- STUDENT REPORT -
EMLYON Business School
FALL 2015
Table of content
Table of content ............................................................................................................................... 2
1. Practical Information ................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 VISA ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Travel ....................................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Housing ................................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.4 Costs.......................................................................................................................................................................... 4
2. About the School ......................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 General information ........................................................................................................................................ 4
2.2 Course Registration ......................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Academic calendar ........................................................................................................................................... 5
2.4 The international Office ................................................................................................................................ 5
2.5 Promoting BI and Norway ............................................................................................................................ 5
2.6 Social Activities .................................................................................................................................................. 5
3. Academics...................................................................................................................................... 6
3.1 In the classroom................................................................................................................................................. 6
3.2 Course Materials ................................................................................................................................................ 6
3.3 Exams ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6
4. Description of the courses ....................................................................................................... 6
4.1 European Competition Law: A comparison with the US model ............................................... 6
4.2 International retail management ............................................................................................................ 7
4.3 Strategic change management................................................................................................................. 8
4.4 EC116 (Deciding).............................................................................................................................................10
4.5 Operation Strategies .....................................................................................................................................11
4.6 Consumer behaviors .....................................................................................................................................12
4.7 Protecting and Developing firm creation around the world ..................................................13
5. Final comments ......................................................................................................................... 13
1. Practical Information
The BI International Office is very supportive and will provide you with essential
information through different exchange seminars and information brochures. In addition,
you can search for the information on @BI or go to exchange fair to obtain necessary
information from students from host universities.
1.1 VISA
No visa is necessary for EU citizens.
For non-EU students, you can apply long-term student visa at French Embassy in Norway.
You need to book appointment with the Embassy via telephone and they will tell you what
you need to submit. If you want to keep your passport with you (in case you want to
travel), you can do that. After nearly a week, I received my visa.
In my case, the visa fee is free if you are an Erasmus Student. But another girl who applied
before me had to pay the fee (Don’t know why?!)
1.2 Travel
I chose to travel directly to Lyon to make it more convenient with heavy luggages. At the
moment there are no direct flights from Oslo to Lyon, so you have to transit somewhere
(Brussels, London or Amsterdam…).
1.3 Housing
The campus is in Ecully, 2 minute walk from EMLyon. This year, the school did not offer
Exchange student a campus accommodation.
Many students suggested not to live in Ecully because it is far from the city center (20-30
minutes by transportation); it is inconvenient if you want to go to the city in the evening,
you should plan to come back early with the bus; and it is unnesessarily quiet there.
Many EMLyon students choose to rent nearby Hotel De Ville, Cordellier, and Bellecours
instead. Also, the district between Lyon and Ecully center is the 9th. This part of the city is
very much in demand. EMLyon suggested us the following websites for housing
-
AIRBNB (you have to pay fee, they offer good service)
BEDYCASA
www.adele.org
http://www.leboncoin.fr/locations/offres/rhone_alpes/ (this one is more or less
similar to finn.no. You do not have to pay the commision fee. It is hard to contact
with them, they do not reply any of our emails).
Villeurbane - where we lived
We rented an apartment in Villeurbane thanks to friend’s help. The price is much cheaper
than in Lyon center (EUR370 monthly) but it is far from school and takes around 45
minutes to 1 hour to go to school. Our apartment was old but well equipped with Internet
and electricity.
1.4 Costs
Books: The school provides all reading material.
Transportation: A monthly pass for student costs €30.5. Unlike in Oslo, the card expires
at the end of each month disregarding the day you bought it. Remember, every time you
get into any means of transport, you have to validate the pass, otherwise you will be fined.
For convenience, you may want to download app ”TCL” to check time and route.
To have the pass, you need to go to TCL office (We went to the one nearby Hotel De Ville)
to buy and register for the TCL card for the first month. From the second month onwards,
you can charge your card at any station. You need to bring a passport photo and your
passport and student certificate or student confirmation (or any document saying that
you are student of EMLyon) from EMLyon.
Phone: You can use your Norwegian numbers or buy a pre-paid phone cards. If you want
French number, you must have a French bank account. We got a monthly promotion
package from SFR with 2 hour call, unlimited texts and 2 GB 3G for around €4 per month.
We found promotion information here: http://www.showroomprive.com. You should
remember terminate this contract before you leave.
Food: Lyon is a capital of gastronomy!
2. About the School
2.1 General information
EMLyon Business School is ranked 95 in the Global MBA ranking by Financial Times
and Number 14 in the ranking of the best Business Schools in Europe (2014). It has
about 2800 students, of which approximately 40% of the students are from
countries other than France, representing over 80 nationalities. This creates a
multicultural campus experience. The school specializes in areas such as Finance,
Marketing, Innovation, Management, Law, Economics and Strategy, but its
distinctive quality is founded on teaching innovation and an entrepreneurial
approach to management education.
EMLYON Business School is located in Ecully, a residential suburb to the northwest of
Lyon, approximately 12 km from the City Centre. It takes about 30-­­40 min to get to the
school (by bus and metro) from the City Centre. The school consists of three buildings;
A, B and C. Building A consists of classrooms and auditoriums, and this is the building
you will spend most of your time. A cafeteria and a student bar are also located here. In
building B you find the different departments and the professors’ offices, where you may
have some classes, and building C consists of the Learning hub and computer labs. The
library is a decent place to read and work. The library is usually open from 8.30 am until 8:30
pm. You can book room for group discussion.
2.2 Course Registration
The course registration is done through an Internet system (http://welcome.emlyon.com/en/), it maybe like atbi.no in BI. The school sent an email to provide an
account, password and details on the process. You should note that there was a short
deadline to select your courses. Thus, we recommended that you should prepare with a
short list of the courses you want to take before the sign-up day and register it as soon
as the registration platform is opened. If there is some problem that you could not fulfill
the required credit because all the courses are full or else, EMLyon international office
will help you out. Just dont worry and remember that things are not serious in France.
2.3 Academic calendar
The fall semester starts around the middle of September and lasts depending on your
final exams up to 20 December. During October, there will be one week off. You can check
on EMLyon website for school calendar.
2.4 The international Office
Ms Rona Zhangrong GUO (guo@em-lyon.com) is the head of the exchange students, and
you will visit her office a few times to sign your LA Form, Erasmus Study Contract. She is
very nice, kind, and friendly. She is able to help you solve the problems relating to your
course registration.
2.5 Promoting BI and Norway
There was an exchange fair at the end of November where all exchange students could
promote their home university. We received T­­shirts from BI promoting our school. It
was fun even if it wasn’t to many people wondering about the exchange-­­possibilities.
2.6 Social Activities
The school aranges a ton of social activities to entertain students. In September until
November, you will have chances to socialize with other international students through
parties, city visits. There is also French buddy group for international student through
which we can find a buddy to go deep into French culture.
Dinner with local family: after signing up with
http://www.lyoninternational.org/?lang=en, you will be invited (on occasion) to dinner.
3. Academics
3.1 In the classroom
Attendance and staying focus are important. Some Professors even asked us to turn off
laptop and not use mobilephone. In some classes, attendance is compulsory. The
Professors of those classes called our name at the beginning of every class or we had to
sign the attendance list for every class. We were allowed maximum two absence without
explanation. If you exceed the limitation, you may not be allowed to attend the final exam
3.2 Course Materials
Because the library is rather small, and there’s no bookstore available at campus, I seldom
used them as a primary source. However, all important reading materials are uploaded
on the brightspace (you can login through http://welcome.em-lyon.com/en/), so in some
class, you can well prepared for the course without books.
3.3 Exams
The final exam (if any) took place one week after the last session of the courses. The exam
period was not hard/stressful for us as we had to work quite hard during the semester
with lots of group works, presentations and projects. Exam can be in written form for 1
or 2 hours or multiple-choice exams, depending on the courses.
4. Description of the courses
4.1 European Competition Law: A comparison with the US model
Credits: 30 hours, 5 ECTS
Pre-requisites: No pre-requisites
Approved as: Free elective
Evaluation: Group assessment: Group assessment: Oral presentation (1/2), Individual
assessment: composed of an Intermediary and a Final Multiple choice exam (1/2).
