The corner office, presentations, discussions, ideation, problem-solving and team-building — this is the daily life of most CXOs. Despite the many challenges, one cannot but aspire to the privilege and pride the title of a CXO brings. What if you could be in the shoes of a CXO for a day? Do you have it in you to tackle a challenging business problem, solve it with your fellow board members, compete with equally capable teams and come out the winner?
BLoC Boardroom Challenge is a one-of-a-kind competition for MBA students and B-schoolers. Go on, don the hat of a CXO and work together as a team to solve a boardroom-level business problem. The Challenge will be across three levels: a preliminary round, semi-finals across nine cities and a grand finale.
The shortlisted teams in each city will have to solve a business problem that they receive one week before the semi-finals. The teams will present their strategies in an online event in their city. The winning teams from each of the nine cities will compete in the Grand Finale.
The semi-finals winners from each city compete in a no-holds-barred finals event, where they showcase their astute solutions on a live corporate case, sent to them a week or ten days in advance. A stellar jury comprising experts from industry and academia will evaluate the presentations and crown the winners.
Today’s jobs require new skill-sets and a quick understanding of the changing business environment. BusinessLine on Campus (BLoC) partners with B-schools to make students industry-ready. With a rich corporate-academia-student interface, BLoC features B-school reports, columns, entrepreneur and corporate stories, explainer videos, interviews and industry analysis by senior executives in the corporate world as well as BusinessLine’s extensive network of correspondents and research analysts.
BLoC’s content is tailored to meet the reading style of the intelligent and urbane management students and fulfills a critical need as a knowledge resource for those about to begin their careers. At this stage, most students look to mentors, professors and seniors in their chosen industries for guidance. This is exactly what BLoC is – a mentor and a friend. With wide-ranging content across seven sections, BLoC seeks to enable, educate and entertain.
This unique case challenge for B-schoolers is in its fourth year. In the first year of the challenge in 2017, LIBA, Chennai, were the winners, followed by ISB Hyderabad in 2018 and IIM Ranchi in 2019. In all the previous years the semi-final round of the contest was held at B-schools across various cities, which hosted the event. The 2019 contest was held across 8 cities with participation from all the top B-schools.
The preliminary round in all the previous years has always been online where students are administered a psychometric test to assess their decision-making skills and ability to work in teams. The grand finale, where B-schools which won city-specific semi-finals competed for the grand prize, has been held in Chennai. It was almost like an IPL Finals with keen minds from top B-schools presenting to a top jury.
This year, keeping in mind the safety of the students and others involved in this contest, it is being conducted entirely online, including the semi-final rounds and the finals as well. It will again be a unique event with technology overcoming the challenge the pandemic has brought about. May the best team win the 2020 BLoC Boardroom Challenge.
| S.no | City | Live Semi Finals Date | Last Date for registration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chennai | 01-Dec | 11-Nov |
| 2 | Coimbatore | 02-Dec | 11-Nov |
| 3 | Kochi | 03-Dec | 11-Nov |
| 4 | Bangalore | 04-Dec | 11-Nov |
| 5 | Hyderabad | 05-Dec | 11-Nov |
| 6 | Delhi | 07-Dec | 11-Nov |
| 7 | Mumbai | 08-Dec | 11-Nov |
| 8 | Kolkata | 09-Dec | 11-Nov |
| 9 | Pune | 10-Dec | 11-Nov |
