International Entrepreneurship Challenge

• Comprehensive and independent assessment and evaluation of the internationalization potential in relation to the company's current business plans, corporate growth strategies and market opportunities.
• Primary and secondary market research and detailed data analysis.
• Application of state-of-the-art management frameworks and analysis techniques in the quest to provide solutions for the company.
• Professional and structured written internationalization/business plan which provides specific recommendations for the company.
• Final seminar where student teams present both the internationalization/business plan and give an elevator pitch for a "key target customer" in the plan. Possibility for the Q&A after the final presentation and also to hear the comments of the supervising professors and external mentors from the LUT's extensive business networks.

• Technology-based product or service company
• Independent business / Small and Medium-sized Enterprise or a small business unit within a larger corporation which can be considered as a corporate new venture.
• Entrepreneurial company with some track record (internationalization would be a realistic objective for the company).
• Project scope focused on business or strategic plan development with the aim of either initial internationalization or an increase in the current international presence.
• Top management needs to be able to have time to meet with students and respond to their emails.
• Top management participation and attendance at the key events in Lappeenranta (twice, one day in September and another day in December).
• Full access to the strategic and financial data for the students needs to be given for the preparation of the successful plan (Please note that non-disclosure agreements can be written and IEC rigorously maintains strict confidentiality standards regarding each field study project).
• Readiness to compensate the student team costs (e.g. if travelling is considered a must for the completion of the field project in the primary market research phase). This will be discussed separately case-by-case and can be decided by the participating companies.

• Credibility and potential of the company to conduct international business
• Management commitment of personal time to make possible a successful programme
• Disclosure of the corporate strategy and financial information for a student team
• Company fit with the programme (technology-based, entrepreneurial…)

IEC defines "technology" broadly and it is seen consisting of practical application of science to industrial and commercial objectives. We have long track record in providing the programme for the software companies or for the companies which have embedded software as a part of their core offering.

Examples of the companies which have participated in the programme include the following:

• Visma Severa
• MeVEA
• Tellyo
• Delitaz
• Ekogen
• Viope Solutions
• GreyCrunch
• Helmivisio
• Maplet
• Oplatek Group
• Entteri
• Fantasiarakenne
• Seepia Games
• Nitro Games
• Headnought
• In4Mo
• Suomen Rengastehdas
• Sansox
• Perhekokki
• Reino & Aino Kotikenkä
• ITA Nordic
• Flyvice
• Witrafi

Please fill in the brief application form provided on this website. If you are not sure of the suitability of your company to participate we are more than happy to discuss the eligibility issues with you.

After the application period has ended the IEC team will go through the applications. Our aim is to provide you the information of the possible acceptance by mid-June  at the latest. If you do have specific requirements about the communication methods please let us know.

If there is any more availability in the IEC programme for the late applicants we may follow other schedule. In any case, we hope to discuss about the more detailed issues with the programme participants in August before the actual kick-off day in September.

The company representatives need to visit LUT/Lappeenranta twice, that is, for the kick-off meeting in September and on the final presentation day, December. In addition to these dates there are several phases in the programme in which the contact with the student team is essential (but these can be online, by email etc.).

The preferred method of communication can be discussed with the student team. In general we require that top management should have time to meet with students and respond to their emails regularly during the three month working period.

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) can be written and IEC rigorously maintains strict confidentiality standards regarding each field study project. The participating firms are more than welcome to discuss about our policies regarding this and we will also provide templates for NDAs to be used.

In principle the programme is free of charge for the selected companies. The company has to dedicate its own time for the programme meetings, however. Furthermore, the company managers participating the events need take care of their own travelling costs.

If the fulfillment of the project task requires specific investments (for example, if travelling is considered a must for the student team for the successful completion of the field project in primary market research phase) the firms, participating in the IEC Programme, have to be ready to compensate the student team costs. This will be discussed separately case-by-case and can be decided by the participating companies, however.

The student body in the IEC-programme is highly international representing a mixture of nationalities. The Finnish students have spent considerable amount of time abroad prior to participation to IEC, either through study exchange or internship. The students possess wide array of knowledge in business functions, especially in marketing, international business and technology management.

The IEC Programme operates in co-operation with the Master in International Marketing Management (MIMM) programme which is a specialized two-year EFMD-accredited programme provided by the LUT School of Business and Management and also with a newer programme at LUT, i.e. Master in International Business and Entrepreneurship (MIBE).

EFMD accreditation is an international programme accreditation system operated by EFMD. It aims to evaluate the quality of any business and/or management programme that has an international perspective and, where of an appropriately high quality, to accredit it. MIMM Programme at LUT received the EPAS Accreditation (now calleed EFMD accrediation) for five-year period as the first Nordic business school in 2012 and has been accredited since then.

IEC Student Profile (an example from 2011): Average age: 24,5 years o Male / Female: 43% / 57% o Approximately 40-50% are international students, 14 nationalities. The students of LUT who participate the IEC focus on marketing, international business, entrepreneurship and technology/innovation management related topics in their studies.

The aim of the LUT School of Business and Management is to provide them with relevant skills and capabilities to be able to analyze, plan and implement international business operations with the focus especially on the management of global knowledge-intensive innovation activities from the marketing perspective.

The IEC Programme matches companies with a team of four-five MIMM and MIBE students. Each participating company will be assigned a team which conducts a field study project for a company. Each team collectively contributes in the region of 800 hours to each company. Although the exact time used for the completion of the each case is difficult to assess beforehand the MIMM and MIBE students will complete an in-depth internationalization / business plan which should enable the company to move to the next stage in their development.

