As part of our Global Fashion Business Program, Per-Tøffner Knudsen visited us. He is a lecturer at VIA University College in Denmark. It was the 4th time he has visited and taught at HAMK.
We had a full day with Per-Tøffner and therefore covered many different topics regarding logistics. From ‘purchasing in the value chain’ to ‘sourcing and supplier chain’. Pricing and price calculations, logistical efficiency and inventory management were also topics he taught us about.
Figures of the World
In the morning the lecture started with the Figures of the World. We were told that this is important to look at when doing business with other countries. Especially in marketing, it is a significant aspect of customer segmentation. Furthermore, the GDP is an important aspect when deciding on who to export to or where to produce. Therefore, a country with a very high GPD is a good place for selling to, and a country with a low GPD is good for production or buying products and resources.
In general, it can be said that the best point for starting an international business would be countries which are geographically and culturally close to my own company. For example, for Finland, it could be Russia, Sweden or Germany.
The 17 sustainable development goal of the UN
Per-Tøffner continued his lecture with the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations for 2030. He taught us that no country can commit to all 17 because that would be too expensive. However, it is also a step in the correct direction if a country only commits to 3 or 4. Nowadays these 17 goals have a growing importance for companies as well.
The Value Chain
Another focus point during the lecture was the value chain. It is a chain of actions, which create different possibilities of values in the chain. That means every part in the chain has an influence on the value and has to decide which are the one they stand for. To reach the final values the whole chain should stand for it – is important to have partners who are working with the same understanding of your values.
Our guest lecturer continued his lecture with much information about purchasing and price calculations and finished in the afternoon with an explanation of the ABC-Analysis.
We would like to thank Per-Tøffner for coming to HAMK University of Applied Sciences and teaching us about all these different topics. Per-Tøffner has a very broad knowledge and it was a pleasure to meet him.
Tara, Jarena, Roosa
