A team of MBA students from The South East Technological University (SETU) has won the prestigious National Strategy Competition for 2022, organised for the second consecutive year by Michelle Gallagher, Academic Liaison at the MBA Association of Ireland. The competition is open to all MBA programmes across Ireland, past winners having included UCD, NUIG, DCU. TU Dublin and WIT.

The students had 2.5 hours to prepare a strategic analysis and presentation on the Corporate Rebels team in the Netherlands live business case on the pioneering management style of Chinese Manufacturer Haier and their inspiring CEO is Zhang Ruimin.

Among this year’s panel of judges, was author, editor, adviser, and entrepreneur Stuart Crainer – co-founder of Thinkers50, the global platform for management ideas, He was joined by Alacoque McMenamin former MBAAI President and People 4 Projects and current MBAAI President Michael Bulman, Kyndril.

SETU beat off competition from teams representing The National College of Ireland and Dublin Business School. The winning team was made up of Dave O’Connor, Ciara O’Reilly, Paul Reilly, Niall Reck and Justin Collery.

The award for best speaker went to DBS’s Radhika Tomar, with individual awards for commendations going to Erica Coen of The National College of Ireland and Dave O’Connor representing SETU.

Michelle Gallagher, Academic Liaison at the MBA Association of Ireland, and event organiser, said: “The annual strategy competition is a fantastic event on the student calendar. It is a high intensity, pressure cooker environment, but one the MBA students thrive on. The standard in this year’s competition was exceptionally high. The quality, robust and creative solutions that teams developed in just under 2.5hrs left the judges with an unenviable task of deciding on the overall winners. There were some amazing speakers on the day across all teams.

“Having ran this event virtually in 2021, it was great to hold this event in-person in 2022. The competition is designed to test the mettle of any business student or practitioner and put the learnings from the MBA programme into practice. The annual event showcases the incisive analysis, strategic thinking, and ability to operate collectively, which are the hallmarks of the MBA graduate. Heartfelt congratulations to SETU, who demonstrated these qualities exceptionally well on the day.”

Commenting on the win, the SETU coach, Dr. Tom Egan noted: “We are delighted to win the MBAAI National Strategy Competition this year. Covid hampered our participation in 2021, but the National Strategy Competition is an opportunity for our students to challenge themselves against some of the best MBA students in Ireland in a high-pressure environment. It is an event our students particularly enjoy participating in, and one we look to support annually. This year’s team, while they would have worked in certain pairings, only came together as a team for this event. The preparation they put in place clearly paid off. It is always an excellent learning experience, one that I find the group learns a lot from. Thank you to the MBA Association of Ireland for continuing to organise this first-class annual competition.”

Rita Day, Dublin Business School noted: “Dublin Business School competed in the online 2021 virtual event and returned in-person in 2022, in the stunning surroundings of the Guinness Enterprise Centre, winning the Runner-up team prize and Overall Best Speaker of the Day prize.

“I am grateful to the academics who prepared the Dublin Business School students for this event and for the opportunity to enhance the student’s learning portfolio. I am especially grateful for the determination, resilience, and desire to succeed demonstrated by the Dublin Business School group of students who volunteered for this event. The case study offered interdisciplinary application spanning across, the subjects of strategy, accounting, finance, risk management, entrepreneurship, innovation, human resources management, organisational behaviour, and marketing. We look forward to working with the MBA Association of Ireland in the year ahead.”

MBAAI President Michael Bulman, who had the unenviable task of being a judge on the day commented: “We are delighted to hold this event again in-person in the Guinness Enterprise Centre. The National Strategy Competition is held in high regards among business schools across Ireland and this year’s standard was very high. Congratulations to the overall winning team from the South East Technological University who delivered an exceptionally strong presentation on the day”.

This year’s list of winners:

Overall winning team: SETU | South East Technological University (Dave O’Connor, Ciara O’Reilly, Paul Reilly, Niall Reck and Justin Collery).

Runner up Team: National College of Ireland (Elizabeth O’Connell, Erica Coen and John Hickey).

Runner up Team: DBS (Marco Tagliata, Radhika Tomar, Anil Kumar Shivaji and Kunal Kishor Chaudhari).

Individual Awards:

Best Overall Speaker: Radhika Tomar, Dublin Business School

Commendable Speaker: Dave O’Connor, SETU

Commendable Speaker: Erica Coen, The National College of Ireland