"Finish Line Fever"

1 MORE MONTH and ‘ADIÓS’ VENLO.

There is an avalanche of things to do coming up (or “coming down”, because avalanches are supposed to go down, right… whatever):
Exams, projects, presentations, reports, letters, e-mails, horses, visas (and this is just the short list)…

25 hours a day and 8 days a week are needed to do the amount of things that are asked from me (and because, from past experiences, I’ve found out that stressing out doesn’t really help; now I’m in a Hakuna matata mode).

…But, out of all these things to do, there is at least ONE thing that is almost over: The mini company (…and this makes me very happy).

mini     COMPANY???

The mini company is just a project you do during your second year at Fontys. You get ‘mixed up’ in a group with approx. 12 other students from different courses (IBMS, IBE, F&FM and IM).

The idea is simulating a real company. So, as a group, you come up with a product, write a business plan, sell shares to people; then you produce the product and sell it.

It is a good learning experience that gives you a chance to apply what you’ve learned so far. Still, in the end your own experience pretty much will depend on the group you end up working with (and of course other factors as well).

I know of friends whose experience has been good and others whose experience has been quite bad. Either way, in the end the mini company is simply another class to pass.

I, personally, was expecting something else from what it was. And to write a bit more ‘objectively’ I will let a dictionary briefly describe to you how my mini company experience was:


Semester no. 1 - Lesson learned: Definition of communism: “A system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state…” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/communism?s=t).

If you got the point, then yes; I must say that the power in our mini company during this semester was concentrated in the hands of just a few people. Fidel Castro would have definitely felt just like at home in our group, back then.

The result of this:
90% of the group’s decisions and ideas ended up coming just from the ‘elite’ members of our mini company. The remaining 10% came from those who this minority believed were ‘adequate enough’ to contribute to the group.

  

Outcome:
- Product to be sold for the rest of the year: “The Beer Pong Kit”.
- Further description of the product: 20 plastic cups, 3 ping pong balls, and a piece of paper (instructions manual) placed in a plastic tube; with a cost of 9.99 Euros.
- Concept behind the product: None.

“In between semesters” period – Every group member participated in an individual talk with the group’s general management team to review the past semester. In my case, it gave me the chance to address the ‘communism issue’ mentioned above.
The roles in the group were changed; and semester no. 2 began, along with a relatively ‘new start’.

Semester no. 2 – Lesson learned: Definition of democracy: “Government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people…” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/democracy?s=t).

The result of this: 
The group decisions and ideas ended up coming from almost all group members.

Outcome:
- The break-even point was reached. 
- Got rid of all The Beer Pong Kits (some of them for less than half the price, but at least that’s something, right?).

Bottom line I guess everyone learned something (…at least, a lot of our group members became ‘professional’ beer pong players).

 

Now, I leave you with this video as an example of the tasks you might run into while in the mini company [in terms of time and human resources this is an example of a low budget video (‘cause I was asked to do it the same day we were supposed to hand it in), other mini companies might have done the video differently]. So turn your speakers on, and enjoy (…or not):