Strategy in Family Business Course: role-playing, excursions in the family business and international cooperation

After one year, the Centre for Family Business (CFB) once again welcomed students and teachers from foreign universities for an educational programme on the topic of strategy in family businesses. The Czech students of the NextGen Consulting minor specialization joined students from Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia for an intensive teaching week at VŠE from 7 to 11 April 2025 and had the opportunity to get to know each other. The course entitled Family Businesses: The Backbone of Economies – Strategy in Family Businesses was prepared for 66 students by CFB Academic Director Martin Jurek as a BIP (Blended Intensive Programme). The BIP in a part of the Erasmus+ programme. It is an international short-term intensive course with innovative teaching elements that combines offline and virtual learning. In addition to students, academic staff could also participate in the programme. So the Martin Jurek course was attended last week in Prague by the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Economics & Business at the University of Zagreb, Prof. Nikolina Dečman, Ph.D. (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business), Petra Halar, Ph.D. (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business) and Assoc. Marian Holienka, Ph.D. (Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Management). Among the foreign students, the course was also attended by students from the University of Maribor and University North, Koprivnica.   

 “I can confirm that both my colleagues and our students like the course very much. Firstly, the whole topic of family businesses is interesting and secondly, Mr. Jurek has a great approach. He uses the role-playing method and gamification elements in his teaching, and students usually enjoy this,” says Professor Nikolina Dečman about her first impressions of the course at the FPH VŠE. She came to Prague as part of the BIP together with her colleague Petra Halar. In the middle of the teaching week, the students also had a field trip to the family company Autosalon Klokočka, where they were guided by the son of the founder and owner of the company, Jan Klokočka Jr. He shared with the students the challenges and issues he faces as a member of an entrepreneurial family. “Mr. Klokocka was so honest. Based on his personal experience, he presented us with the positives and negatives of the family business. He openly shared with us the intergenerational differences in perspective on various aspects such as setting a work-life balance or accepting criticism,” Petra Halar appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with a member of the family business. “The students had a lot of questions for him and appreciated being able to have such a frank and open discussion with him. I think that completely blew them away and they really enjoyed the whole excursion.”     

Overall, students liked the opportunity to take the BIP very much. “It is my first time in Prague with my colleague for BIP. We had a really long list of applicants, and it was not easy to choose between them. We met all good students. We were able to offer some of them the opportunity to go to another BIP, some of them will be able to go again next time,” described Professor Nikolina Dečman.   

Associate Professor Marian Holienka from the Faculty of Management of the Comenius University in Bratislava participated in this particular BIP for the second time. “I really like the way Martin Jurek and Professor Jiří Hnilica approach and teach the topic of family businesses, so I was very happy that we could come this year as well. There are 10 of my students and two Ph.D. students here,” says Associate Professor Holienka. For him, this study stay is also a bit of a return at Faculty of Business Administration, with which he has been collaborating for 12 years in working groups, conferences and research projects. BIP is a great opportunity to meet and exchange experiences. “On behalf of myself, my colleague Petra and my colleague Marian, I would like to thank Martin Jurek and Professor Hnilica, who are very good hosts. It is great that we teachers have met here and have the opportunity to discuss common topics and possibilities for further cooperation. Even though we have students from different universities here, they work very well together, enjoy their time together and create a great atmosphere in class,” says Nikolina Dečman at the end of the BIP course Family Businesses: The Backbone of Economies – Strategy in Family Businesses.