WITH a name inspired by the Scooby-Doo gang, the team ‘Mystery Inc’ from the University of Waikato successfully cracked the case with their innovative business growth strategy for The 3R Group, a New Zealand company that develops programmes to recycle or responsibly dispose of used products and packaging. The company’s vision is to help people “live well, within the limits of the planet”.
A panel of external judges chose Mystery Inc as the winners of the Case Competition from four finalist teams. Each team was given 10 minutes to present their recommended strategies to a large audience, before facing a grilling from the judges who asked some tricky questions to probe the finer details of their plans.
Mystery Inc’s winning strategy for The 3R Group focused on diversifying its revenue streams by collecting waste tyres and plastics from throughout the Auckland region, then selling them to Golden Bay Cement to burn as fuel at their cement kiln in Whangarei. This would generate estimated revenue of NZ$2.3 million by 2020.
Mystery Inc team member Andrew Hong, said their big breakthrough was discovering a news article that talked about burning tyres as a cleaner, more efficient alternative to wood and coal for generating energy.
Preparing for the Case Competition had required a huge amount of research and many sleepless nights, said Andrew.
“I can’t believe how much commitment my team members have put into this. The key to our success was being able to get on well with each other, complement each other’s strengths, and be brutally honest when evaluating each other’s ideas. Plus eating lots of chocolate …
“We’ve got five people in the team who are all very different individuals, but people just naturally find their niche. The 3R Group was an exceptionally difficult case to analyse, so it’s really satisfying to come up with an idea that we think is completely plausible.”
The team intended to spend their NZ$2,500 prize — courtesy of event sponsor ASB Bank — on “a big paintballing competition during the holidays, once we’ve caught up on some sleep”.
The WMS Case Competition is part of coursework for the strategic management paper; the capstone paper in the Bachelor of Management Studies degree at the university.
The competition, which began in 1996, gives students an opportunity to act as ‘consultants’ and apply all the business theories they’ve learned in class to a real New Zealand company.
Towards the end of each semester, around 200 students are given a deadline of just two weeks to analyse the case, write a report on how they plan to increase the company’s revenue and profits, and present their group strategies at an event called ‘Super Friday’. The four best teams go through to the finals of the Case Competition.
This year’s judging panel was Isabelle Atherton, a Waikato Management School alumna who works for Unilever NZ who represented Waikato at international case competitions, James Paterson, client director of ASB Bank, and new Dean of Waikato Management School Professor Don Ross.
The clients, The 3R Group, were hugely impressed by the fantastic ideas and high quality of the students’ presentations on the night.
Liz Read, independent chair of The 3R Group’s board, said: “You have come up with some imaginative ideas well beyond what we would have thought possible, and got us thinking about our business from a fresh point of view. You’re young, enthusiastic and talented, and have displayed amazing public speaking skills.”
Information on study options in New Zealand can be found at www.studyinnewzealand.com.