Monday, September 18, 2017

Adventures in Western Denmark

This past week I embarked on my first trip out of Copenhagen! My program includes something called 'Core Course Week' where we get to travel to somewhere in Western Denmark or Germany to visit companies and places that are significant to our Core Course. My course, European Business Strategy, traveled to Ribe and Haderslev!

Bright and early on Monday morning we boarded a bus to Ribe (about 3.5 hours outside of Cope), where we had our first company visit to Blue Water Shipping. This is a family owned shipping, energy, and logistics company. There we had an information session, followed by lunch and a tour of their huge industrial complex. Highlights included seeing one of the worlds largest wind turbines!

Wind turbines being assembled, and the largest wind turbines in the distance on the left.
Afterwards we headed for a photo op at an art installation called 'Man Meets the Sea'. It's exactly what it sounds like - four giant statues of men looking out into the ocean - kind of odd. Then we took a short drive over to a local curling club for a lesson on how to play this traditional Danish sport! I had only ever seen curling on TV during the Olympics and it is definitely harder than it looks. But after a little bit of practice we actually weren't all that bad at it and it turned out to be pretty fun! I shockingly scored one of the two points for my team :) After finishing up our game, we headed to a cute 'resort' in town where we checked into tiny cottages for the night.

Probably one of the strangest things I've ever seen
Catch me at the Winter Olympics 2018!
After raining literally all day, we got to see a beautiful double rainbow over Ribe
The next morning we headed to what was possibly the most anticipated company visit of the week: Lego! Lego was started in Billund, Denmark and is still a family owned business headquartered there. And it is the location of the original LegoLand (which we unfortunately did not visit). We had an information session, lunch, and then got a tour of the Lego factory! We weren't allowed to take photos in the factory but it was SO cool to see how all the different kinds of bricks are made. Some fun facts from the visit:

  • The name Lego comes from the Danish phrase "Leg got" which means "playing well" but it also happens to mean "I put together" in Latin
  • Lego mini figures make up the largest 'population' in the world
  • Legos haven't been changed much since they were first created and they are made with such precision that bricks from 50 years ago can be clicked into bricks made today
  • Six 2x4 bricks can build over 9 million different configurations
  • Lego Ninjago wasn't supposed to be as successful as it is now - Lego only anticipated it to last for a season or two but now it's on track to be a part of their 'evergreen' collection (the Lego sets that are likely to be produced forever)
  • The company makes 1/2 of its total yearly sales in the 9 weeks leading up to Christmas

Outside the Lego HQ
There were four huge buckets of Legos in the lobby right when you walked in!
The sign is made of over 1,500 Lego mini figures
After we each picked a free Lego set to take home, we headed to a hostel in Haderslev for the night. The next morning we drove to the headquarters of the leather shoe and accessories company, Ecco. What makes this company unique is that they control each step of their supply chain - from 'hide to high street' as they put it. One interesting fact they told us is that they sell half of the leather they produce to other luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Burberry. We got to see prototype shoes and do a little (window) shopping at their onsite store. After that, we drove to Danfoss, an engineering and technology company. They started out making refrigerator parts and thermostats, but now make thousands of different 'behind the scenes' parts that improve efficiency and energy use. Their building was probably one of the coolest we saw - there was a spiral staircase that went up all 10 stories and each level was a different color of the rainbow so when you looked up from the bottom you saw the full rainbow effect. After a jam packed day, we found out that the ferry we were supposed to take back into the city was cancelled due to hurricane warnings, so we started the 4 hour drive back to Copenhagen.


On Thursday morning we had a recap session in the classroom before heading to Maersk, another shipping and logistics company. They told us about their newest venture of investing in unique and 'disruptive' start ups in the shipping sector. On Friday we headed to Carlsberg for a behind the scenes tour of the old brew house guided by my professor - who happens to be the head of the Danish Brewers Association (no biggie). We saw the largest collection of unopened beer bottles in the world and learned about the history of the brewery. Fun fact: the name Carlsberg comes from Carl, the son of the founder, and 'berg' which means on the hill, because the original brewery is on a hill. After the tour, we had lunch followed by the presentation of the case study we'll be working in this semester! Our task is to educate consumers about specialty beers through digital marketing campaigns. I think we'll have to start with a little field research first ;)

Over 22,000 beer bottles!
I got to pet one of the Carlsberg horses! According to our tour guide they occasionally get to drink some beer ;)
Inside the original brew house
I think the most surprising part of the week was how many large companies are a) family owned and b) started and still based in Denmark! It's a little crazy to think about how this little country is home to such well known global brands. I really am learning something new every day!

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