By Torben Haugaard Jensen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photo: Ivan Højer Holdensgaard

1984 was a tipping point.

A budget deficit, high inflation and rising unemployment were everyday life in Denmark after the tough years of the oil crisis.

The business community was supposed to be the support beam of the welfare society, but was not competitive. Several companies had to close up shop.

Action was needed. The Danish economy had to get back on track, and Ivan Højer Holdensgaard and his fellow students at AUC, as Aalborg University was called at the time, had an idea for how.

Danish companies had to enter the world market, and it couldn’t happen fast enough. There was a need for experts who could help companies make this transition - and these experts should be educated at the university, Ivan and his friends in economics and business administration believed.

"There were huge market opportunities abroad. We only had to grab them. So, we suggested that AUC start training students who could advise companies on global business economics and management of international activities," says Ivan Højer Holdensgaard, who currently teaches economics and business administration at UCN.

This led to a new master's degree programme in International Business Economics that broke ground for today's AAU Business School.

An internship was an eye-opener

Olav Jull Sørensen was an associate professor of economics and business administration at AUC in 1984 and became the prime mover for the master's programme.

He contacted a number of Danish companies with international potential and helped the students find internships. It was – and still is – an important part of the degree programme.

Ivan Højer Holdensgaard was lucky enough to end up in Paris. He did an internship in Vølund's joint venture with Shell France where he worked with financial project management. It really opened his eyes to the financial challenges faced by Danish companies.

"We sold and designed incineration plants to the state and municipalities in France. But it went badly. Vølund, which was otherwise a strong brand in the 80s, had to sell off its household appliance division due to poor results," says Ivan Højer Holdensgaard.

A job in an export company

After the internship, Ivan Højer Holdensgaard was hired by the machine manufacturer Derby in Aalestrup that produced freezers and refrigerators.

His experience from Vølund and Shell France was crucial. For Derby exported its products to France, among other places, and even had a branch in Paris.

"My education was a great advantage. But it was also very important that I had knowledge of the French language, the French market and French culture in general. So my internship proved very valuable," says Ivan Højer Holdensgaard.

He quickly became export manager at Derby where he established and maintained customer relationships with, for example, importers, wholesalers and retail chains abroad.

An education that’s still important

Ivan Højer Holdensgaard has worked for many years with exports and investments in several private companies.

He maintains contact with several companies, and he uses the experience with financial project management from his previous jobs in teaching at UCN.

The master's degree programme in International Business Economics helped pave the way for his career - and the programme is still very relevant, he says.

"I had the chance to work in an area of the business world where many companies continue to have the opportunity to expand. Manufacturing companies can hardly survive without establishing clear strategies for internationalization and the pervasive globalization."

For future students in the master's programme in International Business at AAUBS, he has a clear piece of advice:

"Find a job where your interests match the company's strategy and philosophy. It's then a win-win," says Ivan Højer Holdensgaard.

Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs