Master students proposed sustainability ideas to JYSK
Date:
Author: Anders Græsbøll Buch, Communications Consultant, JYSK
Category: Careers & HR , Sustainability
On Friday 28 August 2020, JYSK held a Master case competition at Aarhus University. A total of 17 groups of students gave their ideas to how JYSK should implement sustainability.
How about adding a category called “Sustainability” to the bar at the webpage along with “Office”, “Bathroom” and so on? Or what about a ranking system where every product on the webpage gets from one to three leaves depending on how sustainable they are?
On Friday 28 August, JYSK held a case competition for Master’s students at Aarhus BSS, which is a part of Aarhus University. 17 groups of five to six students challenged themselves with how to implement sustainability more in JYSK, and the young people had a lot of bright ideas.
“Seeing all these smart ideas to make sustainability more prominent in JYSK stores, and to incorporate new business models to be part of a circular economy, really underscored how important environmental responsibility is to the next generation of shoppers and business leaders,” says Sam Harrington, Sustainability Manager at JYSK.
Three winning groups
Sam Harrington was part of a five-person jury from JYSK, who had to select three winning groups. The three groups of winners then had to present their idea in front of the JYSK employees, before the final winner was decided.
The top group was five students from the master’s education Commercial and Retail Management, who proposed a JYSK sub-brand called “Grön” with only sustainable products. They suggested the sub-brand should be incorporated on the JYSK webpage. Furthermore, they also proposed “Return & Earn”, where JYSK customers could recycle used textiles and get a voucher to buy a new JYSK product.
“It was a great start to the semester to win the case competition. It sounds like a great team to work in and it would be nice to work with sustainability in JYSK, because there is still so much to do,” says Emilie from the winning group.
Invited to JYSK Head Office
The three winner groups now have the opportunity to adjust and improve their ideas until 30 October, when they are invited to pitch their ideas at the JYSK Head Office in Brabrand.
For some of the students, the day was an eye-opener to what JYSK are doing when it comes to sustainability. For instance, one of the students asked about opportunities for an internship or a student worker job.
“To me, sustainability is very important, and I didn’t know before today that JYSK has a focus on sustainability. So actually I have googled jobs as student worker at JYSK today, but unfortunately no jobs are available right now,” says Emil Dyrmose Hansen, who was in the group that finished second.
