPORTERS, ONCE FEARSOME SEEKERS OF TRUTH, ARE NOW TIMID, UNWILLING TO TAKE A STAND. IN THIS VOID, A NEW MEDIUM EMERGED: THE POLITICAL BLOG.

BLOGS HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN PART OF THE PRIVATE LIFE. THEY HELD THE DETAILS OF PERSO-NAL LIFE, STORIES PEOPLE WANTED TO SHARE WITH THE WORLD, AND THEY WERE AMONGST THE FIRST TYPES OF WEBSITES. THE NEED TO SHARE THEIR INNERMOST THOUGHTS, EVEN WITH COMPLETE STRANGERS, COMPELLED SOME TO POST ON PUBLIC WEBSITES. THEY BROUGHT THEIR PRIVATE LIFE INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, AND THESE ONLINE DIARIES, COMBINING THE STORIES OF ORDINARY LIVES, BE-CAME BLOGS.

A Fierce Start

For a long time, blogs were indeed online diaries. But that

all changed with the dawn of the new millennium. Due to si-

tes such as blogger.com, founded in 1998, blogging became

much easier. The improved interface made blogging less of

a hassle and, due to the ease of access, more people started

blogs. And as blogs became more ubiquitous, so did their

importance grow.

But until 2002, the power of blogs was vastly underestimated.

Back then, they were seen as interesting quirks, something

no one should pay attention to. Political discussions were

not unheard of, as blogs facilitated the sharing of opinions

with vast amounts of people, but mostly they were ignored.

That was, until 2002. In that year, the Senate majority lea-

der made a mistake, praising the 1948 presidential candi-

date Strom Thurmond, who ran on a platform of racism and

segregation. At fi rst, the media ignored this. However, after

blogs started writing about the speech, mainstream media

started reporting it as well. In the end, under mounting pres-

sure from blogs, the mainstream media and political oppo-

nents, the Senate Leader stepped down. It was the fi rst time

that blogs infl uenced national politics.

And so, the importance of blogs continued to grow. Around

the world, blogs sprung up, some private, some more open,

but all with the intention of promoting freedom of speech.

In Holland, Geenstijl opened its site in 2003. The site, where

only a select few were allowed to post, became the driving

force behind anti-establishment thinking, even going so far

as ousting a minister of state. In Singapore, another for-

mat was adopted. The Online Citizen is a website where

people can go and post news that the mainstream media

will not post. In the United States, the Huffi ngton Post is

one of the most important blogs, attracting contributions

from many prominent people, such as Robert Kennedy, Dan

Rather and Barack Obama. Blogs, once run from private

The Ne The Evolu

By Timothy Langstraat

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W O R L D

bedrooms, have become institutions, and their importance

has grown with every passing day.

An Uneasy Role

There is but one question that remains: what is the role of

blogs in modern society? They’ve long been seen as the out-

siders in the journalistic fi eld. Newspapers represented the

‘good’ journalism, reporters who were trained years to know

how to research, how to write articles, and were impartial,

while blogs were seen as their unprofessional, brusque

cousins. But nowadays, blogs have become journalistic in-

stitutions by themselves. Not all of them, as most blogs are

still the public diaries held by so many, but a few important

ones have become established. Their quality has increased

a thousandfold from their humble beginnings, and are as

much part of the mainstream media as their well-establis-

hed printed brothers.

So in terms of quality, they are the same, save for some

minor edits made by editors, but why do people see such

distinct differences between blogs and newspapers, if they

both deliver news? The biggest difference is in the way the

news is delivered. Every single day newspapers have to rush

to deliver a large amount of news before a certain dead-

line. Because of this, they are often limited to the most basic

news, rewritten from ANP or Reuters news feeds. Some-

times, for special editions, they write more in-depth articles,

but more often than not are they regular reports. However,

blogs are unbound by this. Ignoring the fashion blogs, and

their related brethren, political blogs can often write in-

depth articles about topics they think are important. Instead

of ten articles a day per person, they only need to write one

or two articles. So instead of rushing through the articles,

they spend a lot more time researching and writing them,

evaluating situations rather than describing them. Bloggers

are unbound, and so can write any way they please.

Unbound Blogging

That last bit, however, might not always be a good thing.

Bloggers are not only unbound in terms of time restraints,

but also in their own expressions. Newspapers are big in-

stitutions, whose entire business relies on their reputation.

Not just the reputation they have towards their readers, but

also the reputation they have with the subjects. Ruining this

reputation means either losing readers or, even worse, los-

ing their sources of information. Blogs do not share those

worries. Their readers expect the behaviour that newspa-

pers shy away from, and they are seen as vessels of opinion,

not fact. Their readers give them a carte blanche to do what

they want, and the sources do not care in what way infor-

mation is presented. They can present things as fact, wit-

hout the need for nuance that newspapers so often seek.

But if the power of blogs is so great that they can unseat

major political players, while having little to no accounta-

bility for what they do, why are they then important? Blogs

are important because of the role they have in society. They

are still, in essence, those private diaries made public. They

are the voice of the people, though a select group, and in

that they play a very important part. They pick up informa-

tion that the newspapers and news networks might deem

unworthy, and they give ordinary people a voice.

After all this, the role of the blog in modern society is clear.

It will never replace newspapers and proper news websites

as a major source of news. The staffi ng of such websites is

far greater than that of most blogs. But blogs do fulfi ll an

important role: they give the common man a voice, an op-

portunity to give their opinion and to address wrongs they

feel they have been done. And that empowerment is some-

thing that nothing, no matter how bad it is perceived to be,

can outweigh.

w News:tion of Blogs

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Interview KPN: Michael Maasdam


Because KPN is a former state ow-

ned company, the perception of the

company is often that of a culture that

is a bit slow, with a workforce that is

comprised of older grey haired people

and with a lot of red tape. That is why

Michael went to the assessment for the

KPN traineeship without any expecta-

tions: ‘To be honest, KPN didn’t make

an impact upon me during my studies

here at Erasmus University. But as

soon as I stepped into their head office,

it turned out that my prejudices were

all wrong. My assessment turned out

to be the most challenging and inspi-

ring interview during my job hunt and

that’s one of the main reasons I turned

down traineeship offers in the FMCG

TRENDY MOBILE PHONES, FAST INTERNET AND INTERACTIVE TELEVISION. THE TELECOM INDUSTRY IS RAPIDLY CONVER-GING WITH THE MEDIA AND ICT INDUSTRY. WITH THE RISE

OF GOOGLE, APPLE AND FACEBOOK, TRADITIONAL OPERATORS ARE FORCED TO LOOK FOR NEW WAYS TO GROW. KPN IS ONE OF THEM. IN THIS QUICKLY CHANGING INDUSTRY MICHAEL MAAS-DAM (27) IS A TRAINEE IN KPN’S YOUNG POTENTIAL PROGRAM. WE SPOKE TO MICHAEL ABOUT HIS FIRST YEARS AND HIS FRESH OPINION ON KPN.

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and Banking Industry. Working for KPN

for almost 2 years now, my perception

of KPN has changed into that of a young

and dynamic organization which is not

afraid to take bold action to secure fu-

ture profits.’

Michael studied IBA at the RSM, and

during his Master Management in In-

novation he wrote his thesis on Innova-

tion in Business Models. After being se-

lected for the Young Potential Program

with KPN, they put a real effort to get

him started into a function that mat-

ched his capabilities and aspirations.

That is how he became a strategist at

the business unit responsible for KPN’s

operations. ‘In this job I was given the

chance to contribute towards KPN’s

search for innovative new business mo-

dels to tackle the challenges the com-

pany is facing in its industry.’ How does

activities? ‘Next to the endless hours

spent on putting together the optimal

pack of sheets to convince the board

on which future strategic directions to

pursue, I took the initiative to kick-start

new business development initiatives

based on methodologies I discovered

during the writing of my thesis at RSM.

Besides this, I have conducted a project

with fellow trainees which links the im-

pact of Social Media to the strategy of

KPN. All of the above made sure that

I got to know the internal organization

within a short matter of time.’

Being professionally involved in the Te-

lecom industry means being in contact

with technical experts too. What about

Michael’s technical skills? ‘Especially

in my first function, I had to deal with

technical experts a lot. They overloaded

me with abbreviations and techtalk. Af-

ter two weeks I was able to show my

manager an excel file with 200 abbre-

viations which I came across but had

no clue what they meant. Thanks to my

patient colleagues my learning curve

was substantial in these first months.

As of January 1st Michael started as

Account Manager at the Wholesale

division of KPN. This division sells the

network of KPN to third parties. Micha-

el describes this as: ‘A completely dif-

ferent function, but a deliberate step.

This function puts me in the middle of

the everyday business action.’

So it can be held that KPN offers a gre-

at challenge for trainees. But what sets

the KPN program apart from nume-

rous others? ‘When talking to friends I

realized that within the Young Potential

Program I’ve received a lot of freedom

to pursue my own interest. Starting in a

proper job, normally done by a person

with at least 5 years of working experi-

ence means that a lot of responsibility

is given to you’.

