Starting today, the UCLA Anderson School of Management will host the first-known Global Business Leadership Competition, an international forum designed to challenge and educate business students in global business and leadership from all over the world.
Developed by David Lewin, professor and Neil H. Jacoby Chair in Management, the competition will consist of a series of modules in which participants compete to solve real-world business dilemmas. The two-day program will also feature high-profile speakers with a strong following in international business, such as Mark Zoradi, the president of Walt Disney Motion Pictures.
“Each of the modules is focused around a set of challenges that a global leader would face, such as a change in leadership or how a crisis situation is handled,” Lewin said.
Lewin said the goal of the program was to strengthen the emphasis of business leadership in a global context. “The idea was there from the start ““ we wanted the world out there to recognize us for being a place where global studies and leadership studies are important and strongly emphasized. We decided this competition would be a global one,” said Lewin.
Lewin added that no case competition had been found that integrated business leadership within an international perspective.
“We found no competitions that focused on global business; we thought we could be distinctive by inviting students from all over the world,” Lewin said.
The event, which took two years to put together, was organized by a small group of Anderson students under Lewin’s guidance.
Estela Wolf, the chief organizer for the event, said the competition will feature integrated modules that pose questions of both leadership and globalization.
“It’s not the first global competition or the first leadership competition, but it’s certainly the first at both,” said Wolf, who added that the original idea of 12 competing schools had to be changed to 16 to accommodate the amount of qualified schools that applied.
Lewin said students would be attending the event from top business schools in Europe, Asia, Mexico, Canada, Israel and the U.S.
“We have five (teams) alone from Asia,” Lewin said.
Lewin added that the 40 judges for the competition were high-profile leaders in global businesses such as KSwiss and Raytheon and would be judging the participant groups based on case analysis, presentation and answers to the questions the judges pose. Prizes will also be awarded: The first place winner will receive $25,000, second place will be awarded $10,000, and the third place winner will receive $5,000.
“Our vision for the (competition) is to expose and test future leaders across several distinct leadership-decision quandaries and crisis situations. That’s what leadership is about, and it will be particularly intriguing to observe teams from around the globe as they approach these distinct leadership challenges,” Judy Olian, dean of the Anderson school, said in a statement.