Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

Welcome

This year has seen remarkable development in terms of alumni donations – both in terms of alumni participation and money raised. In fact, the SSE Riga alumni are, per capita, among the most active and generous in the world. For SSE Riga, this goes far beyond the funds raised – which are highly appreciated. It shows a strong committment to the SSE Riga community even after graduation, as well as willingness, through scholarships raised, to open up the SSE Riga experience to new generations of talented stu-dents. Furthermore, for any academic institu-tion (and SSE Riga is not an exception) alumni participation and donations are viewed as a ba-rometer of alumni satisfaction. Hence, for SSE Riga, the alumni commitment is good feedback which will spur us to further enhance the SSE Riga experience.

Furthermore, the high level of alumni par-ticipation also sends a strong signal to our bene-factors that the education from SSE Riga is highly valued and worth supporting. In terms of corporate donations, the highlight of the year was when we, together with representatives from Nordea, SEB, and Swedbank, unveiled the ‘Key to Success’ glass sculpture in the SSE Riga courtyard. The sculpture celebrates the generosity of the three banks and their com-mitment to education, and hence to the social and economic development of the Baltic States. Through the generosity of the three banks, stu-dents from the three Baltic States will receive a tuition fee waiver, which essentially will open up the SSE Riga BSc programme to any qualified candidate irrespective of socio-economic back-ground. This will undoubtedly benefit the indi-vidual students but also, and more importantly, will benefit the Baltic States.

Through the generosity of the banks, in combination with the Swedish Government Scholarship Programme open to students from Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine, SSE Riga has developed into a regional educational ‘hub’ – and as such it will build alumni networks across borders and foster regional integration for the benefit of us all.

The past year has seen management chang-es at the Stockholm School of Economics (in Stockholm). A new management team, led by the recently appointed President, Professor Rolf Wolff took over this summer. On behalf of SSE Riga I would like to wish them good luck in their future endeavours – we are looking for-ward to welcoming them to SSE Riga! I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the previous President, Professor Lars Bergman, for his strong personal engagement and the pivotal role he played when it came to developing and implementing a long-term sustainable owner-ship and governance structure for SSE Riga.

On behalf of the entire SSE Riga commu-nity I would like to thank all our alumni and benefactors for their contributions during the past year and at the same time welcome you to Homecoming weekend!

Anders PaalzowRector, SSE Riga

Rector’s Message

Welcome to the 2012 Homecoming and the 18th Anniversary of SSE Riga

Builging Powerful Brands

Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

Welcome • Rector’s Message Alumni • On the Way to Beating Stanford • New Alumni Association Board Elected • MBA – A Chance to Reflect • The PhD Challenge • 18th Birthday Wishes • Alumni Chapter in LondonGraduation • Class of 2012SSE Group • Professor Rolf Wolff new President of SSE as of July 1, 2012

• Professor Lars Strannegård appointed New Vice President of SSE • Justin Jenk Appointed New CEO of SSE IFL Executive Education • SSE Russia Celebrates 15th Anniversary BSc Programme • Statistics • Record Number of Incoming and Outgoing Exchange Students • Laboratory of Entrepreneurship • Morten Hansen – 15 Years of Great Lecturing • New Approaches and Further Development in 2012-2013Scholarships • Key to Success Programme – Great Support for Students • The Anders Wall Scholarship • The Staffan Burenstam Linder Scholarship • Scholarships for Top Performance Executive MBA Programme • The 10th Anniversary of the Executive MBA • New Group of Executive MBA students • Alumni Establish a Joint Company Student Activities • SSE Riga Students Continue to Perform Successfully in Competitions • Student Association Progress • Hello, SSE!Executive Education • Meet our Faculty • Adapt or Die? Leadership Training at SSE Riga • Upcoming Open ProgrammesSSE Riga Library • Change is Good • Do You Read the Financial Times?Research • Latvian Competitiveness Report • Global Competitiveness Report EU-projects

The Media Centre at SSE Riga • Hands-on Training by Journalists for Journalists The Centre for Media Studies at SSE Riga • Business SustainabilityEvents

Contents

AlumniAlumni

New Alumni Association Board ElectedA brand-new SSE Riga Alumni Association Board has been in effect since April, 2012. The new Board has the goal of increasing involve-ment among SSE Riga alumni, wherever they might reside, thus creating more opportunities for each to return to the School.

Every third graduate has participated in the annual donation campaign this year, thus making the SSE Riga alumni community not only the most active donors in Latvia, but also the best among the alumni of prestigious higher education institutions in Europe. Dur-ing the campaign, which lasted six weeks, SSE Riga alumni gathered a record sum of over 90 thousand euros. This secured 29 scholarships for student tuition fees, as well as funding for renovation of the Soros auditorium.

The high level of involvement from SSE Riga graduates has been achieved thanks to a unique, interactive donation platform that was developed by graduates themselves. The online donation plat-form at donate.alumni.lv includes elements of gam-ing. Each donation is instantly displayed in a graphic which shows the relationship between the year of graduation, the donor’s country of origin, and com-panies and individual contributors, thus encouraging a positive competition among graduates.

In total, 33% of all graduates participated in the SSE Riga Alumni donation campaign this year. Previously, the most active supporters from the top schools in Europe, as ranked by the Financial Times, were the alumni from INSEAD in France (12% par-ticipation) and London Business School (14%).

For the future, SSE Riga graduates have set the goal of achieving a 50% alumni participation rate by 2014, when SSE Riga will celebrate its 20 year anni-versary. Thus, SSE Riga alumni aim to outperform the world’s best example in attracting donations – Stanford University, which is actively supported by 41% of its alumni.

On the Way to Beating Stanford

The SSE Riga Alumni Association Board now is represented by:

President, Diāna Krampe, Class of 2006Vice-president, Viktors Bolbats, Class of 2007Business Committee, Deniss Aksjonovs, Class of 2009Social Committee, Gunta Jurča, Class of 2006

“Like Joey from the popular old TV series “Friends” we strongly believe that life is all about sharing and receiving, as well as having and giving,” says Diāna Krampe, current President of the Alumni Association. “We know that the majority of our alumni would like to come back to the School, be involved, and to help. It is always a really good feeling. Thus, our main mission in representing all alumni is to create more opportunities for each to be involved in School life, to find ways to help and interact, and also to have fun bringing back old memories as well as creating new ones together.”