During Michaels first function, KPN

has given him the opportunity to ac-

quaint himself with corporate culture

and decision making on strategic and

new business development issues. Mi-

chael is optimistic about his future: ‘My

current job will boost my business skills

and deal-making capabilities. In 5 years

time, this puts me in an ideal position

for a management position within KPN

or another company in the industry, but

also equips me with the experience to

be able to run my own company.’

Concluding, it can be stated that KPN

seems a good match for a student loo-

ambitious individual willing to work in

a dynamic environment, be sure to visit

KPN at the Business Week and take a

look at www.seriousbusinesscourse.nl

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EFR-Business Week:

Business Week On LocationDate: April 3rd – April 5th, 2011Location: London

TRADITIONALLY, THE BUSINESS WEEK ON LOCATION TAKES PLACE AT SPECI-AL LOCATIONS AND ORGANISATIONS.

PREVIOUS YEARS HAVE SEEN STUDENTS VISITING THE EU HEADQUARTERS IN BRUSSELS, THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGEN-CY AND SCHIPHOL, THE DUTCH TRANS-PORTATION HUB. THIS YEAR, WE WANT TO OFFER STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO LOOK BEHIND THE FACADE OF EXCLU-SIVE AND INTERESTING ORGANISATIONS IN THE FINANCIAL CAPITAL OF EUROPE: LONDON. WE OFFER OUR PARTICIPANTS A DIVERSE AND CHALLENGING PROGRAM-ME. IN ORDER TO DO SO, WE HAVE LOO-KED FOR PARTNERS THAT ARE THE BEST IN THEIR FIELD, RANGING FROM 5-STAR HOTELS TO HARRODS, THE NUMBER ONE LUXURY STORE IN LONDON. MAYBE YOU HAVE HEARD OF THESE ORGANISATIONS AND THE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES THEY DELIVER, BUT HOW IS THE ORGANISATION RUN? WHAT IS THE STORY BEHIND THE SUCCESS? THESE AND OTHER QUESTI-ONS WILL ALL BE ANSWERED DURING THE BUSINESS WEEK ON LOCATION.

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Interested in joining us? Sign up now at one of our

promotional stands at the Erasmus University or online

at www.efr-businessweek.nl.

Sunday April 3nd, 2011

00.00h Departure for London

08.00h Arrival The Green Man Hostel, London.

Time to freshen up and have breakfast

10.00h Company visit to Harrods with a private tour,

company presentation and business case

16.00h Guided tour at the London National Gallery

18.00h Dinner

19.30h Start social drink with EFR alumni now

working in London

Monday April 4th, 2011

08.30h Breakfast

10.00h Company visits in groups to one of the 5-star

hotels

13.00h Time off to explore London

18.00h Dinner

20.00h Start West End musical ‘Chicago’ at

Cambridge Theatre

Tuesday April 5th, 2011

08.30h Breakfast

10.00h Company visit to Transport for London

15.00h Departure from London

24.00h Arrival in Rotterdam

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Even more than the years before, 2010

was the year of social network sites.

While FB beat Google as the most visited

website, Twitter was the site that upda-

ted its business tools. It is not a coinci-

dence that Time Magazine named Mark

Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, Per-

son of the Year 2010. With Smartphones

and a constant connection to the World

Wide Web, social networks are part of

our lives 24/7. The online population

exists of teenagers, businessmen, cele-

brities and grandparents. Each of them

having their own incentives, but the

same underlying need: interaction.

Most people interact on a social level,

exchanging daily information, sha-

ring pictures and events, making new

friends and joining subgroups. Though,

only a few of us consider our personal

page, whether it is on FB, MySpace or

LinkedIn, as a way to sell ourselves. But

a personal page is the perfect oppor-

tunity to brand oneself. It has become

a modern equivalent of the business

card, though it adds a new dimension:

the constant link of connection.

But why is it then that we do not present

ourselves online as a brand, while all the

big brands, like Coca Cola and Barack

Obama, use social network sites to add

value to their brand? The big names use

the sites, because they know it is the

best way to keep contact with followers

nowadays. One can hardly think of a bet-

ter way to deliver the message and get

exposure. So, if a personal page is a tool

to add value to a brand, it must be true

that it can also create a brand. So what

are the key points in branding oneself?

Branding oneself

How straightforward it might appear,

one of the most important things to

remember is that the World Wide Web,

and with it the network sites, is availa-

ble to anyone, almost anywhere. It is not

just your ex-partner checking up on you,

also future employers and even the tax

department. Therefore, you have to de-

cide what you want others to know and

what purpose sharing this has. We all

see the pictures of great weekends, with

lots of alcohol. But remember if your

boss sees pictures of this every week,

and on Monday you cannot keep your

eyes open to do your work, it will not be

long before you are off the payroll!

A second key point is ‘be concrete

about yourself and your skills’. Brands

have slogans and mission statements,

a quick and clear way to communicate

where they stand for and what they of-

fer. Our education, work experience and

so on, are our assets, and with them

we can offer a service. But there are a

thousand others out there offering the

same service, therefore: be concrete in

what sets you apart from the rest. Re-

gard your personal page as a mix of an

online business card, which serves as

an introduction, and a C.V. for those who

might want or need to use your service.

‘Be up to date’ is another key point. The

Internet is able to make life faster, to

connect people quickly, and it is up to us

to follow the speed and not fall behind.

These days it is almost expected of you

to always be available, or at least react

within 24 hours. It gives the brand, and

therefore you, credibility. However, ha-

ving an online network is also a must-

have for people in their forties and fi f-

ties. More and more employers expect

this, as it is the modern way of doing

business and communicating.

Quantity vs. quality

Having a clear and up to date profi le is im-

portant, but you need a network to share

it with. When do you know your online

network is complete? And whether you

made the right trade-off between quan-

tity and quality? Of course, a network is

always in progress, never fi nished. As

time goes by, you change, your business

does and the environment you work is in

does. Constantly create new business re-

lations, but do not forget the old ones!

As concerns popularity under followers,

it is said that in the online world ‘it is

quantity, not quality that counts’. Howe-

ver, quantity gives exposure, but qua-

lity makes friends, especially business

friends. Find the trade-off that creates

the most value to you or your business!

While it seems like online network si-

tes take charge of our lives, it is time

that we take charge of them. We have

to start focusing more on the business

side of our personal pages, which will

result in an advantage to our business

activities. Turn yourself into a brand

everyone wants to be in contact with.

Your online business card needs to be

concrete, clear, up to date, and most

of all; consist of contents you want to

share. Quantity does matter, but quality

does too! And do not forget: your net-

work is going to be the most important

asset of your career!

Facebook-Generation: Business Friends

WE ARE THE FB-GENERATION, THE GENERATION THAT ‘PINGS’ AND POSTS ‘TWEETS’ EVERY SINGLE MOMENT. NOWADAYS WE SOCIALIZE THROUGH ONLINE NETWORKS, WHERE WE USED TO DO THAT BY LETTER. LOOK AROUND, WHEREVER YOU ARE, AND YOU WILL SEE PEOPLE WHO ARE STUCK TO

THEIR SMARTPHONE. WE HAVE TOOLS TO CONSTANTLY INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER. AND EVEN THOUGH THE TOOLS HAVE NOT BEEN AROUND THAT LONG, THEY ARE ALREADY INCORPORATED INTO OUR DAILY LIVES. BUT HOW DO WE MAXIMIZE THE BENEFITS OF THESE TOOLS, WHEN IT CONCERNS NETWORKING ON A BUSINESS LEVEL? IT IS TIME THAT WE ‘TAKE CHARGE’ OF OUR BUSINESS FRIENDS!

By Youvale van Dijk

ey.nl/carriere

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Japanese anime is a part of the en-

tertainment industry. There are even

professionals that specialize in dub-

bing the animations. They are often

trained in special schools and are

called voice actors. Anime industries

also led to creation of some Japa-

nese rock and pop bands. Although

people are aware of the popularity of

some types of anime, not many know

that the anime industry represents a

small part of the Japanese economy.

For example, ICv2 estimates that the

North American anime market for

2010 will fi nish with sales between

$160 and $200 million. Because Wal-

Mart, which is one of the major DVD

retailers with a huge percentage of

total DVD sales, doesn’t re-

port its sales, it remains dif-

fi cult to pinpoint the exact

dimensions of the market,

which accounts for the wide

range in ICv2’s anime market

size estimate. And according

to the Association of Japa-

nese Animations - the industry group that puts

on the Tokyo International Anime Fair, revenues

for 2007 were reported to be 239.6745 billion

yen (approx. US$2.26 billion) in 2007. Yet, that

amount is a 7.4% decline from 2006's 258.7 bil-

lion yen (US$2.41 billion).

are often made fun of, because of their love for

the childish animations. It may not be wise to

look down on consumers who bring billions of

dollars of growth to the Japanese economy.

