A team of supply chain professionals have been named by Cranfield School of Management as the winners of the 2017 Executive Business Challenge.
The winning team of five colleagues located across Europe all work for Ecolab, the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services.
The 10-week competition comprised of webinars, an interactive business simulation and weekly online activities set by the judging panel built around three themes: strategy, finance and teams.
Nilanjana Ghosh from the winning team, said: “The Cranfield University Executive Business Challenge has been a very exciting experience. It has helped us to gain better understanding of business complexity, how the financial market works and, most importantly, what a customer really needs and pays for.
“It is a very well-balanced learning activity combining theory and practical exercises, and the team had a lot of fun during the experience. We learnt about the importance of team engagement in a competitive environment. We wanted to win the competition, but, of course, learning was the most important part of the whole experience.”
The winning team will receive a Centre for Customised Executive Masterclass of their choice for up to 30 people and a Cranfield School of Management Open Executive Programme for each winning team member.
The competition aims to promote international competition between high-performing professionals. Each element is designed to encourage participants to take their learning back to the workplace.
Karen Valverde, Executive Development Director at Cranfield University, said: “Our experience shows that engagement is not only incredibly strong during and after the business simulation but also remains an overarching thread within the culture of the organisation. The people who have been through this experience form strong networks, feel more empowered and understand their business environment better.”
Andrew Wood, Training and Development Manager - Supply Chain Europe at Ecolab, was responsible for entering five teams. He said: “From the learning achieved by all the members of our teams, through the camaraderie within each team and the internal competition between them, through to the levels of dedication shown by all team members, the whole experience exceeded our expectations. We are definitely a better business because we took part.”
A team from NEST Investment Holdings were the runners up in the 2017 competition.
About Cranfield University
Cranfield has been a world leader in management education and research for over 50 years, helping individuals and organisations learn and succeed by transforming knowledge into action. We are dedicated to creating responsible management thinking, improving business performance and inspiring the next generation of business leaders. We work to change the lives of our students and executives by encouraging innovation and creative thinking, as well as the drive to succeed and make a real impact on their organisations.
Organisations as diverse as Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems, Royal Dutch Shell, L’Oréal, UNICEF and the African Development Bank have benefited from our work, which ranges from management research projects, through staff talent management development on our MBA courses, to customised executive programmes.
Cranfield is one of an elite group of Schools worldwide to hold the triple accreditation of: AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) and AMBA (the Association of MBAs).
We are in the Top 10 International Business Schools in the Forbes’ ranking.
Our open and customised executive education programmes are ranked in the top five in the UK, according to the latest Financial Times survey, and in the top ten in the world for international reach. Over 10,000 people come to Cranfield each year to benefit from our executive and professional development programmes.
