International Business Week at BASBF on April 24-28th

20.04.2023.

This year the International Business Week hosted by BA School of Business and Finance will take place in person on April 24-28th, will consist of 2 Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) and will welcome in total 88 students from 10 European universities including BA School of Business and Finance.

The title of the IBW this year is “Merkis: Strategic Business Management/ Finance Simulation Game”.

If you ask what is Merkis – the answers are:

  • Manufacturing business simulation game
  • Evaluation and assessment tool
  • Development tool
  • Change management tool
  • Game where its participants, in teams, manage their companies that are modeled in physical business environment, while competing with each other


Students from BA School of Business and Finance (Latvia), Rotterdam UAS (The Netherlands), Hochschule Heilbronn, Campus Künzelsau (Germany), UAS Kaiserslautern (Germany), Institute of Technology and Business in Česke Budejovice (Czech Republic), UCLL UAS (Belgium), ODISEE (Belgium), EPHEC (Belgium) and University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna (Austria) will be working on teams consisting of 5-8 students. Each of the team members will have a unique role, which will change during the game:

Main results of the activity: Skills that students will acquire from the training:
  • Proactivity
  • Change of collective mind towards Outcome Frame thinking
  • Positive thinking
  • “Out of the box” thinking
  • Helicopter view on the whole enterprise
  • Understanding the importance of other functions
  • Development of specific competences
  • Development of specific skills

 

 
  • Leadership
  • Setting and achieving business goals
  • Tactical management and planning
  • Company’s finances, management accounting and budgeting
  • Introducing work procedures
  • Problem-solving in production and logistics
  • Negotiation skills with external parties
  • Cross-departmental communication
  • Effective cooperation in a team
  • Decision making in uncertainty
  • Creative thinking

International Business Week and the BIP programmes will be opened at the Opening Ceremony on Monday, April 24th at 10 AM at the Conference Hall of BA School of Business and Finance. During the first 3 days participants will actively work in team on their assignments and Merkis game. On Thursday participants will have a social day when everyone will have a trip to Ventspils and VIZIUM – Science centre, where students from Europe will meet interactive and educational exhibits, creative workshops, etc. activities.

Welcome students to Riga and BA School of Business and Finance! Best of luck to you nad have a nice week with us!

Meanwhile, in co-operation with The UCLL Innovation Lab project, joint project of Latvian and Belgian students will take place, addressing issues related to sustainability, recycling, the preservation of a greener environment and similar topics. Students who will work on this collaborative work are expected to have a variety of team activities over the course of the week and a number of experience-sharing visits to “Otrā Elpa” and “pARTapis” companies for a variety of experiences on the clothing’s eventual second life. As well as trips to the Agenskalns market to explore the path of change and the central market to see Latgalitis. Innovator Sigvars Krongorn will host a seminar for this group of students on business development steps, challenges, investment attraction based on the “CastPrint” experience.

Take a look at the International Business Week 2022: