MBA students take on PwC Future Solvers Competition

Griffith MBA students, David Gibson, Juliana Ribeiro, Rebecca Torti and Maria del Mundo, otherwise known as “The Breakfast Club”, participated in PwC’s Future Solvers case competition. This online competition invited tertiary students from across Australia to take a deep dive into the big issues of the nation’s future. We sat down with David and Juliana to find out about their experience and the innovative solution they crafted.

You participated in PwC Future Solvers. What did this involve?

Juliana: We were given a challenge to solve whereby a client was after a particular outcome. We needed to devise a full business strategy that would deliver this outcome in a short and palatable presentation for the client.

David: There was an initial presentation in which we chose from three (3) separate scenarios presented. From this we qualified into the Final Round of 16 which involved a two (2) week intensive program and case study, including four (4) online workshops and a final 10-minute business strategy presentation.

These workshops were designed to help us shape our final presentation for the client. We were provided background material on the client and completed additional research to create a detailed business strategy presentation.

What scenario and client did you select, and why?

Juliana: In this case the client was a southeast Asian electric vehicle company that wanted to expand into Australia. Our role was to devise an innovative and appealing way to deliver the outcome the client wanted.

David: For our initial presentation we chose the shopping centre scenario largely based on Juliana and my experience in retail organisations and felt this best aligned with all our skills. Whilst the case study was provided to us, and we needed to provide a business strategy presentation advising the client whether to proceed with its planned expansion into the Australian car market.

What was your innovative solution for the scenario and client?

Juliana: Through our research we discovered that electric vehicles currently are (and will continue to be) predominately a “premium” product market. Being passionate about sustainability, we focused on the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) elements of the business. This included bringing the product quality and manufacturing practices up to a higher standard and leveraging these as a value-add to those premium customers.

David: The first scenario, we presented a series of innovative solutions that shopping centres could utilise to limit their carbon footprint. As for the case study presentation, there was an element of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) that needed to be applied to the sourcing of parts and the understanding of the implications of continuing to source from the existing supplier or moving to a new supplier, albeit at a more expensive price.

How did you find working as a remote team? Were there any challenges you had to overcome?

Juliana: The greatest challenge was finding time to work on the project. Each of us had varying commitments and availabilities and all four (4) of us were simultaneously working on our MBA (Master of Business Administration) assessments.

We stayed open and honest with each other about how much time we could commit and when we could work. We organised a few key group meetings where we would discuss where we were up to and what tasks/research needed carrying out. We divided up the work tasks according to each person’s strengths and commitment availabilities. We simultaneously worked on a shared PowerPoint document. Everything was done online which made it super flexible!

David: And given that we are all completing our MBA online, I feel we were all very well versed in working as a remote team.