Those who can make use

of knowledge about

other people’s hobbies

may become rich. What

is source of laughter

for one, may become a

source of wealth for ano-

ther. So don’t laugh

at lovers of endless

series of Naruto!

By Madina Ismailova

Big Eyes; Big Money.

Japan is now known as one of the world’s leading economies, mostly because it experienced a “miraculous” growth in 1960s and 1980s. However, Japan is also a source of interest

as the motherland of the anime industry. Anime is an animation genre that gained worldwide popularity. Anime characters have huge eyes, long legs, and unusual hair colors, such as green and purple. They lie, betray, smoke and drink, fall in love, and get jealous. It is rather different from other animations, for example Disney, because it is a more realistic way of portraying life. The animation is often criticized for the violent scenes, and in some countries, like the US, undergoes a strict censorship. Its audience varies in age, from little children to grown-up adults. Some of anime series such as Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, and Naruto have become very popular.

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If you have ever walked through a

supermarket, there is a high chance

that you stumbled across a Dr.Oetker

product, like baking powder or frozen

pizzas.

Dr.Oetker is a German family owned

business, currently headed by the fourth

generation. It was founded in 1891 by

Dr. August Oetker, a pharmacist who

had the idea to sell baking powder in

a pre-packaged amount for one 500g

cake. The product was and is still called

products ever, and has maintained

its popularity until nowadays. The

introduction of Backin spread very

quickly, supported by print advertising

which went around cities and villages

to promote the baking powder in live

baking shows.

Back then, the gender roles were more

traditional, and women usually were

housewives, supposed to please their

husband with delicious food. The baking

powder in combination with the promise

to be more successful than expected

and the company rose at a fast pace.

Soon after vanilla sugar and pudding

mix were introduced, quickly becoming

very popular. At around 1900 Dr.Oetker

acquired the first manufacturing facility

and opened its first food production

plant soon after.

The company´s key to success has

been the continuous innovation of new

products and their placement on the

market. With the introduction of the

television a new possibility for advertising

had opened up and so the first Dr.Oetker

airing around 1950. Between 1944 and

1980 the enterprise started to become

more international and also experienced

its biggest growth rate.

An interesting fact about Dr.Oetker is

that they were the first to introduce the

frozen pizza in 1970 as we know it today.

Since the eighties Dr.Oetker widened

its portfolio by investing in shipping,

brewing, high class hotels and banking.

A remarkable fact is also that the

company has remained in the hands of

the family Oetker and is hence one of

the last big family owned businesses.

The family puts a lot of emphasis on

social values and environmentally

friendly production. By focusing on the

consumers needs and meeting them in

combination with continuous innovation

Dr.Oekter has grown into one of the

biggest food production companies in

the world.

Dr.Oetker – A Family Dynasty

key to success

has been the

continuous

innovation of

By Katharina Dees

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The Importance of Tradition

The first and most significant influence, as men-

tioned before, is the diverse tradition and culture

of Asia. This affects how people behave and in-

teract in the office. Being respectful to the el-

derly, seating positions, and the way you dress

are some of the traditions that are still preserved.

In Japan, you have to wait until the head of the

meeting stands up before you can stand up and

do so and you should never write one’s name in

red ink. Another example, in Indonesia, although

the dress code is fairly liberal, women should

not wear tops that are too low or short skirts to

work. These customs might sound trivial but are

essential to making sure your business deals go

smoothly. As the world becomes more connected

these days, traditions may be fading or blending

with the outside influence but they still exist as

the businesses are still held by the elder gene-

ration in majority. Besides that, the elderly are

holding on to the traditional values even stron-

ger because they fear that those values will erode

with the increasing Western-dominated interna-

tional culture.

Knowing the Religions’ Values

The second influence is the presence of Gods

and beliefs, which play a big part in the majority

of Asian society. For example, Buddhism is pro-

minent in Asian countries such as Japan, South

Korea and China. Do not forget smaller countries

such as Thailand and Cambodia whose famous

Buddhist temple Angkor Wat has attracted tou-

rists from around the world. Indonesia has the

largest Muslim population in the world, India has

the largest Hindu population in the world and the

Asian Business Ethics – The Discussion

SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW THE ADVERTISEMENT THAT SHOWS A JAPANESE MAN GIVING A HANDSHAKE WHILE AN ENGLISHMAN BOWS AND BOTH OF THEM DOING THE

REVERSE THE NEXT MOMENT. THE CATCHY ADVERTISEMENT IS ONLY ONE OF THE DIFFERENT COMMERCIALS FOCUSED ON THE DIFFERENT CULTURES IN THE WORLD BY AN INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE BANK. THE NARRATOR USUALLY ENDS THE ADVERTISEMENT REMINDING HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO UNDERSTAND THE BACKGROUND CULTURE OF THE CURRENT AND FUTURE BUSINESS PARTNERS. THE COMMERCIALS SHOW EXAGGERATED STEREOTYPES THAT MAY NOT EVEN BE PRACTICED BY THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE IN THAT SOCIETY. NEVERTHELESS, IT STILL REMINDS US OF THE MISUNDERSTANDING THAT WILL OCCUR IF WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER’S CULTURE OR EVEN BUSINESS ETHICS ESPECIALLY WHEN IT HAPPENS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST.

ASIA IS KNOWN FOR ITS RICH CULTURAL BACKGROUND AND JUDGING BY THE SIZE OF THE CONTINENT ALONE, THERE ARE POSSIBLY NUMEROUS ETHNICITIES AND TRIBES AND DIFFERENT TRADITIONS THAT ARE VERY DIFFERENT THAN IN THE WEST. EVEN IN ASIA, THERE COULD BE SOME MISUNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE BUSINESS CUSTOM AND WHAT IS CONSIDERED POLITE AND IMPOLITE. FURTHERMORE, BUSINESS ETHICS ARE NOT ONLY ABOUT CULTURE BUT ALSO THE SOCIAL SITUATIONS THAT AFFECT PEOPLE’S BEHAVIORS. WE WILL SEE MORE ON HOW THESE SOCIAL ETIQUETTES AFFECT BUSINESS PRACTICES AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM.

By Nadia Zafirah

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W O R L D

Philippines are devoutly Catholic. Most professional

business players do not mix business with religion,

but knowing the customs of religion can aid in winning

the hearts of future business partners. For example,

it will be convenient to not hold a meeting on a Friday

afternoon in Muslim countries, as the men have to at-

tend mosque at the same time. Although religions do

not fade with time, globalization may cause the belie-

vers to shift in practice. Some of them may be more

open to atheism or they are more relaxed in applying

the values they hold. People are growing more accep-

ting of the outside influence and try to find a balance

between the two worlds.

The Frustrating Second World Attitudes

The third influence is the political state of the coun-

tries. In the developing Asian countries, many Wes-

tern businessmen are confused and frustrated by the

vague and inconsistent rules that may be present. Nu-

merous red tape and bureaucracy can drive you crazy

especially when you are not prepared of it, not to men-

tion the corruption. The markets are promising but the

process of setting up business there and dealing with

the locals can be complicated. For example, you have

to be immensely patient, because tardiness is prone

to happen, especially with the poor infrastructure and

laid-back attitude. As for bribery, it is not an offense if

you reject it but you may have to do it on someone else

to get the work done quickly and easily. The key word

is flexibility. You have to be flexible to do business with

such society. It is indeed not easy to let go of some

of your values but adjusting to them is necessary to

reap the sweet fruit of labor. In the mean time, you can

sneak your ways in and win their hearts so that they

adjust to your principles instead. Before that happens,

adapting to the locals might be the only way to work.

In the end, it is up to us on how we carry ourselves

in doing businesses. The best way is to take the best

of both sides, East and West, and implement them in

our business ethics. Regardless of the culture, every

person is different and not every Asian businessman

falls into the stereotypes. With globalization, more and

more people, especially young Eastern businessmen,

are greatly influenced by the Western values. In the

future, doing business in Asia may not be so diffe-

rent than in the West. As for now, do your background

check and do not let a cultural misunderstanding get

in the way of taking part in the growing economy.

"People

are growing

more accepting

of the outside

influence and

try to find

a balance

between the

two worlds."

For fi nance students who think ahead

www.asml.com/careers

How do you controla global business in the volatile chip industry?

Join ASML’s Finance Team and help us adapt to a fast-moving world.

At ASML we bring together the most creative minds in physics, electronics, mechatronics, computer science,software and precision engineering to develop lithography machines that are key to producing cheaper,faster, more energy effi cient microchips. Our machines need to image billions of structures in a fewseconds with an accuracy of a few silicon atoms.

At ASML fi nancial planning and strategic control are critical to the success of our business. Fast-moving consumer electronics and mobile communications markets can see the demand for ourlithography machines soar, but economic downturns that slow consumer spending can equallysee it fall. As a result, structuring our business to cope with volatility is a must.

