IB TODAY

ISSUE 18
01 / 2009
9 PAGES

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PROGRAMME

JYVÄSKYLÄ UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

International Business at Jyväskylä University of

Applied Sciences – more international than ever!!

First of all, we at IB Today would like to wish you a very happy and successful be-
ginning to 2009. Indeed, this New Year has brought many changes for IB Today,
and in this issue we will be highlighting the fact that despite our American “power
forward” Kevin Manninen being snapped up by local development company Jy-
väskylä Innovation, the team behind IB’s content delivery is more international
than ever.

The internationality of our school has many sides – of course the international de-
gree and exchange students who study here and our international network of part-
ner companies and universities continue to thrive (more about both of these in the
Spring ‘09 edition!), but key to the success of any international program is that
those delivering the learning opportunities are international in the truest sense of
the word, and this is something that we are continuously building here in IB.

We wanted to use this first issue of IB Today in what is a new era for us to tell you
about some of these great assets in our possession:

The ex-chief's last word? We catch up with IBT’s departing editor, Kevin Manninen Page 2
Steve Crawford: the man, the story and the mind Page 3
A moment with Murat: Mr. Akpinar shares all Page 4
A brand of his own – a lecture with Mr. Olu Raheem Page 5
A cup of tea with Sam Down Page 6
John Hutchins: a real life Lao Tzu? Page 7
Sharon Ballard: Bettering the World one Entrepreneur at a time Page 8
Introducing IB Today’s new editorial team Page 9

This will surely be among the first magazines you’ll receive this year – we hope
it’s one of the most enjoyable too. Behind this issue is our new editorial team (see
page 9), who in the true spirit of IB keep the international flavor alive, representing
no fewer than five nationalities!
If you have any ideas for our future issues or suggestions on how we can develop
this newsletter, please get in touch. In the meantime, enjoy the first installment of
IB Today for the year 2009.

Yours,
Juha Saukkonen & Samuel Down
Joint Executive Editors

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 The ex-chief's last word?
We catch up with IBT’s departing editor, Kevin Manninen
It is once again time to say hello to Kevin Manninen, the former chief of
IB Today, and ask what is going on in his life.

Mr. Manninen is originally from the USA but has been living in Finland for
quite a few years now. He has worked as a lecturer in JUA and is now
working as a Manager of Business Development in Jyväskylä Innovation
Ltd, ”business at Jyväskylä program”.

The reasons behind Mr. Manninen’s choice of career were the desire to
work internationally and his own international background. The Polytechnics
were just being formed at the time and through some contacts he ended up in JUA. There he
worked as a lecturer until he moved to teaching in the international programs which were started
back in '96.

As a teacher, Mr. Manninen tries to build an interest in the students to continue learning. ”What we
can teach them in a classroom environment is very limited simply because of the timeframe”, says
Mr. Manninen. According to him it is important to get the students to think and learn to learn. And of
course, to encourage them to do so.

IB

Mr. Kevin Manninen claims that JUA is one of the best Polytech- Mr. Manninen’s motto:
nics schools in Finland, if not the best. It has a good combination “Work hard, play hard!”
for learning the basics of business, theory and how to apply that
theory in practice. JUA’s internationality and international envi-
ronment is what differentiates it from other schools that just keep the international lines to say they
are international schools. Some of the other schools have no emphasis or direction, and a lack of
focus and funding is what is hurting them the most.

When asked about Mr. Manninen's greatest accomplishment in JUA he replied “the work I put in the
development of IB line. In the end I was working more and more in developing the program and
teaching was less than 50% of my work”. He also said that students should focus on the vital skills
that will affect their future: communication skills, presentation skills and a sales orientated thinking
and approach. He continued saying that the short time he has worked for Innova proves there is a
great need for that in Central Finland, and in fact throughout the country.

As he used to be the Chief Editor of IB Today he was asked how he felt now that he is being inter-
viewed for his own magazine. With a smile on his face he answered “(I feel) good! No problems with
that. I’m glad that it's continuing because this has been the only voice that we’ve had. We were ne-
glected as a line when it came to promoting at JUA and what has been going on is we could never
get a voice and this is why IB Today was started – as a Marketing tool.”

In his own words he wanted to add “what we’re doing is revolutionary and yet it's credible. It has
credibility. We have to remember we’re an educational institution and students should be getting
good skills all around.
In my new position I have really come to appreciate what IB can be. It is one of the only lines that
actually give credible education and at the same time can have a practical role in helping companies.
For example, the high tech management has high potential and plays a big role.

“I see the important role IB can have and I'm looking forward to working with IB now from the busi-
ness side.”

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 Steven Crawford – The Man, The Story & The Mind
Steve Crawford is a lecturer at the Jyväskylä’s University of
Applied Sciences. When asked about his nationality, Steve re-
plied: “USA by birth certificate and social programming, but my
worldview is still under construction.”

The Man

“When I was fifteen I worked at a harness-racing horse track,

cleaning dishes in the kitchen. After high school I worked on a
large riverboat. My first roommate on the boat had just gotten
out of prison for manslaughter. These were my Huckleberry
Finn days. There I began the long road that led me to my present Kalevala days in Finland. Along
the road I have worked mostly in sales and marketing. In the 80s I sold high-tech stuff to the U.S.
federal government, the world’s largest customer. My primary accounts were NASA and the National
Institutes of Health. Later I worked in my family-owned Marketing and Communications Company,
doing everything from writing radio ad spots to producing industrial videos and magazines. Before
coming to Finland I worked for some years at E.W. Scripps, a Fortune 500 media conglomerate.

“I suppose my glory days were spent in Washington, D.C. working with interesting and prominent
clients. I was able to work with the National Institutes of Health researchers who co-discovered the
AIDS virus, and learned early on from an insider perspective that this disease was going to be a big
deal. Then there was supporting various
aspects of our space program at NASA. The Steve-mobile:
Basically, the 80’s saw the transition from “I heard that something like sixty percent of all Rolls-
centralized to distributed information proc- Royce cars made since 1904 are still roadworthy, so I
essing in government, and mainframes think that at my age this would make for a good
became minis, became micros. Due to a choice. If, however, the doctor told me I have six
Reagan legislative initiative the federal months to live I would become a 1970 426 Hemi-
government then had a large appetite for powered V8 Plymouth Road Runner.”
computers, training and services. I worked
two blocks from the White House and enjoyed the close proximity to many exciting places and inter-
esting people.”

The Story

When asked to provide advice for today’s International Business students, Steve responded: “You
need to be curious and reflexive now so that you can adjust and gradually set your compass, be-
cause your studies will inform your future goals. Get from each teacher whatever it is that they have
that you do not. All teachers have experienced failures and achievements. Success in business is
usually informed by some number of hard lessons learned. Put everything you can into your thesis.
More than anything else you do in school the thesis is distinctly yours, and represents clearly your
potential for success in the business world. Create your thesis as if your future depended on it. Get
an early start. If you wait too long to begin the thesis process you may not at all like the result, or
even worse you may not
Words to live by: complete your thesis be-
“We all live on the same planet, but we each live in a different world.” fore the end of your study
period.”

The Mind

How about Steve’s teaching philosophy? “Although I do use straight lecturing approaches, I tend to
emphasize whenever possible an experiential teaching and learning approach. I prefer to teach my
core courses related to culture in a workshop format so that I can more easily use this approach. I
surveyed many of my students and found that most of them identified at least to some degree with
a “learn-by-doing” approach, although there was a range of learning preferences cited.”

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A Moment with Murat:
Mr. Akpinar shares all

IB Today took some time to sit

down and get to know Mr. Mu-
rat Akpinar. Currently a part-
time lecturer in the Interna-
tional Business program at Jy-
väskylä University of Applied
Sciences, Mr. Akpinar is also a
husband and father of a lovely
one year old daughter. He is a very intelligent and thoughtful man.

When asked why he is teaching, Mr. Akpinar said “I have been teaching
since I was a university student. Then I was tutoring privately to high
school students. During 2001-2002 I was a teacher at the Turkish Volun-
tary Education Organization, a Turkish NGO for bringing educational op-
portunities to poor districts in Turkey. There I was teaching mathematics
and chess to elementary school kids. I realized that I am capable of doing
it, and I also enjoy it.”

When asked about his teaching methods, Mr. Akpinar said: “This depends
on the nature of the course. I prefer case studies in more qualitative sub-
jects and self exercises in quantitative sub-
jects.”

Mr. Akpinar shed some light on what he

hopes students get out of his courses: “I
hope that they realize the importance of this
time that they are investing in themselves
and make the most out of it to prepare them-
selves for tomorrow’s leadership positions.”

“This is the time for learning. Make the most

out of it for getting ready for tomorrow’s
business world. Be active both in class and
out of class. Get to know people.” advises
Mr. Akpinar.

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 A brand of his own – a lecture with Mr. Olu Raheem
Mr. Olu Raheem was born in Finland to Nigerian parents. Currently working as Sales & Marketing
Manager for Clients’ Finland Ltd. and occasionally lecturing at Jyväskylä University of Applied Sci-
ences (JUA), Mr. Raheem has a vast knowledge of the business and academic life in Finland. In the
fall semester, Mr. Raheem taught a course called Marketing: Self-Branding and Personal Compe-
tence.

Mr. Raheem's work history is quite impressive. He started his career with event promotion and
formed an event and music production company. In addition, he was marketing manager of a res-
taurant and also worked for a pharmaceutical company where he was the assistant business devel-
opment manager. After taking a short break from business life, he was asked to join Clients’ Finland
Ltd. where he is in charge of customer relations and works on various projects. This year Mr. Ra-
heem became a partner of Clients’ Finland Ltd, a small consulting company aiming to improve cus-
tomer sales for businesses by simplifying sales processes,
developing customer engagement plans, change manage-
ment and actually taking part in the sales work.

When asked about teaching, Mr. Raheem said:”I have always

enjoyed the communication between students, and the per-
spective I try to give is maybe the perspective I would want
somebody in the job world to give me…give me the realities
of what to expect. And if you think about the course we are
giving now of Self-Branding and Personal Competence, it’s
like a course I would have wanted somebody to have given
me when I was in school. And that’s what I am always trying
to look for...like a niche, something that is not so obvious
and visible. You all have your business, your economics, you
have your marketing, I want to give something a little different, something special, and something
really related to the so called “real world”, the job world. This institution gives a good opportunity
for that. Also it keeps me fresh, my ideas fresh; I hear the young up-coming talents. We actually
even hired somebody from this school, so I might be scouting as well, so you never know.”

Compared to other teachers Mr. Raheem’s methods and lectures are quite different. His style as
well as his courses are intensive, one has to make a real effort with them, or as the man himself
says:”I like to give out a lot of exercises, try to jolt people’s thinking, let people realize things them-
selves… not try to tell them that this is the only way to do it but let them find out things them-
selves…that’s the aim at least.”

What he hopes for the students to take out of his courses are a couple of ideas they can put into
practice. “For example in Marketing: Self-Branding and Personal Competence course, my goal is not
to make the students a brand after they leave the class, or that they should be self-competent but
at least get an idea or two that will move them forward. And hopefully I can give something that
will really help them in the job world and in the future.”

For the coming generation of business orientated people Mr. Raheem shares this thought: “The stu-
dent community is getting smaller, people are moving around a lot, travelling a lot. You see the
amount of international students in all schools nowadays and that it is highly increased from what it
was 10 years ago when I was in school. It’s a wonderful situation and I would just advise people to
really network their best locally and internationally…at least that is one thing I may have lacked a
little bit. If I could go back in time to my school days, that is what I would do. Get to know people,
keep in touch, that’s one of the best resources you are going to have in the future whether its busi-
ness or whatever life holds. It comes in handy.”

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 A cup of tea with Sam Down
Sam Down is a lecturer from the UK in the Music and Media Management and International
Business Programs at Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences. He is also an Executive Editor
for IB Today.

When Sam was a child, he never really knew what he wanted to be. What started Sam on the
road to teaching occurred during his third year at University when he worked part-time super-
vising college students. It was then that Sam realized he was interested in education and peo-
ple’s learning processes.

Sam has always been fascinated with music and the process of its production (i.e. how music
products are made, and the making of the music itself). He became interested in studying Mu-
sic Industry Management through information he received from his aunt’s friend. This young
lady, who also happens to be the daughter of Ray Dorset (i.e. founder of skiffle band, Mungo
Jerry), was at the time studying Music Industry Management in the UK. During this time pe-
riod, Sam came to Jyväskylä to visit some friends and was introduced to the former head of the
Music and Media Management program at Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JUA), who
was looking for young English speaking teachers with qualifications in Music Management and
asked Sam if he was interested in teaching at JUA. After some time, things sorted themselves
out and Sam found his place here at JUA.

Sam describes his method of teaching to be “delivery

like” as he stands in front of the class and delivers the
content to the students. But he also encourages the
students to discuss and debate the information pre-
sented. “I really try to get people to think, to express
their opinions”, says Sam. According to Sam, he hopes
his students learn the ability to find information, ques-
tion it, and formulate their own opinions about what
they learn. In other words, giving the students tools
for finding and analyzing information. Sam also appre-
ciates getting feedback when teaching as it allows for
him to tailor the course towards the students’ needs.
Sam lives by his motto of “Waste not,
want not” in that he really hates wasting
anything, from food to his time.

