Media Releases
Rotman MBAs Win the Sofaer International Case Competition at Tel Aviv University
May 31, 2016
Toronto, ON – A team of Rotman MBA students have won the Sofaer International Case Competition held last week by the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University.
The team included 2 Israeli students who were returning to their home country to represent the Rotman School in the competition. Team members were Elad Barak, MBA’16, Mieka Buckley-Pearson, MGA/MBA’17, Gonen Hollander, MBA’17, and Alys Richards. MBA’16. They won a $10,000 US prize.
The strategy case competition is unique in that it uses a live case of an Israeli start-up company which is seeking to expand outside the country. The company presents its products and current state and looks to the student teams to make two strategic recommendations for the company to move forward. This year’s company was Foresight, an Israeli startup with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technology in need of a go to market strategy. Eight teams from leading business schools had two and half days to develop the strategies. Other participating schools included Cambridge Judge Business School, Copenhagen Business School, UC San Diego Rady School of Management, University of Cologne, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Peking University, and Tel Aviv University.
The three teams who made the finals presented to an audience Including executives from Foresight, members of the Tel Aviv University community, and a panel of judges including Israeli technology industry leaders and faculty from the eight participating schools. Prof. Brian Silverman, who holds the J.R.S. Prichard and Ann Wilson Chair in Management, was the Rotman faculty representative.
“This competition is a fantastic opportunity to apply what we have learned at Rotman to a real strategic dilemma facing an innovative Israeli startup. It was a privilege to represent Rotman and to compete against top business schools from around the world. For the second years we couldn’t imagine a better close to our time at Rotman, and the first years look forward to competing again next year!,” say the team members.
Elad Barak added, “As an international student from Israel, this was an excellent opportunity to represent Rotman on my home court. Our team was able to blend Israeli Innovation together with the Canadian structured thought process which was key in our approach and one of the reasons we won.”
The Rotman School of Management is located in the heart of Canada’s commercial and cultural capital and is part of the University of Toronto, one of the world’s top 20 research universities. The Rotman School fosters a new way to think that enables our graduates to tackle today’s global business challenges. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.
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For more information:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
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E‑mail: mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca
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