If you’re a fi nance student with the ingenuity to stress-test operations against theunexpected and the creativity to come up with strategic solutions, you’ll fi nd workingat ASML a highly rewarding experience. We offer exhilarating learning curves,inspirational team spirit, and a culture to get things done.

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Marketing Officer

09:00 – Arrive at EFR, have

breakfast.

09:30 – Meeting with designers to

design EFR-Business Week

Logo.

10:30 – Brainstorm about stand

design and promotional

activities.

12:00 – Quick lunch: ‘Broodje

Kroket’.

12:30 – Update EFR-Business Week

website: upload company

profiles, committee

pictures, etc.

14:00 – Meeting with Pieter’s Party

Crew (PPC) about the

organisation of the EFR-

Business Week Party.

15:00 – Post updates about the

EFR-Business Week on our

social media channels.

16:00 – Stalk commercials to hand

in advertisements for the

Eclaire Special.

16:30 – Have a coffee.

17:00 – Order gadgets and goodies

for the promotional period.

.. : .. – Time to go home? Depends

on how busy the day is!

Commercial Officer

09:00 – Arrive at EFR, have a

sandwich and Milk&Fruit

Mango.

09:30 – Call companies about the

EFR-Business Week.

11:00 – Sales Meeting with

Company Days Officer and

Commercial Officer EFR

Board.

12:00 – Quick lunch, sometimes

behind the computer.

12:30 – Leave EFR for an

appointment in Amsterdam.

Prepare for appointment

and call more companies in

the train.

14:00 – Appointment in Amsterdam.

15:00 – Travel back to Rotterdam.

Reflect on appointment in

the train and brainstorm

about Business Week

on Location (also your

responsibility!).

17:00 – Complete and send

contracts to companies.



Chairman

09:00 – Arrive at EFR, go to the

Coffee Corner and order a

big Café Latte.

09:30 – Answer emails.

10:00 – Appointment with Metro at

the university, to maintain

press relations.

11:00 – Meeting with Activity Officer

EFR Board to discuss

progress of the EFR-

Business Week.

12:00 – Quick lunch.

12:30 – Leave EFR for appointment

in Amsterdam with a

member of the Board of

Substance. Prepare for

appointment in the train.

14:00 – Appointment with a

member of the Board of

Substance.

15:00 – Travel back to Rotterdam.

17:00 – Discuss progress with other

committee members and

see if anyone needs help.



Join the

EFR-Business Week

Committee next year!

DID YOU GET ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT OUR PROGRAMME? WOULD YOU LIKE TO ORGANISE THE EFR-BUSINESS WEEK YOURSELF NEXT YEAR? CHECK OUT WHAT A DAY IN THE LIFE OF OUR MARKETING OFFICER, COMMERCIAL OFFICER AND CHAIR-

MAN LOOKS LIKE BY TAKING A SNEAK PEEK IN THEIR CALENDARS AND DISCOVER IF THE EFR-BUSINESS WEEK COMMITTEE IS SOME-THING FOR YOU!

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Bauke Bakker is a management trai-nee at Alliander. Before joining Allian-der, Bauke studied ‘Bestuurs en Or-ganisatie Wetenschappen’ and chose the Master ‘Public Management’. But Bauke did more than just study; he was a full time board member of his study association, and he worked as an adviser in the public sector. Des-pite Bauke’s many extracurricular activities, he finished his study in five years. However, because he was still so young, he didn’t want to start a full time job yet. In his search for what to do next, he came across a project to improve healthcare and clean water

-filling to really do something for the local people. […] This is also why the public sector has always appealed to

When Bauke finished his Cameroon project, he wanted to start his career and began applying to several compa-nies. Bauke first came in contact with Alliander during one of their in-house days. He immediately felt at home in the fun and open atmosphere at Al-liander and entered the application process for their traineeship shortly hereafter. The application procedure

applicants for five vacancies. The ap-plication procedure consisted of six rounds. I still remember the round where I had to prove myself in front of the Young Talent Manager and two other managers. Very impressive, but a good way to learn what is really hap-pening inside the company. And I no-ticed that you have a lot of interaction

explains. In the first year of the ma-nagement traineeship trainees fulfill two assignments in different depart-ments of Alliander. After this, in year 2 and 3, trainees become team leaders or work in other managing positions. One of the reasons why Bauke is deve-loping so swiftly is easy to explain: at Alliander all trainees have two days of training every six weeks. Besides that, you will be appointed a senior contact

for all the answers, but he encourages you to find out things yourself. This way you get a much better understan-

As a team leader at Alliander, trainees manage a team of (mainly) technici-ans. This can be quite challenging, es-

technician became the manager. Now this has changed and there is a new

that technicians also prefer to focus on their specialty instead of mana-ging. That is why Alliander aims to put the right people on the right positions and to help management trainees make well-thought-out decisions.

What attracted Bauke most to Allian-der was the openness they demon-strated. Besides the Alliander Annual Report, written as the annual reports we all know, the CEO of Alliander, Peter Molengraaf, explains the most important excerpts in a film clip of a couple of minutes. Next to this eve-ryone, from colleagues to managers and senior executives are easily ap-proachable. Both examples illustrate the very open atmosphere which re-presents Alliander.

To find out more about working at Alli-ander, apply online via www.alliander.com/werk or subscribe now for the EFR-Business Week where Alliander will participate in the Company Din-ner. Subscription can be done both online and at our promotional stands at the Erasmus University.

A team leader at

Alliander in one year!

Bij een duurzame toekomst hoort elektrisch vervoer;

dat scheelt de maatschappij enorme hoeveelheden CO2-

uitstoot. De komende jaren bouwt Alliander duizenden

oplaadpunten voor elektrische auto’s. Maar hoe zorg je

ervoor dat het netwerk niet overbelast raakt? En hoe

beveilig je de opladers? Als trainee werk je daaraan mee.

Ben jij een ambitieuze starter die, samen met ons, de

samenleving vooruit wil helpen? Dan investeren wij

graag in jouw ontwikkeling. Met intensieve traineeships,

toegesneden op jouw professionele en persoonlijke groei.

Goed vooruitzicht? Ontdek ons technisch, management en

ICT traineeship op alliander.com/werk. Of neem contact

op via [email protected]

iedereen energie

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TODAY THE FIRST THOUGHT YOU HAVE WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD MONOPOLY: A COMPANY

HAVING EXCLUSIVE CONTROL OVER A SERVICE OR GOOD. NOT SUR-PRISING, AS YOU ARE TRAINED TO THINK AS AN ECONOMIST. BUT DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST THING YOU THOUGHT WHEN YOU WERE 10 YEARS OLD? YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT ABOUT THE POPULAR BOARD GAME. DID YOU KNOW THAT MONOPOLY IS SO POPULAR THAT MORE THAN 275 MILLION GAMES HAVE BEEN SOLD WORLDWIDE AND THAT IT IS AVAILABLE IN 111 COUN-TRIES, IN 43 LANGUAGES?

Monopoly is the successor of ‘The

Landlord’s Game’, a game designed

by Elizabeth Magie. With the game she

wanted to show people the effects of

monopolies on the economy. Monopoly

is a commercial board game published

by Parker Brothers. The intention of the

game is to bankrupt the other players.

You have to buy real estate, and try to

own monopolies of certain properties.

The squares on the board stand for real

estate one can buy. When another play-

er is on your square you collect money.

But be careful: you can go to jail, where

Jake the Jailbird has already been sent

to by Offi cer Edgar Mallory!

Over the years the game has not been

altered a lot. However, there are vari-

ations with the names of the squares:

from popular sport teams, cartoons, to

television series. They also designed a

special version for younger children,

called Monopoly Junior. With more and

more technologies, Monopoly is also

published for the iPhone, the iPad, the

PS3 and more. Furthermore, they are

active on Facebook.

To keep up with the changing environ-

ment of economics, they even replaced

the paper money with credit cards. The

changes and the updates help, because

the board game is still very popular un-

der children and their families.

This game is perfect proof that econo-

mics and money is integrated into every

aspect of our life!

“More than 275 million

games have

been sold worldwide”

E N T E R T A I N M E N TE N T E R T A I N M E N T T

MonopolyBy Youvale van Dijk

FEEL THE PASSION, DEDICATION

AND DIVERSITY, AND JOIN OUR TEAM!

>>> For students: INTERNSHIP

Working within the adidas Group is much more than a job. It’s where you have the opportunity to shape the future of sport.

Bring to life ideas and innovations that will animate athletes or everyday people somewhere in the world to make their dreams a reality.

Be a part of a brand you have admired since stepping out on the fi eld for the very fi rst time.

Experience a career so fulfi lling, you will go home every night with a win, and wake up every day ready to play another game.

