In addition, if you have been wondering who has been behind these brilliant posts. That's me!
Till the 6th Annual International Tech Strategy Business Case Competition in 2011!
Signing off CaseCompetition 2010...
Showing posts with label casecomp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label casecomp. Show all posts
3/28/2010
Brave Souls who went out to Party
After not sleeping for close to 40 hours, some 50 hours depending on their time zones, teams continued par-taying at Cask & Flagon's and then Cornwall's. The only group that was truly inspirational were the London Business School (staying past 2am with the Case Comp organizing committee). The generosity of this team extended buying rounds of more than 20 shots, a few Coronas, 1 gin & tonic and then some... *details too graphic for this blog of substantial importance*.
In addition, if you have been wondering who has been behind these brilliant posts. That's me!
Till the 6th Annual International Tech Strategy Business Case Competition in 2011!
Signing off CaseCompetition 2010...
In addition, if you have been wondering who has been behind these brilliant posts. That's me!
Till the 6th Annual International Tech Strategy Business Case Competition in 2011!
Signing off CaseCompetition 2010...
3/27/2010
The Winners of Case Competition 2010
The winners of the 5th Annual International Tech Strategy Business Case Competition 2010 have been announced!
First place: Team Abu Dhabi - London Business School
London Business School's post-win interview
Second place: Team Madrid - Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
Third place: Team Santiago - IESE Business School. University of Narrava, Spain
Fourth place: Team Beijing - McCombs School of Business, University of Texas Austin
CONGRATULATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS teams!!
The party continues at the Cask'n Flagon...
First place: Team Abu Dhabi - London Business School
London Business School's post-win interview
Second place: Team Madrid - Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
Third place: Team Santiago - IESE Business School. University of Narrava, Spain
Fourth place: Team Beijing - McCombs School of Business, University of Texas Austin
CONGRATULATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS teams!!
The party continues at the Cask'n Flagon...
Hans Vestberg, President and CEO of Ericsson speaks to us
We had the immense pleasure of having President and CEO of Ericsson, Hans Vestberg speak on the most important issues on his mind and close to his heart. He remarked how wonderful it was to "bring the most intelligent in the world together", he was hugely impressed by the "diversity of the group which delivered fantastic results".
Vestberg took over as CEO in January 1, 2010 and considers the role of communication as the single most relevant platform in the world. "In 1876, Lars Magnus founded Ericsson, 130 years later, communication is still relevant". His number-shattering example of during Chinese New Year, 2010, "2.3 billion sms text messages were exchanged, and of course, this traffic was handled by Ericsson".
The 5th technological shift that has taken place over the last 200 years that Vestberg spoke about alludes to the fantasy which bears no limitation.
Vestberg illustrated how a camel buyer who would travel 3 days to sell his camel now needs only an sms to figure out demand and can fetch a higher price for his stock displays the power of instant communication and how this can help solve one of the world's biggest problem of poverty. Clearly, this has significantly changed the lives of many.
Vestberg was emotional when he spoke of how attendance in schools in India jumped signficantly because the parents were now comforted by the tracking abilty of mobile devices.
Vestberg took over as CEO in January 1, 2010 and considers the role of communication as the single most relevant platform in the world. "In 1876, Lars Magnus founded Ericsson, 130 years later, communication is still relevant". His number-shattering example of during Chinese New Year, 2010, "2.3 billion sms text messages were exchanged, and of course, this traffic was handled by Ericsson".
The 5th technological shift that has taken place over the last 200 years that Vestberg spoke about alludes to the fantasy which bears no limitation.
Vestberg illustrated how a camel buyer who would travel 3 days to sell his camel now needs only an sms to figure out demand and can fetch a higher price for his stock displays the power of instant communication and how this can help solve one of the world's biggest problem of poverty. Clearly, this has significantly changed the lives of many.
Vestberg was emotional when he spoke of how attendance in schools in India jumped signficantly because the parents were now comforted by the tracking abilty of mobile devices.
Thoughts from Geoff Hollingworth and Rehan Hassan
Geoff Hollingworth (Director of Strategy and Marketing, Ericsson, co-writer of the case question with Professor Venkat): "the industry is changing so quickly that what once was, isn't any longer". He appreciated the "intelligent thoughts and discussion" but was particularly impressed with Team Santiago's map of market segments and the different disruptions within each segment".
I asked Geoff whether Ericsson's trade secrets and direction in the future might be compromised with such wide publicity in this competition and he said the "company in this industry that win in the end are the ones who can best leverage their strengths and make new distinct differences with risk mitigation. Businesses that thrive are the ones that have a competitive advantage and talent. Success lies in how good they are in innovation. There will always be competition, but the key is to focus on what Ericsson does best".
