Final Four

SpE was a timer in one of the rooms awaiting the judges final decision after the first round of presentations. The judges deliberated for almost a half hour - all the teams had strong presentations and they were struggling to select a winner. Dean Chalykoff was called in for clarification at one point and they were told to "show us the money!" Dean C. advised them to use the given criteria but that they should also go with their gut instinct - in other words, make a decision based on the presentation who really delivered the goods.

Forty minutes later, the judges were close to making a decision. Dean Chalykoff ran back into the room to spur them on with another "show me the money!" The decision was finally made.

If this is the deliberation that went on in one room, I'm sure the other judges in the other rooms had a tough time deciding on the best.

The teams that will be proceeding to the final round are - CANOPY, PEBL, SURFBoard and ROKR.

Team SURFBoard in high spirits

Team SURFBoard left here at about 3 am this morning. They said they worked well together and given that the team members are so different, they challenged each other a lot. They had already done most of their research on the company and the industry prior to the competition and it didn't take them long to sort out their plan. They wanted to get everyone on the same page, qualify their assumptions and really hash out their plan. Their methodology for working was basically to paper most available spaces with charts and brainstorm ideas, iterate, rehash, discuss, rinse and repeat. They did discuss their core idea about 10 times to get it clear in everybody's head and all on the same page. Staying late for them was not a problem because they knew they were driving towards a solution.

They did one dry run this morning to make sure it goes smoothly. Teresa Lee said that she liked the experience of thinking through the solution and brainstorming with her team. Considering that most b-schoolers don't get to advise on and receive executive validation and feedback on corporate strategy, she feels good about being here for the experience. Ryan Sandoval won the team bet on what the topic of the case would be but unfortunately he wasn't far-sighted enough to negotiate a prize for his bet. There is one veteran on the team - Jeff Piper participated in the presentations in the prior year (ok, so alliteration is not my strong suite, but I do a mean NPV) and they seem confident of the outcome. He did say that while the topic of seamless mobility and the commercialization thereof was an exciting topic, the challenges associated with with trying to make it happen are very real. This would be a great value proposition for the company and it is well-positioned and ready to capitalize on it.

The team is in their last week of Spring Break so they're very well refreshed and relaxed which would attribute to the high energy levels (they're remarkably peppy) and some did confess to being naturally hyper-active. Whatever the reason, it's good to see energetic and bubbly participants this morning.

Good luck, Team SURFBoard. Keep the spirits high!

The late shift

Things went rather well last night I hear. I'm not as motivated as the excellent committee so I skipped home at 1:30 am but with Jim, Natasha, Divya and Dean Chalykoff holding down the fort, I knew the lounge was in capable hands. A lot of the visiting students made it a point to mention how professional the BU organizing committee seems and were very appreciative of the fact that someone was here all night in case they needed anything. One team remarked that it was pretty amazing to see Dean Chalykoff here in the middle of the night and they really liked that things were running so smoothly. Dean Chalykoff and the committee only got about 3 minutes of sleep collectively last night so if you see them, be sure to shake their hand.

Team V3BLUE works better at night

Team V3Blue has formulated their plan and is working on how to present it. They've nailed down the broader structure and are thinking about the types of questions they may be asked tomorrow. They've pretty much stayed with their original hypothesis and are coming up the facts and figures around it.

The team is good at working together. They are starting to droop a little and need to recharge but they do work better at night. They're not rushed at all, taking their time to think things through. They don't want to be exposed tomorrow so they're being as comprehensive as possible. The team seems pretty resilient.

They did admit that they though the problem wasn't glaringly obvious. They are of the opinion that something revolutionary is required to answer this question. They are surprised the case is specifically about media and entertainment - they were expecting something less industry-specific.

Good luck, V3BLUE. Remember to get some sleep tonight.

Team KRZR is almost ready!

Well that's what they said when I walked in! They've had lots of ideas and they're working well together. The high point of the event for them was when they realized that the approach they had formulated had already been implemented and so they felt like CEOs because CEOs think like they do. The low point of the event for them was when they realized that the approach they had formulated had already been implemented and so they couldn't use it for the competition.

Good luck, KRZR. Don't worry, you'll think of something.

