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19.03.2009
HKUST MBA Students Win Two Major International
Competitions
Two four-member teams of HKUST MBA students won in two major international competitions in less than a week from March 5-12, 2009. One of the teams won the Outstanding Industry Analysis Award at the Marshall MBA Global Consulting Challenge, a case competition organized by the University of Southern California (USC), while the other team took home the championship with two other awards from Thammasat Asia Moot Corp, a business plan competition. The winning team from the Thammasat Asia Moot Corp competition will compete at the Global Moot Corp to be held at the University of Texas, Austin.
Prof. Steven DeKrey, MBA Program Director and Senior Associate Dean of HKUST Business School, said the events were great education for the students. He was also the faculty advisor of the team “Multi-Vision”, which won the Thammasat Asia Moot Corp.
“Most of our MBA students take case analysis training as part of their study. Teams that go out to compete are assigned coaches and they include professors and other professionals. The students typically put in a lot of time to build the team and to learn different skills that may be necessary for them during the competitions. Winning the competitions is a great outcome for their on-going hard work,” he said.
Prof. Stephen Nason, faculty advisor of the team that competed at the USC Marshall MBA Global Consulting Challenge, echoed Prof. DeKrey’s views. “The team performed spectacularly, even under the most blistering questions. It would not have been possible without the team’s highly disciplined and motivated preparation beforehand. It was a pleasure to see the students perform at such a high level. They were just like very confident and well experienced corporate executives. Very convincing indeed,” said Prof. Nason. Participation for international case competitions is one of the key educational experiences that the HKUST MBA Program offers to its students. The School provides faculty support through preparatory courses and coaching, and oftentimes funds students to travel abroad to attend contests.
This year, a total of 8 teams, i.e a total of 35 students will be sent out to compete in different regional and international competitions.
In addition, the HKUST MBA Program hosts an international business plan competition on campus every year. This year the event will take place from April 2 to 4 and expects to have 12 teams participating.
Details of the USC Marshall Global Consulting Challeng and Thammast Asia Moot Corp follow.
Marshall MBA Global Challenge (March 5-6, 2009)
Award won by HKUST: Outstanding Industry Analysis Award (for making an assessment of the target industry’s future)
HKUST team: 4 full-time MBA students, namely, Abhishek Makharia, Joannis Kiahopoulos, Preeti Poddar and Thomas Ng.
Advisor: Prof. Stephen Nason, Adjunct Associate Professor, Management of Organizations
More details:
This annual competition organized by the Marshall School of Business, USC, is designed to challenge the minds and problem-solving abilities of the best MBA students from the world's leading business schools. Each team consists of four or five members, they received details of the industry focus in February and further details about the client company approximately two weeks before the competition. Conference calls with industry experts, consultants and company
Team at USC Global Consulting Challenge, front row from left: Joannis Kiahopoulos, Preeti Poddar. 2nd row from left: Thomas Ng, Stephen Nason, the faculty advisor and Abhishek Makharia.
Team at Thammasat Asia Moot Corp, (from left) Sven Fredrik Angel, Peng Liu, Pradeep Ambavaram, Pierre-Emmanuel Meyer, Paul Louis and Prof Steve DeKrey, the faculty advisor.
HKUST team took home the championship with Best Presentation Award and Best Business Plan Award at Thammasat Asia Moot Corp competition.
representatives were also scheduled to allow teams to ask clarifying questions and seek additional information.
Each team had to deliver three related presentations: an Industry
Presentation, a Company Presentation and a Consulting Presentation to the panelists and judges. The panelists and judges consisted of of industry experts, analysts, consultants and company representatives. Participating universities/schools:
• Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business • Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
• Emory University, Goizueta Business School • Hong Kong University of Science & Technology • IPADE Business School, Mexico
• London Business School
• New York University, Stern School of Business • University of California, Los Angeles
• University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business The case:
Participating teams were asked to analyse and make recommendations regarding the strategic issues on how to continue grow revenue, increase traffic, and remain at the forefront of any technological advancement for AT&T (the case company).
Thammasat Asia Moot Corp (March 10-12, 2009)
Awards won by HKUST: Overall Winner, Best Presentation Award, Best Business Plan
HKUST team: 4 full-time MBA students, namely, Pradeep Ambavaram, Sven Fredrik Angel, Paul Louis Meyer Pierre-Emmanuel, Peng Liu.
Advisor: Prof. Steven DeKrey, Senior Associate Dean, MBA Program Director More details:
Asia Moot Corp is an intercollegiate business plan competition in the region. The mission of the event is to foster the entrepreneurial spirit and the ability of future managers in Asia who are receiving business education from the region’s leading business schools.
Twelve teams from top business schools in Asia representing China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand participated in the three-day competition. The goal of both the business plan and the oral presentation was to convince a panel of experienced investors that the team has a viable venture which, if funded, would result in a successfully growing company.
The winning team received a cash award of US$10,000 and eligibility to compete at the Global Moot Corp competition to be held at the University of Texas, Austin in May 2009.
The product in the business plan of the HKUST Team:
Multi-Vision – the technology effectively enables a quick modification of the focal length of a Liquid Crystal Lens by means of electronic control. The initial competitive advantage of the technology is the picture clarity and zooming capabilities which will further improve and significantly enhance the optical/ digital/cell phone camera technology used today.
