REPORT
ERASMUS EXCHANGE AUDENCIA NANTES
A : GENERAL REPORT
For the period of 28 august 2014 until 20 December 2014 I was expected to be present in
Nantes. The University I attended was Audencia Nantes Ecole de Management.
Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey
The contact with the RUG was smooth. However, the extensive paperwork and need for
signatures from different institutions is not to be underestimated both before and after the
exchange. I am very positive about the quick and personal replies I received from both the
exchange out office in Groningen and the receiving institution. I went from Paris to Nantes by
train (which takes 2 hours and costs approx. 40-60 euros). A friend brought me to Paris by car
the day before. In my exchange period I travelled to Groningen during a one-week holiday.
This time I booked a plane to Amsterdam, which cost me 200 euros return.
Residence abroad
No visa was needed. One can receive substantial funding from the French government for
housing in France (both in university residences and host families). One should contact the
CAF as soon as one arrives. But before doing so, make sure you have a proof of residence and
a French bank account as well as a international birth certificate and your income statements
from the last 2 years (not the current).
I stayed in a university residence (Launay Violette). Most university residences are
located near the university. Launay Violette was beautiful, all new and with a permanent
concierge. I could only get my keys at the 1st of September due to the renovation that was
going on. Normally this should not be the case. But I resided in an Airbnb family place, which
was fine. I got the key, paid the 400 Euros surety amount cash.
Be aware that these student residences are far out of the centre. 10-15 min by tram, 45
min walk or a 15-euro cab. I had no real problems for these few months. Due to the fact that it
was a 800 m walk from university and the tram is very easy (buy a month card for 36 euros at
the TAN office) and most international students live around here, so you can hang out in
Nantes at night until the first tram (5 in the morning) arrives or share a cab. Students go either
to bouffay for bars, a neighbourhood in the centre of Nantes or go to “Hangar Banane”. Loved
it! Strolling along the Loire while hopping in and out of pubs. And don’t forget to go to “ Le
Webb” an amazing Irish pub (6 Rue Santeuil) near Passage Pommeray and say hello to Julian
from the international kids from Audencia, our student cards will show on the wall.
It is nice if you are able to speak some basic French. Most people in shops and
restaurants speak little or no English. Most students do speak English. All my courses were
taught in English.
Grant
I am not sure about the Erasmus amount I will obtain as I am still awaiting the remaining part.
Considering my rent for the studio, that was 340 Euros per month. Furthermore, costs for
living were comparable to Dutch amounts. Choose the typical French products: cheese,
baguette and wine. And when going to the hypermarket outside the centre (leClerq for
example, by tram) you find lower prices.
-We used blablacar.fr and airbnb.com to make traveling cheaper.
Study (general)
Audencia Nantes was a very pleasant university. The communication at forehand and at the
spot was very personal and adequate. The level seemed comparable with the level I was used
to in Groningen. However, the teaching method is entirely different. At Audencia, group work
and projects to apply theory in practical cases or projects are apparent in every course.
We had to be present at Audencia at the 28th of august. However, they only presented
themselves in some useless lecture and the real lectures started one to two weeks later. The
last exam was at the 20th of December, on a Saturday.
Advise
One important aspect that might be important to consider when you apply for Audencia
Nantes is the fact that you will obtain your final grades two months after your final exam.
This might mean that you graduate for your bachelor too late to apply for a master (I received
my grades end of February and this was too late to apply for certain foreign universities).
B SPECIFIC REPORT
1. Institution and period
For the period 28-08-2014 till 20-12-2014 I studied at the grand ecole programme of
Audencia Ecole de Management Nantes.
2. Lectures and literature
I followed eight courses that added up to 30 ECTs. The study load for the (3 ECT) elective
courses (Entrepreneurship project, digital marketing& social network, change management
and project management) consisted of one, three hour, lectures a week. For the remaining (5
ECT) courses we had two-hour lectures every week. We had in total 15 lecture weeks.
For the digital marketing course there were French compulsory reading lists, which we didn’t
have to read obviously, as we followed an English track. The teacher covered the important
issues in class instead.
No compulsory reading for European business environment, French, project management and
Entrepreneurship project.
Compulsory reading for managing and leading a team (HRM), in the form of (academic)
articles.
1.Business organisations as culture: implications for change, by: S. Cartwright and
C.L Cooper, business studies 3 (2). p 14-17.
2. The motivational benefits of goal-setting, by: G.P Latham. Academy of
Management Executive, 2004, 18 (4). P. 126-129.
3. iPerks: Apple, Like Others, Takes Steps to Woo Employees. Published : November
20, 2012 in Knowledge@Wharton. 4 Pages.
