A team of students from Abertay’s Dundee Business School pitted their wits against some of the best young business minds recently at the IBM Business Challenge semi-finals.
The IBM Universities Business Challenge (UBC) is an annual competition that draws students from across the UK. The semi-finals were held at Lloyds TSB headquarters in Solihull at the end of February.
The UBC allows the students to put the business theory they have learned into practice in real world scenarios, whilst also developing their team-working, leadership and employability skills.
Participants work as management consultants in a series of realistic, simulated companies, making all the critical business decisions that affect the company's performance. The Challenge helps students to increase their knowledge in key business areas such as marketing, finance and production, gaining an invaluable understanding of the business world. Students who take part also often receive job offers from top class companies.
The competition began in October when teams were given details of the business, its markets and its current financial position. Students work in teams of five, acting as management consultants who have taken responsibility for improving the performance of a business.
The teams need to take into account not only the financial performance of the company, but also its responsibilities to its various stakeholders, including its suppliers, its customers and its employees. The teams must compete to achieve maximum profit, acquire new business and enhance customer satisfaction.
Besides the experience and prestige of progressing through the competition, there are also cash prizes for the first three teams: 1st £1000, 2nd £500 and 3rd £250.
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Media enquiries please contact Vicki White T: 01382 308935 E: v.white@abertay.ac.uk
Photo: (From left to right) Jonathon Scott, Judie Tubbrit, Agata Jeziorowska, Katja Bergman, Jonathon Scott and Helen Smith
For further information on the competition please visit the UBC website.