The new Board has been off to a good start, kick-ing-off a brand new fundraising campaign and a web-platform, together with the former Associa-tion President Raimonds Kulbergs and the DDB Latvia team. They have also changed the concept for baptising new alumni on Graduation day, and have improved the quality of the alumni contact database. By the year 2014, there will be several other projects under way such as linking the alumni.lv website with social networks, fine-tuning the information flow, and planning the big upcom-ing event - the SSE Riga 20-year anniversary.

“The goal of alumni who donate to their Alma Mater is to show that everyone, whatever their financial situation may be, can receive a high quality education here in Latvia. Alumni activity in supporting their school is a reliable indicator of former students’ valuation of the education provided by SSE Riga. We are truly satisfied with the results of this year’s donation campaign.”

Diāna Krampe (Class of 2006) President of the SSE Riga Alumni Association

“These results make us proud – SSE Riga has surpassed the best schools in Europe! At the same time it will make us work even harder to beat the best fundraiser worldwide, Stanford University. This unique approach can make us not only the most active alumni worldwide, but also has the potential to become a solution for attracting future private funding for higher education on a more global scale.”

Raimonds Kulbergs (Class of 2005)Alumni fundraising Project Manager

The Rector of SSE Riga, Anders Paalzow, notes:

“This unique initiative is highly appreciated by the School. The remarkably high involvement from the alumni and the generosity that has been shown will encourage us to further develop the School and its educational offerings. The initiative will, even more importantly, play a pivotal role in the long-term development of the School since it will ensure that SSE Riga will continue to attract the most talented students by making the SSE Riga experience available to the best students, irrespective of socio-economic background. For the School as well as the alumni, this is of vital importance as it will manifest the School’s position as a leading academic institution in the fields of economics and business.”

In 2012, substantial support was given by corpo-rate donors including Eko Investors, KPMG Baltics, Gateway Baltics, and ArkiLED. In total, during the last four years, SSE Riga graduates from Latvia, Lithu-ania, and Estonia have donated almost 300 thousand euros. One scholarship amounts to either 3500 or 1750 euros, which corresponds to 100% or 50% of the an-nual tuition fee. Scholarships for first-year students are provided based on financial circumstances, academic potential, and motivation.

The donation platform project is led by Class of 2005 graduate Raimonds Kulbergs (Deloitte). The platform concept was developed by the team from the advertising agency DDB Latvia – Andris Rub ns (Class of 1997), Kristaps Silin, (Class of 2012), and Martin, Zutis. The technical solution for the donation homepage was developed by SSE Riga student Andrejs Labunskis. Swedbank supports the project by providing an easy payment interface and functionality. Payment security was ensured by First Data.

The project organisers also express their gratitude to all other alumni and partners who were involved in developing this project.

AlumniAlumni

The PhD Challenge

“Think outside the box…” said Dr. Diana Pauna, Pro-rector, in my first lecture at SSE Riga. And thus the first of the many great thoughts I gained at my Alma Mater was seeded. The essence of a PhD is to discover new insights into the world around us. To be different is a must.

During my time at SSE Riga, I developed a taste for new academic challenges that has not left me since. Thus, af-ter spending some time in banking, I returned to academia. I took an un-usual approach in choos-

ing the school with the most influential faculty as measured by the number of citations. To my surprise, it was a newly established institute, the Duisenberg School of Finance. It was a tough choice between DSF and the long-established SSE and LSE, but I took the risk.

My decision to pursue a PhD was shaped after meeting Prof. Enrico Pe-rotti at DSF, an astonish-ingly prominent Italian scholar whose first wife, surprisingly, was Latvian. It was the interaction with him and his way of think-ing that acted as inspira-tional triggers. Back then I had almost no idea what

doing a PhD would mean. Still, I knew I would regret wasting this opportunity of a lifetime. I am now in my third year of studies and I have not doubted my choice.

What are the skills and qualities required for PhD at a top business school?

The answer, obviously, is not an easy one. A strong academic record, a rich CV, recom-mendations from reputable referees go without saying. Enthusiasm and an original and relevant research idea will make you stand out. The skills and opportunities I obtained at SSE Riga paved the way to my current achievements.

MBA – A Chance to Reflect

Yuri Romanenkov is an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School and a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.

Why have you decided to pursue a Masters of Business Administration?

Having worked as a management con-sultant for the last few years, I have often encountered senior executives from major global corporations who are facing signif-icant challenges or taking their organisa-tions in new directions. It prompted what is now my lasting interest in leadership, and an MBA seemed like a great setting to ex-plore that interest in a group of diverse, yet like-minded people. It was not an easy decision to take two years off, but I was persuaded that in the grand scheme of a career, it was not a very long time. Eventually I decided to apply to one

school I was sure I wanted to go to, and see if it would work out, which it luckily did.

What would you recommend to potential business school applicants?

I was very fortu-nate to be supported on all fronts by my mentors at work, our Pro-rector Dr. Diana Pauna, and, of course, my fam-ily and friends.

I would encourage business school applicants to find people you trust to give you feedback – I think it is the most important success factor. I also suggest reaching out to alumni and cur-rent students of the schools you’re interested in, both to help you decide on the choice of school and to give you valuable insight. Overall, I would recommend seeing the application pro-cess as an opportunity to reflect on your experi-ence, passions and aspirations for the future.

“For the best return on your money, pour your purse into your head.”

Benjamin Franklin

Jānis SkrastiņšClass of 2007

Yuri Romanenkov Class of 2007

SSE GroupAlumni

Professor Rolf Wolff new President of SSE as of July 1, 2012After a thorough search, the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) board selected Professor Rolf Wolff as the new president of SSE. Wolff took up the appointment on July 1st, 2012.

Alumni Chapter in LondonWith two recent big events in Britain’s history, it has been a year full of adven-ture for those based in the UK. We were participants in Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration and hosts and sup-porters of those coming for the Olympic Games, where we carried Baltic flags and represented our home countries with pride!

Support for our own people, and increas-ing the culture of goodwill and kindness, was also demonstrated by the great success of the donation programme. What a great thing for all SSE Riga alumni to be proud of !

