A global mix of top MBA students answer the challenge

Black Collegian, Oct 2002

e-Strat Attracts Over 1,500 Student Players Worldwide

A total of 83 American teams were selected to play in the 2002 e-Strat Challenge, a virtual marketing game developed by L'Oreal, the world's leading beauty company and Strat X, experts in design and application of marketing and business strategy simulations. Four of the 83 teams finished top 50 worldwide led by team Victoria from Indiana University, followed by Mahara from Bentley College, Emuwin from Eastern Michigan University and Phillysmostwanted from the University of Pennsylvania.

Introduced in January of 2001, the e-Strat Challenge was specifically designed for MBA students. The way the game is played is that participating teams are given control of a virtual beauty company and a portfolio of brands. They must then compete for worldwide leadership against four other virtual companies, which are run automatically by the simulation. During the six rounds of competition students are asked to make over 150 critical decisions that demand the use of analytical thinking, strategic marketing and solid business principles to gain market advantage against the competitive brands. The top three winners are the teams that achieve the highest stock price index at the end of the eight weeks of competition.

This year when the game began, 7,800 candidates from 50 different countries registered to play, more than double the number who played when the game was launched in 2001. Participants had to register in teams of three. Team members had to attend the same school or university. In addition to the standard entrance forms, each team member had to answer a multiple-choice quiz and the whole team had to answer a subsidiary question. Based on these criteria, 790 teams were chosen to play and at the end of the competition 515 teams representing 46 countries fully completed all six rounds.

In April, the top six regional teams worldwide were invited to Paris for the award ceremonies. They were: Brazil's Belezaehfundamental; Canada's Bakedpotato; Tau from Israel; SasinMBA from Thailand and the two teams from Poland, Copernicus and Economists. Among them one team representing the U.S. was also invited for the ceremonies, The Turkettes from the Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University.

Each team was asked to present their tactical approach in guiding their virtual operation through the numerous challenges presented, before the final three winners were announced. Top honors went to team Economists from Poland who placed third overall, Brazil's Belezaehfundamental took second place, and Copernicus of Poland was crowned global champ. Each team received a four-day, all expense paid stay in Paris. Additionally, each member of the first place team was flown for a weeklong stay to the destination of his/her choice anywhere in the world; each member of the second place team received a camcorder; and third place team members each received a digital camera.

Through E-Strat, L'Oreal has found a unique way to provide students with insight into the world of business. For application information on E-Strat 2003, log on at www.e-strat@loreal.com.