Ulysses Contest

Ulysses will be returning in 2025 and we need you to choose what type of family firms you would like to work with in the new academic year! 🤩

👉 Health
👉 Pets
👉 Environment
👉 FMCG

Any other ideas you would be interested in? 😎
Comment your ideas down below! 👇

The Ulysses Contest 2024 has come to an end!🤗

Amazing teams worked on the challenges of hollu Systemhygiene GmbH. We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Mr. Simon Meinschad and Eduard Holzknecht for providing a real-life case study and supporting Ulysses continuously.

Now let's see Ulysses 2024 in numbers!

👉 126 participants
👉 from 21 countries
👉 Five teams made it into the finals.

🥇 This years winning team is TEAM 18 from Free University of Bozen-Bolzano Congrats to Pietro D'Agaro, Elena Vecchiatti, Simone Faieta, Mindaugas Jonaitis, Carlo Juan Rabino.

🥈2nd place goes to TEAM 7 from MCI The Entrepreneurial School MCI Tourism: Congrats to Johanna Bruckner, Mariella Brunner, Victoria Albertini, Lisa Walls

🥉 3rd place goes to TEAM 26 - from University of Szeged Congrats to Gerg Vincze, Maja Komlós, Dominika Gábor, Endre Véh

Thank you everyone for this successful event, see you next year!

Round 1 of the 2024 Ulysses Contest ended! Thank you for all the participating groups! 🥰

🇪🇺 This year, the Ulysses case study solving contest is also organised in the topic of family firms!

💻 21 countries' 126 students competed in the first round of the competition in April.

👉 The four-person teams started off working on the cases with enthusiasm. Utilising their creativity, they created amazing videos and solutions for each case presented.

📍 The main aim of the contest is to give a deeper insight into the everyday challenges of family firms, making sure to provide practical knowledge to university students.

🧠 After writing up the solutions to the cases, each team created a video presentation, which ensure that they used their creativity as well.

Thank you for all the team contributions!

Are you ready? 🤗

Do not forget that today is the deadline for submitting your solutions! 💪

Let's go teams! 🥳

Thank you for coming to the opening ceremony online! 🥰

Now, the floor is yours to create something unique! 💪

📍 Deadline for submission of your ideas: 22 April 2024; Midnight

Good luck! 🥳

As the groups are created, you can start networking and put an imporant date into your agendas! 🥰

The Ulysses Contest 2024 Opening Ceremony starts 11 AM, 10 April 2024! 🥳

Join us live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYeF0NEBw7M

Registrations ended, welcome to the Ulysses Contest 2024! 🥳

❗️More than 100 registrations were received, well done everyone! ❗️🤩

What is happening now?
👉 Teams are being created
👉 Once ready, cross-country networking can start!
👉 Get ready for the online opening ceremony 10 April!

See you all there!

Finally the time has come!!!! 🤗🤗
🏆𝐔𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍!🏆

👉All details on www.ulysses-contest.eu
🗓️Registration deadline: 27 March 2024

Would you like to get to know more about family firms?
Are you a university student who is up for a challenge?
Then JOIN NOW! 🥰

Let’s see what today’s family firm fun fact series will reveal about the dynamics of family firms! 😍

“If you work in a family firm, you have always known who your boss will be once you get into business. This fact (and your boss) will never ever change. Unless the boss retires.”

Sounds strange? 🫣 Would you be able to deal with the same boss until retirement? Let us know your thoughts below! 👇

Our limited family firm secrets post series is going to reveal fun fact number two today. 🤨 Let’s see what family firms have in store for us now. 🤩

“In a family firm, you can have a heated argument at 4:59 PM, while continuing with a light and fun discussion about the grandchildren at 5:03 PM the same day.”

Would you have guessed? 😮 Do you think you could switch the topics so quickly?

Vote with an emoji:
❤️ - absolutely, this is family and business hand in hand!
👍 - yes, I can understand this
😮 - not in my wildest dreams

Family firms 🥰 we all heard of them, and we have a concept of what they mean. However, what nobody told us is the well-kept and hidden secrets of these firms that might be sometimes funny as well as quite perplexing! 🕵️

👉 In our limited post series, we asked family firms – anonymously of course – about some shocking facts in their everyday lives. 😱

Let’s see fun fact number one! 🤭

“In a family firm there is no such thing as a holiday without business talks. Christmas dinners often turn into business meetings, which spouses try to undermine by stating ‘I cannot believe that you are working AGAIN right now!’. So, secretly, family firm members resort to talking business in the kitchen. 🧑‍🍳

👉 For the final round of the 2023 competition, the teams worked on the Hollu case and directly interacted with Simon Meinschad, CEO of Hollu Systemhygiene GmbH, to get relevant information to better frame their solution. 🥳
📍 Hollu is an Austrian family firm that offers cleanin and hygiene services. In the case, students had to analyze Hollu strategy with respect to the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 😎

We keep looking at what amazing cases we had in the first Ulysses Case Study Contest this year! 😍
The third case - Anghel Ceramics - was analyzed by 7 of the teams participating to the Ulysses competition.
👉 Anghel Ceramics is a third-generation Italian craft-based family business. Founded in 1950, the company had developed globally over the years keeping solid its values and peculiarities. The third generation is facing issues pertaining the expansion into the global market and the production costs.

