JIBS PBM project beneficial for Handelsbanken

18 Nov 2009 | Posted By: Maria Markenroth

By: Erhan Trsani

Robert Radway and Andreas Helmersson are in their last year at JIBS where they are currently writing their bachelor thesis. Robert and Andrew came to JIBS in 2006 and were in their fourth semester when they got the chance to do a so-called PBM project together, even though they study in different programmes.

PBM stands for Project-Based Module. This means that a company hires JIBS for a consultancy carried out by students, which in turn get credits for this. Through a PBM project, students may make a departure from their usual courses, and instead work in a real business assignment together with a mentor from the school. This is a way to meet the JIBS ambition that all education should have close links with the students upcoming working life. Starting from next year, PBM will be renamed BAP – Business Accelerator Project.

Handelsbanken, a major Swedish bank, is one of the companies that have hired JIBS for a project, and Robert and Andrew were selected in fierce competition. The project has been to examine �the future of banking� for small and medium-sized businesses (1-250 employees). The students have examined, among other things, future services, payment methods and channels of communication. To obtain this they conducted a competitor analysis and market research. In the market survey they interviewed twenty-two CFOs and CEOs in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Jönköping and the Gnosjö area. This was done to find areas where companies want to see improvements in their bank. After the interviews, a survey was performed in which 543 companies participated.

“The fact that so many people participated in the survey, I think makes up for a big part in the success of the study. We contacted 2 000 businesses by telephone to secure their participation. This resulted in us sending the questionnaire to 862 companies and from that we achieved a response rate of 68%, which is great if you compare with other studies�, says Robert Radway.

With this information, Robert and Andrew could come up with proposals for a number of development projects, which was met with much interest from the bank. For example, their report was read by Handelsbanken’s management, including CEO Pär Boman, and the bank is now implementing changes in line with their study. By combining the survey, interviews and competitor analysis in a comprehensive analysis, the students could give strong indications of what a future bank should or could could look like, based on the requirements of companies in the study group.

“The study is both broad and deep, there are many companies that participated, but it also goes into specific situations. That we believe is behind that it has such an impact at Handelsbanken and they started to make changes along our study� says Robert Radway.

Robert and Andrew have now begun a new study of Handelsbanken in addition to their studies and they think it is a great opportunity for students to attend a PBM.

“I highly recommend other students to gain practical experience during training. PBM is a superb chance for students to see how what they have learned can be applied to reality� says Andreas Helmersson. “In addition, we had great contact with our supervisor, Peter Dahlin, who is incredibly skilled. You learn a lot more from a teacher if you are sitting in his office every day than if you only see him in a lecture hall once a week� says Robert Radway.

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