A Bond University Executive MBA team has presented the world’s fourth-best business plan at the internationally renowned Global Moot Corp Competition.
The team won the honour of representing Australia at the highly respected business competition when they were named National Champions at the Australian round of the business planning competition - The John Heine Entrepreneurial Challenge - in December last year.
Held annually at the University of Texas in the United States, the Global Moot Corp Competition attracts entries from 40 of the world's best business schools. It is touted as the “The Super Bowl of World Business-Planning Competitions” and offers the largest guaranteed prize of any student contest in the world, equivalent to around 180,000 USD.
Bond University MBA students Drew Blaxland, Veronica Boulton, Laurie Martyn and Daniel Noordzy wowed judges with their presentation of their simple yet practical NudlemanTM concept – a mobile, cart-based, fast food noodle business.
The talented team of four out-performed teams from the London Business School, Oxford University and the University of Georgia to earn a place in the international final, where they placed fourth, earning them $3,000 USD in prize money.
A team from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA, won the competition with their plan to commercialise the technology behind a new non-invasive brain cancer diagnostic process.
Academic Advisor to the team and Bond University Teaching Fellow Baden U’Ren said it was the team’s real-world approach and practical business nous that helped them stand out from the rest.
“Unlike most of its competitors, the NudlemanTM concept didn’t rely on disruptive proprietary technology; rather, it was the result of clever branding leveraging the unique characteristics of the product and the practical application of the team’s business knowledge,” he said.
“The team was congratulated on an outstanding business plan and exceptional presentation. The judges were very complimentary, with one going so far as to say of the 1,000 business plans he had read, ours was the clearest and easiest to read and understand.
“I am very proud of the way Drew Blaxland, Veronica Boulton, Laurie Martyn, and Daniel Noordzy performed. Bond's reputation as a high quality educational institution has once again been enhanced by our competitiveness on a global stage,” Mr U’Ren said.
Bond University has a reputation as the most consistent performer in the Global Moot Corp Challenge, and are record three-time world champions.
Business Faculty Dean Professor Garry Marchant attributes the success of Bond’s MBA students to the intensely practical nature of the program.
“Too many MBA programs focus on abstract scientific theory at the expense of actual business practice. Business is not a science,” Professor Marchant said.
“The point of difference with Bond’s MBA Program is that it focuses on real-life situations and uses experiential learning to build an understanding of the impact management decisions can have on the running of a business.
“We have designed our MBA to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in our students, and I think our strong record of success in competitions like the Global Moot Corp Challenge signifies that we are doing this well,” Professor Marchant said.