MBA case competition 2010
MBA case competition 2010
Top MBA students from Asia, Europe and the US met in Barcelona to crack an Indian case
Each year, the International MBA Case Competition sponsored by Roland Berger brings together bright minds from the world's leading business schools at IESE Business School. The competition was held for the 15th time this year, mid-February in Barcelona. For the first time ever, IESE Business School took first place. As befitted the truly international event, their team consisted of MBA students from Great Britain, Luxemburg, and Canada.
Each team consisted of four first-year MBA students. In most cases, the schools' consulting clubs select the participants. However, Roland Berger is offering to advise schools in this process, assigning consultants from their local offices to work with the schools. This year, our offices in China, the Netherlands, Spain and the US took an active part in selecting several combatants.
Jury members and coaches from Roland Berger
Business schools sending teams to the 2010 competition were Kellogg, Chicago Booth, Ivey, Ross, CEIBS, LBS, RSM and IESE. The MBA teams had to crack a case dealing with Wal-Mart's market entry strategy in India. After a qualification round, teams from Kellogg and IESE were selected to present in the finals. The four jury members were Per Breuer (Roland Berger's head of HR), Tim Manasseh (London Partner), an industry expert from Indolink consulting and the Centre Manager from the Asia Case Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong who had developed the case.
Prior to their presentations, all teams received coaching and direct feedback from Roland Berger consultants and case coaches Camilla Folladori, Carsten Meyer, Axel Koch and Jorge Acisclo Perez. Their help was very much appreciated, as none of the participants had any previous experience in professional consulting.
In between all the hard work, the participants also had the opportunity to relax and network in a much less stressful environment. The second evening of the event, for instance, was spent at a typical Catalan restaurant, and the way people tried their luck at eating oven-roasted green onions (calçots) caused roars of laughter around the tables.
Placing the brand
Roland Berger's sponsorship of the event is not aimed specifically at recruiting. "The idea is to place our brand with the top global MBA schools. However, we did have two new hires whom we had met during the 2009 case challenge – one for the Netherlands and one for China – and it would be great to top that this year," explains HR Coordinator Kathrin Pommer. She organized the event in close cooperation with Senior Consultant Alexander van Hasselt from our Amsterdam office – who, rather conveniently, is currently doing his MBA at IESE and is a member of the school's consulting club.
Recruiting event or brand boost – the students had their fun either way. To quote June Qiongqiong Chen from Chicago Booth: "Although my team did not win, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It offered a unique opportunity to get to know students from the world's leading business schools and become friends with them. The whole experience was invaluable, thanks to Roland Berger and IESE."