4. Transformational Leadership: The Transformation of Managers and Associates. By:
John Hall, Shannon Johnson, Allen Wysocki, and Karl Kepner. Paper of the
University of Florida. 3 pages. 3
5. Rethink What You “Know” About High-Achieving Women. By R.J. Ely, P.S. Stone
and C. Ammerman. Harvard Business Review December 2014 online article. Appr. 6
pages.
Compulsory reading for Change management was the first two chapters of a book: Pichault
(2013) « Change Management. Towards Polyphony », De Boeck.
For the course Strategic management we read the book exploring corporate strategy. By:
G.Johnson, K. Scholes and R. Whittington. 8th edition. Prentice hall, FT. 659 pages.
3. Overview of lecture program
EUROPEAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT:
PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
Schedule
N° Type
1
In-class
2
In-class
6 sessions of 2 contact hours; 3 meetings with Professor (15 mn/meeting).
Introducing Project Management
This session examines the concept of project and the project as a way of
management. It focuses on the difficulty of aligning a temporary project on
a permanent structure.
Project Scope presentation-Statement of Work : This session focuses on
the Project scope definition.You will start working on your Team Project.
3
In-class
Break down the project
A major cause of budget overspends or missed deadlines is simply the fact
of overlooking certain tasks. This is why it is so important to produce an
exhaustive project breakdown. This session explains how to break down a
project in just the right level of detail.
Manage project risk
Risk management is a very popular subject, as risk is inherent in all
projects.Risks are analysed before the project begins and preventive or
palliative solutions are put in place. As the project moves forward, these
solutions are deployed where necessary: this part will explain you how to
manage risks instead of problems.
4
5
Meeting
.During this meeting, we will discuss the WBS and the risk analysis of your
Team/Professor project.
Computer lab
Project Network
The focus of this lecture is the creation of a project network using MS
Project.
6
In-class
Team management and leadership
This session is based on a discussion on the role of the project manager, the
importance of team management and team members profiles.
7
8
9
Meeting
Project progress
Team/Professor
Meeting
Project progress
Team/Professor
In-class
Project Presentation
You will present your projects.
MANAGING AND LEADING A TEAM
Session 1 : Introduction : role of Managers – necessity of managing and leading a team
Session 2: Culture & Structure: Organizations and teams as collectives
Session 3: Employee attitudes in the team context
Session 4: Motivation in team context
Session 5: Leading a Team
Session 6: Managing diverse Groups & Teams
Session 7: Recruiting and selecting team members
Session 8: Appraising team members performance
Session 9: Negotiating compensation and benefits
Session 10: Developing and managing careers of team members
Session 11: Developing one's career internationally
Session 12: Laying off team members
STRATEGY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Session 1 : General introduction
A/What is strategy?
B/How will we study strategy?
C/Strategy as an object of study
Case study: Madonna
Session 2: Analyzing the macro-environment
Concepts: PESTEL, Scenario Planning
Case study: Oil Majors / Jurassic Toys / Alter Eco / Dell
Session 3: Analyzing the industry
Concepts: 5 Forces Model, Key success Factors
Case study: Voyages-SNCF.com / Nouvelles Frontières
Session 4: Market and Stakeholders mapping
Concepts: Vertical Segmentation, Industry life cycle, Horizontal Segmentation, Strategic
Groups, Power / Interest Matrix
Case Study: Automobile Industry / European brewers / Food Industry
Session 5: Exploring and exploiting capabilities (part 1)
Concepts: Strategic Capabilities, VRIN Framework, Value Chain, Activity mapping system,
Benchmarking
Case Studies: Zara / eBay / Dyson / Prêt à Manger / Ryanair
Session 6: Path Dependency and Organizational Culture
Concepts: SWOT, Dynamic Capabilities, Strategic drift, Cultural web, First Mover
Advantage
Case Studies: Google / Club Med / Decathlon / CSP / Mark&Spencer
Session 7: Strategic Project – Oral Presentation
Session 8: Corporate-level decisions
Concepts: Ansoff’s growth matrix, Porter’s test of diversification, BCG Matrix
Case Studies: Zodiac / Virgin / Axel Springer
Session 9: Business-level decisions
Concepts: Generic strategies, Strategy Clock, Value Innovation, Game theory Lock-in
Case Studies: Prisoner's dilemma / Free / Smart For-Two
Session 10: International strategy
Concepts: Global/Local dilemna, Porter’s diamond, Market entry modes
Case Studies: Domino's Pizza / Lenovo
Session 11: Team Work in Classroom : “Essilor in India”
Session 12:
Entrepreneurial intention (model)
Entrepreneurial profile (psychological traits)
Entrepreneurial motivation
Session 13: Entrepreneurial process
Concepts : Business model, Business plan
Session 14: Assessed group
oral presentations: Business Plan analysis
Session 15:
Team working in Classroom: Original business plan elaboration.
