The excursion was organized as part of the course in “Doing Business in CEE/SEE” to provide students with the opportunity of getting into contact with internationally active companies and their management teams. This time, the students visited the companies LIEBHERR and LOACKER. In between, they had lunch in a typical Tyrolian restaurant in the center of Lienz, a picturesque town surrounded by the Tyrolian Alps.
In the morning, the group visited LIEBHERR Lienz, a subsidiary of the international LIEBHERR group (one of the world’s leading manufacturers of construction machinery). Holger König, managing director of LIEBHERR Lienz, presented the company’s history and discussed its current developments and company figures. In addition, Thomas Kandolf, the innovation manager of LIEBHERR Lienz, gave an insight in his daily working life and explained how the procedure from creating ideas to developing them into innovative product offerings looks like. In the end, the students had a guided tour through the factory of LIEBHERR Lienz and could see how the production process works.
After enjoying a delicious lunch in Lienz, the group travelled to the village of Heinfels, the location of one of the two production sites of the world-famous wafer and chocolate producer LOACKER. The family-owned business with its headquarters in South Tyrol (Italy) welcomed our students with a company presentation about their international business activities. Furthermore, the Senior Product Manager, Alexander Holzmann, and the Communication Director Yvonne Profanter presented a case study in which they showed how test markets are developed. The criteria for selecting the right distribution partners was highly interesting as the management team explained that “the partner has to burn for our brand.”
The presentation and question and answer session was followed by a guided tour with the managing director of the Heinfels plant, Mr. Frank Jürgen Hess. The tour provided the opportunity to see how the wafers are produced. Before travelling home to Villach, the company kindly offered a common dinner (including the possibility to taste delicious LOACKER products) and the company representatives were open to discuss further questions of the students. The visit was perfectly organized by LOACKER´s organization and HR development manager, Mrs. Alexandra Leitner.
Through this excursion, the International Business Management students were able to gain insights in the daily working life of top managers in international companies as well as to learn about the internationalization strategies and challenges that the companies face.