Though the year has been rather busy with national events, the UK alumni found time to explore Wales and summit the highest Welsh peak - mount Snow-don. We hope to get to more summits, those formed by nature as well as per-sonal ones, in the coming year.

We are glad to see new faces join-ing the UK alumni and we are even happier seeing some of us, with a lot of great knowledge, going back to the Baltics. An increasing number of queries related to the UK mar-ket from fellow alumni and current students have been reaching us, which is recognition of our efforts to promote both openness and the value of the SSE Riga network.

Congratulations to the School, the faculty, the students, the alum-ni, friends, and supporters for another great year for SSE Riga!

Vilma Midveryte, on behalf of the SSE Riga Alumni in the UK

SSE Russia, the first school that offered an Executive MBA programme in a European format on the Russian market of educational services, marked the 15th anniversary of the Executive MBA programme in Russia.

For 15 years, SSE Russia has taught top managers and business owners from top Russian companies. Its graduates represent the elite of Russian business, and promote the main concept of SSE: Capitalism with a human face, oriented toward using just and responsible

More: www.ifl.se

More: www.sseru.org

methods for running busi-nesses – first and foremost for the benefit of consumers, and finally, in the interests of or-ganisations and of all citizens of the country.

In Russia, the School opened its doors in 1997. The Executive MBA programme and the cor-porate programmes enjoy stable demand in the market for business education.

After the ceremony, the graduates, faculty, administration, and staff joined each other at a reception followed by a party at the Alma Mater. This year we were honoured to have the SSE (Stockholm) Choir and the SSE Student Association as our special guests during the Graduation Ceremony and the celebration afterwards.

Justin Jenk commented: “I’m very enthusiastic about the task ahead of me in leading SSE IFL Executive Education and its talented staff. I understand exactly the level of quality that SSE IFL Executive Education stands for, and I’m looking forward to the exciting task of developing and strengthening SSE IFL Executive Education as part of the Stockholm School of Economics group.”

Professor Lars Strannegård has been appointed as new Vice President of SSE for a period of five years, as of August 13th, 2012.

Since 2009, Professor Lars Strannegård has been Professor of Business Administration at SSE and holder of the Bo Rydin and SCA pro-fessorship in Business Administration, special-ising in Management. Lars Strannegård is also the Dean of the MBA programmes at SSE.

Dr. Wolff stated: “I am honoured and enthusiastic about my new appointment. My task, together with my colleagues, is to continue to support the positive trends already underway at SSE. Together we will ensure that, as a well-established business school, the Stockholm School of Economics maintains its strong position in the face of increasing global competition for reputation as well as for resources.”

SSE has appointed Justin Jenk as the new CEO of SSE IFL Executive Education. Justin took up the position on October 1st, 2012.

SSE IFL Executive Education is a subsidiary of SSE, and offers a broad range of executive management programmes.

Justin Jenk Appointed New CEO of SSE IFL Executive Education

SSE Russia Celebrates 15th Anniversary

One hundred and twenty BSc students

and twenty Executive MBA students graduated

SSE Riga on June 9th and joined the SSE

Riga Alumni community.

Professor Lars Strannegard appointed New Vice President of SSE

SSE’s main building in Stockholm, Sweden. Ranked as the leading business school in the Nordic Region by Financial Times, SSE is one of Europe’s top business schools.

Graduation

CLASS OF 2015

BSc FACULTY

This year we completely remodelled what used to be called the Entrepreneurship and Business Planning course. Fionn Dobbin, the ‘guru of unleashing creativity’ has been Course Director for several years, and this year he was joined by Andrejs Strods, a se-rial Silicon Valley entrepreneur. This year, the study of entrepre-neurship, now called the Laboratory of Entrepreneurship (LOE) is not only exciting for students, but also has a clear structure and provides non-stop challenge for students both in terms of academ-ic merit and entrepreneurial thinking. From day one, the home-work requires them to get out in the streets and pursue business opportunities in very different markets with very scarce resources. During one of the assignments, teams of young entrepreneurs are issued a LVL 20 loan that they must invest into a business and turn a profit in one week’s time! These playful assignments serve as the necessary kick for Year 1 to get out of their comfort zones and feel the adrenalin that entrepreneurship provides each day.

LOE starts with a six-week crash course followed by five months of hands-on entrepreneurship. The crash course covers the important stages of a start-up, from identifica-tion of business opportunity and its assessment, through business modelling and resourcing, to attraction of financ-ing and the stages of business growth. During these weeks, students get a grip on business relations, meet start-up ex-perts, visit SSE Riga alumni businesses, and develop their own business ideas to work with in the second part of the course. During the second phase, students develop their own business plans, and, through a series of workshops, turn their ideas into reality, by registering real businesses and making real money.

The course is called Laboratory of Entrepreneurship for a reason. On one hand, this is the first time something like this has been piloted in the Baltic States, and students

are not the only active learners in the course. The faculty is learning along with the students on how to to turn entrepreneur-ship studies in SSE Riga into the best start-up edu-cation in Europe. How’s that for entrepreneurial drive!

Record Number of Incoming and Outgoing Exchange Students

“During the Laboratory of Entrepreneurship course, we discovered that lectures can actually be ‘that far’ away from stereotypical ones which are usually boring and monotonous. The variety of lectures, panel discussions, and presentations created an opportunity for us to not only learn a lot of useful things, but also to hear a wide range of interesting and inspiring success stories from entrepreneurs, and acquire knowledge from their experiences. Moreover, the unusual practical assignments encouraged us to think outside of the typical boundaries and expand the limits of our creativity; it improved our teamwork skills and contributed to our having an excellent time.”

Diana Petraityte (Year 1), Lithuania

Laboratory of Entrepreneurship

BSc ProgrammeBSc Programme

Students love Morten’s lectures, and there is never an issue of attendance. They quickly learn when he doesn’t like student behaviour in the lecture room – it’s simple, because he simply leaves the room. It’s a very efficient approach, as the message is clear, and there are no more issues with that particular group of students. For sev-eral years, students have chosen Morten as ‘best lecturer of the year’, and in the Insider there is a special page reserved for Morten’s column.