Team RAZR thinks divide and conquer

Team RAZR had an interesting vibe. They found the challenge tougher than they had expected and they also seem to be working slower than they had expected. Their initial deadline to leave was 8 pm which was pushed to midnight and is now currently looking at around 3 pm. When asked about their strategy for working on this competition, the reply was "do we need one?" Now that is either too much confidence or too little sleep talking.

They laid out their strategy rather late and they acknowledge that they should have done that earlier but they haven't shifted paths since. Their hypothesis was formulated early but since the case is so open-ended, they were hesitant to pin down a strategy early on.

The team did profess to be leaning a little towards craziness at this point although the experience working with each other has been good so far. Energy levels have been steady till now but are starting to ramp up. This game is much like a Test match one said. Their plan is forming up nicely and they are geared for the last leg. They did like BU's Starbucks/BreadWinners cafeteria - said it seemed like a nice cosy place to congregate.

Good luck, RAZR. Don't kill each other. Remember, you need 4 to present tomorrow.

Team PEBL needs a caffeine kick

Team PEBL seems to be working well within the group. They had had decided when they received the case that they would put their computers away and just talk it out for a while to be more productive. They did find lots of surprises however. They had a brainstorming session before they did the research and naturally after they got googling found that many of their ideas had already been adopted. They were having a little trouble with the fact that Motorola wants immediate changes but for a long-term strategy. They expect to keep working all night as expected.

The team seemed rather fed up with Motorola products at this point (to be fair, they have been staring at the website for over 10 hours now). They did uncover one interesting fact about the PEBL - the product was initially designed for a female demographic but appeals more to men. One team member mentioned that he thought Motorola would be a very exciting place for him to work because of their short product life-cycles in a challenging and innovative environment but between you and me, I think he just wants to attend lots of new product release parties.


Good luck PEBL. There's plenty of coffee in the lounge.

Group think

A lot of teams have remarked about how this is such an open-ended question. There doesn't seem to be a final definite answer to this problem which makes it really hard to nail down. A few teams started out with strong enthusiasm and energy and while the energy is still keeping up, enthusiasm seems to be waning a little. I think after a few hours of research have led to the realization about the vastness of this concern. Some teams have stated that they're changing tactics completely. One or two found that their strategy has developed some kinks and are working them out and hoping they won't have to essentially begin again. One team seemed rather confident about their approach and given that they stepped out for dinner a while ago, I think we can safely assume they have things under control. None of the teams have left for the night.

Steve, Jim, Mary and Dean Chalykoff are working out the logistics for tomorrow. Pizza arrives at 10:30 and the coffee has been replenished. Looks like we're here for a while.

How many calories do you need to take you through the night?

Team SURFBoard is very mesmerized by the icecream machine in the lounge. There is some discussion about how all our snacks are going to make people fat. We're steering those folk towards the popcorn and the fruit.

An interesting coffee discussion has erupted. Jim tells us of a time in California when he was at a coffee shop and a person ordered a decaf one and a half caf mocchachino. Being the good MBAs that we are we instantly plunged into a heated chat about the logistics involved with making a half shot of espresso. Then someone pointed out that perhaps the entire shot is made but only half is poured. Which led to the inevitable financial chat about if the customer would be charged for the entire shot or in fact, half price. Which means that there would have to be a half caf button on the cash register which would throw all the checkout people off. But then is it ethical to charge the customer for the entire two shots? You can't not charge him for the half shot. Imagine the effect on Starbuck's bottom line!

Now they're talking about beer. Which I know nothing about. The words Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, Red Tail, freshness, college and jacket are being pandered. My expertise ends here.

It's very quiet in the lounge

A few teams have left for dinner. One team is allegedly out buying matching shirts (don't ask). Most of them however are sequestered in their rooms working feverishly. Panic has not set in yet and I'll keep you updated if it does.

Behold India!

Ok, so as an Indian, I just HAVE to say how proud I am that we have 16 Indians participating in this weekend's competition.

Go Desis!

A conversation with Shankar

Asst. Professor Ganesan Shankaranarayanan from the IS department (affectionately known as Shanky to his students) was very kind to give me a few minutes of his busy time to speak on the subject of seamless mobility, always-on connectivity and his take on technology trends.

A little background on Prof. Shankar - along with being one of the most accessible professors on campus, Shankar holds his own in the tech arena. He has a PhD from the University of Arizona and is very active in publishing articles and papers on data management (among others). See his profile to learn more.

According to Prof. S., the over-arching question for today's competition is whether technology drives business or if business drives technology. Many businesses force technology to change and adapt it to their needs and conversely, many businesses have taken the opposite tack with adapting themselves to better use technology to their advantage. In his opinion, the team that does a better job of justifying what drives what will prevail in today's competition.

I asked Prof. Shankar how connected he was given his background, his work and his disposition and he said he wasn't very connected - and I think he likes it that way. Even though he's a techie, he hates technology. Now before you gasp in horror, read on. He hates the kind of technology that is invasive and takes away from the time that he needs to sometimes just be alone to do his work. Having his email ping every 3 seconds is prohibitive to his working process and even though he finds that in this day and age, it is almost impossible to do work without having access to the Internet, on occasion he just wants to be left alone to be able to think. He points out, and quite rightly, that sometimes people stop thinking and start looking for solutions online - has this problem been solved before? Can I find it? Can I download a report on it? Can I use it?

While all this access to information can be useful, there is a certain balance that needs to be maintained by us as consumers of information - what is original thought and what is the remnant of some snippet of information you read online?

In Prof. Shankar's view, the majority of the population wants this dichotomy. There is a sense of existence that evolves by being stayed-connected to the rest of the world. I suggested that unlike in the past where the line between the techies and the non-techies was fairly well defined, today that is not the case. People today are not afraid to go buy themselves the latest mobile phone gadget but they do it mostly for the features it brings rather than the fact that it may be a superior telephony device. One of the consequences of how pervasive technology has become today is that everybody is turning into a closet techie.

When asked whether he thought that the world as a whole is becoming more productive, if we as a community, as a nation, as a race are bringing more to the table, our discussion took an interesting turn - one that I think is vital in trying to understand this shift in the way we do business today. People today can do whatever they want, mostly whenever they want it. On the commuter rail, in airports, on the bus, even during the morning jog, people are getting things done. Crosswords and Sudoku have been replaced with Blackberrys, laptops and Bluetooth. The concept of stepping away from your desk to relax has gone away. With seamless, pervasive connectivity, people are more productive at times when they normally wouldn't be in the past. But is this "extra" productivity taking a toll on us? Are we burning out sooner? Are people not people anymore?

In our (mine and Prof. S's) view, popular media would like us to think so. However, consider this - one of the consequences of seamless mobility is that we know we can work from anywhere at anytime. Our days are longer. 24 hours stretch into 36. We are ok with wasting time during normal business hours because we know this. We are comfortable with it. We (and our bosses) have made our peace with it. So when you see people working when they normally don't, why do we automatically assume that they're getting more done?

One of our topics of discussion extended into the realm of what makes a good technology strategist. Prof. Shankar is of the view that it is not the breadth and depth of our understanding of technology that is to our benefit. The secret lies in being able to out think the technology.

We also spoke about how increased, enhanced and pervasive connectivity increases the onus on producers of content and entertainment to keep media interesting for the consumers. This increased burden has led to the advent of the age of consumer-generated content. I asked Prof. Shankar if he thought that all this increased access to information took the excitement away from the media we consume - if you already knew what the results of tonight's American Idol are going to be, would you still watch it? You could search for websites that will monitor the voting and provide you with statistics that will tell you who is in the bottom two hours before the show airs. Does that take away from the edge-of-seat-ness you experience when you tune into the show? Of course it does. But this doesn't mean that people will consume less entertainment and process more information - it just means that increased connectedness will increase your awareness of what you are consuming. Producers of content (traditional and consumer-generated) now will have to deal with this shift as well. Make entertainment more entertaining. Sort through the noise for us. Make extra efforts to show us that shadow on the lake or the wind in the trees or the actor emoting on screen. The competition is going to get tougher and tighter and in a way, the teams today have to capture the business model associated with that.

