business@school is a year-long educational initiative by Boston Consulting Group that gives students practical experience with business analysis and entrepreneurship. Teams progress from analyzing established companies to developing and presenting their own business concept.
In the first stage, we analyzed BMW as a large, publicly listed company. Then, we analyzed Anke Runge, a local luxurious Berlin bag manufacturer, as a small regional business. Finally, we developed our own business idea: a dynamo with an integrated USB port to charge your phone on your way to work, friends, school or other places. Alongside the presentation, we developed and demonstrated a working prototype.
For every stage, we researched the business itself as well as the market environment with its competitors and customer profiles, analyzed the financial situation and concluded the presentation with a SWOT-analysis. Our team won the first and second stages of the competition.
The project was my first sustained experience with company analysis, business models, competitive positioning, and presenting a recommendation to a jury. It helped turn a general interest in building things into an interest in whether an idea also creates value, reaches people, and can work as a sustainable business or not.