19 SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy – Siemens Gamesa

Group Reflection

Our team decided to conduct an interview with Siemens Gamesa, a distinguished leader in the field of renewable energies. Our engagement with the company’s representatives, highlighted a few things, such as Siemens Gamesa’s unwavering commitment to fostering a sustainable future. The company prides itself in delivering innovative and ecologically conscious solutions that address the escalating global energy demands. Siemens Gamesa’s mission extends beyond mere financial success or business expansion; it is deeply rooted in securing a better, healthier environment for future generations, this commitment is evident in their strategic approach to the market and business operations, emphasizing environmental responsibility and sustainability to mitigate contributions to climate change and ecological harm. As our meeting continued, we picked up on how the company also prides itself on the well-being of its workforce, partners, and the communities in which its projects are situated. This was heartwarming to learn that mental health and employees’ well-being are very important and big corporations tend to overlook that aspect and just focus on meeting their goals. This company is also very innovative and progressive as it is consistently finding more ways to improve its technology and find better ways to conduct its business as we live in a world that is forever evolving and improving and its goal is to have 100% recyclable turbines by 2040.

Many of us have done Business management and in this module, we are taught about the importance of sustainability and ways in which business can stay sustainable and relevant as the world grows and evolves. The triple bottom line is as follows,
• Social – social sustainability focuses on human health, education, and environmental justice.
• Economic/financial – This includes job creation, profitability, and decent accounting of ecosystem services for optimal cost-benefit analyses.
• Environmental sustainability – This pillar focuses on the well-being of the environment, such as water and air quality, and the reduction of environmental stressors, such as greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints.

Siemens Gamesa has executed this very well and it was amazing to see all the things in our textbook come to life and to hear that all we learn about business management is applied in real life. This company most prides itself on being sustainable and evolving in a way that won’t harm the environment and will make sure to keep them profitable and relevant for many generations to come and continue being the market leader. Furthermore, the company also brought into reality the importance of marketing and having clients and potential clients know all about your business and what service they provide. It is very important to be easily accessible as a business, make sure the image of the business is at its optimal (Public relations), and always find ways to tap into new markets and convince potential clients that they need the service/goods you are providing, which wasn’t so difficult for Siemens as the world is moving to renewable energy in pursue to vomit one of the biggest challenges to mankind, the first being how scars fossil fuels have become and secondly, global warming.

This experience has taught us as a group that as much as it is important to have your visions and missions when starting a business and laying a solid foundation and network. It is important to position yourself in the right places and amongst people who are in your line of work who could benefit from the services/goods you are offering as much as you will benefit from what they have to offer. In addition, it is crucial that your potential clients know very well about what you have to offer, and that your business is easily accessible. In as much as profit and growth are the goal, a business must always ensure that they comply with the SDGs, and will stand the test of time, in terms of evolving. Furthermore, this experience has shown us as a group the challenges that may be faced with working with people from international platforms, challenges such as communication barriers due to time zones as we all live in different parts of the world. Going into business in the future, this will be a challenge we already have faced before and we will have to come up with solutions that may work for every member and help the business run smoothly whilst reaping the benefits, such as attracting a wider audience for your business from different parts of the world and expanding the businesses horizons and growth.

Overall, this experience was a growing experience for every individual in the group, it had our minds stimulated and we learned a lot and had ourselves in spaces where we continuously wanted to learn and explore the depth of businesses and ourselves as aspiring individuals who want to make an ever-lasting impact in the business world and the economy of the world. From interviewing our company to having conversations amongst ourselves as a group, we learned a lot and got to experience our theory work being put into practice. We also got a chance to challenge ourselves as individuals within a group of people from different parts of the world and we also got a chance to enjoy our views on businesses and adjust the unrealistic views we had on business such as starting a business is not as simple as writing a business plan and a SWOTs analysis, it takes a lot of work and dedication and there is no time one can set on when their business will be huge ( Siemens Gamesa was founded in 1976 and has been in business for over 40 years)and success in the market. With that being said, this experience reinstalled a lot of hope and excitement in our group and more knowledge that has made us eager to go into the business world and make a difference.

