November 1, 2010 – After a great week in Singapore, JMSB students Jason Coviensky, Rebecca Golt, Stephanie Laurin and Rocco Masella are back in Montreal with a great experience to share. The Singapore Management University (SMU) hosted a great competition that our students enjoyed. The team performed both admirably and professionally and represented JMSB well.
All the presentations were held on Saturday, October 23rd. This was preceded by a 24 hour prep starting on Friday morning. The event’s chief sponsor was Prudential Singapore. The case centered on two areas: first, how to increase Prudential’s number of financial/insurance sales agents to a target of 4,500 (a 30% increase) in Singapore; and second, how to simultaneously increase both the productivity and professionalism of their sales force.

In the initial/semi-final round, the JMSB students made a highly cohesive and comprehensive presentation. Several coaches/advisors remarked that the JMSB team delivered a top quality presentation and considered the delegation as the best in the division. However, the judges, after an extra 90 minutes of heated deliberation, chose two other teams from the division to advance to the final round.

The competition had two divisions of five teams in the first round (semi-finals). Two teams from each division advanced to the finals. All three Canadian teams (HEC Montreal, Queen’s and JMSB) did not make the final round. The presentations were 20 minutes followed by a 15 minute Q&A.

In the finals, the host team SMU made an excellent presentation and were announced as the winners of the competition. University of Auckland (New Zealand) was second, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) was third and University of Florida was fourth. The other three teams in the event were Rikkyo University (Japan), SIM University, and Nanyang Technological University, both from Singapore.

A special thanks goes to Peter Dedicik, the team’s lead coach, who accompanied the JMSB team to Singapore. Peter trained the delegation to a very competitive level and was greatly supportive during some difficult situations. Special thanks also go to Academic Advisor Mark Haber and the Competition program for their continued support.

Special thanks to our exclusive sponsor, Pfizer Canada, for their support and encouragement.

To see this article on the John Molson School of Business website, click here