Rehamn Hassan (Vice President, President & Head of GCC countries, Market Unit Middle East) said that "whatever was delivered in the presentations were not new, but it confirms our convinctions in those sectors discussed".
I asked Geoff whether Ericsson's trade secrets and direction in the future might be compromised with such wide publicity in this competition and he said the "company in this industry that win in the end are the ones who can best leverage their strengths and make new distinct differences with risk mitigation. Businesses that thrive are the ones that have a competitive advantage and talent. Success lies in how good they are in innovation. There will always be competition, but the key is to focus on what Ericsson does best".
Rehamn Hassan (Vice President, President & Head of GCC countries, Market Unit Middle East) said that "whatever was delivered in the presentations were not new, but it confirms our convinctions in those sectors discussed".
Final Presentations Complete!
With Team Santiago's final presentation completed, a hour of pre-dinner drinks accompany the wait while our panel of judges deliberate.
The entire congregation is invited to the Atrium for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres before the banquet dinner and announcement of the 5th Annual International Tech Strategy Business Case Competition 2010!
Winner's list update will be reported live. Hold your horses, people!
The entire congregation is invited to the Atrium for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres before the banquet dinner and announcement of the 5th Annual International Tech Strategy Business Case Competition 2010!
Winner's list update will be reported live. Hold your horses, people!
Team Abu Dhabi finally done!
Team Abu Dhabi's idea of Ericsson entering the British Petroleum industry and already consider themselves part of Ericsson! The "me" has become "we".
Final Presentations Underway!
Team Beijing currently presenting their presentation to the panel of top Ericsson executives:
Sanjay Kaul (Vice President & Head of Innovation Centers South Africa, Ericsson)
Andreea Timberlake (Director of Network Solutions, Infrastructure, Ericsson)
Johan Wilbergh (Senior Vice President & Head of Business Unit Networks, Ericsson)
Ron Conway (CEO & member of the board of GSMA Association)
Sanjay Kaul (Vice President & Head of Innovation Centers South Africa, Ericsson)
Andreea Timberlake (Director of Network Solutions, Infrastructure, Ericsson)
Johan Wilbergh (Senior Vice President & Head of Business Unit Networks, Ericsson)
Ron Conway (CEO & member of the board of GSMA Association)
Some heavy technical aspects currently discussed in a grilling Q&A. 
Team Madrid
Preliminary Round Results
These are the 4 teams moving on to the final presentation (in no particular order):
Team Madrid
Team Beijing
Team Abu Dhabi
Team Santiago
Congratulations teams!!
Presentations start in the Auditorium promptly at 2.30pm! Watch this space for live updates!
Team Madrid
Team Beijing
Team Abu Dhabi
Team Santiago
Congratulations teams!!
Presentations start in the Auditorium promptly at 2.30pm! Watch this space for live updates!
Feedback for Team(s) Dusseldorf, Istanbul, Santiago and San Jose
Ajay Sood (Vice President, Ericsson): "Good analysis on metrics from the business industry. Teams found real business models which we found really relevant but the vision was not well discussed. The flow of the presentations varied and some teams were good at the hand off to the next presenter but other teams were lacking in that aspect. We would have liked to see some bold statements, the teams were too conservative in their approach!"
Team Santiago
Feedback for Team(s) Sao Paolo, Tokyo, Jakarta, Abu Dhabi
"The teams are like Mozart and the panel of judges are like music critics". The teams were measured against professional consulting firms like McKinsey which had access to information and a lot more time for its report as compared to these teams which had only 24 hours. The comments provided are only as potential for improvement. Ericsson will be using all insights as strategic corporate development.
Team Sao Paolo: "Work on time management and work on organization. Your team had very heavy slides which were at times difficult to follow".
Team Abu Dhabi: "Well structured, clear executive summary, which is very good for me, an old guy to follow. Well documented, borad overview into monetization model".
Team Tokyo: "Interesting comparison to a used case, unclear analysis of the value chain and for the large part, lacked realism. Need more meat to the bones. You discussed the industry of healthcase in India but we were confused why the implementation was in North America and Europe".
Team Jakarta: "Good presentation, well connected slides. You chose to focus on the car industry, easy to follow straight forward concept but we would like to have seen some analysis on barriers to entry and competitive landscape".
Team Sao Paolo: "Work on time management and work on organization. Your team had very heavy slides which were at times difficult to follow".
Team Abu Dhabi: "Well structured, clear executive summary, which is very good for me, an old guy to follow. Well documented, borad overview into monetization model".
Team Tokyo: "Interesting comparison to a used case, unclear analysis of the value chain and for the large part, lacked realism. Need more meat to the bones. You discussed the industry of healthcase in India but we were confused why the implementation was in North America and Europe".
