MBSSA approached Master of International Business student, Mamta Mehra, for her take on the whole experience of participating in the MBS Case Competition in 2018. Let’s have a look at what she had to say.
‘Unlocking the 5G potential through IoT, disruptive innovation and cross-industry collaboration’. Sounds intense, am I right?
I participated in my first ever Case Competition, (emphasis on ‘first ever’), last year in partnership with Ericsson and Accenture after much cajoling from a few peers. I use the word ‘cajoling’ as, if I’m being honest, I wasn’t too sure of myself in such a format and was sceptical as to whether I had the necessary ‘consulting skills’ to contribute. But boy, was I wrong and I’m glad I was.
The case presented by Ericsson was analysing Ericsson’s growth and revenue potential from 5G and IoT and providing recommendations as to how Ericsson should respond to TPG’s impending market entry strategy. I won’t lie when I say, this was WAY out of my depth, and my teammates’ as well. We had no prior experience regarding Data Science, 5G or IoT whatsoever. However, that being said, we realised this was probably the case for most other teams as well. What did we have to lose by diving right into the IoT abyss? Absolutely nothing. And so that’s exactly what we did.
The entire process was high-intensity and high pressure, considering the time crunch and tight deadlines. However, having the BEST team (Bart, Ken and Subhro), made the late nights at university and arguments over colours, fonts and visuals a hoot and one of my most enjoyable experiences to date. Surely, you’ve got the point I’m trying to make. A good team dynamic, preferably with people you can tolerate, is of the utmost importance as you will be spending a LOT of time with them through this ‘journey’.
Talking about the journey, I quite literally devoted an entire week of my life to the competition, doing little else. The groundwork involved tonnes of research, synthesising that research to gain insights and draw conclusions, structuring those conclusions in a way that made sense (to us as well) and finally, storyboarding, because if nothing else, our presentation would at least look good.
Once we got through to the semi-finals, it only fuelled our fire to give it our best. After having made it so far, it was the only option we gave ourselves and ultimately, coming out on top as the MBS Case Competition winners was worth every minute. The cherry on top of the cake? Cash prizes and an Accenture Mentor for each member of the winning team!
And so, do I recommend you to give it a shot? ABSOLUTELY!
- You have nothing to lose (everyone is as clueless at the start, let’s be honest)
- You might just end up winning!
- Umm, cash prizes? (do I really need to explain further?!)
These competitions give you the chance to immerse yourself in an industry challenge you probably have no idea about, but I guarantee, the learning curve from the entire process is immense. You will be surprised by the takeaway from the experience- not just about the Industry but also yourself and working in a team. SO JUMP IN! What are you waiting for?
The MBS Case Competition has already closed for 2019, but you can follow our MBSSA social media to stay up to date with all the professional and social events happening at MBS!
MBS Student Association 