Students of the Master's Programme 'Arts and Culture Management' Prepared an Analytical Report for Cartier
Ekaterina Khozyainova, Aleksandra Zaplatina and Yuliya Shumilova, the second-year master's students of HSE University-St Petersburg, undertook a summer internship at the Moscow office of the Jewellery House Cartier. In the framework of the internship, they prepared and presented to the programme partners a context map which will be used to shape a strategic plan for developing and promoting the company in the luxury industry market in Russia.
The summer internship for the students of the Master's programme 'Arts and Culture Management' at the Moscow office of the Jewellery House Cartier was organised in collaboration between the programme and the company. They have been bound with a series of projects since the autumn 2021.
During the internship, Ekaterina Khozyainova, Aleksandra Zaplatina and Yuliya Shumilova had to prepare a context map which each regional unit of the House presents at the annual meeting at the headquarters of Cartier. They are going to use this document to shape the strategic and short-term plan for developing and promoting the company in Russia.
Anna Lipatova, the Jewellery Product Manager at Cartier, Curator of the joint research project with HSE University-St Petersburg
The students' internship at the Moscow office of the Jewellery House Cartier is a reasonable initiative within the cooperation between Cartier and HSE University-St Petersburg. Thanks to the students, we have received some fresh ideas of the young generation and the image of how the luxury industry is perceived and developed. We integrate all the insights and knowledge into our projects. Of course, the joint work with the students is an invaluable experience for us, an important contribution to the development of young talents and, at the same time, an inspiration for advancing our business.
The results of the students' work were presented in the form of an extensive report. It contained the analysis of Russia's macroeconomic indicators for 2017-2022; a survey of the global and Russian luxury, restaurant, art and culture industries for the specified period; an overview of the events organised by the major players in the luxury market; and the list of the current and future consumer, social and media trends.
Apart from the text document, the students prepared a presentation where they singled out the key aspects of the report and supplemented it with their personal recommendations.
The internship was conducted in a hybrid format: Aleksandra, Ekaterina and Yuliya spent some days in the Moscow office of Cartier where they had a chance to meet the House employees from different departments in person, learn about their experience, impressions of the work and the ways to become a part of the globally recognised brand.
The landmark event during the on-site part of the internship was a lecture. The students and the colleagues from different Cartier units were invited to the live event where Tatyana Torchilina, the Director of Partnership Development in the sphere of art, culture and premium business segment at Cartier, told the story of the collections 'La Pantère' and 'Tutti Frutti'. Such events help to learn the history of the Jewellery House Cartier in detail, immerse into its philosophy and position the brand better in the luxury market later on.
The second-year students share their impressions of the internship.
Yuliya Shumilova
The internship at the Moscow office of the Jewellery House Cartier was a unique opportunity to experience the interconnection of all the spheres studied on the programme 'Arts and Culture Management'. The interdisciplinary knowledge in the spheres of Management, Economics, Arts and Culture helped us to accomplish the tasks at a decent level. After analysing the reports of the Big Three consulting firms, we identified the trends which are the most up-to-date in the current Russian context, actualised their meaning for the development of the luxury segment in Russia and correlated the modern tendencies with the current changes in the communication practices of the luxury brands with the consumers.
During the regular meetings and Zoom conferences, the internship curators from the Cartier team determined the direction of work, shared the insights on the luxury market, which helped us to broaden the understanding of the industry.
We got into the spirit of the Jewellery House Cartier, its history and company culture. I am so inspired to work on the further joint projects!
Aleksandra Zaplatina
First of all, I would like to underscore how valuable the internship at Cartier is for the future career. It was interesting to apply the research skills—to collect, analyse and process statistical data, accountability, analytical materials—to accomplish a practical tasks assigned by the company. But at the same time, thanks to the regular interaction with the House employees, we received very useful feedback. For instance, it is important for the brand to know which trends, in the youth's opinion, the company can implement to draft a development strategy. That is why we had to supplement the analytical report with our personal recommendations. We will take this commentary into account while working on the future projects.
Ekaterina Khozyainova
In the framework of the project with Cartier, we also dreamt of learning more about the House's activities. The internship at the Moscow office of Cartier was the biggest event of this summer, to say the least. The colleagues from Cartier received us very warmly and trusted us with preparing the key aspects of the strategic plan—one of the most responsible company tasks at the moment. Over these three days in the Moscow office, we fully immersed ourselves in the company's working environment, the history of the House and got to know great employees.
I want to thank the colleagues from Cartier for the trust, open-mindedness and, of course, the opportunity to get in touch with the activities of the globally recognised brand. For us, it is truly invaluable experience and enormous pleasure from the cooperative work!
Julia Trabskaya, the Academic Supervisor of the Master's programme 'Arts and Culture Management'
Our programme offers the students a choice between the research and practice-focused tracks. The researches are organised by the Research and Study Group 'Innovations in Culture and Arts'; the practice-focused track is realised via several formats.
Firstly, these are the projects, which the students engage in with the largest art institutions of Saint-Petersburg. Among such projects are the Archaeological Festival in the Hermitage; CIBA in the Alexandrinsky Theatre; Cartier in the Luxury Market together with the Jewellery House Cartier; film screenings in the Martial Chamber together with Tsarskoye Selo; a research on the behaviour of visitors together with the Fabergé Museum.
Secondly, the programme courses are delivered by the expert practitioners: the Hermitage experts teach the course 'Arts History and Contemporary Cultural Practice', the course 'Aesthetics of luxury business. The Cartier phenomenon' is delivered by Cartier top-managers, the deputy director of the Fabergé Museum teaches the course 'Economics of Arts'. These courses, which are delivered by the practitioners, are highly important because they give the students a chance to understand the real context of the art market, establish the communication with leading specialists and get the practical skills.
The third way of realising the practice-focused track is the internship itself which the students undertake at Tsarskoe Selo State Museum and Heritage Site, the Russian Railway Museum, the creative space 'Sevkabel Port'. Since 2022, there has been an opportunity to undertake an internship at the Jewellery House Cartier—we believe that it is an important achievement of our programme. The luxury segment has a very high potential. The luxe is closely related to art as it is this sphere where all the trends start. The luxury industry has the resources for developing new directions. Besides, the luxe is a prospective industry for the graduates' employment, the labour market with high wages. During the internship, the students have a chance to understand the context of the luxury market, its laws, peculiarities of consumer behaviour, specifics of drafting strategic plans for the development of luxury companies.
Julia Trabskaya