Learning goals:
Concerning competition policy worldwide, only two models do exist: the US and the EU
ones. When working internationally, EU managers must be aware of the legal
consequences of their decisions for their company as well as for themselves, and
understand the changing legal framework, at least in Europe. It supposes to compare it
with the US one, which is the historical reference. The aim of this course is to enable
participants to understand the impact of the E.U. competition policy upon international
management, procedures and decision making, and then to compare it with the impact
of the American one in order to develop the best understanding of the legal
environment of firms.
The key issues from the firms’ perspective are commercial policy, distribution
networks, transfers of technology, and mergers and acquisitions.
In other words: How to avoid cartels? How to defend your firm? How to organize
distribution networks compatible with competition law? How to manage merger and
take-overs procedures?
Key concepts
Free Trade Area, Customs union, Relevant market, Undertaking, Extra-territorial effect,
Vertical agreement, Horizontal agreement, Cartel, Conspiracy, Hub and spoke cartel,
Intra-Brand competition, Extra-brand competition, , Selective distribution Exclusive
distribution, Franchising, Transfer of technology, Abuse of dominant position, Attempt
to monopolize, Concentration, Joint-venture, Leniency program, Compliance program,
Class action, Optimal sanction, Public enforcement, Private enforcement, Settlement
procedure, Passing on defence.
Skills
The skills acquired by the students at the end of the course are:
- To be able to read a contract
- To be able to identify and understand the main issues in choosing to develop a
distribution network or to develop its own shops and/or to sell through the web
- To facilitate the organisation of the merger control at the EU level
- To be able to use antitrust policy has a strategic tool: a sword or a shield
Experience:
This course was taught by Tercinet. Tercinet is a skilled professor in her field but her
teaching form is very messy and it makes it hard to follow her during classes.
Furthermore, there are no reading materials, just in-class presentations so it is hard to
catch up with the lessons in the class. The content of the class itself is interesting but quite
intensive, we only have 6 sessions to cover all above issues.
4.2 International retail management
Credits: 30 hours, 5 ECTS
Pre-requisites: No pre-requisites
Approved as: Free elective
Evaluation: Group assessment: Group assessment: Think-tank Project (1/2), Individual
assessment (1/2).
Learning goals
The objective of this course is to develop a retail management perspective by providing
an overview of the key managerial peculiarities of retail firms. The most important
decisions and managerial tools at the retail level will be investigated theoretically and
practically, through an exploration of real international retail practices in different
sectors and a retail format development project.
These objectives are designed for students who want to start a career in the retail sector
or within firms that will have to manage an independent distribution channel and
therefore need to understand their intermediate clients (retailers) to be successful on
the end market.
Key concepts
- Retail marketing
- Shopping behaviour - Store positioning - Assortment - Merchandising - Retail branding and private labels - Loyalty programs and CRM - Experiential shopping - E-commerce - Retail innovation - KPIs in retail Skills
After this course, students will be able to:
- Develop the offer of a retail company - Valorise this offer within the store(s) - Evaluate the results of a retail company - Find new ways of creating value through innovation and technology integration
Experience:
This course is very practical and useful because you can apply all the knowledge in the
class into the project. The Think Tank project will be conducted from session 3 to session
10 and account for a half time of each one. The last session is the presentation for project.
You must submit the project in detail and the executive summary report in the last
session. The final exam will cover all knowledge in the class. It is not difficult but you
should review carefully all the slides carefully.
4.3 Strategic change management
Credits: 5 ECTS
Approved as my chosen course was canceled. They had to offer a new one.
Prerequisits: Students must have successfully completed the strategic management
course.
Evaluation: Individual: 20% mid-term multiple choice question, 20% final written
exam; Group: 10% case presentation, 10% case participation, 20% final report, 20%
final video
Learning goals
Knowledge acquired during the course
1. Knowing the basic concepts required to understand an organizational
change (e.g. typologies of org. change; stages of change; causes of failures of
change programs; sources of individuals’ resistance to change; etc.)