👉The teams analyzed Anghel Ceramics providing feasible solutions on how these two issues by also taking into consideration values and emotions that are typical of family businesses. Our of the 7 teams, the best solutions were provided by Team 19 “Alpine Allies”, Team 21 “Profile & Co.” and Team 23 “AUTH team”. 🥳

🤩 We are again taking a moment to 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 🤩
8 teams analyze the Eagle Travel case.
🦅 Eagle Travel is a Hungarian travel company that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, is experiencing a generational change. The students had to offer solutions about the role of senior and junior generations involved in the family business with respect to innovation issues.
👉 Also in this case, the teams provided creative solutions to Eagle Travel issues. The best solutions were provided by Team 9 “Solvans”, Team 10 “NOVA”, and Team 13 “Business squad”, which moved on to the final. 🎊

🤩 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 🤩

The first case assigned to the 8 of the 23 teams participating to the Ulysses competition deals with 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, an Hungarian company offering textbooks for public education that is about to decide whether to move its headquarter to another country. 📚🌍

Students had to deal with this never easy decision, which was made even more difficult by the family nature of the company. The teams provided interesting solutions and analyzed many different possible European country where to relocate Montage Education headquarter.

The best solutions were provided by Team 1 “Team Odyssey”, Team 6 “Success Sprinters” and Team 7 “TEAC Solutions”. Congrats once again for your great work 🥳

🍫 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 🍫

Sweet time! The Italian producer of branded chocolate and confectionery was founded by Pietro Ferrero in 1946, who introduced Nutella to the market. The firm is now run by the founder’s grandson.

Delicious! 😋😋😋

There we go for another round of our Famous Family Firms! Today on the menu:

🍺 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐍.𝐕. 🍺

Feeling thirsty? The Dutch multinational brewing company was founded 158 years ago in Amsterdam by Gerard Adriaan Heineken. The firm has a worldwide footprint and has established its presence as the number #1 brewer in Europe.

Who's in for a fresh Heineken tonight? 🙌

Time for another Famous Family Firm!

🛍️ 𝐀𝐥𝐝𝐢 🛍️

The German supermarket chain was founded by the Albrecht brothers. In 1960, the brothers split the firm over a disagreement on whether selling ci******es in their stores. Today, Aldi operates in two separate groups: Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd, which divide their presence in different countries.

Are you an Aldi fan? Let us know what you like about their comopany culture in the comments 🔽

We continue our series of Famous Family Firms! In the spotlight today:

🚘 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 🚘

Founded by the industrialist Henry Ford in 1903, the company is still controlled by the Ford family. The firm saw the glory thanks to the vision of its founder who pioneering introduced “Fordism”.

Do you know what “Fordism” means? Let us know in the comments ⬇️

The latest Ulysses Newsletter was sent out last week! If you are not a subscriber to our newsletter yet: not a problem, we have them all archived for you 👍🏼

Check out the newsletter archive on the Ulysses Contest Website ➡️ https://www.ulysses-contest.eu/news/ and also sign up on the same page to not miss an issue about the future contests and interesting news and updates about family firms and their challenges & success stories 🧡

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 🧡

Exactly 1 month ago, on May 23rd, the first edition of the Ulysses competition came to an end. It was an amazing journey, which involved the five organizing European universities (University of Szeged , MCI The Entrepreneurial School , Universität Wien , Univations Gmbh, unibz ) and the Austrian marketing and communication agency Agentur fundus - Marketing & Kommunikation , 23 teams, 93 students from 25 different countries, and 4 case studies. 🌍

In the first round of the Ulysses competition, the 23 teams were divided into three groups, each of which had to analyze a case study: Montage Education, Eagle Travel, and Anghel Ceramics. The best 9 teams then moved on to the second and final round, in which they faced each other on the Hollu case.

In the next few weeks we will present all the case studies the student teams worked on to you! So stay tuned to take a look back with us on the journey of the Ulyssses Contest 2023 🥰

Did you know that some famous companies you already know are family firms? Want to get to know some very popular ones? We'll keep you posted and show you 5 companies in the upcoming future, that are famously known for their history and the values they provide.

Let's start with..... 🛒 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐜.🛒

Did you know that the world's largest firm by revenue is family-owned?
With more than 10 thousand facilities in 24 countries and an annual revenue of US$570 billion, Walmart is a publicly traded family-owned business owned by the Walton family.

