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  1. 2008 /
  2. April-June 08 /

Bright minds shine on Ericsson

More than 60 bright young people competed at Boston University on March 28-29 to work out a strategy and technology solution to a multimedia business challenge presented by Ericsson.

April 2, 2008

The first-place winners of the third annual International Tech Strategy Business Case Competition were the Stanford Business School team, who walked away with USD 25,000 and a personal invitation from Ericsson CFO, Hans Vestberg, for an on-site visit to present their case.

The competition was sponsored by Ericsson and devised by Boston University School of Management to highlight the school's mission of fusing the art, science and technology of business. Students representing 16 prominent business schools, and working in teams of four, were given 24 hours to solve a converging multimedia challenge titled: "Winning in the Converged Multimedia Landscape." The case focused on how value will be created in the future multimedia industry and who will capture it.

The challenge for the MBA students was to build a case for a comprehensive solution within the general subject area of the converging multimedia industry. It was a real-market challenge facing leading telecom operators in the fast evolving world of multimedia - a world where technology and services come together in an all-communicating mobile and internet-enabled environment.

Speaking for the judges, Ingemar Naeve, head of Ericsson Iberia, says: "The quality was high all round and choosing a winner was very difficult. We selected Stanford because they argued for a converged scenario involving both wireless and wireline access networks, which we felt was a more realistic approach."

John Chalykoff, Associate Dean of Boston University's School of Management, says: "We believe that the next generation of CEOs will need a lot of technology education. This competition focuses on technology strategy and that's why we're so pleased to have Ericsson as the sponsor. It's one of the leading technology companies in the world - and telecoms in particular is where the action is today. It offers all kinds of exciting possibilities, making it a perfect industry for this kind of case competition. And Ericsson is a great company to provide the case."

Stephen Newman, program director for Executive Development at Ericsson, says: "For Ericsson, it was an opportunity to listen to some fresh thinking about our industry, our strategic issues and our future. Boston University School of Management has a very diverse student body and it educates them to work globally in all ways: in terms of using technology, cross-cultural sensitivity and understanding. And that's what Ericsson is all about. Not only in terms of our ways of working, but also on the technology and services we produce and deliver. So it was a perfect match."

Chalykoff shares Newman's sentiment, saying: "I couldn't be more pleased with the support from Ericsson. The number of judges, the caliber of people they sent; everything they've done has been first class."

Executives from Ericsson judged the final four teams to determine the winners. The winning teams (and prizes) were:

  • 1st place (USD 25,000) - Stanford Business School
  • 2nd place (USD 15,000) - UNC Kenan Flagler Business School
  • 3rd place (USD 5,000 ) - London Business School
  • 4th place (USD 2,500 ) - McCombs School of Business

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