BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
‘Each club has nuanced objectives and points of focus that are adapted to the expectations and needs of its members’
at some point, the question of continuity arises: Who will continue the initiative, for example, when a cohort graduates? Who will continue to run the initiative if, for example, an active alumnus who was involved in the steering committee can no longer find the time to continue the project due to a change of job or other circumstances? That’s why we decided to involve our alumni and students in issues such as topic identification and development strategy but ensure continuity by having the clubs run by Mannheim Business School staff. Right from the start we had high expectations of this platform. But would our community accept it? And beyond that: would our corporate partners recognise the added value, for example, of seeing the clubs as an entry point for recruiting in different industries? It was also clear from the outset that we would only be successful if we ensured the attractiveness of the platform from the very beginning and marketed it correctly. One of the first sessions in the Consulting Club was held by a Mannheim Business School alumnus, who was a Partner and Managing Director at BCG at that time, on the topic of AI in banking. This is one of numerous examples where a club’s topic crosses over into other clubs, in this case between the Technology & IT and Financials Clubs. Whenever this happens, we invite members of more than one club to an event. Only through offering high-quality and high-class events can we ensure that network members actively participate and that the number of members increases over time. Of course, it is not only important to win new network members as club
another venue where they could proactively connect with other Mannheimers.
The approach: the School provides the framework; the stakeholders fill it with life The School has put a lot of thought into exactly how the MBS Network Clubs should be operated and developed. Through this process, we decided to have official club events completely managed and planned by Mannheim Business School itself. This means that while students and alumni may of course participate very proactively in the clubs’ various activities, the governance and control is handled by Mannheim Business School. In this way, we ensure a very important point in this context: continuity in the development of the clubs as a platform. During the development phase, we looked at the many different initiatives started and run by alumni and students that are already on the market. What we discovered was that,
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