San Jose State University MBA Association

 

SJSU MBA Team Wins at International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition

 

From left to right Hemanth Puttaswamy, Chong Pin Lim, Gautam Mulchandani, Dr. Abdel El-Shaeib, Artie Kaushik, Monika Erande

A team of second-year students from the College of Business have returned home to SJSU with the second place award from the 40th annual ICBSC International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition held April 15-17, 2004 in San Diego.

The team also earned the first-place trophy for the best strategic business plan and annual report. The team’s virtual; company, LokateMe, specialized in making Tracking devices for young children.

The Winning Team:

The team that shone under the experienced guidance of Professor Abdel El-Shaeib included Hemanth Puttaswamy CEO, Gautam Mulchandani CFO, Monika Erande VP Production, Chong Pin Lim VP Strategy, Ruchi Kasliwal VP Sales, Artie Kaushik VP Marketing.

From left to right Hemanth Puttaswamy, Gautam Mulchandani,, Monika Erande, Ruchi Kasliwal, Chong Pin Lim, Artie Kaushik

                                                                                   

Hosted by the University of San Diego's School of Business Administration, the contest attracted top business students from more than 20 national and international universities. The competition was divided into five “worlds” each with three to seven teams going head-to-head.

 

The competition started with the remote phase in January. Then the competition moved to San Diego for the intensive phase. The simulation began on the Web in early February with teams submitting a decision set weekly through early April before the final real-time phase in San Diego.

Confronted by the full-range of corporate issues, teams had to make decisions involving growth, productivity, credit norms, market analysis, new product development, plant openings, production line scheduling, compensation policies, advertising, pricing and sales strategies, asset management, finance management, multinational strategy and strategic planning.

In addition to 20 quarterly decisions, each team completed a comprehensive business plan, an annual report; several management updates and makes a presentation to a panel of corporate executives who judged the competition.

 

The intensive phase of the competition was truly intense. Team members work together in a small hotel room (team HQ), that doubles as the sleeping quarters for one or two team members, from Thursday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. A team member may take a short nap, but I imagine that during that nap, he/she may be dreaming about the next decision (what should our marketing strategy be? should expand manufacturing? will we have enough cash to build more manufacturing lines?, which quality and/or features should be included in the new model?, etc.). It was common to walk into a team HQ room to find two or three team members working on their laptops analyzing the data or working on different scenarios for the next decision, one trying to fix a printer, another is raising his/her voice asking about the price in Sereno or Mericas, one is complaining loudly that a competitor has made a major change in strategy, etc.

 

In addition to analyzing the results from the previous decisions and making the next decision, the students were preparing their PowerPoint slides for the Saturday presentations to the Judges. Some of the students may have been able to get a few hours of sleep during the entire competition.

And, winning the trophies in the end was definitely a big thrill, but more importantly it is by far the best learning experience one can get, condensing seven years of running a corporate into a semester’s coursework in a simulated environment. It brings together functional academic concepts resulting in integrated, applied management.

About the competition:

Each team is managing a manufacturing company competing directly against 4-5 other teams (companies) in its industry. The team members assume roles as the firm's top executives, responsible for key strategic and operational decisions in marketing, financing, and production. Eight quarters of historical data are provided as the starting position wherein all teams are identical; then, 20 sets of quarterly decisions are submitted for operations over a simulated period of five years. Each team is responsible for a Strategic Business Plan an Annual Report, a Management Report to Directors, and one formal oral presentation to judges (who are senior business executives) sitting as the company's Board of Directors. Team members typically learn firsthand how a group effort can result in synergy and enthusiasm.