Students put business strategies to the test
By Geraldine Hinter and Prerna Ashok
UniSA has always encouraged students to apply what they learn in the
classroom in the real world and the 2005 Business Strategy Competition
held in late August gave them an opportunity to do so.
Hosted by UniSA’s Division of Business, the competition saw students from all three SA universities competing for best in class in the SA regional final of Australasia’s premier management competition sponsored by the Boston Consulting Group.
This is the first time the competition has been held in SA and will have great benefits for all student participants, according to Emma Fey, one of the competition’s organisers.
“The objective of the competition was to give students some real-life experience of the business world and to develop networks with people in the industry,” Fey said.
Five South Australian teams of up to six students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, entered. Each team was given a case study, then instructed to find a solution to the business problem in a time limit of three hours. Participants had to then give a presentation to a panel of judges, acting as a board of directors.
Judges Winnie Pelz (WorkCover), Tino Guglielmo (Stuart Petroleum), Anthony Roediger (Boston Consulting Group) and Lindsay Ryan (Strategic Partnerships at UniSA) assessed the students on their teamwork, problemsolving and presentation skills.
Although the same problem was assigned to all teams, each team came up with a different solution, causing lively debate among the judges.
Judge Lindsay Ryan said the competition was a great learning experience for each of the teams.
“The experience demonstrated the importance of being able to work as a team and to have a team of people with various management skills such as financial and marketing, as well as the ability to think strategically.”
The winning teams will represent SA in the national finals in Sydney.