Arie Barendregt Delivers Lectures on Competitor Analysis

Wittenborg senior lecturer Arie Barendregt had the opportunity to travel to Iran in March when he taught a course on competitor analysis to a group of approximately 20 students pursuing a Doctorate in Business Administration. Offered in Tehran by the French institution ESC Clermont Business School, the programme brings together students with varied professional backgrounds, including entrepreneurs, managing directors and business owners active in multiple fields. Barendregt explains that he was invited to participate in this activity by Wittenborg senior lecturer Gilbert Silvius, who had taught a project management course in Tehran within the same programme.

Over the course of three days, Barendregt delivered a series of strategic intelligence lectures on the topic of how businesses can study their competitors, predicting the competitors’ future market behaviour and using this information to plan their own marketing strategies.

The senior lecturer commented that the students were very motivated and eager to learn, and mentions that Iranian entrepreneurs face market and business challenges similar to those experienced by their European counterparts, coupled with specific constraints such as the economic sanctions imposed on the country. “I was already familiar with the high level of motivation of our Iranian students at Wittenborg, and there was certainly no difference in Tehran. The students were extremely engaged, interested and appreciative, and I am very satisfied with the outcome of that activity.”

Barendregt also pointed out that ESC Clermont Business School’s subsidiary in Tehran stands out for its excellent organisation, welcoming character and efficiency. “The organisers did not want information to be lost in translation, so they had a professional translator who immediately translated into Farsi what I was telling the students in English, and if they asked questions in Farsi, he would translate them for me. On top of that, prior to the session, they translated all the hundreds of slides that I had created to facilitate the translator’s work.”

Barendregt says that he plans to go back to Tehran at the end of the year to teach a course in the more general subject of Strategic Management. “One thing that all academics have in common is that we want to be connected and to teach and learn from each other. So many universities are conducting internationalisation initiatives, and I highly recommend that lecturers make the most of these opportunities,” he concludes.