Portfolio Committee of Business Systems Meeting

Hello,

You may or may not know that i am one half of the Business Management Student Representation this year alongside my friend Kirsty. We attend regular meetings every two weeks where we share issues that other students have come to us with and basically find answers and get things resolved. Myself and Kirsty got an email about a Portfolio Committee of Business Systems Meeting which was taking place on the Luton campus last week (4th December) and we thought we would go along and give our input on the course and raise anything that other students have come to us with…pretty much a standard meeting, however, in the presence of more influential people within the Business School.

We were really looking forward to the meeting as it is something we have never done before and we were hoping for the best possible outcome. However, what we experienced was a steep learning curve in being able to get our points across and getting others to understand how passionate we felt about the issues in hand. It was a challenge to get our voices heard, especially when there are lots of other members of staff and students there voicing their challenges too. No one said that being a student was easy, but we did leave the meeting feeling a little disappointed as it hadn't been as successful as we had first hoped. Not one to be deterred, myself and Kirsty attend regular meetings and we are hoping to raise this issue and figure out why everything spiralled at the meeting. From a business perspective every side will have an opinion and it is a great learning opportunity on our part as when we graduate we would hope to be high up in businesses just like the committee. Communication is a vital component and it is something that is constantly required in business.

We will keep you all posted…

Burberry vs Apple

Hello Everyone,

The news about how Burberry Chief Executive is taking the plunge and moving over to Apple is no new news but i thought i had to write up a post about it. As an independent blogger who is closely linked to beauty, fashion and lifestyle i just had to include this on the business blog…the perfect combination of my favourite things…fashion and business.
Burberry chief executive Angela Ahrendts is leaving the luxury goods firm next year to join the technology giant which is Apple. A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to chat about the news in a Strategy and Change Management seminar and i thought it was just great. How someone so influential in the fashion world is moving over to such a huge company like Apple which is in a completely different market and sector really fascinated me. I totally feel that she will have some kind of beneficial aspect on the business as it is going to be something totally unique and different. Angela Ahrendts has been with Burberry for almost a decade and has been credited with turning it into a more globally recognised company.

Angela Ahrendts will have oversights of the strategic direction, expansion and operation of both Apple retail and online stores, which have redefined the shopping experience for hundreds of millions of customers around the world according to Apple themselves. Apple retail stores set the standard for customer service with innovative features like the Genius Bar, Personal Setup and One to One personal training to help customers get the most out of their Apple products…it makes you wonder about what they will think of next.  In an intriguing marriage of fashion and technology, Angela Ahrendts will arrive as Apple seeks to rev up a brand whose devices have become ubiquitous and whose stores have lost some of their initial novelty. Their are some rivals such as Samsung, Tesco, Sony and so on who have stolen taken some of Apples flair with distinctive products and glitzy marketing. There have been rumours about how Apple are planning a 'iWatch' which links within the fashion side and where Angela Ahrendts would have the upper hand advantage over other technology competitors. I for one am quite excited to see what she has up her sleeve and how she is planning to take Apple to the next level.

What do you think about the new Burberry vs Apple scenario? Do you think Angela Ahrendts will have an influential and positive affect on Apple?

Practice Week

Hello again,

I briefly mentioned in my last post that we were going to have a practice week which is a week away from the normal time tabling. Now in my third and final year of my Business Management degree at the University of Bedfordshire this is the fist occasion where we have had the experience of a practice week. I think all courses offer different practice weeks differently and for us we were give the task of pitching two event ideas to a panel of lecturers and panel of other judges.
We were given a selection of projects to pitch towards -

1. Our own £50 project to raise money for a charity of our choice.
2. A £250 University of Bedfordshire 'RAG' Charity event
3. STEPS events for Students at the University to become more interactive
4. A National Rail Way project
5. Other

Day 1: We came together as a group and decided which events we wanted to pitch towards and then ranked our 3 choices in order of preference.