He is a man who takes advantage of

every opportunity.

When it comes to a memorable experience as a teacher, Sam mentions an incident which hap-
pened while he was completing his teacher training in the UK. He describes the one year, in-
tensive training to be a really emotional experience where he simultaneously was studying the
theories of teaching and teaching high school students full-time. Sam explains that teaching
high school students is all about making the learning process fun. He recalls one specific lesson
he had put special effort into and one of the less attentive students came up to him afterwards
and said: “Oh I really think that you are getting better and better every lesson Mister Down”.
For Sam this was memorable because this showed that the students understood that Sam was
learning and that they noticed his that he was improving as a teacher. It also gave Sam the
drive to constantly strive to find ways to improve his teaching.

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 John Hutchins: a real life Lao Tzu?
John Hutchins has led an interesting life. He spent 19 years in a seagoing carrier, ending up as
the Master of the Pride of Bilbao before his teaching career began. After that, back in 1999, he
joined the Shipping and Transport
College in Rotterdam as a maritime
lecturer and today works as a pro-
ject manager and lecturer around
the world. He also does occasional
consultation work. When asked why
he chose teaching as a career after
so many years in a seagoing carrier,
Mr. Hutchins replied: “I believed
teaching or lecturing would be an
interesting path to follow and I felt I
had personal qualities to suit such a
role.”

Mr. Hutchins does most of his lec-

turing abroad in countries like the
Republic of South Africa, Holland,
Vietnam, Oman etc. but he was not
too busy when Juha Saukkonen arranged him to give lectures on the subject of Management
Communication and Teamwork here in JUA.

In his work Mr. Hutchins tries to prepare the lectures and material based on aims and objec-
tives, but the ability to anticipate the types of learners he faces is important too: “The first part
of the interaction with the learner group is to chat in the classroom setting searching for com-
mon ground on subject matter. I try to determine what they expect from the course and over
the next few days attempt to fulfil their own requirements and those of the organizers” he
states.

Teaching in JUA has forced Mr. Hutchins to develop his own skills as well. “My subject matter
context is very maritime-based, yet I was invited to speak to business students on the topic of
resource management” he says, continuing “It was a personal accomplishment to be able to
successfully demonstrate that a topic, such as effective communication, is vital whether you
use it on the bridge of a seagoing ship or in the boardroom of a business meeting.”

When asked further about his teaching, Mr. Hutchins shared a piece of his mind with us. He
has discovered over the years that the things we learn (or teach) in the school setting are only
the basics. More specifically no two problems are the same; we may learn a strategy in the
classroom setting, but in the real world we will be confronted with the need to creatively prob-
lem-solve.

Mr. Hutchins background and life can for an outsider seem a bit complicated. He is Canadian
by birth, travels with a British passport and is married to a Finn. To top that he resides in
Finland, works for a Dutch Company and typically works outside of Europe. Go figure...

As he is a very busy man with some extraordinary features in his life it is no wonder he quotes
another extraordinary man, Lao Tzu, when asked if he has a motto:

”Make your heart like a lake, with calm, still surface, and great depths of kindness.”

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 Bettering the world one entrepreneur at a time
Mrs. Sharon Ballard is a great example of a suc-
cessful entrepreneur. She is the President and CEO
of her own company called EnableVentures, Inc.
and a creator of Supercoach® Entrepreneurial
Training program - an 8 week coaching period to
train an entrepreneur on how to give an effective
15 minutes business plan presentation before a
dream panel of experts. This coach training pro-
gram is used in JUA’s Launch Pad program. Her re-
markable career has included management posts in
Titan Corporation, Motorola Inc. and LINKABIT Cor-
poration. She also operated her own business, Par-
ticular Systems.

After selling her company, Mrs. Ballard began vol-

unteer coaching for the University of California, San
Diego’s (UCSD) program called CONNECT Spring-
board. Her role in this “incubator without walls” as
they called themselves was to coach one-to-one start-up entrepreneurs. This led to UCSD
asking Mrs. Ballard to be the first Management Fellow for the CONNECT Springboard coach-
ing program. Mrs. Ballard’s task was to coach 60 scientists and engineers who needed help
with their business plan pitch. During those 10 months, she coached 40 of them through
their actual 15 minute business plan pitches in front of dream panelists, coached the other
20 and also coached new entrepreneurs that came in during the process. It was during this
challenge that Mrs. Ballard invented Supercoach® Entrepreneurial Training.

