March 27, 2003
International business competition takes center stage at UW
Undergraduate students from 14 countries will converge in Seattle April 7-12 to compete in the University of Washington Business School’s fifth annual Global Business Challenge case competition.
As tensions in the Middle East and Asia escalate, the challenges and opportunities of globalization will be at the forefront of students’ minds as they develop teamwork, business case analysis skills and researching abilities before ultimately showcasing their corporate presentation talents to a panel of judges representing multinational companies.
In the spirit of providing a worldwide competition, the Global Business Challenge undergraduates hail from Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, plus three U.S. business schools (including UW).
“The University of Washington places its strategic focus on international business education in order to prepare our students to be effective business leaders in an increasingly global marketplace, and this competition reflects that,” said Debra Glassman, a professor at the UW Business School and the event’s faculty director.
The 64 undergraduates will arrive, in teams of four, April 7. Before developing a solution to a bona fide global business problem within two days, they will tour the area and share their respective cultures with students at Meadowdale Middle School in Lynnwood.
“The global and practical learning opportunities this event presents for competing teams, UW student volunteer organizers and local middle school students are invaluable considering the current world political and economic climate,” said Kirsten Aoyama, director of the UW’s Global Business Center.
Nerves will rattle and blood will boil as the undergraduates spend 48 mostly sleepless hours developing a strategic solution to an assigned international business problem. Solutions are presented to judges from 8 a.m. to noon April 12. Four teams advance to the finals and presenters will make their cases to judges between 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. The finals, held in Mary Gates Hall on the UW campus, are open to the public.
About 85 undergraduates are organizing the weeklong affair, from providing student tours of the UW libraries so teams can prepare for the competition, to assembling a community service project in which visiting students will conduct a cultural exchange with middle schoolers from 9:45 a.m. to 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 9 at Meadowdale Middle School, 6500 168th St S.W. The undergraduates also help organize the final awards banquet from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12.
Now in its fifth year, the Global Business Challenge is the flagship international event for the undergraduate program. “It provides a great international learning experience for students and shows off our school to the world,” says Tracy DeVany, the event’s co-chair.
The Global Business Challenge is produced and supported by the school’s Global Business Center and students in the Certificate of International Studies in Business program. Teams are judged on quality, creativity and professionalism in presenting their analysis of the business problem.
Last year’s winning team from Germany’s European Business School created a five-year international expansion strategy for NeoPets, an interactive virtual pet Web site.
Sponsors include Boeing, Costco, Ford Motor Company, Frank Russell, Pacific Market International, Starbucks, T-Mobile and Washington First International Bank.
For more information contact Aoyama at (206) 685-3433, kjaoyama@u.washington.edu, Glassman at (206) 543-8738, dg2854@u.washington.edu. The Global Business Challenge 2003 Web address is http://depts.washington.edu/bacisb/gbc/index.shtml
Global Business Challenge 2003- participating schools:
1. Swinburne University,Australia
2. Concordia University,Canada
3. Universidad de los Andes,Colombia
4. Audencia Nantes Ecole de Management, France
5. European Business School,Germany
6. Budapest University,Hungary
7. University of Haifa,Israel
8. Kobe University, Japan
9. Seoul National University,South Korea
10. ITESM University, Mexico
11. National University of Singapore
12. National Chengchi University,Taiwan
13. Thammassat University,Thailand
14. Emory University, U.S.
15. University of California (Berkeley)
16. University of Washington
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