Lazaridis Wins Aspen Institute Competition For The 3rd Consecutive Year

The Aspen Institute’s annual Business and Society International MBA Case Competition pits teams from top Business schools across the globe to deal with a real-life business decision that would ensure corporate profitability and at the same town have positive social and environmental impact.

The Aspen Institute’s 2016 Business and Society International MBA Case Competition concluded on April 29 with the Wilfrid Laurier University’s Lazaridis School of Business & Economics winning the first prize for the third successive year.

The Canadian Business School teams had won the prize in 2011, 2014 and 2015, besides receiving top 10 honourable mentions in 2012 and 2013.

The Lazaridis Team members Doryan Bondor, Gautam Khanna, Marshall Peters and Amanda Tong would also receive a grand prize of $15,000.

The participating teams at the competition were asked to to propose innovative solutions that would help illycafe, a high-end Italian coffee retailer improve the livelihood of growers and at the same time increase coffee connoisseurship.

Andrea Illy, Chairman and President of illycaffè, in a recorded speech at the launch of the competition, said she wanted to transform the coffee market to ensure that everyone involved in the production from the grower, to the roaster, and to the barista stood to benefit from what is known as the “virtuous circle”.

This coffee drinkers connection down the line to the growers would encourage customers to pay a premium price for higher quality coffee, allowing all people involved in the supply chain to be fairly compensated.

Founded in 2009, the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society International MBA Case Competition provides an opportunity for over 1,000 MBA students from 25 leading business schools over three rounds to reflect on the significant influence and positive impact a well-managed business can have on society.

The case study, authored by Yale School of Management, gave the participating teams only 72 hours to come up with a plan.

A panel of academic advisors at the Aspen Institute blind-reviewed the case submissions of the winning teams selected by each of the 25 participating schools for clarity, creativity and thoroughness.

The top five point-earners, apart from Lazaridis, included the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, Concordia University’s John Molson Business School and Villanova School of Business, were invited to the final round on April 28-29 at the Yale Club in New York City.

Ultimately, 19 MBA students, selected from more than 1000 won a share of nearly $35,000 in scholarship money.

In the second place was University of Denver, Daniels College of Business while University of Oxford, Saïd School of Business (United Kingdom) was third.

Concordia University, John Molson School of Business (Canada) was in the fourth and Villanova University, Villanova School of Business in the fifth spot.

Five additional teams received honourable mentions. These were Griffith University, Griffith Business School (Australia), Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Fisher MBA in Global Impact Management Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Business University of Delaware, Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics University of Massachusetts Amherst, Isenberg School of Management. (Image Courtesy : www.aspeninstitute.org)