McCombs TODAY

Some of the best business students from around the world convened in Austin October 27-31 for the 16th McCombs International Business Competition (MIBC), one of the top annual undergraduate business competitions in the world. In total, 20 schools from North America, Asia and Europe competed in this year’s MIBC, which was sponsored by Motorola, the Undergraduate Business Council and the Office of Student Life.

Motorola put together an open-ended case that challenged the four-member teams to present an innovative global business strategy for the company. The winner was the University of Hong Kong, which became the MIBC’s first repeat winner.

“It was a fantastic event,” said Gautam Shah, MIBC chair. “We had a great, involved company with Motorola. The University of Hong Kong team presented a thorough solution that impressed all of the Motorola judges. It was airtight.”

McCombs’ John Doggett, one of the competition’s faculty advisors, said that what makes the MIBC special is that it uses only real cases.

“We give them a three-page ‘engagement letter’ from senior management and ask them to spend two days researching the challenges mentioned in the letter,” Doggett said. “And they have the opportunity to engage with the senior executives during a Q&A session a day before they make their recommendations.”

As for the winning team, Doggett said that Hong Kong was “simply amazing.” He said, “In 48 hours they produced a new product development and launch strategy for two new mobile devices for the China market that was so detailed that they even had chipset specifications for the two new phones. What those ‘undergraduates’ did during the finals was truly something to behold.”

Doggett continued, “ Motorola sent four executives to be judges, and their former acting CFO and current board member, Tom Meredith, sat in on the presentations. It says volumes about what Motorola thought about the value of this competition that they would send so many senior managers to see what undergraduates from 20 universities from 9 countries had to say.”

“The students were outstanding,” said Elizabeth Altman, vice president of business development in Motorola’s Mobile Devices business. “They showed great skill and professionalism in both their analyses and presentations, and a few of the groups developed creative ideas that we will explore further. Additionally, the team of undergraduates that organized the competition was equally impressive. We thoroughly enjoyed our involvement and commend the organizers and competitors for an exceptional event.”

In addition to the University of Hong Kong, the other three finalists were FGV from Sao Paulo, Brazil, the University of Washington and Georgetown University.