2. Knowing the basic notions of organizational design (e.g. org. charts; formal
vs informal structure; fit; coordination mechanisms; etc.)
3. Understanding the role of power in organizational change (e.g. zones of
uncertainty; concrete action system; open-diagnoses as a transformational
tools; etc.)
4. Understanding the role of culture in organizational change (e.g. dimensions
of national cultures; organizational culture; etc.)
Competences acquired during the course
5. Being able to analyze an organizational change context
6. Being able to design a change program
7. Being able to exercise ‘judgment’, that is the faculty to develop a synthetic
point of view despite incomplete, paradoxical or even contradicting
information, multiple relative points of views and interests, and cultural
and psychological biases.
8. Being able to create a video that promotes a solution for change.
Key concepts
H. van de Ven et al. typology of change theories; H. Lewin 3-phase theory of change; J.
Kotter 8-step model of change and its critics; M. Crozier notion of zone of uncertainties
and concrete action system; M. Crozier & E. Friedberg organizational diagnosis approach;
E. Schein model of organizational culture and intervention; P. Lawrence and J. Lorsch
theory of organizational design; G. Hofstede approach to cultural difference; C. Argyris
concept of single/double learning and productive reasoning approach; Balogun & Hope
Hailey – the kaleidoscope model
Experience:
This class is an interactive one where you will work on group for assigned case in every
class. The Professor will come around to listen to your group idea and question you. Then
your group will participate in case presentation as either presenter or idea contributor.
There will also representatives from some consulting companies to give you chance to
solve real cases and then introduce their solution. An interesting class!
4.4 EC116 (Deciding)
Credits: 5 ECTS
Approved as free elective
Prerequisites: none
Evaluation:
Individual assessment: 50%: participation, reflections.
Group assessment: 50%: presentations of Kahneman’s work, final management
literature presentation
Learning goals
Students learn and discuss the principles behind recent research in psychology and
economics in order to improve their decision - making ability as managers
- Students who have completed the course should have improved their general
problem-solving ability as managers and developed a capacity to assimilate ongoing
ideas from psychology and behavioural economics.
Every day, entrepreneurs and managers make countless decisions, from the trivial to
the consequential. But whatever your subjective impression may be, your decisionmaking is actually influenced by a host of factors that you may not be aware of. So, how
do we actually make decisions, which yoghurt to buy to which career path to follow?
Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this course explores insights drawn from academic
research in cognitive psychology, economics, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience in
order to help understand the processes involved in making choices, and (we hope)
better choices.
Key concepts
Classical decision theory (discrete choice, choice under uncertainty, game theory
basics), the different decision-making biases and heuristics; over the course of the
semester, students read through and discuss Thinking, Fast and Slow, an influential
book written by and relating the research of Nobel prize winner psychologist Daniel
Kahneman. “Nudge” (Thaler and Sunstein) also plays a key role.
Experiences
This course is run by 2 Professors who are really enthusiastic and patient listening to
you. Compare to other courses, this one is the easiest and lightest one in term of
workload, even you have to submit reflections almost every week but thy do not take
much time. The concepts are easy to understand as you can always find real life example
to illustrate them. One of my favorite course ever!
4.5 Operation Strategies
Credits: 30 hours, 5 ECTS
Pre-requisites: A genuine interest in operations management or a career interest in
relevant industries. Previous work experiences and case-discussion experiences will
facilitate learning.
Approved as: Free elective
Evaluation:
Activity
Percentage (%)
1.Participation (individual score)
10
2. Presentation
15
Presentation: mini cases (group score)
(5)
Presentation: major cases (group score)
(10)
3. Quiz
5
4. Homework (Course project)
20
Homework (Project 1) (individual and group)
8
Homework (Project 2) (individual)
12
5.Final exam (individual score) (Open book exam)
50
Total (individual score)
100
Learning goals:
i. Formulate an operations strategy. Understand and research the key elements
including operational competencies, resources, and processes. Understand and
formulate structure and infrastructure decision problems.
ii. Analyze, value and optimize an operations strategy. Analyze key drivers and
decisions for each element in an operations strategy. Evaluate them qualitatively
and financially. Develop recommendations and implementation plans.