Morten’s annual Faculty Activity Report has one of the longest lists of presentations that have been given at conferences, seminars, and workshops in the Baltics, Europe and overseas. During the financial crisis, Morten was one of the most interviewed economists in Latvia, sharing his views and opinions to journalists from the Baltics, other parts of Europe and even the USA, Argentina, and Japan. In addi-tion, Morten regularly provides comments on current economic issues in his blog at ir.lv. In addition to the above, his research is published in the SSE Riga Occasional Research Papers Series, and he has contributed to a number of projects done by SSE Riga, BICEPS and the TeliaSonera Institute at SSE Riga.

In a word, Morten is a substantial part of SSE Riga, and he keeps himself busy with tak-ing up tasks to polish the name of SSE Riga and keep the SSE Riga reputation high. We want potential students to meet Morten first during the Open Door events, because we are certain – once they listen to a presentation by Morten, they are in. With his special “Morten” sense of humour, supply and demand works out and “failure is not an option”.

BSc Programme

It was in late September 1997 when Diana Pauna met Morten Hansen during a CEEMAN event in Riga, and she invited Morten to meet Leif Mutén, the Rector, and Anders Paalzow, the current Dean. The Class of 2000 was the first to have Microeconomics under Morten’s guidance, followed by Class of 2001 with both Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. In 2006, he added Statistics, followed by EU Stud-ies and courses in Macroeconomics and Time Series, and as of 2009 he has taught the Execu-tive MBA students as well. Morten is currently the Head of the Economics Department.

For those alumni who have not been in touch with SSE Riga for a while, it might be interesting to spend a day as a student again and see what has changed. It is quite different these days, with a very limited number of hand-outs. Google Apps for Education is used as a plat-form for SSE Riga email, shared documents, calendar, and other online services, and the e-learning platform is the hub for receiving, sharing, and submitting informa-tion in courses. Technology’s role is increasing, and we are going green.

In early September, students enrol online for the current academic year. Those who have academic debts enrol as Year 4 students and pay 100 euros per ECTS point; e.g. a student who has to retake the Political Economy course shall pay a tuition fee of 400 euros, as the course is 4 ECTS. Further, to manage all internship documentation more efficiently, including the employ-er’s report and the self-evaluation report, all is man-aged in an online solution. This year 142 companies offered internship placements to SSE Riga students, and as usual, banks were the most popular internship providers.

Technology allows SSE Riga to make the study pro-cess more efficient, however, it has its effect on teamwork when the schedule is tough and only virtual communi-cation takes place. This can have a negative impact on personal interaction and can create an opportunity for free-riding. Based on student feedback, as of this year peer-evaluation is being introduced as a pilot project, and team members will evaluate each other’s’ partici-pation in group discussions or meetings, contribution of useful ideas, and the quality and quantity of work done.

As of this year, exam papers are no longer stored in the library, and students receive their individual exams after the grades have been published. We believe that this approach will increase feedback from lecturers to students during the distribution of exams, and it will also increase the quality of exams, i.e. recycling of ex-ams will no longer be possible. In relation to exams, we are considering raising funds for buying a set of simple laptops for students who are taking exams, especially for writing essay-type exams, as it will improve the delivery of exam grades. Unfortunately, student pen-manship has become worse in recent years due to an increase in texting and word-processing, and less hand-written activities.

New Approaches and Further Development in 2012-2013

In a nutshell:

“… while studying Microeconomics at the University of Latvia, we spent the whole semester on the topic and still did not get the subject. Morten manages to make students understand Microeconomics within five weeks, by providing examples and explaining the most difficult concepts in an easy-to-understand manner”

(from student interviews)

Morten Hansen – 15 Years of Great Lecturing

BSc Programme

Banking sector leaders in the Baltic States and the Nordic region – Nordea, SEB, and Swed-bank – have set up an education support pro-gramme called the Key to Success (Panakumu atslega) for students of SSE Riga.

Each year, on the last day of studies, merit-based scholar-ships are awarded to the best performing students. This year a record number of 13 scholarships were awarded.

The Anders Wall Scholarship At the annual Anders Wall Foundation Award Ceremony in Stockholm on March 9th, SSE Riga student Aiga Plešanova (Class of 2012) was awarded the Anders Wall Scholarship in entrepreneurship, which is designated for SSE Riga students.

As Dr. Anders Wall emphasised during theceremony, Aiga Plešanova, in addition to strong aca-demic results, has been able to engage in differ-ent activities outside of her studies. While en-gaged in the global social responsibility network “Net Impact” (USA), she organised the Social En-trepreneurship Forum in the Baltics. She was also introduced as also being a passionate piano player and choir member.

The annual Staffan Burenstam Linder Scholar-ship Award Ceremony took place at the Stock-holm School of Economics (SSE) on September 17th. The 2012 Scholarship was awarded to SSE Riga alumnus Uldis Teraudkalns, who studies in the SSE MSc programme.

The ceremony took place in the presence of the family and friends of the late Staffan Burenstam Linder – the founding fa-ther of SSE Riga. The keynote ad-dress was given by the Swedish Minister for For-eign Affairs, Carl Bildt. After an introduction focusing on the establishment of SSE Riga in the early 1990s and the role played by Staffan Burenstam Linder, he discussed the future of European cooperation.

Key to Success Programme – Great Support for Students

In addition, a new scholarship was awarded by the Rigas Ridzenes Rotary Club, to support the top students from the Ethics and Sustainable Business course.

Finally, for the second year, SSE Riga alum-nus Maris Simanovics (Class of 2001) awarded scholarships to the top Latvian performers in the Microeconomics and Macroeconomics courses.

Scholarships for Top Performance

According to tradition, the following com-panies awarded scholarships: Zabolis Partners, SEB Enskilda, and IBS Prudentia.

“Sometimes, a wise head, a fine mind, and good results are not enough to obtain a high quality education. You need financial support, which not everyone has access to. The donation that Nordea, SEB, and Swedbank have granted, and the establishment of the Panākuma atslēga programme, provide invaluable assistance for a greater number of young people in the Baltic States to obtain both a competitive education and success in their professional lives,” as Anders Paalzow, Rector of SSE Riga emphasised during the event.

ScholarshipsScholarships

On September 7th, three banks presented a very generous donation in support of SSE Riga students. 720 scholarships will be granted to students from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia over five years, thus reducing their tuition fees from 6000 euros to 3500 euros. The overall do-nation is 1.8 million euros (15 million Swedish kroner).