>>> www.adidas-group.com/careers

>>> For graduates: FUNCTIONAL TRAINEE PORGRAM

SHAPE THE FUTURE OF SPORT

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1W O R L D

Our City,

Our Sports

Our sports

Rotterdam could be seen as the sport

city of The Netherlands. Not only has

the city hosted big onetime events, like

the start of the Tour de France and the

fi nal of Euro 2000 football champion-

ships, it has also hosted lots of other

annual sports events. The yearly Fortis

marathon, Bavaria city racing with For-

mula 1 cars, the Red Bull air race, the

Davis and Fed cup, ABN Amro World

Tennis tournament and the Champions

hockey trophy are just a few of them.

Add to that three professional football

clubs and you also have a city of der-

bies. Sparta Rotterdam is located in

Spangen, Excelsior in Kralingen and

Feyenoord in Rotterdam Zuid.

Feyenoord stands out with its stadium

De Kuip. On March 27th 1937 the fi rst

football match was played in De Kuip,

and over the years it established a

reputation of being a stadium of the

JULY 3RD 2010, THE START OF THE BIGGEST CYCLING TOUR, THE TOUR DE FRANCE, IS IN OUR CITY. STARTING FROM ZUIDPLEIN, VIA THE ERASMUS BRUG, EVENTUALLY ENDING

ON ZUIDERPARKWEG. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE STACKED ALONG THE ROADS TO WATCH THE BRAVE MEN CYCLE A PROLOGUE, THE START OF THREE WEEKS OF HELL. ALL OVER THE WORLD THEY ARE WATCHING OUR CITY, OUR SPORTS.

By Youvale van Dijk

57

W O R L D

people. Today it is still seen as one of

the greatest stadiums, if not the grea-

test, of the Netherlands. Furthermore,

it plays a central role in Rotterdam’s

sport and event life.

Stadium-park

To boost the infl uence of sports and

events on Rotterdam, the city plans

to make De Kuip part of a new central

point for sports and events, fi nishing

around 2030. The Stadium-park is

going to be the base for the existing

Kuip, a new stadium, an ice rink and

Topsportcentrum Rotterdam. The park

has to become a place for people of

all ages, races and sport levels. Sport,

business and education will gather

here to create an environment that will

um-park offers the possibility to watch

sports and to exercise yourself, both

according to Jan Geuskens, process

manager of the project.

The new stadium will be the biggest

challenge. From 2017 onwards Feyen-

oord is supposed to play in this new

multifunctional stadium, one that has to

make its own history. With a part of it on

the Maas, the new stadium has to func-

tion as a location of education, events

and sports. It will become 100 percent

carbon-neutral, with energy generated

by 30.000 square meters of solar pa-

nels and windmills in the Noordzee.

Invest

However, there are still some doubts

about the new Kuip. Especially the

costs of realizing the plans are an

obstacle for the political parties in

the Maas-city. The 482 million Euros

investment needed is, according to

them, not justifi ed in a time of fi nancial

distress. Especially since one third has

to be fi nanced by a loan from the com-

munity Rotterdam. And with Feyenoord

in debt, the political parties want to re-

view other possibilities.

By investing in the new stadium and

the park around it, the city will retain

and increase its good reputation as

sport city. For a relatively small city,

Rotterdam hosts a lot of big events.

With competition from other cities and

abroad, it needs to continue investing in

their facilities to keep attracting these

big events. The new stadium was part

of the bid for the world cup football of

2018, and can also be a key point in the

bid for the Olympic Games 2028.

The city will be more attractive once

the plans are executed, especially from

a sports and events perspective. Stadi-

um-park will be a central point in Rot-

terdam Zuid and Rotterdam. But mo-

ney is money, and politics are politics,

so we have to wait and see whether

Stadium-park will light up the shores

of the Maas in 2030.

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It is all about the way you behave, having authority and wor-

king together. You have authority, not because you say you

have, but because other people see you as an authoritative

person. Make sure people see you like that, by being disci-

plined and always asking the most of yourself. Being talented

isn’t just a gift or favour; it comes with certain responsibili-

ties and obligations.

By being empathic, you create a foundation for others to

get the most out of their strengths. It is important to feel

an honest affection for the people you’re working with. Team

work is essential when you want to create a dynamic working

environment and when you want to get processes running.

Also, I think it is really important to be optimally balanced

yourself: by this I mean your body and soul, and your work

and private life.

I implemented this by always following my ambitions and st-

riving to complete authentic goals, in which I really believe

myself. This is something I have done all my life and I can

truly say I love it! When I was working at the Erasmus Uni-

versity and Open University, I enjoyed expanding my own and

my student’s knowledge by having interactive meetings and

discussions. During these meetings, respect was always the

key factor. Working with young people is important for me and

is something I have enjoyed doing throughout my career. Also

in my other positions (within companies, politics, etc.), I’ve al-

ways strived to improve and develop the things I was working

on and to make the most out of every situation.

and even in politics. Is this something you prefer over

I’m afraid I just have too much energy and a too broad varia-

tion of interests… It is something I’ve learned to live with, but

I’m still waiting for the rest of my family and friends to adjust

to it as well.

You also worked as Chairman Rotterdam European

I think Rotterdam is the best world city I know and it will al-

ways be just that. The city has an unlimited potential. But I

don’t believe our biggest strength is the harbour. I think we

have our own secret weapon: the combination between di-

versity and youth we have in this city. The biggest misper-

ception I’ve heard is that immigrant and native youngsters

are a problem in Rotterdam. By empowering them, I think we

can unleash a big energy within them, through which Rotter-

dam can become the most sustainable city in the world. But

I must warn you: I tend to exaggerate a bit when it comes to

my hometown…

As a member of the Board of Substance of the EFR-

I think it is a shame that you won’t realise what an amazingly

fun and useful association the EFR is and what an unpre-

cedented line of Business Weeks the EFR-Business Week

Committees have organised until later. But fortunately, this

year you have been warned in time, so you won’t miss out on

participating in the EFR-Business Week 2011!

Interview Eclaire Special: Steven van Eijck

Member Board of Substance EFR-Business Week 2011

Chairman Dutch Advisory Board on Administrative Burden58

Belangen afwegen… daar weten wij alles van.Hoe los je schijnbaar tegenstrijdige zaken op? Liever een biertje drinken met je vrienden of toch maar het tentamen

voor morgen leren? Het lijkt misschien een makkelijke keuze, maar welke kant je ook kiest, beide kanten hebben

gevolgen. Dilemma’s oplossen is bij het Rijk alledaagse kost. Je bent steeds weer bezig met het verenigen van

belangen en het samenbrengen van (ogenschijnlijke) tegenstellingen, op elk terrein, voor de hele maatschappij.

Bij het Rijk kun je dus alle kanten op. Zowel tussen de ministeries als binnen de ministeries. De beleidsterreinen

bij het Rijk zijn enorm gevarieerd: veiligheid op straat, afvalbeheer, wachtlijsten, internetcriminaliteit,

klimaatverandering, voedselveiligheid, infrastructuur en nog veel meer. Er werken onder meer economen,

accountants, auditors, bedrijfskundigen, beleidsmedewerkers, controllers en fi nancieel specialisten.

Nieuwsgierig? Kijk dan op onze website wat je mogelijkheden zijn, bijvoorbeeld bij ‘stages/afstuderen’ of

‘vacatures’. Of word jij een van onze nieuwe rijkstrainees?

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Car-

ter, started out as an underground rap-

per, but has become one of the most

infl uential, and richest, people on this

planet. He learned to be responsible

for himself, because his father left the

family when he was only 11 years old.

From then on he developed a strong

character, and the willpower to reach

for the stars. As a young man he star-

ted to rap in order to escape his violent

New York surroundings, earning him a

reputation as a talented underground

rapper. In the New York underground

rap scene he networked with other

rappers, growing important insights in

how the music business worked. He

did not want to be signed to a big re-

cord label, so instead, together with two

friends, he found his own record label;

Roc-a-Fella Records. Def Jam records

became their distributor and Jay-Z

later became president of the record

label, which he remained until 2007.

His rise to the position of an executive

of a major league record label was an

extraordinary happening in the music

business. In 1996 he also released an

album which became a big success in

1996. After that he soon became a fa-

mous rapper, producer, and spotter of

new talents such as Rihanna.

Jay-Z and

Beyoncé

A Music(al) Empire

IN 2010, JAY-Z MADE THE COVER OF THE FORBES 400 NEXT TO WARREN BUFFET. IN THAT SAME YEAR, BEYONCÉ KNOWLES RAN-KED #1 AS FORBES’ HIGHEST-EARNING FEMALE IN THE ENTER-

TAINMENT BUSINESS BY GROSSING $87 MILLION WITH ENDORSE-MENT DEALS AND HER WORLD TOUR.

60

By Katharina Dees

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In 1999, Jay-Z started his career as an

entrepreneur when he co-founded the

sells urban clothing and accessories.