Individual Reflections

John: I enjoyed this COIL experience, but I think there are some things that could be much better. For example, the meetings with group members are very inconvenient for a student. I understand having to do this in the real world for a job but that it is much easier when you do not have classes and other extracurricular activities to worry about. So instead, it would be beneficial to have groups with more similar. time zones so the meeting process is smoother.
That is my only complaint about the project, and I thought it was a remarkably interesting experience. It really helped me work on my group management skills. It was also interesting to see how other students from around the world work on a group project like this. Other than that, this is a project that I really enjoyed and something I think that belongs on my resume because of all the skill, patience, and leadership skill needed to complete an international project of this size.

Andre: I had a great time participating during this COIL experience. Something I was particularly fond of was the chance to interact and work with international students. Personally, I am the person who is naturally drawn to new challenges, and this was a great opportunity to embrace a challenge. Yes, it was great working with students from around the world; however as mentioned before, there were challenges as well. Specifically, it was challenging communicating with one another. There were so many barriers that kept us from having smooth communication, particularly the time zone conflicts. It seems as if as soon as one person was ready to work, a set of group members would be asleep for the night, which was extremely detrimental to the entire process. However, when we were able to communicate effectively, things went great, and we were able to get a lot of good work done. Overall, I genuinely enjoyed my time with my group members and really valued the experiences and lessons learned along the way.

Lwandiswa: Having to be part of the COIL 2023 project has been such a lovely, growing experience. I enjoyed how I got exposed to a company I had no knowledge of and got to learn how they did business which expanded my knowledge. I also had a first-time experience of working with international students of which was very exciting, I got a chance to pick at their brands and experience how people from different walks of life view certain topics and how they view the world. I really enjoyed this experience. I wish it had taken place at a time that was not so critical as most of us were in the midst of exams. The main problem faced was the different time zones, it was a bit of a challenge to communicate because of this another tricky part was that we only had one form of communication, which was online, and if participants weren’t responding there was no other way to get a hold of them until they showed up again. Apart from that, I would really love to part take in this experience again.

Adriana: I really enjoyed participating in COIL 2023. It was my first time working with international students and I have learned a lot from this experience. The part of the enterprise was not a big challenge for me since Siemens Gamesa is a Spanish company that I already knew, however, I learned a lot about it that I did not know about. The project offered me an insight on the different innovations and SDG’s that the company carry out. Moreover, I also learned from the other group members the different ways they used to solve the different assignments. I would say that the most difficult thing was adjusting to the different time zones. It was hard to find the perfect time for everybody, but we managed to do it. To conclude, for me, COIL 2023 was an enriching experience that I would repeat if I could.

Sara: I found it very interesting to have participated in the COIL 2023 project. It has taught me what it is like to work with people from different parts of the world and how to deal with the problems that come with it. Moreover, it was very interesting and an achievement to have been able to interview in person one of the people who works in the large company Siemens Gamesa, which I already knew. I also learned a lot of information about this enterprise, and I found the innovations they are carrying out very interesting, for example the Recyclable Blade. However, as I aforementioned, we faced some problems. The main problem was the time difference, as the change of time affected some meetings we had to talk via zoom. In addition, having had the interview in Spanish, my native language, the information had to be translated. In conclusion, despite the problems, I really enjoyed participating in this project and I would do it again.

Lucia: Participating in the COIL23 project has been a unique experience. I really enjoyed this opportunity. It was very interesting and exciting as it was my first time working with international students from all over the world. It has taught me that one must work hard to achieve a goal, in this case to submit the project as good as we all could working together as a team. One had to organize themselves and communicate with all the team members because we had different time zones.
Despite this drawback, we were able to set a day and time that suited all members of the group. This made our work much easier, and we were able to work in an organized way every week. It is true that we have had some misunderstandings with the distribution of the tasks, but I consider this to be normal, as we live in different parts of the world and communication is not that easy. On the other hand, it helped me to see how the other students from other universities managed to organize themselves and do their tasks. Although the company we chose, Gamesa, was a Spanish company, I had had no knowledge and by doing the project I learned a lot of interesting information and expanded my knowledge. Moreover, it gave me an insight of all the innovations and SDG´s they are carrying out to reduce climate change.
To conclude, apart from the drawbacks it was an amazing experience I would love to repeat once again.