Four talented students receive the Danish Export Association’s Graduation Awards

Yesterday, Eva Schwendel, Maria Paternoga, Christian Kærgaard Pedersen and Frederik Teilmann Rye Jensen received the Danish Export Association’s Graduation Award. The award is presented every year to a Bachelor’s project and a Master’s thesis which make a special contribution towards promoting exports among Danish companies.

[Translate to English:] Foto: Svend Christensen

Yesterday, four happy Aarhus BSS students were presented with the Danish Export Association’s Graduation Awards. Apart from the honour that comes with the awards, the students also receive a cheque for DKK 12,000 for the Master’s thesis award and DKK 8,000 for the Bachelor’s project award. The award was presented at the Danish Export Association’s annual general meeting on 17 May at the company Kamstrup in Skanderborg.

The Master’s thesis award
The winners of the Master’s thesis award are Eva Schwendel and Maria Paternoga, who are currently doing their MSc in Marketing at the Department of Management.  They receive the award for their Master’s thesis on “The Country-of-Origin Effect in the Context of Organic Food”.

“Eva Schwendel and Maria Paternoga have accomplished a remarkable feat by conducting interviews with 293 customers in the German market. In this way, they’ve gained an insight into the market’s preferences towards country-of-origin by asking the customers themselves. Among other things, they conclude that you must adapt your marketing and communication efforts to each individual market. This is an important point, regardless of whether you’re selling organic foods or pumps for the marine industry,” says Ulrik Dahl, CEO of the Danish Export Association.

The Bachelor’s project award
Christian Kærgaard Pedersen and Frederik Teilmann Rye Jensen are studying Economics and Business Administration with International Business (BSc(b)) at the Department of Business Development and Technology in Herning. They receive the Bachelor’s project award for their project on “Strategic Responsiveness: Surviving in the New Competitive Landscape”.  

“Christian Kærgaard Pedersen and Frederik Teilmann Rye Jensen are studying how companies can survive when the competitive landscape is constantly shifting. It’s a very relevant issue that many companies must confront on an almost daily basis. The project concludes that an innovative organisational culture - where middle managers are involved in the strategic decision-making and all employees can make suggestions - enables the company to cope better with risks and changes. This is an approach that many can learn from,” says Ulrik Dahl.

The two groups were nominated for the award by their supervisors, and they were subsequently selected as winners by a panel of judges at the Danish Export Association. Congratulations to the four talented students!

Selection criteria:
The Master’s thesis award:
- the thesis must demonstrate a high level of theoretical knowledge (you must have received the mark 10 as a minimum)
- the thesis must help promote the internationalisation of companies and/or contribute with knowledge to help Danish companies in general with their decision-making in that connection.

The Bachelor’s project award: - the project must demonstrate a high level of theoretical knowledge (you must have received the mark 10 as a minimum) - the project must aspire to solve managerial and/or economic issues in connection with exports and/or internationalisation.