Success Story Business Development: Consulting Project for E.R. Capital

MSc Business Development students complete consulting project for E.R. Capital Holding / greentech with great success.

To deal with real issues from companies and to develop feasible solutions is the task of students in the second year of the Master's programme Business Development. In the modules Consulting Project I and II, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Max Johns and Prof. Dr. Stefan Prigge, they prepare market analyses, work on innovation projects for processes and products or start-up ideas and develop feasible solutions for the real challenges presented by companies. The students work in small groups and act as advisors for the company.

The consulting project for E.R. Capital Holding started with a kickoff in August 2021 for our eleven Master's students Lukas Spincke, Vincent Freitag, Tim Hammer, Clemens Marckwardt, Alexandros Tsiavos, Eddi Dudek, Lukas Netz, Leon Frederic Jörgens, Kharina Nasser, Valerie Junge and Natascha Haller. E.R. Capital Holding is the central holding company for all business activities of the serial entrepreneur Erck Rickmers with the aim of investing in cleantech and other companies that have a positive impact on the climate and society. Lukas Spincke, who was selected by the group as project manager to take over the communication with the client and the internal organisation, has shared his experiences and learnings with us and is convinced of the sense and quality of the module: 

HSBA Master-Student Lukas Spincke

“Such a real-life project is extremely important in the context of an extra-occupational study programme, as it builds the bridge from the theory to the everyday work of decision-makers. Through my work as a management consultant, I also know that every project is different and that every customer has individual issues and requirements. It was therefore very exciting to see how we worked out new solutions as a team among fellow students and how everyone was able to contribute their different perspectives from their studies and professional background.”

As part of the project, the students were commissioned to prepare a market study on battery technology and the potential for integrating batteries into the development of large-scale photovoltaic systems for greentech, the innovative photovoltaic specialist within the E.R. Group and cornerstone of the E.R. Group's commitment. This included 1. an overview & analysis of relevant battery technologies for large-scale photovoltaic plants incl. supplier analysis, 2. the preparation of the relevant factors for an integration of batteries in large-scale photovoltaic plants (technical & economic) as well as 3. the preparation of a decision template for a battery integration incl. business case, project roadmap and management presentation. The final presentation and handover of the detailed results took place in January 2022 and the group was delighted to receive high praise from the client:  

"We are really thrilled with the outcome. The analysis and decision-making template provided by the HSBA students takes us a decisive strategic step forward in the development of our photovoltaic parks," explains Jacob Isenberg, CFO of E.R. Capital Holding and HSBA alumnus. "We have found the cooperation with the students to be very professional and committed and can only recommend the project."

Challenges & Learnings

Tough deadlines, an unclear project scope, lengthy coordination processes - these are just a few points that can make good cooperation in a team of eleven people a challenge. Lukas and his fellow students mastered their task with flying colours and learned a lot about the dynamics in a team: "When eleven people work together intensively, I think it's normal that things get emotional sometimes and that there are challenges. Because everyone has different ideas about working together in a team and about the goal. It was only in the course of the project that we understood and realised that we should have agreed on the basics, values and objectives of the cooperation right at the beginning. It also took us a while to organise the working mode effectively. In the process, we learned that everyone works differently and that different ways of working are explicitly desired in order to look at a common problem from all perspectives." 

From Lukas' point of view, the methods and tools learned from the project management module were particularly helpful in working on the project: "We were able to apply some things from our studies directly, for example from the project management module, because we worked in sprints and conducted a retrospective as a team in the middle of the project." But of course the team had to "jump in at the deep end" all by itself, says Lukas: "The steep learning curve in consulting projects only comes about because of that, that's simply part of the truth. None of us were experts in large-scale photovoltaic systems, battery storage and electricity market marketing beforehand, but we worked on the topic in a structured way."

 

Companies that are also interested in receiving advice from the students of the Business Development Master's programme as part of the Consulting Project module are welcome to contact Prof. Dr. Max Johns.

 

Related News

back to overview