Congratulations! Spring is over, and a short but wonderful summer begins! Despite the constantly changeable weather we are surrounded by flowers and smiles! The soul is singing in anticipation of White Nights Boat Cruise! However, first business, then the dreams….

Immediately after the holidays on 15th of May the SPIBA Marketing and Communications Committee invited managers of companies to participate in an interactive seminar “Constructor of success for managers: public speeches”. Artem Menumerov, of the Advanced Management Institute, told the participants about the effectiveness, technology and design of public speaking.

May 22 at the meeting of Committee on Human Resources the experiences of the formation of professional development strategies and leadership skills of managers were shared by companies such as Unilever, Baltika Brewery and YIT Lentek. The subject was not only relevant, but interesting and attracted a large audience.

How many hours a day we spend on the Internet? Recent studies have shown that most of the time is being spent on various social networks. More and more companies begin to come to the conclusion that its presence in social media is a need: if you are not there yet, your competitors are probably already there! May 24, we held a meeting on “Social networks as a business tool.” Besides the theoretical aspects of the issue reviewed by “Ashmanov and partners”, the participants heard a real case of company “Koleso Russia”, about their experiences of promotion through social networks.

May 25 a regular meeting with Vodokanal within a working group under the environmental Committee of SPIBA took place. Participants asked pertinent questions for their companies, and agreed to hold a large-scale meeting in the fall. The meeting was attended by companies such as Smurfit Kappa, Ahlers, Unilever, P&G, Kraft Foods, British Consulate-General. You can read published answers to questions from participants here.

May 29 the Committee on Finance SPIBA organized an event on submission of original documents in electronic form to the tax authorities. The company Petrolesport also shared its experience with the representation of electronic documents in a pilot project carried out jointly with the Federal Tax Service.

May 30 as part of a course of lectures on marketing, Andrey Alexeev, professor of SPbSUEF, held a workshop on “Positioning”. Besides the theoretical aspects of the subject, Andrew also considered examples of actual companies and positioning of their products for entry into the market. All participants of the lecture received a lot of new ideas applicable to their own company and products, we thank Andrey for his excellent presentation of information!

May 31 the Committee of Environmental Protection held a meeting on the problems of environmental legislation with Eugeny Samarkin.  Eugeny highlighted the problems associated with the calculation of the amount of damage caused to the environment, as well as issues related to unpaid fees for a negative impact on the environment in terms of waste disposal. The next meeting of the Environment Committee will be with the Neva-Ladoga Water Basin Management.

Within the project of cooperation of Northwest Russia and the Nordic countries in the field of corporate social responsibility, including anti-corruption measures, supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers, from 27 May to 2 June, was held a trip to Stockholm and Oslo of SPIBA representatives. The main objective of the project was to promote conditions of economic cooperation between the Nordic countries and Northwest Russia through the execution of the principles of social responsibility in the areas of sustainable development, social equity, and quality of organizational management. The project aims to improve the skills and knowledge, as well as providing a platform for Russian and Nordic experts, government representatives, business sector, industry, NGOs and services working with the management responsible for the ISO and standards in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The program included a meeting with public organizations, as well as visits to the company. Experiences in the field of corporate social responsibility were shared by the companies: Statoil, Aker Solutions, Telenor (Norway), and Max Humburger. On the trip participants also met Sten Anders Berge, Deputy Director General of Norwegian Ministery of Foreign Affairs; Mia Crawford, Senior Adviser & Head of Baltic 21 Unit of Council of the Baltic Sea, deputy chairman of the ISO 26 000, Staffan Söderberg, an independent consultant to the Swedish Standards Institute.

Do not miss the annual SPIBA White Nights Boat Cruise! This is traditionally our most popular trip! It will be as always warm and sunny company! This year we will go on a journey of a dream! If you have a dream – to join is a must!