Through UCSD CONNECT connections, Mrs. Ballard next found herself on a fellowship in
Scotland where she studied physics and started the process of teaching them how to coach
scientists and engineers in giving a business plan. In 2001, the first Supercoach® Entrepre-
neurial Training was held in Scotland and now it is being used all over the world.
Mrs. Ballard doesn’t view herself as a teacher but a “sharer and a coach”. She shares her
own personal experiences and knowledge to the entrepreneurs she is coaching. This is the
kind of opportunity that wasn’t available when Mrs. Ballard established her own venture. In
her own words, “I would love entrepreneurs to leave Launch Pad completely confident of
the value they create with their idea. That they can translate their technology or their inno-
vation or their invention to the market place and know will full confidence the business
value, not the technology value.”

For Business students, it is important for Mrs. Ballard that they see business as real and
alive, not just theory. She points out that “scientists and engineers have the chance to
solve real problems, invent things, cure things but without the business they can’t move it
forward.” Through the Launch Pad program, Mrs. Ballard hopes business students gain the
confidence to interact and even partner with these scientists and engineers.

Mrs. Ballard finds working with scientists and high-tech engineers that are “the smartest
poorest people in the world” very satisfying. She says: “We can teach bad people to make
lots of money or good people to make lots of money”. Mrs. Ballard has made her choice:
she wants to be involved in projects, like finding cures for diseases or improving the use of
renewable energy sources, aiming to ensure a better life for all of us.

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Important Dates:
12.01.08:
Spring semester
begins
And finally…
Introducing the new editorial team of IB Today for 2008-2009:
15.01.08-10.05.08: AKU AARVA
Age: 23 Hometown: Helsinki, Finland
HiTech
Currently: JAMKO (JAMK Student Union) Board Member and IB student
Management Background: Lived mostly in and around Helsinki. Father comes from Hanko
and mother from Helsinki. Keen to take part in different projects here in Jyväskylä.
Programme Languages: Finnish, English, German and now starting Russian
16.01.09 -17.01.09: Personal Interests: Improving the student union, travelling and learning about
history, reading, cooking and eating (and drinking).
Orientation for Business interests: Planning to create his own company that focuses on ad-
Exchange vertising, PR and brand building. Will start the firm as a “business name” next
spring and develop it from there.
Students

SERGEY BEKRENEV
Age: 18 Hometown: Kaluga. Russian Federation
Currently: IB student at Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences
Languages: English, Russian and some French
Personal Interests: Studying, photography, active sports, boxing, traveling,
developing international and communication skills, outsourcing and building net-
works.
Business interests: Working for an MNC, with plans for creating his own busi-
ness in future, also in multicultural business atmosphere.

MARIA ISABEL BERENGUER CARO

Age: 21 Hometown: Alicante, Spain
Currently: IB student — internship in Stafix Ltd and writing thesis.
Background: 2 years studying Administration & Management in University of
Alicante (Spain). Exchange in Jyvaskyla 2007.
IB TODAY Languages: Spanish, Catalan, English
Executive Editors: Personal Interests: Travel and meet people from other cultures!
Juha Saukkonen Business interests: International companies, especially in distribution. Objec-
tive is to integrate studies to the real world and work in an international environ-
Samuel Down ment.

IB TODAY KIRSTI EARL

Editorial Team: Age: 33 Hometown: Illinois, USA
Sergey Bekrenev Currently: IB student and being a mother
Aku Aarva Background: Associates of Science degree from Illinois. Born and raised in the
USA to a Finnish mother and German father. Lived in USA, Germany and Finland.
Hanna-Riitta Koivu
Languages: English and some Finnish
Kirsti Earl Personal Interests: Her daughter Katie, meeting people from around the
Maria Isabel Berenguer world, travelling, fast cars, alternative rock music, reading, and baking
Business interests: Working for the American government or one of its agen-
cies preferably involving international travel.
IB Programme Director:
Matti Hirsilä HANNA-RIITTA KOIVU
Matti.Hirsila@jamk.fi Age: 27 Hometown: Jyväskylä, Finland (born in Muurame)
Currently: 3rd year IB student.
Background: Worked in Finland, UK and Spain. Has previously studied in the
Contact Information: Degree of Tourism in Jyväskylä.
internationalclub@jamk.fi Languages: Finnish, English, Swedish, plus some French, Spanish, Russian
and Latvian
Personal Interests: Travelling, interior decoration of her own home, music,
different forms of sports (e.g. jogging, yoga)
Business interests: Would like to work in an inspiring and challenging position
either in Finland or abroad.

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