During the donation ceremony, represen-tatives from each bank revealed a glass sculp-ture – the Key to Success – as a symbol of high-er education (sculptor: Edgars Kvjatkovskis).

The Staffan Burenstam Linder Scholarship

From the left: Anders Paalzow, Rector of SSE Riga; Ainars Ozols, Head of SEB Latvia; Birgitte Bonnesen, Swedbank Head of Baltic Banking; Valdis Siksnis, Nordea Head of Segments Poland & Baltic countries

Studies in the programme have made an impact on Alumni career paths. Some of our graduates went up the career ladder in the same company/same industry. Some changed industries, e.g. several are now involved in con-sultancy services and the education sector. We have examples of graduates quitting their work in international companies and starting their own businesses – producing toys, for example.

ship course which will provide an overview of the latest trends for global business leaders. The course will integrate relevant elements from all courses in the Executive MBA programme.

During these ten years the Executive MBA Faculty has changed as well. We express our gratitude to our “veterans” who have been with the programme for many, many, years – Ed Dolan/Global Economics, Katerina Hellstrom/Financial Accounting, and John Branch/In-ternational Marketing. We also give a warm welcome to our new faculty members – Tracy Tuten/Social Marketing, Julie Felkner/Change and Crisis Management, Mats Glader/Mana-gerial Accounting, Morten Hansen and Daunis Auers/EU Economics and Politics for Manag-ers, Ingrida Karin, a-Berzin, a/Law for Manag-ers, and Talis Putnin, /Financial Economics.

Executive MBA ProgrammeExecutive MBA Programme

In 2002, the SSE Riga Executive MBA pro-gramme was launched, and this was possible thanks to a donation from the Nordic Invest-ment Bank. From the past ten years we have 171 alumni representing 15 countries – including 53 females and 118 males. We have had wonderful students from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Rus-sia, the Ukraine, Finland, Germany, the UK, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Israel, the Nether-lands, and the USA.

Among the top industries represented by our alumni are Finance and Banking (24%), IT and Telecommunications (15%), Retail, Wholesale and Services (22%), and Production and Con-struction (15%). Over the years, and especially in the last few years, we have seen more gradu-ates from the logistics and transportation, en-ergy, and real estate sectors as well as graduates involved in legal services and the pharmaceuti-cal industry.

The programme itself has changed over the years – the International Business module was introduced in 2010, and it takes place in Hong Kong and elsewhere in China, where it is run in cooperation with HKUST Kellogg’s Business School. Another new module introduced this year is the Sustainable Development and CSR course in Stockholm. During both modules, in addition to the academic component, there are several company visits during which students can learn how theoretical models are imple-mented in businesses. Two years ago the Get Started Week was re-organised and now team-building, leadership, presentation skills, inno-vation, and creative entrepreneurship elements are all integrated. Last year the e-commerce/social mar-keting course was successfully introduced, however, this year there will be a Global Leader-

The 10th Anniversary of the Executive MBA

New Group of Executive MBA students

On August 27th , the new Executive MBA group of 27 students began studies at SSE Riga. The major-ity is from Latvia; how-ever, we also have a rep-resentative each from Es-tonia, Lithuania, Belarus, Norway, and Uruguay. In terms of gender, there are nine females and 18 males in the group, and the av-erage student age is 36.1. Students represent a num-ber of industries including banking, finance, insur-ance, information technol-ogies and telecommunica-tions, transportation, and wholesale, among others.

“The SSE Riga Executive MBA is a great development experience that elevates you to the next business level in 1–1.5 years, thanks to a well-balanced and multidimensional programme, the professional international faculty and a module design that allows you to focus on learning. In my case it allowed me to achieve a promotion to the position of International Director while still studying. As an international student I get all the necessary help and hospitality from the School. So nothing distracts me from learning in class, and afterwards understanding a new culture and people. Another unexpected benefit of the programme is that it completely cured my fear of flying as I frequently have to travel to the modules. Now, when I’m sitting in the airplane on a runway on Tuesday night there is a smile on my face – 4 great days in Riga are ahead of me!”

Sergei SelivanovDirector of International Premium Brands, Central and Eastern Europe Anheuser Busch InBev

Professor John Branch has been teaching the International Marketing course to SSE Riga Executive MBA students since 2005

USA 17%

DENMARK 11%SWEDEN 17%

UK 11%

CROATIA 6%

CANADA 6%

BALTICS 32%

EXECUTIVE MBA FACULTY

Alumni Establish a Joint Company Andrejs Strods and Eric Pless met in 2010 as SSE Riga classmates of the Executive MBA-7 and Executive MBA-8 groups and as student board members for their cohorts. Andrejs, a Latvian serial entrepreneur, was looking for a way to launch a new endeavour in the USA with his Blue Bridge Technologies company and his company’s healthcare software solu-tion “Inmedicas”.

Eric (who is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army National Guard) was complet-ing his Executive MBA studies and a success-ful 3.5 year military attaché assignment with U.S. Embassy Latvia. He was seeking new ca-reer opportunities back in the USA when they began discussing the possibility of a potential partnership. After researching the market in the USA, Andrejs and Eric concluded an agreement to work together across the Atlantic to find a niche for the Latvia-based Blue Bridge Technologies in the trillion-dollar health care industry of the USA.

After 12 months of working together and af-ter Andrejs had made several trips to the USA, the company has made serious headway in establishing a company in Ann Arbor, Michi-gan, which is the Silicon Valley of Midwest-ern USA, while also segmenting the enormous market down to a manageable niche within the healthcare and health insurance sector.

Relationships have developed and have matured into several solid pilot project ini-tiatives that are in the negotiation stage, and which they hope to close the deals on and be-gin testing in the first quarter of 2013. Due to enormous changes in and reform of the entire health care industry in 2010-2013, the ability to enter the market in the USA has been even more challenging & difficult than expected, but this company has established itself as a recognised “Innovator” at the State and Na-tional level and in comparison to other health care IT vendors serving the same market with different solutions.

The future of Blue Bridge Technologies USA looks bright, and Eric and Andrejs con-tinue to work hard to sell their “Latvian” IT solution to the health care industry in the USA, so stay tuned for more success stories.