Key concepts:
Students will learn what constitutes an operations strategy and how organizations can
create value by managing operational complexity and uncertainty. This course will
provide a unifying framework for analyzing strategic issues in manufacturing and service
operations, analyze relationships between manufacturing and service companies and
their suppliers, customers, and competitors, and explore means of competition such as
cost, quality, flexibility, price and innovativeness.
Experience:
I have to confess that I hardly learnt from this course. Some lecture slides are messy that
made them hard to follow. The projects (esp. The individual project) took many time I
personally recommend you to leave this course as your last choice.
4.6 Consumer behaviors
Credits: 30 hours, 5 ECTS
Pre-requisites: None
Approved as: Free elective
Evaluation: Individual: 15% 40-minutes mid-term exam, 25% 1-hour multiple-choice
final exam and 10% participation. Group assessment: 15% article/case presentation and
35% research project.
Learning Goals: This course contributes to developing a deep understanding of
consumer behaviour, and the development of a strategic perspective based on a solid
understanding of management foundations and techniques in consumer behaviour. The
objective of this course is to introduce students to some of the major concepts and
theories in consumer behaviour with the purpose of understanding how we can apply
these concepts within a strategic and a real-world context, since the creation of effective
marketing strategy is dependent on a clear understanding of the consumers’ needs and
wants.
Key concepts: Intrapersonal and interpersonal theories such as: information processing,
Motivation, Personality and Lifestyle Persuasion, Decision-making processes, Satisfaction
and Loyalty. Sociocultural theories of consumption such as: Situational influencers such
as the physical and social surroundings, consumption purpose and time, Identification
with various social groups and diffusion processes, Domestic culture, popular culture,
and subculture, Other cultures and Globalization.
Experience: The workload is pretty high with different elements. You have to read
everything she sends (cases and research papers) and remember well because final exam
and mid-term will cover them all, in very detail. That is why I do not like about the exams.
The Professor is strict. Every morning, she checks attendant by calling each student name.
She will be annoyed by any late comer. She asks not to use laptop or mobile phone in
class. You can be absent for maximum 2 classes without explanation.
I love the Professor in a way that she is very enthusiastic and energentic. She creates an
interactive teaching environment with a lot of discussions and exercises. The theory is
practical and interesting. You will like the class if you are interested in marketing - from
consumer perspective.
4.7 Protecting and Developing firm creation around the world
Pre-requisites: No pre-réquisit
Approved as: Free elective
Evaluation: 100% Multiple choice exam: 60 questions in 30 minutes.
Learning Goals: The aim of this programme is to enable participants to understand
Industrial Property Rights issues in the different industries as well as in services. It is also
to make them pro-active managers in the development and the protection of their firm’s
brand as well as their innovative creations.
Key concepts:
Intellectual Property, Industrial Property, Copyright, Trademark, Community
trademark, International trademark, Patent, Unitary patent, Invention, Discovery,
Industrial secret, Knowhow, Industrial model, Utily model, Domain names, Legal
monopoly, Priniciple of Speciality, Exhaustion of rights principle, Extension of rights,
Priority right, Licensing, Transfer of technology, Counterfeiting, Free movement of
goods, Free Trade Area, Customs Union
Experience
The course is taught totally by lawyers who gave realistic insight and plenty of real life
examples on how firms’ properties and creation are protected worldwide. However, the
lectures are not interactive and can be a bit boring.
5. Final comments
-
-
I am grateful that I was offered an opportunity to live in French culture for a
short period of my life that I can never forget. It was kind of easy for me to adapt
with the new environment and new culture. There were ups and downs during
my exchange period, sometimes I kept missing the peaceful Norway and wellorganized BI. But I learnt that we should accept things as they are and keep an
eyes open for new experiences.
EMLyon learning hub is quite small. You can go to Lyon library nearby Part Dieu
commercial center. There are nice seats with free internet.
Lyon is cold because of high humidity and windy.
Good luck with your exchange semester, wherever you go! :)