Best Company Strategy for EDHEC Students

On March 19th, EDHEC Business School hosted an event with the participation of several French and international companies, among which Sodexo, Eurotunnel, O2 Development, GoAdv (Italy) and BSB (Belgium).

 
The occasion was the active participation of EDHEC MSc in Strategy & Organisation Consultancy students in a corporate strategy competition between 130 French and foreign companies. In partnership with the organisers, Noveria Partners, EDHEC students were involved for two months in analysing company strategies and, thus, helping the organisers and a jury select the Best Strategy for 2009. The project was, in fact, a university challenge, allowing business school students to work closely with high-level professionals.

Interact and Network with Big International Companies

In this year's edition, EDHEC was represented by seven teams of highly motivated students from the MSc in Strategy & Organisation Consultancy.

The future consultants 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).

Despite a busy curriculum and the voluntary nature of the project, all EDHEC teams were highly motivated to rank among the first. They were encouraged by the possibility for networking, EDHEC's ambitions and by the positive response from companies. In order to help students live up to the high expectations, EDHEC provided continuous support to the participants, most notably through the implication of Pr. Denis Dauchy during his seminar on Strategy and Business Modelling.

Meet the Managers

On the day, students presented their work in front of the competition organisers, an EDHEC jury and a significant number of company managers. More specifically, EDHEC was happy to welcome in Lille:

•Mr. Guillaume Richard, CEO of O2 Developpement, EDHEC Alumni 1996
•Ms Fabienne Lissak, Corporate Media Director at Eurotunnel
•Mr Yannick Villar, VP Strategy and Offer Development at Sodexo
•Ms Audrey Trotereau, Communication Manager at Sodexo
•Mr Luca Ascani, CEO of GoAdv
•Mr André Kemeny, Netmanager at EXQI FM (Alfacam Groupe)
•Mr David Daggelinckx, Director of EXQI FM (Alfacam Groupe)

And the Winner is...

The event concluded with the announcement of the winners. First, Eurotunnel, which was represented very convincingly by its student team, was awarded the title "EDHEC Favourite Strategy".

Then, the jury had the difficult task of choosing the best overall performance among the students. After considerable debates and careful deliberation, the team representing O2 Development was crowned "Best EDHEC Team" for the quality of both their analysis and presentation.

Winning team members, Pierre-Henri Agnes, Aurélie Courtay, Marie Faure and Ramona Nan, received a diploma acknowledging their success and the opportunity to represent EDHEC Business School at the later stages of the competition. Mr Guillaume Richard, CEO of O2 Development, was equality excited by the jury's decision. As an EDHEC alumnus, he was closely involved in the project and motivated to provide as much assistance to students as possible.

Compete Against Other Business Schools

In the next stages of this competition in April and May, the winning EDHEC team will face the "laureates" of other participating business schools. Students are motivated to exhibit their abilities at a national level and compete for the big prize - a trip to Morocco.

In order to help students achieve their best, EDHEC has decided to provide its winning team with additional support - coaching by three specialists in the field of strategy and communication, including EDHEC's own Deputy Dean. Everyone is looking forward to this challenge to benchmark EDHEC and its MSc in Strategy & Organisation Consultancy against other leading French Business Schools.

Further information on the event can be found here. 

Written by ANGELIQUE MICONNET