Five SSE Riga student works were awarded in the Bank of Latvia Student Research Com-petition. This is an annual competition, and SSE Riga students are frequent winners. For instance, in 2009 four out of five of the awards were won by SSE Riga students; in 2010 three out of four awards were won by SSE Riga stu-dents; in 2011 five out of six awards were won by SSE Riga students.

SSE Riga’s team took 1st place in the Project Management Championship among Latvian universities. Twenty-eight teams took part in this championship, and eventually only the six strongest competed in the finals. The Project Management Championship was organised by the Latvian National Project Management As-sociation Young Crew.

After a fierce competition, for the third time in a row, SSE Riga won 1st place in the L’Oreal Brandstorm Baltic Finals. But this was not the only trophy that SSE Riga won, be-cause for the second time in a row, 3rd place was also won by a team from SSE Riga.

Students from SSE Riga won 2nd place in the international business case competition “Entrepreneurship Competition Vilnius” or-ganised by Vilnius University’s Faculty of Eco-nomics.

SSE Riga students ranked 2nd with a bach-elor paper in the competition, where the jury evaluated master’s and bachelor’s papers on se-curities market and corporate governance top-ics. The competition was organised by NAS-DAQ OMX.

Hello, SSE!The main objective of visiting SSE (in Stock-holm) was to get acquainted with SSE Riga’s roots through our Alma Mater, and to meet the SSE Student Association.

We not only had the chance to discuss on-going issues over a cup of tea with administra-tion, but also were able to look at the work be-ing done by the Student Association. It was a great experience both for them and for us, to find similarities as well as differences between

our two organisations, not to mention the valu-able connections that were developed. What’s more, a very important document was signed, the Memorandum of Understanding, to ensure flawless cooperation.

The trip turned out to be extremely produc-tive both for cooperation between the associa-tions and for improving the micro-climate with-in our own small group.

Current Board of the SSE Riga Student Association

More: www.association.lv Facebook / SSERigaSA

Student ActivitiesExecutive MBA Programme

Student Association ProgressThe SSE Riga Student Association has continued to maintain a high- level relationship with its partners. Ernst & Young still is the one and only General Partner that has integrated in SSE Riga student life. Ecogen and SMScredit have joined the community of SA’s partners. The benefit for both sides is substantial, and con-tinuity is the main goal.

From the cooperation side, the Student Association is still working with the Alumni Association, SSE Riga administration, and the Student Association of the Riga Graduate School of Law. Furthermore, the Cooperation Council often takes place at which

everyone agrees on the future agenda, issues re-garding every organisation, and potential issues.

The Student Association has always support-ed student ideas. This year, a new concept called “Speak up Day” was introduced to provide bet-ter, anonymous communication between students and administration. We finalised the guidelines for a proper accounting and management system for all organisations. Also, the first steps have been made towards protection of Student Associ-ation Event names and visual identities. We have continued to implement the SA’s visual identity in proposals, contracts, and videos of organisa-tions. The most important document has finally found its way home – we have retrieved the long-lost Student Association registration certificate!

The Student Association is run by students for students and, ...

... of course, that means organising a lot of SSE Riga parties throughout the year!

SSE Riga Students Continue to Perform Successfully in Competitions

The past year has seen an active transition to new long-term business models for many regional companies. In times of turmoil, strong teams and the ability to communicate ef-fectively are crucial. Therefore, companies have turned to the SSE Riga Executive Education Department for training in change management and leadership. As there is a greater demand for results and real-life experience, the new lead-ership programmes go far beyond operational know-how.

Upcoming Open Programmes

Transactional Analysis: Introduction November 22nd – 24th, 2012

Supply Chain & Logistics Management April 22nd - 23rd, 2013

Social Media Marketing May 13th – 14th, 2013 Mini MBA: Strategic Management May 13th -24th, 2013

Human Resources Management May 27th -28th, 2013

Today, every team member also has a lead-ership role, and must inspire others and find what is meaningful for each of them. In addi-tion to drawing on various academic research, our leadership trainers - Liam Ulvhag, Larry Stout, and Linda Hoeben, as well as our nego-tiation trainers - Jeffrey Sanchez-Burkes and Dmitry Juskovets, are asking executives to gain a better measure of their intentions so they can understand what triggers conflicts. This psy-chological insight is crucial. Companies are changing so quickly; adaptability has become an ideal in leadership.

Our long term and new clients, compa-nies including Aldaris, Rimi, Mandatum, Exigen Services, Swedbank, Citadele, Statoil, GlaxoSmithKline, and others, are cooperating with us to train their top executives and middle managers for better team dynamics. They are looking for qualities such assessing and respond-ing, processing information, creating freedom within a framework, etc. We try to ensure that the learning experience is grounded in the stra-tegic agenda of the company. The programmes last from one day to several modules during the year; mainly these are group trainings with ele-ments of group and one-to-one coaching.

SSE Riga is hosting an international Ex-ecutive Education conference on the subject of Leadership on March 7th, 2013. You are wel-come to attend!

Executive Education Executive Education

Jeffrey Sanchez-Burkes’ two day programme, Negotiation Strategy & Influence Skills, places negotiations in an international context. CEOs, CFOs, board members – everyone who has been faced with a particularly tough negotiation finds Jeffrey’s recom-mendations very useful. Coming from

a background in the field of social psychology, Jeffrey is currently affiliated with the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and he continues to build his repu-tation as a negotiation trainer in the USA and around the globe. He has been published in The New York Times, the Harvard Business Review, and in many academic journals.

“Working with managers, executives and entrepreneurs across the globe – from Latvia to Los Angeles, Shanghai to Santiago – two fundamental truths about negotiation become apparent. One the one hand, success in reaching efficient yet sustainable agreements requires a certain level of cultural savvy. On the other hand, our common humanity equips us all with the capability to bridge cultural divides, build trust swiftly, and use creative thinking to negotiate positive results. For over a decade I have published these insights, and trained and coached individuals to become more confident, successful negotiators,” says Jeffrey.

