London Business School students win first prize at MBA Odyssey competition at Columbia
Students bring home first place in new student competition testing expertise in strategy, negotiation and entrepreneurship
Teams from the world's top business schools competed in a triathlon of business management contests in a new competition at Columbia Business School last week.
The London Business School team of Rajiv Chandna, Vivek Makhija, Andras Mecser, Robert Parikh and Bjoern Koertner (MBA2010s) won the competition after competing in three challenges: The Negotiation, The Pitch and The Case.
Bjoern commented, "The competition was a lot of fun, and we got to hear some exceptional speakers. We faced tough competition but excelled in the pitch round and were able to maintain our lead and claim first place with 65 points above second placed Harvard."
Rajiv Chandra added, "We all competed for the pride of winning, our school earned the respect of all the competitors and judges which was very rewarding."
Students were tested in delivering an ‘elevator pitch' of a business idea, negotiating as individuals and teams, and cracking two cases for a team from McKinsey in New York.
The event also included a symposium with speakers addressing participants, the media and business representatives on the theme of competitiveness. Speakers at the event included Ian Davis (MD of McKinsey), Steve Forbes (CEO and Chairman of Forbes), Didier Lombard (CEO France Telecom - Orange) and Mary McDowell (Executive Vice President and CDO of Nokia).
The competition was founded by students at Columbia Business School, for more information see www.mbaodyssey.com