The Ulysses Contest 2023 might be over, but talking about the future, family firms & their challenges for sure is not! To keep you in the mindset we have a new movie tip for you 🍿

📽️ 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐩: 𝐉𝐨𝐲 📽️
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro & Bradley Cooper

Not a classic family business, but still a great story about a strong businesswoman: Joy Mangano has just been divorced and must take care of her three children when she wants to take off as an entrepreneur in the early 90s through a clever invention. Many challenges await her, it looks like her venture will fail and her family urges her to give up. Can she still realise her dream of big business?

Enjoy watching & let us know how you liked it 🤩

𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭:
🎤 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 🎤

Almost 100 students, from 15 institutions and 23 nationalities participated and worked together for two months to solve family business cases. We really appreciated your motivation, input and great ideas that made the whole format a success. It was a first for a contest of that kind and there will definitely be more to come so your feedback matters 🧡

We hope you enjoyed the experience and would now like to gather some final feedback from you. How was the Ulysses Contest 2023 for you as a participant? 🤓🤩

Evaluate the Ulysses Contest here ⬇️
https://forms.gle/YjsmrsXEnef2fV9F6!

This was it! The Ulysses Contest, being the first European digital student competition of its kind, is over 🧡

We congratulate all participants on their great work and proudly present the 3 teams who reached the highest points with their presentations last night:

⭐ Team 21: David Kalotai, Zénó Manó Kovács, Pauline Schrader and Klemens Ehrenhöfer
⭐ Team 7: Till Herrmann, Eric Geßwein, Anita Borsato, Carlo Di Ciò
⭐ Team 13: Maria Caliari, Marta Bosco, Youssef Gerges, Thi Thanh Mai Le

A very special THANK YOU goes out to all family firms who participated with their case studies and support during the contest. In particular Simon Meinschad, CEO of hollu Systemhygiene GmbH to provide their case study for the finals and participating in the final event yesterday. Your presence made all the difference!

Also a big Thank You to all our project partners University of Szeged, MCI The Entrepreneurial School, Universität Wien, Freie Universität Bozen, Univations Gmbh and Agentur fundus - Marketing & Kommunikation for the amazing team work during this project - it was an unforgettable time for sure!

But the Ulysses journey isn't over yet! Stay following us for many more interesting bits and pieces about family firms, case studies and working in multinational student teams, as well as plans on future contests in the next years to come. So no doubt, it won't get boring 😊

It was a pleasure and an honor to work with you all! All the very best and once more congratulations to each and everyone of you – keep up the great work 🫶

Your team

Thanks once more to all teams for submitting your concepts, we are at awe how good your solutions are! 🤩 Now, it is almost time for your presentations. The Ulysses project team and HOLLU CEO Simon Meinschad are very much looking forward to your ideas live! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Please find the schedule below:
➡️ 17:00-17:10 Official welcome &technical details of the final
➡️ 17:10-17:20 Welcome words from Simon Meinschad, CEO of HOLLU
➡️ 17:20-18:50 Presentations of the student groups (10 minutes each)
➡️ 19:00-19:15 Jury evaluation
➡️ 19:15-19:25 Final results & awards
➡️ 19:30 Closing

See you online very soon!!! 🥳🥳🥳

This is the link to join in live tomorrow: https://bbb.gtktavoktatas.hu/b/drp-9er-pav-2ay

Thanks to all teams for submitting their final case solutions this week! You’ve done an amazing job 🙌

Now we can’t wait for the AWARD CEREMONY on Tuesday May 23 to see the final presentations!!! We’re so excited to see you all online - further details coming soon 🤩🤩🤩

Have a great weekend & to all the student teams: happy preparing!!!

💥 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 💥

Today is the day! From tonight midnight until 23 May project partners of higher education institutions with academic and business experience will go through all submitted concepts of the 9 students teams who made it into the final round. Many bold, fresh and innovative approaches for Hollu's challenges to be expected!! 🤩

On 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟑 student teams will present their solutions online in front of a jury of experts & family firm members. 🚀🚀

𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐓𝐎𝐂, 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟑 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨!!!

Time is ticking and the 9 final teams are definitely in their last stretch of preparing their concepts for their case study about Hollu. By May 16 all 9 student teams have to submit their concepts for the final. Who will come up with the most creative and innovative ideas and solutions?

Things certainly remain exciting 🤩🤩🤩

𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅! 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌! 🍀🤞🐞

You have already received the new case study. And with that comes another bag full of tips and tricks to find creative solutions!

❓ Ask yourselves the following questions:
1️⃣ Are we solving the right problem(s)?
2️⃣ Are we applying the right structure and what are the relevant framework conditions?
3️⃣ What are the alternative courses of action?
4️⃣ Do we use all the skills from our team members?
5️⃣ Are we using our time wisely? Remember, you only have time until 16 May!

Good luck, patience, stamina & lots of great ideas! ⭐