For digital marketing, French and change management there is no overview available.
4. Contents - Summary of the content of each subject. Sourced from the course catalogue.
Because the assignments, compulsory literature and lectures are already covered in other parts
of this report.
1. Entrepreneurship project - This course is designed to help students understand the concept
of entrepreneurship, the present context and projected tendencies in company creation,
together with the socio-economic profile of the company creator and to identify the
psychological characteristics of the entrepreneur and understand the process of setting up a
business. In addition to theoretical input, students undertake self-analysis entrepreneur profile
exercises and learn how to draw up a Business Plan.
2. Strategic Management- The strategic management process is the full set of commitments,
decisions, and actions required for a firm to develop a vision and compelling business plan to
achieve strategic competitiveness, earn above average returns and sustain growth. The course
will develop knowledge of the strategic management process, including strategy analysis,
formulation and deployment, including embracing and managing rapid and constant change
while minimizing disruption and chaos.
3. Managing and leading a team- The course is an accessible and lively introduction to the
world of human resource management (HRM), focusing on the frameworks of people
management strategies, and covering the basic operational areas and practices of HRM.
Throughout the course we are going to discuss key topics and issues surrounding people
management in organizations.
4. European business environment- This course is designed to examine the background and
current position of Europe and the European Union to help students understand the factors and
influences at work in the European business environment. This involves understanding the
circumstances faced by Europe's firms, some of which are legacies of history and some, which
are changing faster than many think, and the effects of numerous government and EU
initiatives to bolster European corporate performance.
5. Project Management- This course provides an introduction to all aspects of project
management. Projects management tools are no longer devoted to technical projects but are
becoming a method of management, so we start the course with an overview of project
organizational structures and their relation with the organization and the different
stakeholders. Then we apply the method of the Project Management Institute on a project and
analyze its relevance.
6. Organizational change management- This course will provide students with a conceptual
framework focusing on the strategic importance of managing change and development in
various organizations. Changing organizational environments create the necessity for
organizations to respond to and effectively deal with unsteadiness. The ability of an
organization's human resources to acclimatize to such conditions, adopt and fruitfully use new
practices, technologies and develop conducts of performing organizational tasks is essential to
proactive and sustainable human service organizations.
7. Through readings, case studies and hands-on projects, students will get an understanding of
prospering online marketing strategies, user generated content, search, social media and
networks, mobile, and web analytics. To complement the concepts, students will be addressed
special topics such as email marketing, user experience design, search engine optimization,
setting up online communities and mobile marketing.
5. Lecture-related activities
We had to do a lot of projects. For managing and leading a team, we had to come up with an
initiative that was original. In short, we build a working website for food delivery, made by
participants themselves. Furthermore, for strategy and entrepreneurship did we had to make a
business plan for a new venture. For project management we make a movie about the job of
asset manager and write a report. For change management we had to build a Scoop.it wall
about a change process within Hewlett Packard. Furthermore, we build a real life digital
marketing campaign for digital marketing. Furthermore, all these projects were concluded
with an oral presentation. Also, we had to do a presentation of a specific sector in an
European country for European business environment.
6. Relevance to Groningen study program
I found that the courses in Nantes were strongly related to the courses in Groningen.
However, at Audencia we did a lot more case studies and practical projects then in
Groningen. And some courses in Nantes were related but more into detail then I had them in
Groningen. For example, I had a course in Groningen which was called “ organisational
behaviour” and the course managing and leading a team was related to HRM as well, only
this course was more focussed on the individuals within the organisation, rather than the
company wide tendencies.
7. Study load
I had 8 hours of lectures per week of standard courses (French, managing and leading a team,
strategy and European business environment). And 6 hours per week of the elective courses.
Furthermore, the teamwork projects required a lot of maintenance and were very time
consuming. I spend an estimated time of 10-12 hours per week on these group projects. Also,
we had to read some books at forehand, together with homework, papers and other
assignments; I think I spend around 6 hours per week on this.
8. Assessment
For each course, indicate which lecturer conducted the assessment and how many EC were
obtained.
U. Supper
FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
13,25
3
S3CLE450
By H.Vyas
S3ENT402
By: V. Lefebvre
S3MKT460
By: M. Vasseur
S3MRH402
By: U. Mukhi
S3MRH460
By: C. Champenois
S3MSI403
By: M. Raymond
S3STR401
By: T. Bardon
EUROPEAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND
CULTURE
ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT
DIGITAL MARKETING & SOCIAL NETWORK
MANAGING AND LEADING A TEAM
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
13,40
15,50
15,20
16,50
14,80
16,15
12,79
5
3
3
5
3
3
5