Seven teams of students from some of the world? finest MBA programs received feedback in Los Angeles last Friday (30 January 2004), from senior executives at British Petroleum and several consulting firms on their proposals presented at the 2004 Marshall MBA Global Consulting Challenge.
The schools represented there include,
- University of Southern California (host)
- University of California- Los Angeles
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
- University of California-Berkeley
- Yale University
- London Business School
- University of Michigan (winners, 2003)
HKUST, the only contenders from Asia, received lavish praise from the judges-and emerged as the winners. The team is:Guillaume Boisset, Camel Luo, Madhu Motwani, Jenny Xu, Jerry Zhao, all year one students of the HKUST MBA Program.
The judges commended the HKUST team for providing business solutions with both revolutionar."Out-of-the-bo." thinking and practical, rigorously supported recommendations. This represents on exceedingly rare combination of revolutionary creativity married to solid, practical solutions. In addition the judges commented on the sophisticated and persuasive presentation of the team and were particularly impressed with the team's ability to think quickly and convincingly on their feet when responding to challenging questions.
HKUST team's advisor Prof. Stephen Nason said: ."This is a tremendous accomplishment as they faced some tough competition, including Haas at Berkeley, Anderson at UCLA, Michigan, Marshall at USC, LBS, and Yale. The HKUST team's presentation was flawless:delivered with both professionalism and humor. Their recommendations were both practical and innovative. In fact, it was a perfect example of a clear, forceful, interesting presentation with a few great ideas.
everal of the judges mentioned privately to me how exceptional they found each individual member of the team. In fact the senior judge from BP sought out the team members and asked each to consider applying to BP. The executive then suggested meeting in the future to discuss the team's ideas in more details and get their thoughts on BP's expansion into China." Nason added.
Prof. Steve DeKrey, Associate Dean and MBA Director said."The HKUST MBA experience is a package of high quality academic learning delivered by world class faculty and carefully designed activities to put theory and practice together. The match is best for those who seek top quality in Asia."
The Marshall MBA Global Consulting Challenge 2004
Date:29-30 January, 2004
Place: Los Angeles,
The event
Seven top MBA schools from around the world were asked to explore new opportunities for British Petroleum (BP), a global energy provider.
Students were asked by BP executives to analyze their convenience store operations and develop bot."revolutionary and evolutionar." strategies to increase both short and long term profitability. Winners awarded US$3, 000 and the honor of holding the Marshall MBA Global Consulting Challenge Cup for a year.
Each team presented to three panels of judges. First, they presented an analysis of the convenience store industry over the next 3-5 years before a panel of industry experts. Second, they explained an defended their approach before a panel of professional consultants. Lastly, they presented specific recommendation to BP senior executives.
The process also included two informal teleconferences, one with a retail expert from The Boston Consulting Group and another with their BP client.
Press Release