Day 2: We then decided on our ideas as a team and then allocated roles to all individuals within the group. We then went away to write up our notes to come back the following day to add out notes to the presentation to ensure everything flowed and nothing was duplicated.

Day 3: We came back together as a group and added notes to individuals slides for the presentation. We made sure everyone was happy with the final product and then a final design was added to the slides which was linked to our event and then handouts were printed to hand in with out pitches.

Day 4: As everything with the presentation was pretty much complete we decided to go away and practice practice and practice our individuals slides for the presentation so we could present in the highest possible manor.

Day 5: The Pitch Day! Both presentations were in the afternoon so we decided to come together in the morning for a few hours and go over and over the presentation until we were happy with the outcome and we were in the required time allowance for the pitches. Overall, they both went extremely well and we are going ahead with a really exciting event which we are currently preparing for to take place during March 2014.

Overall, Practice week was a great experience and helped us work under pressure to achieve a goal at the end of the week. Usually we have a few weeks to prep for presentations and so on but having less time did feel slightly more stressful but in the end we achieved everything we wanted to as a team.

An Introduction...

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to the Business Student blog!

If you have taken a peek at my little introduction section under my photo then you will know that i am Sophia and i am the current Business blogger for the University. I am a Business Management student at the University of Bedfordshire going through my third and final year of the course. Already having my own personal blog i thought i would combine my interest of business and blogging and create the ultimate business blog for the University. You can expect lots of ramblings about University life, my course, Business in general and the occasional vlog for good measure.

You are probably all wondering why i chose the University of Bedfordshire and my course Business Management BA (HONS). Well, i am actually from Bedfordshire myself and at the time when i applied to University i couldn't really see myself going away too far. I applied to my top 5 Universities which included some top ranked ones but i always knew that the University of Bedfordshire would be for me...I am a typical home bird at heart! Sometimes you think that a University on your door step might not be that great and i really did think that at first, however, after viewing the University it seemed to be perfect for what i wanted to do. Business had been something i have always been interested in and i feel it is something i could branch out into a wide range of jobs with. My Father has his own Advertising and Marketing business in Milton Keynes so i guess this and seeing my Dad achieve so much has always been an inspiration for me. I do see myself as quite the entrepreneur and i run two of my own business and write my own personally blog amongst working two part time jobs and attending University - I know you must be thinking i am crazy but i have always been really motivated and driven. Blogging has become a great escape for me especially when everyday life can get quite stressful...it's a place i can go and ramble about all of the things i love. So, Business Management seemed like the perfect course for me...in my first year we covered Foundations of Business Management, Principles of Marketing, Principles of Accounting and an Introduction into the Legal Environment; in my second year we covered Small Business Planning and Entrepreneurship, Operations Management, Marketing Planning, Human Resource Management, Financial and Management Accounting, Contemporary Management and also Business Research Skills; and now in my final year we are studying Strategy and Change Management, Project Management, Managing E-Business and of course our Dissertation unit. Obviously you will hits some bumps along the way but everything we have learnt and are currently studying all have a beneficial aspect for our overall degree for when we graduate and i really do feel i have extended my learning and to be almost at the finish line feels so amazing - it feels like the 3 years have just flown by!

Whats going on? Well, we actually went  through a Practice Week with Project management last week where we had to present and pitch a Charity Event idea to potential business clients. It was quite nerve racking but it was also quite exciting at the same time, i love organising things like this so it will be amazing to see the final outcomes at the end of the year when we host our desired event idea. My Project Group actually won a small prize for the best event idea for 'StEPs' which is a student experience project that the University are working on...so it was quite nice to be noticed for all of our hard work haha!

I hope you all enjoyed the first ever post for the Business Student Blog! I hope i Introduced myself well enough for you all - If you would like to know anything else about my experiences at the University so far, my choices and so on do get in contact! Expect lots more ramblings to come in the future!

Speak Soon!