The label became very popular in the

US and made enormous revenues. He

sold the rights for a total of 239$ mil-

lion in 2007. Until today Jay Z remains

actively involved in the company, super-

vising product development and mar-

keting. Once in the fashion industry, he

diversifi ed his portfolio and also beca-

me a stockholder in other companies,

like the 40/40 clubs (luxurious sport

bars) and the New Jersey Nets NBA,

a baseball team. His reputation as an

entrepreneur also got him a contract

company, for which he manages mer-

chandising, touring, and promotion. To

make his empire complete, he invested

was released in 2010. Looking at Jay-

Z´s rise from the streets of Brooklyn to

the Forbes 400 list, his enthusiasm, the

passion for what he is doing, and the

detailed involvement in his projects are

remarkable and probably were the key

to his success.

Jay-Z´s Empire became even big-

ger when he married the R&B super-

star Beyoncé Knowles in 2008 whom

he had met while working on her fi rst

solo album. Together the couple has an

estimated net worth of $ 850 million.

Beyoncé is a multi-talent, just like her

husband.

When Beyoncé was still very young she

already worked on her later career ex-

tensively by taking singing and dancing

lessons for hours, every day. Her hard

work has paid off; nowadays, she is

considered to be one of the best con-

temporary singers with a vocal range

of about 3,5 octaves and her singing

technique is marked by many melis-

mata (singing one syllable of text over

multiple notes) which is unique to her

style and rather diffi cult to imitate.

Starting her career as the lead sin-

in 1990, she remained with the group

until 2003. After becoming famous as

a singer of the best-selling girl group

and winning multiple important music

awards, including two Grammies, she

started her solo career in 2003. She

went on to release 2 more solo albums

and has so far won a total of 16 Grammy

awards. In 2002, she started pursuing

a career as an actress and appeared in

an Austin Power fi lm. Since then she

took on more roles, including Deena

singing and movie career she appeared

in many advertisements and commer-

cials for brands such as Tommy Hilfi -

ger, L´Oréal, and Pepsi.

Beyoncé has always been interested

and fascinated by fashion, so she foun-

had already designed the tour costu-

mes for Destiny´s Child and her solo

tour) in 2004. The label is successfully

selling jeans and other apparel as well

as delivering Beyoncé´s stage outfi ts.

In 2009, her mother and she published

stage personality Sasha Fierce, a more

daring and outgoing person than she

is). In 2010, she diversifi ed her projects

The Empire Beyoncé built is different

from Jay-Z’s, as she also involved her

family in her projects (her father was

the manager of Destiny´s Child and is

still her manager today; her mother de-

signs her stage outfi ts), but most of the

credit still goes to her, as she actively

and very ambitiously worked hard on

her career. Beyoncé was even ranked

"Remind

yourself.

Nobody built

like you,

you design

yourself."

"I will not

lose, for even

in defeat,

there's a

valuable

lesson

learned, so

it evens up

for me."

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DID YOU EVER PICTURE YOURSELF CONVERSING ABOUT CURRENT AFFAIRS WITH PROMINENT FI-

GURES FROM ALL OVER SOCIETY, WHILE ENJOYING A CUP OF COFFEE? THE CONFERENCE DAY WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET IN TOUCH WITH OUR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS AND TO SHARE YOUR VIEWS ON PREVALENT DISCUSSION-TOPICS. WITH THE EXTRAORDINARY VIEW FROM THE 44TH FLOOR OF THE MAASTOREN AS A BACKGROUND SETTING, YOU WILL BE IMPRESSED BY THEIR INSPIRATIO-NAL SPEECHES AND INNOVATIVE PER-SPECTIVES.

THE CONFERENCE DAY, WITH INTER-ACTION, CONTENT AND A PERSONAL SETTING AS ITS KEY-ELEMENTS, IS DIVIDED INTO THREE SEPARATE COM-PONENTS: ROUND TABLE CONVERSA-TIONS, A DISCUSSION PANEL AND THE GRAND DEBATE.

EFR-Business Week: Conference Date: April 6th, 2011Location: Maastoren, 44th floor

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Round Table Conversations

The Round Table Conversations consist of small group

discussions, during which you and your fellow students

sit around the table with a couple of our guests. Topics

for discussion will be introduced centrally by means of

images, video material and speeches from our speakers,

after which all groups will discuss the topics amongst

themselves. At the end of every discussion round, the final

conclusions of each table will be highlighted publicly. The

discussion statements will all concern current affairs

and are related to our theme ‘Take Charge’.

The informality of the Round Table Conversations allows

unique perspectives to be expressed and will lead to

lively conversations!

Discussion Panel

After an exquisite lunch, it is time to give the floor to

a panel of experts who will provide you with the latest

insights on the topic: ‘Women in Charge’. (Note to all

male students: this discussion might also contain some

surprising elements for you…!)

Day

64


Grand Debate

During the Grand Debate, all participants will be divided

into two groups, who will compete against each other in

lively discussions and exciting game rounds. The variety

of topics and different components of the debate will

create an informal setting in which you will be inspired

to participate. Furthermore, you can be chosen by a

professional jury to become the Conference Day’s best

debater and yes, of course this title will be rewarded

with a spectacular price.

Interested in joining us? Sign up now at one of our

promotional stands at the Erasmus University or online

at www.efr-businessweek.nl.

Preliminary Programme Conference Day:

09.30h Reception

10.00h Round Table Conversations

12.30h Lunch

13.30h Discussion Panel

14.00h Grand Debate

16.30h Closure

17.00h Drink

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Of heb jij een beter idee om je toekomst zelf vorm te geven?

werkenbijpwc.nl

© 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers B.V. (KvK 3412089) Alle rechten voorbehouden.

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The fi rst thing that comes to my mind is responsibility. It

means that you take responsibility for doing what it takes

to explore and use the talents you have, to manage your

career, relationships or health. No one can make decisions

for you or make you change your behavior. Only you can do

these things.

I’m interested in many things and you can’t have it all. But

giving up a passion in order to pursue your career seems to

me an awkward trade-off. If you’re not passionate about what

you do, which includes your career in whatever setting, than

you should rethink your choices.

Which decision in your career had the biggest impact on

My decision to end my contract with ExxonMobil and go the

entrepreneurial route had an impact in many ways. To leave

behind a successful career and a secure salary to start taking

more (personal) risks opened up many new opportunities to

develop and use my talents. It also created much more dyna-

mism in the experiences around successes and failures.

I will be involved in (starting up) new ventures and promoting

the power of entrepreneurship along the way. For the future

these entrepreneurial endeavors will also be geared towards

making the world just a little bit better place to be.

What advice would you give to students on how to follow

Having a dream is a gift and taking the fi rst step to live that

dream is the most important one: get into action and take

charge! You might have to take risks to fulfi ll that dream but

if you really believe in it, you’ll be able to make it, as long as

you’re prepared to persevere. If you don’t have a dream, start

doing something that gives you energy and of which you can

be proud!

Interview Eclaire Special: Michiel Muller


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CAREER IS OFTEN CONSIDERED AS A VERY IM-PORTANT PART OF THE HAPPINESS IN PEO-PLE’S LIFE. A SUCCESSFUL CAREER IMPLIES

HIGH SALARY, WHICH ALLOWS FOR A BETTER LE-VEL OF LIFE. WE ALL DREAM OF BEING RICH. HO-WEVER, IT DOESN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT ANY EF-FORT. IT’S NOT ALWAYS THE CASE, BUT TO MAKE A CAREER, TO MAKE MONEY, EDUCATION IS OFTEN NEEDED. BUT WHEN IS THE TIME TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN FUTURE? TO GET A CHANCE TO WORK FOR A POWERFUL COMPANY, YOU HAVE TO BE THE COMPETITIVE STAR. SO WHEN DO PEOPLE START PREPARING THEMSELVES FOR THIS REALITY?

Life can be divided into parts: childhood, teens, adulthood,

and old age. Each of those has its own specifi c events. Lit-

tle children learn to read, write and play hide and seek,

teenagers develop their identity via music, fashion, par-

tying. Adults work to earn money for a living, and their

retirement. The steps and events may vary with culture,

country, and personality.

In different countries there are different ways to approach

success. Let’s look at American culture. There they believe

that it’s very important to develop social skills. Schools offer

children many subjects to learn various things, from baking

a cake to constructing a robot, depending on the abilities and

interests of the child. In kindergarten, schools, and univer-

sities, students learn how to live independently, creatively

life via hard work.

Asian parents believe that it is never too early to start pre-

paring their children for the future. In primary school they

Struggle For

Success, Struggle For

Education.

By Madina Ismailova

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W O R L D

focus on main subjects, such

as mathematics, languages,

basic science, and literature.

They have primary schools

where students study from 8

am to 5 pm. Many Asian stu-

dents also learn to play music

instruments. The talent doesn’t

matter as much as the effort.

Practice makes perfect, and

Asian students work very hard.

Children are under stress of

keeping up with their peers.