“The challenge for future leaders is to continuously create an innovative and pleasant environment in which employees can strive to achieve,” says Liam Ulvhag, who has become one of the most trusted guides for change for many compa-nies in the region. Liam’s in-house programmes in Leader-ship Development include individual and team coaching. He focuses on a client’s HR-functionality and business strategy. He enjoys challenging teams and has an impressive track re-cord of facilitating change and organisational improvement.

The intensive one day seminar, Business Negotiations, led by Dmitry Juskovets has become one of the most sought after programmes – both as an open seminar and in-house for companies. Dmitry combines persuasion theory and professional experience as a business nego-tiator to create an intensive training in reaching suc-cessful agreements. For the upcoming season Dmitry offers an in-depth class – Business Negotiations II.

Adapt or Die? Leadership Training at SSE Riga

Meet our Faculty

Ingrīda Loža, Executive Education Department Director

Research EU-projectsSSE Riga Library

Latvian Competitiveness ReportIn April, SSE Riga delivered the Competitiveness Report 2011 to the Latvian Prime Minister at an event in the State Chancellery building. The Com-petitiveness Report was presented by Anders Paal-zow, SSE Riga Rector; Alf Vanags, BICEPS Direc-tor; and Christian H. M. Ketels, Harvard Business School researcher.

Latvia’s Competitiveness Report 2011 identifies the causes of the biggest problems regarding Latvia’s competitiveness. It outlines priority actions to be taken and recommended reforms in State adminis-tration. A shadow economy, the poor quality of the education system and the lack of transport infra-structure – these are the areas that hamper Latvia’s competitiveness. The main conclusions were that sus-tainable growth in Latvia cannot be expected with-out radical institutional reforms, statutory account-ability for politicians and MPs for their decisions and actions, and involvement of foreign experts.

Global Competitiveness Report In September, the 2012-2013 Global Competitive-ness Report was released by the World Economic Forum. A team of SSE Riga student researchers, led by SSE Riga faculty member Karlis Kreslin, , carried out the Latvian Executive Opinion Survey - which constitutes an integral part of the Global Competi-tiveness Report.

The Global Competitiveness Index 2012 – 2013 revealed that Latvia, and its economy, has come out of stagnation over the last year, and the country was ranked as 55th out of 144 countries, compared with 64th place last year. Latvia’s Baltic neighbours, Es-tonia and Lithuania, were ranked 34th and 45th, respectively.

From November 1st, all students, faculty, and staff will have daily electronic access to the Financial Times newspaper, including the newspaper’s archives and financial data.

Change is GoodThe new strategy is also to increase the collection of books in such areas as intellectual property, corporate and social responsibility, entrepreneurship, and journalism, often with the financial assistance of SSE Riga’s generous donors and partners.

In addition to collecting material, the Library is very interested in hearing suggestions from all of its patrons, particularly from SSE Riga alumni. The first meeting of the Library Alumni Committee was held on September 25th. If you would like to be included in future meetings, please send an email to library@sseriga.edu.

Do You Read the Financial Times?Readers will be able to access the full text of the newspaper anywhere – from their computers, tablets, or smartphones. Lecturers can integrate articles from the Financial Times into their courses and annotate the articles with their comments. Members of the general reading public are able to read the paper on a designated computer in the SSE Riga Library.

They say that “change is good,” and the Li-brary has undergone a lot of changes over the past year. The most important change is a shift in our focus toward creating an active learning and research environment for our students. In order to accomplish this goal, the SSE Riga Library staff is developing a library resources page on the e-learning platform as well as a deeper web presence.

SSE Riga Rector Anders Paalzow presenting the Competitiveness Report to Prime Minister of Latvia Valdis Dombrovskis

Two of SSE Riga’s EU funded projects – CREAENT and Best Agers – are completed. The CREAENT (Creative Entrepreneurship Training Network) final event took place in Helsinki at the end of October, and all of the Latvian participants who took part, either in the networking events or in the pilot course for creative entrepreneurs, met at the project’s closing event in Andrejsala (Riga) on October 24th. The end of the project was marked by the publication of the booklet “Creative and cultural industries in Latvia 2012”.

In the BEST AGERS project, the pilot course for senior mentors was fi-nalised at the beginning of October, and in September, the course “How to Become an Entrepreneur” for second-ary school pupils began in Jelgava. The course will run in cities in four regions of Latvia ( Jelgava, Daugavpils, Valm-iera and Ventspils) until mid-Novem-ber. During the course, experienced best agers – entrepreneurs and lecturers from regional universities – will teach youngsters the basics of entrepreneur-ship and business. Before the project ends in December, results from studies on best ager employment will be pub-lished, and a round table discussion on the best ager situation in Latvia will be organised.

Last autumn, SSE Riga started work on a new project – CB ENTREINT (Central Balticum Entrepreneurship In-teraction), which is aimed at increasing the qualifications of entrepreneurship educators and creating and strengthen-ing networks in the Baltic Sea Region. During 2012, SSE Riga researchers conducted a study of the training needs of entrepreneurship educators in Latvia; the study results will be used to develop a training programme that will start in February of 2013. In the autumn, SSE Riga hosted a project meeting, and in cooperation with the Latvian Techno-logical Centre, organised a network-ing event for entrepreneurship teachers from Estonia, Latvia, and Finland.

The Centre for Sustainable Business at SSE Riga The Centre for Media Studies at SSE Riga

The Centre for Sustainable Business at SSE Riga opened on May 2012. The activities at the Centre are dedicated to:

The geographical area includes Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, as well as two other countries in which SSE Riga has an active presence: Mol-dova and Belarus.

The Centre for Sustainable Business aims to help develop the skills of the next generation of deci-sion-makers in the area of business sustainability. As part of their activities, they have integrated the course of sustainable business into the cur-riculum of SSE Riga. The Centre for Sustain-able Business at SSE Riga is powered by SEB.

• Education that develops relevant skills among the next generation of decision-makers in the public and private sectors;

• Research conducted by SSE Riga faculty and students, involving external participants and researchers;

• Outreach activities aiming at creating a dialogue between academia, government, business, civil society, and the media.

Since 2009, SSE Riga has had a Centre for Media Studies which supports education and research in the media. International profes-sionals have given dozens of workshops for col-leagues from the Baltic States over the years. A highlight was the Riga Summer School on Investigative Reporting in August 2012.

