Kulturkännedom och olika marknadsområden
During our excursion, we believe that we have learned a lot. Everything from getting to know each other better through team building on the boat. But also thanks to the lectures we have attended. When it comes to collaboration, no matter what it pertains to, whether it's related to work, hobbies, or sports. One of the most important things is understanding each other. Depending on who the person is, it may happen that we end up learning about the person's cultural background, norms, and values to understand the person as well as possible, to be able to collaborate effectively.
Our trip started 02.22.2024 at our school in the morning. With the help of the bus, we made our way to the harbor. On the boat, we had breakfast and did some team building. The team building involved one member of the team being blindfolded, while the rest of the team helped this person navigate through an obstacle course without falling into traps. For the remainder of the journey, we took it quite easy. When we arrived in Umeå, we headed to our first lecture at Visit Umeå. During this lecture, we learned about how their organization operates. We also had the honor of listening to lectures from the Kvarken Council and Rise. There, we learned how both organizations contribute to the Kvarken region. After the lectures, we had few hours free time, before we went to the harbor.
This trip has given us the opportunity to better get to know each other through teamwork but also by having fun together. In our opinion the most important thing in building relations for teamwork is getting to know a person on a personal level. This excursion has given us insights in how organizations collaborate around Vaasa and Umeå and Kvarken in general.
With the companies that we had the pleasure of visiting one goal came apparent, which was the collaboration between the Ostrobothnia region and Umeå. Both the Kvarken council as well as Visit Umeå really gives the collaboration between Finland, Sweden and Norway a lot of thought and tries to keep the collaborations between these countries as easy and enjoyable as possible. This can be seen as another sort of teamwork between not just people or corporations but as teambuilding for different countries and keeping the strong historical ties that the Nordic countries already have and making us aware of the strengths and weaknesses these countries have and why teamwork across the Baltic sea is so so important.
Especially for a tourist organization like Visit Umeå it´s important to think about your market and what would make Finnish tourist choose Umeå as their destination for a holiday and it was interesting to take a look behind the curtain to see what they think about when it comes to cultural differences when trying to make Finnish tourists interested in Umeå.
This Nordic wide teamwork is a lesson that we all learned from the company visits and something we all will keep in mind moving forward and something to emphasize on and remember in our future business endeavors. Largening the scope of what you are working on and not just thinking about your local city or state, but also being ready to cross national borders to find the partners or customers you are looking for especially for students like us who live so close to Sweden and how accessible Umeå is for working partnerships. If you add our language skills (being Swedish speaking) it creates a great opportunity for us in the future and a lesson we will not forget.
Participating in the excursion to Sweden has been incredibly beneficial for us as business students, since it has really provided us with firsthand opportunities to apply the theoretical knowledge into the real world, and that overall, really enriches our learning experience.
One of the key lessons I’ve taken away from this excursion is the importance of cultural understanding and teamwork in international business. Even just by immersing ourselves into the swedish culture, we gained some insights into how cultural nuances can really truly impact business practices and interactions with one another. For instance, we learned about the swedish approach to teamwork and consensus-building, which emphasized the value of collaboration. So this has really deepend our understanding of international business but also reinforced the importance of teamwork when it comes to achieveing a common goal.
The excursion was very instrumental in bridging the gap between theory and practice (to a certain extent) in our studies and it provided us with valuable insights into the cultural business world.
Thinking back on our time in Umeå and the interesting talks we heard, one big lesson stands out: teamwork is key.
We witnessed how organizations like Kvarkenrådet and Visit Umeå work together with everybody to protect nature and at the same time promote tourism. It shows how when people come together and work towards a common goal, they make a big difference.
Umeå´s lively arts scene and the cool research happening at Rise also show how teamwork leads to great things. People with different skills and ideas come together to make a lot of cool stuff happen.
When talking about teamwork, it´s not just about getting along, it´s also about being flexible and strong when things get tough. Umeås spirit of working together shows us how important it is to support each other and face challenges as a team.
As we say goodbye to Umeå and take what we have learned with us, let us remember the importance of teamwork. By working together, we can overcome obstacles and make our communities a better place for everybody.
In the end, our trip to Umeå taught us that teamwork is powerful. Let´s use it to make good and lasting decisions and changes in our lives and the world around us.
We want to thank Visit Umeå, the Kvarken Council and Rise for their presentations and the opportunity to visit.
