A team of three MBA students from National Chengchi University have won first place in the 2008 L'Oreal e-Strat Challenge, an annual international online business strategy competition in Paris, marking the first time Taiwan's team has won the top prize.
The competition, one of the world’s biggest online business contests, is open to undergraduate and MBA students.
Participating teams are required to propose business plans to tackle diverse yet realistic marketing needs and challenges that L’Oreal managers face every day.
The Taiwanese team included Ho Shao-tien (何少天), Chen Tzi-ling (陳姿伶) and Hung Wan-yu (洪琬瑜), all first-year MBA students.
The key to the trio’s victory lay in their presentation of a clear-cut strategy for their virtual company’s sustainable and diversified development, in line with the world trend of business operations, the judges said.
In addition to strong strategy, the trio also presented a set of operating and management guidelines on protecting employee welfare, improving working conditions and defending principles of fairness, the judges added.
“The good score is considered a great encouragement for Taiwan’s students who are working hard, and proves Taiwan has a rich pool of talent,” said Alvin Michael Hew, managing director of L’Oreal Taiwan.
This year, the competition brought together more than 44,000 teams from 110 countries. Teams were asked to make critical decisions about all aspects of their fictitious company, including pricing, production volume and capacity, research and development, financial management, marketing, advertising and brand positioning.
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