They are always told to be the

best, and therefore the pres-

sure of being the best is huge

from an early age on.

Separately, we can see the post Soviet education system.

Here schools teach many subjects from different fi elds to

students, not only the fi elds of interest they enjoy. The idea

behind it is to give children broad knowledge, so that if he

decides to radically change his career he knows the basics.

Unlike the US schools, they focus on teaching rather than

helping children with social problems. Education here is

not as well fi nanced as in Europe or America. However, stu-

dents achieve higher results even with insuffi ciently equip-

ped schools. Many smart students left post-USSR countries

to make money. But as a matter of fact the Soviet system of

education created those prodigies.

The approaches to education as a key to success are different

worldwide. It seems that Asian youngsters are more stressed.

For example, unlike the Dutch primary school students, Asian

ones have to do homework. Although Asian students appear

to perform better in science, it’s still unclear if the stress

students go through during the

teen years is worth it. In Japa-

nese culture many men work

hard to provide for the entire

family. They take important po-

sitions in business companies

and government institutions,

but their workdays are much

longer than those of their Eu-

ropean colleagues. They work

hard to achieve a certain positi-

on and then have to work twice

as hard to hold onto it. They do

not seem to have much time

for enjoying their earnings, en-

joying themselves, or spending

time with their family.

During their studies in university, many students from dif-

ferent countries decide what to do with their future. Some

see university as a time to have fun with friends, drinking,

and partying. They learn a lot during their study time, mostly

about bar locations in the city and free drinks party schedu-

les. Others see university as the means to their successful

career, and miss out all other parts of university life. At this

stage students are old enough to make their own decisions,

disregarding their cultural background. They can stop and

think whether they are doing the right thing. Maybe now is

the time to change your life: start studying hard or take time

to enjoy student life. And if things do not always go accor-

ding to plan or you don’t know what to do, do not worry,

you don’t know what you want to do with your life, the most

interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wan-

ted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life, the most interesting people

I know didn’t know at 22 what

they wanted to

do with their

lives, some of the

most interesting

40 year olds I know

still don’t.

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Social Media @ Deloitte

ONE OF DELOITTE’S MAIN STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES IS TO IDENTIFY AND ATTRACT TOP TALENT! THAT’S WHY

DELOITTE INTRODUCED OUR ONLINE EM-PLOYER MARKETING TEAM WHICH SUP-PORTS OUR RECRUITMENT PROCESS. CREATIVE, INNOVATIVE, BUT MOST OF ALL EFFECTIVE…! TOP TALENT IS NOW MORE THAN EVER ONLINE,… AND SO ARE OUR RECRUITERS! FINDING AN INTERNSHIP BY A SIMPLE TWEET? IT’S ALL POSSIBLE!

Our Online Employer Marketing Team focuses on

Deloitte’s requisitions and events through online-

marketing. Building a new career site, creating a

first social media strategy and measuring all on-

line activities were the first online steps. By that

time there was little frame of reference. Today this

team is working on a daily basis on content ma-

nagement for the career site and all social media

platforms. Everything is being monitored by Google

Analytics, which results in optimization as a never

ending process. The Online Employer Marketing

Team is preparing the Deloitte Recruitment Team

to adopt these new online recruitment sources

and make it part of their daily routines. That’s why

you will find our Recruiters on LinkedIn, Twitter,

Facebook, Hyves, YouTube and Google.

Take a look at our pride and joy:

http://www.werkenbijdeloitte.nl/

and see what’s in it for you!

Facebook, Twitter, Hyves, YouTube, LinkedIn: there are a lot of Social Media. Which ones are you using? But more importantly: how are you using them? By knowing how to make use of them in the best way, you can definitely increase your own personal value. If companies know who you are and what you are interested in, you have an advantage over other students.

That’s why EFR and Deloitte decided to organize a

training Social Media for students of EUR. Of course:

when you organize a training about Social Media,

you must have a trainer who is specialized in this

subject. For Deloitte this is no big deal, because they

have their own Social Media department, which is

just focusing on how Deloitte can make use Social

Media in such a way that it creates advantages over

the other companies of the Big 4.

In the training, we learned a lot about these Social

Media. With a presentation, movies and interactive

games, we were convinced about one thing: SOCIAL

MEDIA IS NOT A FAD!!! Want to know why? Check

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8.

With using Twitter, Deloitte makes it very easy

for students to get in contact with the company.

Just tweet and you will have an answer within

some seconds! Want to apply for a job? Just put a

message on Facebook, and then Deloitte will check

your LinkedIn account and can directly decide to call

you for a first interview. Social Media = Personal

Branding!

Deloitte is making use of all the Social Media:

LinkedIn: 39.000 members

Facebook: 600 fans

Twitter: 900 followers

Hyves: 1700 members

Wanna know how to use Social Media as a student?

Here are some tips:

> Make use of the networks that are in your interest.

Are you good in making movies? Use YouTube.

Aren’t you that much active on internet? Then

don’t use Twitter;

> Use networks as CV, so companies can see who

you are, what you’ve done in the past and what you

are interested in;

> When using LinkedIn, make sure your account

contains enough information about you or

your jobs to get a good overview of who you are

exactly;

> Keep your Social Media accounts always updated.

Are you done with Hyves for years? Then quit it.

And the most important one:> Watch out with putting pictures on your Facebook

or Hyves account! Pictures of you when you were

drunk will definitely not increase your chances on

that job of your dreams…

WE ARE GENERATION Y. KNOW HOW TO USE

SOCIAL MEDIA. ESMEE DENTERS DID…

P S Y C H O L O G Y

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Intrinsic and Extrinsic

Motivation comes in two fl avours: extrinsic and intrin-

sic. The difference between the two is relatively simple:

extrinsic motivation comes from outside, in the form of

rewards. Maybe it’s money, maybe it’s that promotion

that you’ve been aiming for for the last year, but it’s so-

mething that you can struggle to get. Intrinsic, on the

other hand, comes from within: the need to accomplish

something stems only from your own personal desire to

see it happen. If extrinsic motivation is a carrot dangling

in front of you, intrinsic motivation is the sense of ac-

complishment at fi nally reaching the carrot.

Intrinsic motivation is one of the most powerful forces in

a human being. The need for accomplishment can push

a person to perform better than anyone else. That’s why

most entrepreneurs don’t say they went into business

for the money, but for the satisfaction of accomplishing

something. Would you gather the world’s richest men

on the planet, they wouldn’t just have a keen sense of

Psychin’ Out: Motivation Mayhem

By Timothy Langstraat

IT’S 8 PM, THE NIGHT BEFORE YOUR EXAMS. ONCE AGAIN THEY HAVE CREPT UP ON YOU, AND NOW YOU’RE SCRAMBLING TO STUDY. IT’S A SCENARIO WE ALL KNOW. BUT WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN, AND WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREVENT IT?

MOTIVATION IS A VERY FICKLE THING. ONE MOMENT YOU MIGHT FEEL LIKE YOU CAN CONQUER THE WORLD, AND THE NEXT YOU’RE SITTING ON YOUR COUCH WATCHING YOUR FIFTH CONSECUTIVE SEASON OF MYTHBUSTERS. MOTIVATION HAS A KNACK OF DISAPPEARING AT THE EXACT MOMENT YOU NEED IT MOST, AND THEN ONLY REAPPEA-RING UNDER THE HEAVIEST PRESSURE OF TIME. IT CAN ALSO PROPEL YOU TO GREAT-NESS: SOMETIMES YOU FEEL THE SURGE OF MOTIVATION, AND GAIN STELLAR RESULTS, AND ACHIEVE EVEN MORE THINGS THAN YOU EVER COULD IMAGINE. IN SHORT, MOTI-VATION IS IMPORTANT.

BUT EXACTLY HOW YOU GAIN MOTIVATION, IS UNCLEAR. MANY PEOPLE HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT IT, AND MOST HAVE COME TO A DIFFERENT CONCLUSION THAN THEIR PREDE-CESSORS. ONE THING THEY ALL AGREE ON, THOUGH, IS WHAT MOTIVATION IS. IT IS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND PURSUING A GOAL OR, SIMPLY PUT, IT IS WHAT MAKES A LAZY MAN RUN WHEN A HUNGRY LION CHASES HIM.

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nit amconsed euisl euipsus ciliscil eu-

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business in common, but also a passion for what they do.

Intrinsic motivation alone can push someone to the top of

their fi eld.

Intrinsic motivation might be the best way to motivate so-

meone, but it’s defi nitely not the easiest way. The easiest is

via extrinsic motivation. The adage ‘everyone has his price’

springs to mind, and it’s the general theory behind extrinsic

motivation. It’s a cure-all for any motivation ails: as long as

you set the reward high enough, people will do whatever you

want them to do.

Motivational Problems

However, there are also downsides to extrinsic motivation.