Prof. Shankar ended by saying that right now people are still enjoying the noise and the excitement around being connected. It is this blogger's view that this is a wave and we as CTOs, CEOs, teachers, researchers, technologists and students have to figure out the best way to stay on the crest of that wave. There will be some that will lose balance and momentum along the way and drop off but the ones that can stay on top and ride that wave to the shore ready to get back out to catch the next one, will prevail.

Thank you Prof. Shankar for your valuable minutes and your even more valuable insight. Readers, if you would like to join this discussion please feel free to comment on this blog.

Teams still going strong

See Flickr for a few more pictures of teams working away. Most of them are too engrossed with solving the problem to speak to a nosy blogger but hopefully I'll be able to get some more thoughts from them later.

Photots on Flickr

Be sure to check out the pictures of the event updated regularly on Flickr. You can check out the page as often as you like or you can subscribe to the photo feed.

"Show me the money!"

All 11 teams have now been briefed and they're currently taking a tour of the building so they know where the emergency exits are (in case of crazed team members pursuing with sharp objects). The briefing was done by Prof. N. Venkatraman and Dean Chalykoff with Dean Lawson sitting in. The teams were given flash drives that contained white papers, videos and other materials to give them a head start on the research required. Prof. Venkat wrote the case (as he did last year) and spoke to the teams about what the problem was that they were expected to solve.

The case is about the business behind Motorola's vision of seamless mobility. Given Motorola's recent initiative of Goodbye Disconnected - mobility that works on any network, any device, anywhere - today's case is about what initiatives Motorola can take in the media and entertainment space to succeed.

Entertain Me. Across domains. With changing architecture. A global perspective.

In the words of Prof. Venkatraman -

Motorola has launched some very cool new products for which they have won a number of awards. They have no problem asserting their leadership in the product development domain but they need to go beyond products and awards. The company's financial performance needs to impove to demonstrate value to their various constituenties. It's time to go from vision to execution. From cool products to cool experiences. Or from hot products to hot experiences, depending on what you think is cool is hot or hot is cool.

He went on to say that Motorola's new initiative takes them beyond just being your mobile phone. They want to be your television, radio, diary, MP3 player, contacts, camera... everything. The one stop for all your entertainment needs. The case today with its focus on entertainment showcases Motorola's network DVR, the Follow Me television home media solution. Prof. V. spoke about some of the potential competitiors in this field, about Google, Apple and Microsoft and some of their initiatives and with the 'Make Cool Experiences' video from CES defined the problem for today -

What is the best way for Motorola to win in seamless delivery of media and entertainment?

How best to translate the vision of 'cool experiences' to compelling business models?

Show me the money.

The teams have to think 12-24 months into the future and suggest to Motorola how they can go from what they have done so far, in terms of cool products and market leadership, to make money in this space. The teams are allowed to access any information in the public domain but not permitted to access private consulting reports on this problem.

As Prof. V. said, "the problem statement is clear, the answer is not clear", I'm sure the teams will have a very enjoyable time over the next 24 hours to come up with their vision of the future.

An interesting piece of news - all the presentations will be sent to Motorola so I'm sure this is additional incentive for the students to really bring their best to the table.

A picnic lunch has been laid out for the students. Stay tuned for lots of pictures!

Team MotoMing

Team MotoMing is represented this weekend by Matthew Galloway (team captain), Rajesh Rajasekar, Nitin Magoo and Tom Shohfi. I didn't get to speak to them much unfortunately but I did learn that their internal selection process involved the submission of resumes to a committee which consisted of their faculty and the Executive Club and the selections were done mostly based on past experience. For prep work, they analyzed last year's case, did some Motorola research and they feel confident that their experiences with last year's competition (three members are veterans of this game) and a good team with members from varied backgrounds will give them a leg up on this competition.

Stay tuned for more about MotoMing's experience this year!

Team V3BLUE

The V3BLUE team represented by Puneet Gandhi (team captain), Aditya Priyadarshan, Amit Mehta and Ritesh Saxena are very eager and excited to be here. And why shouldn't they be! Their school held an internal competition to determine the best of the best in which 27 teams participated! I think so far this is the school with the largest internal competition (with BU coming in a close second with, I think, 22 teams in the internal competition). Our very own Professor N. Venkatraman visited their campus earlier this year and the team fondly recalled how they enjoyed his lecture. They did get to sit in on Prof. V's Mastering IT Strategy class this last Thursday along with Prof. Hatten's Managing Social, Political, Technology and Economic Risk - perhaps for some last minute cramming for the competition! It was refreshing to see visitors participate in the class discussions when they sit in on BU classes and I'm glad the team had a very positive experience there.

