1st Prize at Corporate Strategy Awards for MSc in Strategy & Organisation Consultancy Student

Meryem Sebti, MSc in Strategy & Organisation Consultancy student won the 1st prize ahead of top French business schools and universities at the award ceremony that took place in Paris early June. Under the patronage of the Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Education, 139 teams from 26 schools competed in the 4th edition of the Corporate Strategy Awards “Prix de la Stratégie”.

Over 300 students have been confronted to the reality of corporate strategies today by studying an analysing 112 companies.

Launched in 2006 by Noveria Partners, the Corporate Strategy Awards aim at awarding every year senior managers for their successful corporate strategies that include internal and external growth, horizontal and vertical integration, diversification... Winners in their related category were rewarded for the relevance of corporate strategies put in place rather than performance itself. The trophy includes the "Palmes de la Stratégie" that award students for the quality and relevance of their analysis. Indeed, students' role is going far beyond assisting Noveria Partners in the organisation of the event. The trophy brought close together students and companies and as such students worked on real case studies. They were required to analyse the corporate strategy of a chosen company by working on microeconomics and accounting data. The jury composed of senior managers from leading companies such as Aforge Finance, KPMG, Atria, CityOne, Oséo, Michael Page and journalists made its decision based on students' research.

For its first participation, EDHEC stroke hard. In front of 500 people, the jury awarded EDHEC the 1st prize with one member mentioning that EDHEC won hands down the prize thanks to both the quality of the analysis and the presentation itself.  Pr. Tawhid Chtioui, Deputy Dean of the Business Management Track was delighted with the outcome and had the chance to briefly talk about the EDHEC Msc in Stratey & Organisation Consultancy programme. During the cocktail party that followed, Meryem has been approached by companies impressed by the quality of her presentation. She received several job offers that she had to turn down....indeed she is now working full time for our programme's partner: Capgemini Consulting.

The first round of the competition took place early March at EDHEC Business School. Seven EDHEC teams took part and had the opportunity to work for two months with professionals in key management roles at Sodexo, Eurotunnel, O2 Development, Alfacam (Belgium), GoAdv (Italy), Webinfo TV, and BSB (Belgium). They presented their work to the Noveria, an EDHEC jury and some company representatives. The quality of the report made by Meryem and her team allowed them to qualify for the finale that took place on May 18th in Paris.

"Winning the 1st prize was a surprise and I am very proud of it. I couldn't have won without the help of Sodexo. Indeed, I received a lot of help from senior managers who were always available for me. They gave me all the necessary information that enabled me to get a deeper understanding of the company". Meryem Sebti, MSc in Strategy & Organisation Consultancy Student

Further information on the "Prix de la stratégie" can be found here (in French).

Written by ANGELIQUE MICONNET