European and American professionals of the highest international standard presented unique, advanced-level workshops in investiga-tive journalism.

Additional networking gave cross-border cooperation opportunities to Baltic and Swed-ish journalists and news organisations. The overall purposes of the Summer School were to provide the most current methods and tools for modern journalism, and to share effective tools for revealing important problems and wrong-doing in our society. This time, e.g., one target was organised crime and corruption – and for this topic the Center for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevo participated.

The overall goal of the Centre is to create long-term activities which will contribute to the development of both individual journalists and the media overall in the three Baltic countries, by conducting training of journalists; through inspiring seminars and by allowing for the ex-change of experiences; by international net-working and by conducting research projects related to media.

The first Summer School on Investigative reporting was held in August 2012: Three in-tensive days organised by the Centre in coop-eration with the City University of London, UK, and the University of Maryland, USA.

On a regular basis, since 2009, the Centre for Media Studies has held 10 to 15 events every year, on subjects ranging from Market and Busi-ness Journalism, Basic Investigative Journal-ism, Journalistic Ethics, Computer Assisted Re-porting, and Investigative Journalism vs. Cor-ruption. Donations from the Anne-Marie and Gustaf Anders Foundation make it all possible.

Business Sustainability

Hands-on Training by Journalists for Journalists

Events

On February 1st, Mr. Anders Borg, Minister of Finance of Sweden, visited SSE Riga and deliv-ered an open lecture “Resolving Europe’s Eco-nomic Crisis”. The Embassy of Sweden, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, and SSE Riga were honoured to organise this event.

Mr. Uzi Landauhas, Israeli Minister of Energy and Water, signing the SSE Riga Guestbook

From left: Mr. Anders Borg, Minister of Finance of Sweden, and Mr. Morten Hansen, Head of the Economics Department at SSE Riga

March, 2012Round table discussion: Where does Europe go from here?On March 18th, SSE Riga and the British Embassy in Latvia organised an open discussion: “Where does Europe go from here?” with the participation of the Rt Hon David Liding-ton, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

October, 2012International Conference in Memory of Raoul WallenbergOn October 10th, SSE Riga hosted an Inter-national Conference in Memory of Raoul Wal-lenberg. The conference marked the 100 Year Anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish Diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Jews in occupied Bu-dapest during World War II. A conference “Raoul Wallenberg: One man can make a difference” was or-ganised by the Em-bassy of Sweden in cooperation with the Em-bassy of Israel and the Embassy of Hungary.

April, 2012Lecture by Mr. Uzi Landauhas, Israeli Minister of Energy and Water

On April 17th, Mr. Uzi Landauhas, Israeli Min-ister of Energy and Water, delivered an open

lecture “The natural gas and water sector in Israel”. The Embassy of Israel in Latvia, together with SSE Riga or-ganised this event.

February, 2012Lecture by Mr. Anders Borg, Minister for Finance of Sweden

During one week each November, thousands of events and competitions around the world inspire millions to engage in entrepreneurial activ-ity while connecting them to poten-tial collaborators, mentors, and even investors. More than 120 countries across six continents come together to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), an initiative to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination, and creativity. This is the third time Latvia is participating in GEW and SSE Riga is an official host.

November 12th-18th, 2012Global Entrepreneurship Week

Events

October, 2012Discussion on migration issues with Latvian and Swedish EU-commissioners

#InnovationRiga Conference

Mr. Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Development

From left: Ms. Cecilia Malmström, EU Home Affairs Commissioner; Mr. Mārtiņš Kazāks, Chief Economist of Swedbank Latvia; Mr. Morten Hansen, Head of the Economics Department at SSE Riga

Junior Peaktime Competition

On October 19th, in connection with the 10th anniversary of the Executive MBA programme, SSE Riga organised the public discussion “Quo Vadis Latvia: Migration from the perspective of Latvia and Europe”.Among the speakers were Mr. Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Develop-ment, and Ms. Cecilia Malmström, EU Home Affairs Commissioner. The discus-sion was moderated by Morten Hansen, Head of the Economics Department at SSE Riga.

Events during GEW week in Latvia:

Latvian Cleantech Ideas Competition The goal of the Latvian Cleantech Ideas Competition is to find the most successful and promising Cleantech ideas in Latvia, and reward the best with an opportunity to represent Latvia in the competition finals at the Cleantech Open Global Forum that will take place in Silicon Valley during Global Entrepre-neurship Week in 2012.

The competition is aimed at high school stu-dents from the Baltic countries who want to prove their individual and team-work skills in the spheres of business and economics. The competition expands one’s limits in both know-what and know-how by provid-ing the most talented students with new knowledge of business and economics, and afterwards providing grounds for applying the knowledge gained to actual practice. It involves participants from Eastern Europe.

Alumni Success StoriesSSE Riga has a close and strong alumni network, as well as a long-lasting tradition of alumni-student cooperation. The aim of this event is to learn hands-on from our graduates, to get to know them and to see how they used their SSE Riga experience to unleash their own ideas.

Idea LabA fast-track coaching event for productive business idea development. Unlike numerous other start-up-planning trainings, Idea Lab is aimed at developing the initial and most important phase of the entrepreneurship process – formulating and addressing consumer wishes and desires that the new product or service satisfies or the problems it solves.

The aim of the event is to share scaling experiences of the most successful creative and tech start-ups, and to explore successful cases and formulate strategies for university-business links to cre-ate a stimulating environment for high-growth entrepreneurship.

The Baltic Leader in Business Education

Stockholm School of Economics in Riga • Strēlnieku iela 4a • Riga LV-1010 • Latvia Phone: +371 67015800 • E-mail: office@sseriga.edu • www.sseriga.edu

BSc Programme in Economics and BusinessThe three-year BSc programme provides a broad education in economics and business administration, with opportunities for specialisation in the final year in any two of the following areas: Economics, Finance, Marketing, or Entrepreneurship.

Executive MBA ProgrammeThe two-year Executive MBA programme offered at SSE Riga combines a focus on intellectual rigor with serious business training in a format that permits business executives to continue their studies while working.

Executive EducationSSE Riga Executive Education offers effective training and management-development solutions to local and international clients in the private and public sector. The educational portfolio offered by the SSE Riga Executive Education unit ranges from open programmes to tailor made in-house programmes.