The faculty advisors will have a final say on this although the student teams can tell their preferences after studying the participating companies independently by using secondary data sources. One criteria, for example, is the composition of the team (and their special skills) and its fit to the objectives of the company. Unfortunately we cannot let the companies to participate this process.

Olli Kuivalainen (D.Sc. Econ. and Business Administration) is a Professor of International Marketing and Entrepreneurship at LUT University School of Business and Management. His expertise covers broad areas of international business, marketing, entrepreneurship and technology management and their interfaces. His research interests are in the areas of international entrepreneurship, and strategic management, marketing and internationalization of knowledge-intensive firms, the focus especially being on firms operating in the domains of software business and media, and information and communication technologies. His academic work has been published in journals such as Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, International Business Review, Journal of International Marketing, Technovation, International Marketing Review, International Journal of Production Economics and Journal of International Entrepreneurship.

Antti Vilpponen is a serial entrepreneur who has founded several companies in the digital industry. His current venture is ArcticStartup, which under his leadership has become the largest Northern European media company covering startups and growth entrepreneurship in the region with some 60 000+ unique readers monthly.

His strengths are in commercialisation of innovations, product development, sales and strategy. He has some 10 years of experience in being an entrepreneur in social gaming companies, digital consultancies as well as online media and consumer focused companies.

He blogs at antti.vilpponen.net as well as Arctic Startup and tweets with @vilpponen.

Kirsimarja Blomqvist is a Professor for Knowledge management at the School of Business, Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT). Working over 20 years as a boundary-spanner across business and academic communities she has a strong interest for academic research and its practical relevance in helping practitioners to develop their businesses.

Her experience from small and medium-sized firms comes from late 1980s and 1990s when developing "Export Circle" concept and working as a Project manager for Ministry of Trade and Industry helping 130 small and medium-sized firms in their internationalization. Her first degree is M.Sc. (Econ) in International marketing. During her PhD studies she studied in European Doctoral Program on Entrepreneurship and Small business management in Denmark. In mid 1990's she also worked as a corporate analyst involved in risk financing technology-intensive firms and later she has served as a board member for growth-oriented firms and organizations.

Her knowledge from large firms comes from working part time for Sonera (later TeliaSonera) R&D. Since her PhD research focusing on alliances between small and large technology firms she has been a regular speaker in company seminars in Finland, France and Sweden. Since 2004 she is also a CEO for her company Confida Ltd focused on training and consulting.

At LUT she has been involved in developing the first M.Sc. program for international marketing, first international summer program, first MBA program on innovation and global business, and setting up Technology Business Research Center. She has worked as a Professor for Knowledge management since 2003. Starting in August 2012 she will be the LUT vice-rector for internationalization. Her research interests relate to trust and its applications in business, knowledge management, innovation and collaboration and she has published over 100 articles on her research topics in academic and management journals.

Her research articles has been published e.g. in California Management Review, Scandinavian Journal of Management, Creativity and Innovation Management, Research Policy, R&D Management, Technovation, and  Industrial Marketing Management. She serves also as an Assistant Editor for Journal of Trust Research and is a founding member of FINT network comprising of 400 trust researchers around the world. Since May 2011 she has been a visiting Scholar in Stanford University focusing on her research on trust.

Veikko Hara (PhD, Dr.Sc., h.c.) has over 25 years of dynamic experience in Information Technology and now a research director at Rovio. Earlier he has been the head of R&D and a senior vice president at TeliaSonera, and worked at Nokia over six years, for example.

He possesses valuable industry insights, keen analysis skills and team approach to implement best practice in organizing and leading related business units. Also he has been successful in leading corporations through critical phases, turnaround/recovery and fast-track growth.

Petteri Laaksonen has strong experience regarding several industries including e. g. Wind Power, Telecommunication and Paper Industry. Currently he is a member of the Board at TuuliMuukko Oy. During his 20-year career he has also been Managing Director at VentusVis Oy, Vice President at Telia Sonera and Vice President at Telecom Finland.

His strengths are in start-ups, business strategy and finance, new business development, business management and organizational leadership. He has studied at Lappeenranta University of Technology, and graduated as Dr.Sc.

Jari Varis works in LUT School of Business as an associate professor. Jari has a doctoral degree (Dr.Sc., Tech) in industrial engineering and management, and MBA in international business and high-tech marketing. Jari has experience on sales and marketing in international companies and in business development. Research and teaching areas cover partnerships, marketing, international business and entrepreneurship.

William H. Frost is President of Strategy Analysis International. SAI is a consulting firm with offices in eight countries focused on trade and investment promotion and international business development. The firm works with both corporate and institutional clients. He is a citizen of France and Canada and lives in France.

William has a long history in both consulting (e.g. in Sweden, France and Japan), lecturing (e.g. in ESSEC) and research and engineering (e.g. in  Battelle Geneva, Switzerland;  Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke AG, Altenrhein, Switzerland; Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke AG, Altenrhein, Switzerland).

He also holds a number of US and foreign patents in heat exchanger design, low noise emission devices and acoustic liners, and has published widely on topics of internationalization and strategy.

Martti Soininen is a Research Coordinator at Rovio Entertainment. He has wide experience in business development and he has worked with several Finnish growth companies and public sector organizations. His expertise areas cover innovation processes, r&d-funding and internationalization of companies. Martti has graduated from LUT in 2001 and also worked as a researcher in the university.