As of this Saturday, Bergbahnen Malbun AG (Malbun cable cars) is offering a new attraction. Three students attending the Master’s degree programme in Business and Engineering at the Institute for Entrepreneurship came up with the idea for this project in their business plan.
For their Master’s thesis in the Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) degree programme in Business and Engineering, the project team including Manuel Iseli, Marcel Kilga and Mathias Gort created a business plan for a new summer attraction in the Liechtenstein tourist region Malbun. In cooperation with Bergbahnen Malbun AG and the Malbun Sport store, it has now been possible to implement the project. From next weekend onwards, the Malbi-Rider will be offering locals and tourists a special adventure. The project team discussed the results of their business plan in a press conference.
“We were facing the challenge of creating a business plan for our Master’s thesis,” explained Manuel Iseli at the joint press conference with Rainer Gassner, Managing Director of Bergbahnen Malbun AG. They chose to develop a piece of sports equipment that is intended to facilitate the way back after hiking up a mountain and is fun. “In the course of our research, we came across mountain carts, which where exactly what we had envisioned”, stated Mathias Gort. The carts have already proved to be a great success in other mountain regions, and therefore the three prospective business engineers decided to create a business plan for the already existing product.
They contacted the local cable-car operators and presented their project. “In winter, our capacity utilization amounts to 88 per cent, while in summer it is only 12 per cent,” Rainer Gassner explained his decision to realize the Malbi-Rider project in cooperation with the three students and Ambros Stelzl from the Malbun Sport store. The tricycle can be rented from the Malbun Sport store. Once you have been made familiar with the vehicle’s characteristics, you follow the three-kilometre-long path down to the Sareis base station, from where you take the chairlift up the mountain. The Malbi-Rider can also be reserved for a certain time, so that the tricycle can be used after hiking.
Bergbahnen Malbun AG hopes bolster its modest summer revenue with this project. For the university’s students, it is an ideal opportunity to implement their theoretical business plan, and to provide Liechtenstein with a lasting benefit from their studies.