Go to Top
    Follow us
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 5
    • 6
    • 7
    • 8
    • 10
    • 14
    • 9
    • unnamed (1)
    • unnamed
    • 4
    • a1
    • a2
    • a3
    • a4
    • a5
    • a6
    • a7
    • a8
    • a9
    • a10

    Istanbul Block Seminar - Life is Koc!

    CULTURE

    We arrived few days earlier than the block seminar started to have a quick insight from the city and the lifestyle of Istanbul. The first experiences were already truly amazing. A chaos which still works properly. Many people in almost every main street (you can really feel that you’re in a 15+ million city) doing their job and their daily routine such as selling Turkish street food, water and souvenirs, or just going from somewhere to elsewhere or chatting with each other on the street for hours.

    1

    2

    All these vibrating feelings and mood get more intense five times a day when the Imams call for pray with authentic Islamic songs. This is one of the main characteristic of the city and gives it a very special atmosphere which is somewhere between European and Islamic culture. The role of women and the family is also somewhere between these two civilizations. Although this is important and well regulated, in the downtown area only the half of the women wear the chador and hide their body in a traditional way.

    3

    BAZAAR AND TURKISH CUISINE

    In the Grand Bazaar you can easily get familiar with the Turkish people. They are very kind, cheerful, hospitable and unquestionably convincing sales people. You are expected to bargain before buying anything which can be a very enjoyable process, but  we have to admit that we would need some more practice. The traditional goods have very good quality and affordable prices, so we all have some small souvenirs from there.

    4

    5


    THE UNIVERSITY


    On Sunday we moved to Koc dormitories (it took 50 minutes from the city center by car) but before going there we had to make a short visit at the main campus to ask for the directions. The first impressions were pretty much like when Harry Potter first arrives to Hogwarts. Huge buildings surrounded by an enormous garden which you don’t know where ends.


    6

    Koc University is a private university financially supported by the influential Turkish Koc family. All of its benefits, like maximal safety, high-quality services and modern equipment, swimming pools, ice-hockey field and a mini-golf court can be experienced from the very first moment.

    7

    The campus is located where the Bosphorus reaches the Black Sea. The surrounding area is covered by trees. While staying at Koc, you feel connected to the nature even if you are in a city or next to the construction of the future’s biggest airport in the world.
     

    THE BLOCK SEMINAR

    The topic of the block seminar was Emerging Market Multinationals and the main questions were:
    How have these small, under-resourced businesses come so far so quickly?
    What can you learn from their market entry, market expansion, brand building and M&A strategies and tactics?


    8

    We were given the opportunity to meet the representatives of Arçelik, one of the biggest Turkish companies operating in the white goods (appliance) industry, competing with Bosch and Electrolux in Europe. They brought us a simulation game with the six sygma process improvement approach in the main focus. We experienced from first hand how even marginal changes can improve the quality of our work.
    Also, guest lecturer Mikael Calikusu, former finance director of Kraft Foods and ex-BCG M&A specialist held an amazing all day long class on different emerging market related topics (we were listening through the day despite of hangover).

     
    The workload was appropriate and created a good balance between professional experience, networking and parties. We had to read a book about this topic before our coming here (written by the professor, Ayşegül Özsomer who held the majority of the classes) and pass an exam at the very beginning of the seminar. We also had to solve a case on different Turkish emerging market multinational companies and prepare a presentation for the last day.
    Accommodation costs and food were covered by the seminar fee and both were just amazing.

    SOCIAL EVENTS


    On Monday evening we were invited to a welcome drink at one of Koc University’s office in the city center which place was quite amazing. They served with great food, unlimited drinks and an awesome view from the rooftop:

    9

    10

    This event was a great opportunity to get to know each other better and was also a very good and unique start of the week.
    On Wednesday an amazing boat trip was taken on the Bosporus from the Black Sea down to the center of Istanbul.

    unnamed

    unnamed (1)

    At the last night of the seminar we went to one of the coolest rooftop bar of Istanbul, Topless. Well. We arrived back to dormitories at 7 am. For the second time during the week.

    14

    On Saturday we left the dorms and went back to the centre of our beloved city to visit the old town hopefully not for last time, and to spend the evening with other Cemsies who stayed one more day like us. We were just sitting between Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, drinking traditional turkish elma çayı while we were talking about the stories of these amazing 10 days in Istanbul. As a perfect closing we met our new friends, had dinner, tea and shisha together, than we said goodbye until the Career Forum in Vienna. See you all there!

    Teşekkür ederim!

    Special Thanks for Francesco Aghemio for some of the beautiful photos!

    Experienced by: Flóra Cselényi, Dóra Misnyovszki, Zsófia Molnár, Stefánia Vág, András Hering and Bence Horváth