Team Jakarta: "Good presentation, well connected slides. You chose to focus on the car industry, easy to follow straight forward concept but we would like to have seen some analysis on barriers to entry and competitive landscape".
Feedback for Team(s) Madrid, Stockholm, Cairo, Johannesburg
"Within 24 hours, we know how hard it is to do a job well done. We were impressed with the various ideas and the industries considered. However, the evaluation was based on the balance of the 3 requirements: (a) task, (b) execution and (c) financial projections. There were great technical ideas and innovative thoughts but Ericsson was more concerned with profitability growth and the showings of revenue potential".
The judges did not provide individual feedback to the teams but were "happy to talk to the individual teams after lunch".
Team Cairo
Team Johannesburg
The judges did not provide individual feedback to the teams but were "happy to talk to the individual teams after lunch".
Team Cairo
Team Johannesburg
Feedback for Team(s) Delhi, Beijing, Istanbul, Dallas
The judges were shocked by the high level of reseearch and analysis done by all 4 teams in the last 24 hours. Individual feedback was given to all the teams:
Team Delhi: "Very professional slides and well timed presentation. Excellent Q&A displayed and analysis was comprehensive and well packaged. However, the business direction that the team took was not as compelling as Ericsson would have liked to seen. In addition, the team did not take the judges through the theme of "Nagivating the Sea of Connectivity".
Team Beijing: The team selected the machine industry which was the same industry Ericsson was also looking at. However, the judges felt that the team underexplained various aspects of their analysis. Another tip to the team was to reherse more before the presentation and the interaction between the various team members was lacking.
Team Istanbul: Logical and recommendation to go into the cloud was compelling but was the tiered pricing model really relevant?
Team Dallas: Good analysis and landscape. The key algorithm recommendation provided a good framework. However, the concern from the judges was how to bring the algorithm to practice, what is the impact in revenue and again what is the relevance of network intelligence in the :Sea of Connectivity"
Team Delhi: "Very professional slides and well timed presentation. Excellent Q&A displayed and analysis was comprehensive and well packaged. However, the business direction that the team took was not as compelling as Ericsson would have liked to seen. In addition, the team did not take the judges through the theme of "Nagivating the Sea of Connectivity".
Team Beijing: The team selected the machine industry which was the same industry Ericsson was also looking at. However, the judges felt that the team underexplained various aspects of their analysis. Another tip to the team was to reherse more before the presentation and the interaction between the various team members was lacking.
Team Istanbul: Logical and recommendation to go into the cloud was compelling but was the tiered pricing model really relevant?
Team Dallas: Good analysis and landscape. The key algorithm recommendation provided a good framework. However, the concern from the judges was how to bring the algorithm to practice, what is the impact in revenue and again what is the relevance of network intelligence in the :Sea of Connectivity"
Pre Lunch Preliminary Round Comments from the Judges!
Patrick Melampy (Chief Technology Officer, Acme Packet) commented that the 4 presentations saw lots of "innovative ideas and good solutions" although the teams "did not completely think through the profitablity and growth perspectives". They were looking forward to the teams making bolder statements and assumptions.
A venture capitalist, Charley Lax (Managing General Partner, GrandBanks Capital) was hoping for bolder ideas and suggested that "instead of ties, the teams might be more creative with no ties and T-Shirts".
Ian Hall (Head of Strategic Business Development): "The lack of data and information should not deter the teams from making financial and profitability projections. 2 teams out of the 4 teams did not provide the financials that the judges were most interested in. More importantly, none of the teams "provided any estimation of costs, investment plan that were critical to the overall credibility of the analysis.
"One team stood out by utlizing a human perspective to the solution and approach" and with Ericsson as a global company, the case question provided an interesting view of the world (not just the US) but across regions and vertical industries".
Ajay Sood (Vice President, Ericsson) thought that the teams "covered the objectives quite well and clearly understood what was expected of them". Helena Ola "it was interesting to see the trends emerging in the market" but thought that the assumptions of the 4 teams were of a strking range and were of a wide spectrum.
A venture capitalist, Charley Lax (Managing General Partner, GrandBanks Capital) was hoping for bolder ideas and suggested that "instead of ties, the teams might be more creative with no ties and T-Shirts".
Too Conservative!
Team Santiago had a little under an hour's sleep last night 
but "did what they could". The judges jumped straight into their financial projections and were of the view that the team were too conservative with their projections! The team was put under pressure during the Q&A but were able to answer confidently and were hopeful that they managed to pull it off.
but "did what they could". The judges jumped straight into their financial projections and were of the view that the team were too conservative with their projections! The team was put under pressure during the Q&A but were able to answer confidently and were hopeful that they managed to pull it off.
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