Give too many rewards, and people get jaded. Intrinsic mo-

tivation vanishes in the sight of extrinsic motivators, and

usually they don’t come back as strong as they were before.

Give a person a carrot often enough, and they don’t feel like

getting the carrot is such an accomplishment anymore.

It seems, then, that extrinsic motivators should be avoided

at all cost. They shouldn’t. In every case there is an ideal

mix of circumstances: sometimes it’s better to set yourself

rewards, and sometimes you don’t need rewards because

you truly enjoy what you’re doing. But if you are lacking in-

spiration on motivation, then there are a few simple tips on

how to improve things.

How to Improve

First off, intrinsic motivation. The biggest problem with in-

trinsic motivation is something entirely different: focus. If

you want to improve this kind of motivation, fi nd something

about the topic that interests you. If you’re interested in

cultures, but have to study development economics, fi nd a

book that deals with both. If law isn’t all that interesting, but

the quirky lawsuits that led to them are, read up on those,

and pick up the laws along the way. The point is that nothing

is truly boring; there are always good parts to anything. It

just might take a bit of searching to get to them.

The best way to deal with external motivation is to be strict.

A lot of people give in too easily, and reward themselves too

often. Set very clear goals: don’t say that you get a reward

after x hours of studying, but after a certain percentage of

work done. That way you can’t procrastinate for hours and

then claim your reward. Also, set realistic rewards. Don’t

work for half an hour and then go on a shopping spree for

two, because that’s just overcompensating. But most im-

portantly, don’t do it all the time. The reward needs to be

a one-off thing, a boost when you can really use one. That

way, it’ll stay special.

In the end, you yourself are responsible for doing your work.

But whether you motivate yourself by fi nding an interesting

angle, or giving yourself a hefty reward, that’s up to you. You

now know the principles behind motivation, and what you

can do to make things better. It’s in your hands, and all it

takes now is a little bit of motivation.

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U N I V E R S I T Y

Your Thesis…

Writing Your Thesis with

a Company

My name is Marc Julianus and

last year I wrote my bachelor the-

sis at Ernst & Young. Writing your

thesis at a renowned company is

of great value for your personal

development and career. E&Y pro-

vided me with a personal mentor,

laptop, excellent workspace, ge-

nerous fi nancial support, and an

enormous database to make my

thesis a success. Besides wri-

ting your thesis effi ciently, I got

to know many people of E&Y as

well, giving me a good insight into

the E&Y culture. I ran into this op-

portunity during an E&Y Business

Course, but you can also fi nd

these opportunities through cor-

porate websites and EFR. I can

highly recommend you to write

your thesis at a company, since it

is a fun and valuable experience!

Third year Bachelor students face

choices such as which minor to choose,

which major is suitable, and of course,

what to write your thesis on. As a fourth

year student at the ESE, I have already

been confronted with these choices, and

would like to share my thesis experien-

ces with you.

The fi rst part of successfully writing

your thesis is choosing a major semi-

nar, corresponding with your interests

in economic theory. Your major semi-

nar will ultimately set the foundation

for your thesis. It will delve deeper than

you have ever gone into a certain area

of economics, be it corporate fi nance

(like I chose), management accounting,

or marketing strategy.

During your seminar, you will explore

various topics within your chosen fi eld

of economics, and hopefully stumble

upon a specifi c topic you would like to

do further research on. Once you have

formed your ideas into a thesis problem,

and have found a supervisor, you can

start the extensive process of data col-

lection, and continue on from there.

The biggest problem students always

have is the issue of postponement. The-

re is always something more exciting

or (at the time) more important to do.

Cleaning your desk is a popular one you

see a lot, or constant coffee meetings.

If you sit down for a month straight (we

are talking 60 hours a week), without

distraction, you should be able to com-

plete your thesis (although I have heard

rumors of people fi nishing their work

within two 80hr weeks).

If I could leave you with one piece of

advice regarding your thesis, it’s this;

start on time and stay focused! Your

thesis won’t write itself.

EVERY YEAR, ROUGHLY 400 STUDENTS ENTER THEIR THIRD YEAR AS EITHER AN IBEB STUDENT, OR AN ECONOMICS STUDENT, AT THE ERASMUS SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS. ONE OF THE THINGS

THAT SETS THE ESE APART FROM OTHER FACULTIES IS THAT YOUR THIRD YEAR IS YOUR PLAYGROUND. I DON’T MEAN THAT IT IS ALWAYS FUN AND JOY, BUT THAT EVERY THIRD YEAR STUDENT HAS THE PO-WER AND THE RESPONSIBILITY TO FILL THAT YEAR WITH WHATEVER INTERESTS THEM.

By Hubert W. de Nie

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Las Vegas is the city of entertainment – and not

just the illegal kind. Each of the hotels on the Strip

offers an assortment of activities; from huge wa-

terparks, to galleries fi lled with artwork, to roller-

coaster rides. One of the amazing things about the

Strip is that everything is connected. There is a sky

route that connects all the major hotels and as you

follow this route it’s like you are walking through

a fantasy world where all different types of empi-

res are situated right next to each other. On one

end of the strip you fi nd the Luxor (a hotel shaped

like a pyramid), Excalibur (a castle), MGM (movie

star inspired), New York New York (the name says

it all!). Then you walk on to the Bellagio (Italian

classic), Caesar’s Palace (ancient Rome), the Ve-

netian, Paris, and the old classic hotels such as

the Flamingo and Tropicana, where Frank Sinatra

used to perform.

If you are looking for the crazy, strange, or im-

possible then Las Vegas is the place to be. Every

turn you make, you will fi nd something unexpec-

ted. There are bright lights and colors everywhere

and recognizable pop culture is promoted. When

you go to Las Vegas, you go there to experience

the bizarre and extreme. You can just take a seat

in one of the hundreds of restaurants with a view

over the casino of the hotel and watch bizarre

events unfold as people pass by. Because eve-

ryone in Las Vegas passes through the casinos.

Vegas hotels don’t just have a lobby, their entire

ground fl oor is often dedicated to casino slot ma-

chines and tables. People of all ages are allowed

to walk through the casino, but only if you are 21

can you actually play.

Las Vegas. You either love it or hate it. But one

thing is true; what happens in Vegas, defi nitely

doesn’t always stay in Vegas.

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. This is one of those expressions you hear often enough, but what makes Las Vegas so special? Located in the middle of the dessert, it’s a city that attracts millions of people from around the world. Sin City has a reputation of catering to the fantasies of men with vari-

ous types of adult entertainment, but there’s more to this city. When I tell people that I visited Las Vegas when I was 10 and 14 years old, people look at me like I’m crazy and are internally already blaming my parents for being irresponsible. You will most likely imagine wedding chapels, strip clubs, and lots of addicted gamblers standing behind slot machines all day. All of these features are present on the Sunset Strip, but there is so much more to Vegas than just debauchery and wedding specials.

Viva Las Vegas!By Kim van Adrichem

more than just drugs,

sex, and

E N T E R T A I N M E N T T

"EFR-Business Week Party"

"Closure of the EFR-Business Week in style"

"7th of April"

de kansen voor trainees bij kpnd k t i bij k

sprong

Ik zal niet zeggen dat ik mijn studie niet leuk vond. Integendeel. Maar op een zeker moment ben je klaar voor het echte

werk. Voor de grote sprong. Zo kun je het wel noemen. Want vanaf de eerste dag draai ik hier als volwaardige kracht mee.

Krijg ik direct eigen verantwoording. Niet kinderachtig ook. Dat voelt goed. Bovendien sta ik er niet alleen voor. Ja, het voelt

als het begin van iets moois. Lees meer op kpn.com/werken

Apply now!Full-time positions at EFR:

- EFR-Board - EFR-Business Week

Committee - Erasmus Recruitment Days

Committee

Applications open from April 8th

Send your motivation and CV to:[email protected]




Committee






Committee



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Wereldhave is een internationaal opererende belegger in vastgoed met een beleggings portefeuille van circa � 3 miljard.

Wereldhave belegt in winkelcentra die dominant zijn in hun verzorgingsgebied. Door een actieve opstelling van de eigen managementorganisatie werkt Wereldhave aan de verdere versterking van de marktpositie van haar centra, gericht op een toename van bezoekersaantallen, winkelomzetten en huuropbrengsten. Hierbij investeert Wereldhave ook in de aantrekkelijkheid, kwaliteit en duurzaamheid van haar winkelcentra. Met als doel een stabiele groei van het direct resul taat en het dividend aan aandeelhouders te realiseren. Zo wordt waarde gecreëerd voor de aandeelhouders.

Aandelen Wereldhave zijn genoteerd op NYSE Euronext Amsterdam. Het dividendrendement van het aandeel bedraagt thans circa 6,5%. Wereldhave. Waarde voor morgen.

058.537 Adv WH Eclaire Special 297x210.indd 1 09-02-11 13:16

EFR-Eclaire Special 2011

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Transcript of EFR-Eclaire Special 2011