They were struck by the similarities between their school and BU's style in the classroom - they also regularly have c-level executives visit and speak to the students and we all agree that while our schools have some excellent teachers, getting to meet and interact with executives of innovative and pioneering companies is one of the things that makes b-school worthwhile. The differences they saw were mostly related to the facility, the classroom layouts and the presence of student name cards; at their school too, the professors usually define their own pedagogy.

Their preparation for the competition involved reading up on seamless mobility, Motorola's business, their competitors and with lots of case competition experience between the four of them, they're very confident they'll do well at this event.

Along with "discovering America" they're really pleased about getting to meet new people they can relate to and we are indeed pleased to have them with us this weekend.

Team MotoFone

I didn't get to chat much with the MotoFone team represnted by Bryan Lares (team captain), Leslie Elliott, Purvi Shah and Ben Manwaring. They remarked on how well organized the committee and the reception was last night and they're looking forward to winning the prize. The selection process at their school involved students sending in an application that was evaluated by a faculty and student panel and individuals were ranked and the final team was formed.

More on MotoFone later!

Team KRZR

I finally managed to track down the KRZR team on the 9th floor. Joe was appropriately contrite about standing me up for our earlier interview session and I made him promise to name his first-born after me so we're all good. He was very excited to be part of the competition (and who wouldn't be!) and commented that "this makes me feel like a normal adult!". The idea of getting together with peers to solve a real-life business case with real-life constraints and considerations really appeals. Sometimes in the BU MBA life (as I'm sure in most other programs too) one does get quite caught up in cases and homework and papers that we forget what its like to be part of a contributing workforce - I definitely can appreciate that point of view! The fact that there is prize money associated with this makes it all the more exciting.

The team did some prep work before the competition by getting together every other week or so to do some research on the telecom industry. According to Joe, the one thing that is so amazing about the world we live in today is that information is so easily available and accessible and the rate at which information travels is mind-boggling. We talked about life before Google and online libraries and how writing papers and doing research was limited by the size and quality of physical libraries when we were in undergrad. Joe is very cognizant about the challenges of making information relevant in today's world and I think this case competition is the perfect arena for him and his team to showcase their ideas on this.

Team ROKR

Team ROKR is represented at the case competition by Ryan Hudson (team lead), Garrett Dodge, Damian Fernandez and Bala Venkatrao. They were one of the first ones to arrive at SMG. The selection process at their school to determine which students were going to participate in the global competition was decided by their Innovation Club sifting through applications. They mentioned that it didn't take them long to choose the best team to represent their school in the competition.

The team was quite relaxed and clearly pleased about the short commute to BU. Garrett mentioned he had a lot riding on this competition since he had to cut short his Spring Break vacation in Costa Rica to attend this event and considering he had no tan, one sympathises.

In preparation for the competition, the team mentioned that short of getting to know each other, bonding, forming and norming, they didn't do any specific research or preparation for the competition - although even if they did, they're probably not inclined to share this the night before the case is released.

BREAKING NEWS - Research at a top business school reveals that there are definite synergies between IT strategy and Foosball. The exact correlation is still to be documented but the team feels confident that there is potential for a startup brimming here.

Winning the competition is vital since Garrett needs the cash to pay for his Costa Rica vacation.

A note about this blog

The information you are about to read is about the various schools participating in this competition but they will only be referred to by their team names as per the rules of the competition. Any comments that associate a team with a school will be deleted by the administrator - me.

Oh and by the way, I cannot be bribed :)

The Reception

The formal reception was held at the SMG building - BU's School of Management building - at 595 Commonwealth Ave. in the 9th floor ballroom. Our ballroom is a perfect place to mix and mingle and Mary Sforza, the events coordinator, and her excellent staff made it a lovely comfortable place to do so. MIT showed up early (or was it on time?) and the rest sailed in on the bus from the hotel with Nicole Bludeau bringing up the rear with two members of the London School of Business. Jim McGroddy was reliably at hand to usher folks upstairs and the mingling began.

