A team of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) students won the grand prize at a highly challenging MBA competition organized by the Columbia Business School in the US. It was the first time that a team from Hong Kong joined this invitation-only event, which is open only to the top business schools in the world.
Columbia's Global MBA Competition brings together the world's brightest MBA students to test their business aptitude in a two-day contest. The competition consists of three events in three completely different areas: a case analysis, an entrepreneurial pitch, and a negotiation competition.
Stephen Nason, Professor of Business Practice at the HKUST Business School and faculty advisor of the winning team said, "This is an impressive win as the competition is billed as the Olympics of MBA contests. Students are given the opportunity to go head-to-head to compete in three very different matches with peers from leading business schools. They need to be a visionary entrepreneur, a strong negotiator and excellent at consulting. In order to do well, it is not enough to have strengths in any single area."
He added, "We are excited about the outcome, which once again shows that our MBA students can compete with any of the elite business schools around the world."
The HKUST team comprised four full-time MBA students: Mark Rossettie, Ted Milonas, Nitin Jain and Lluis Pons. They are typical of the international nature of the HKUST MBA program, coming from the US, Greece, India and Spain. Their diverse work experiences ranging from IT consulting to business development enabled them to think from a multi-dimensional perspective and put forward innovative yet realistic solutions.
The case analysis was particularly challenging. The teams were tasked to reinvent the service provided by Western Union to address challenges faced from new technology. Western Union is a global company well known for its sophisticated network of agent shops which allows customers to remit money around the world. The HKUST team suggested that the company got into the mobile phone remittance area and combined with a mobile wallet service to secure a profitable future, instead of over-relying on its agent shops. A panel of judges was impressed by their practical solution and polished presentation.
The HKUST team won the case analysis outright and finished in the top three in the other two competitions, clinching the overall championship among a list of teams from the world's most recognized business schools:
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology - Business School (Winner)
New York University - Leonard N Stern School of Business (2nd Place)
Columbia University - Columbia Business School (3rd Place)
University of Cambridge - Judge Business School
London Business School
University of Chicago - Chicago Booth School of Business
CEIBS
INSEAD (Singapore)
For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :
HKUST Business School
Communications & External Affairs
Mr John Poon
Tel: (852) 3469 2090
Email: johnpoon@ust.hk
Ms Anna Chan
Tel: (852) 2358 8242
Email: annachan@ust.hk