It was a very relaxed atmosphere with teams meeting other teams and professors and Deans working the room. Wines, cheeses, fruit and assorted nibbles were at hand and the Case Competition Committee members were very good with making the teams feel at ease and indeed at home.

Associate Dean Chalykoff started with his opening remarks on how excited he was to be present in the midst of representatives from the world's best business schools. We did miss Wharton (who, unfortunately, had to pull out of the contest at the last minute and were not there to defend their title) - maybe they weren't up for the challenge! But as Dean Chalykoff said to the competing teams, "our loss and your gain!" In all seriousness though, apparently Wharton pulled out because of personal (or perhaps personnel) reasons and we sincerely hope that all is well with them. Dean Chalykoff enthusiastically welcomed all the students and introduced Sr. Associate Dean Lawson as the Chief Operating Officer who ensures that all the tough jobs associated with getting things done get.. well.. done! Dean Lawson rightly said that an international competition of any kind is unique in management education. I agree with him in that we are very lucky to be able to have this opportunity to come together as a large intellectual force bringing our respective strengths to the table for a healthy joust.

Dean Lawson then introduced Josh Cleveland, the President of the MS-MBA Association, as a fantastic example of what the BU MS-MBA is all about and I'm sure there isn't a single person on campus who would contest the fact that Josh is a tremendous leader and an all-round terrific guy to boot! Josh acknowledged that he couldn't have pulled it off without his committee and the support staff. He did make it a point to introduce me, which I thought was lovely.

I do realize at this point that many of you reading this blog may not know who I am. I'm a 2nd year MS-MBA student at BU graduating this May with concentrations in Strategy & Business Analysis and Marketing. I responded to an open 'Blogger Wanted' advert sent out by Josh and the committee and I'm very pleased to be part of this event and am privileged to be able to bring the thoughts of our fantastic entrants - hopefully I'll get to speak with all 44 of them!

Jim and Steve worked on the case competition committee last year as well and they did point out that not much has changed in the organization of the event. Last year's event was a huge success with everything going off without a hitch so why mess with a winning formula, I guess. Steve did mention one reason why he volunteered to work on the committee one more time and I'm sure many of the other members echo this sentiment - we get to be part of a community that comprises of some of the world's best MBAs from amazing schools. What could be better than that.

Here's Steve's tip for the teams - it's all about stamina. Tomorrow's 24 hours are going to feel like 36. It's important to stay fresh.

Good luck all!

The Case Competition Committee members:

Committee Chair – Josh Cleveland
Internal Comp. Coordinator – Jim McGroddy
Web Development Coordinator – Sean Chen
Facilities Coordinator – Manu Goel
Volunteer Coordinator – Jeff Symons
Finance Coordinator – Jingjing Li
Guest/Com Coordinator – Steve Gerety
Marketing Coordinator – Divya Sood
Recruiting Coordinator – Natasha Bastien

Pre-reception reception

It's one hour before the start of the formal reception to welcome the competition entrants. We have 11 teams from Kellogg, Stanford, Sloan, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Eller, McCombs, Queens Canada, Seoul Korea, IIM Calcutta and London School of Business and I will attempt to contact each team over the next two days to bring you the inside stories of their experience as participants in this event. I know there is a palpable level of excitement and anticipation (or maybe that's just me needing to cut down on coffee today). The organizing committee is definitely all switched on and look forward to the kick-off reception tonight.

I did bump into the IIM folks who, along with Seoul Korea, attended Prof. Hatten's Managing Risk class this afternoon. They seem well rested, cheery and look forward to the contest. They did express regret that since they'll be flying out on Sunday, they may not have time to check out the HBS and/or MIT campuses but I did point out the wonders of Comm. Ave. and the BU campus (construction notwithstanding).

The teams should all be checked in to the Brookline Courtyard Marriott Hotel by now (that's where they'll be staying for the duration of the competition.

Stay tuned for more after the reception! I, for one, am very much looking forward to being in the same room as the world's top MBA minds.