The Russian team won the challenge in 2013 and explains the secret of their success. With this result, the various team members received interesting job offers. This shows that the advantages do not end with victory, but open up new paths of development for personal and professional growth.
Interview
1. Talk a little about your participation in the International Final of Global Management Challenge 2013?
In the semi-final we played in the so-called ‘group of death’. There were 4 teams who had already won the International Final – Russia, China, Macau and Poland. There was nothing known about the Turkish team, so they could be a ‘dark horse’. We didn’t sleep until 5 am after the announcement of the results of the semi-final. We analysed the decisions made by our competitors and prepared surprises for them. As a result, we gained a confident victory for Russia.
2. What strategy did you used to win?
We started by significantly increasing the salary of our production workforce. That’s how we beat our competitor at this point, because we became more attractive for a production workforce and workers left the competition. China traditionally has been producing a lot and selling through its well-distributed dealer network at the cheapest prices. But we covered this gap by developing a strong corporate image and direct advertising. All in all the game for us was about the optimization of the major indicators, e.g. ROI, fixed assets and others. We also took decisions designed to make companies more attractive for investors. All These steps made us the winners.
3. How did you feel when the results were announced and you realized the title was yours?
We were extremely happy and proud to succeed and to have met high expectations. Again, we proved that Russia is a super-powerful state with intelligent leadership capacity; and we’re ready for any external and internal challenges.
4. What made the difference in your performance in this international final?
Of particular importance was the venue of the international final – Sochi. When we found out the international final would be held in Russia, we started to prepare more seriously. Our team felt the weight of great responsibility.
5. What did you learn from this competition?
While we were participating in the Global Management Challenge, we relied on our basic theoretical knowledge of economics and business management, and assimilated new useful information. In addition, we worked as real managers, and this was good practice for us. Moreover, we experimented new management decisions that are not always possible to implement in real life.
6. Do you think winning this international final has given you better job opportunities in the labour market?
Our victory is a mix of professionalism, efficiency and competitiveness. Some members of our team were offered interesting jobs after the International final.
7. Was important to win this competition in your country? Why?
Russia won the Olympic and Paralympics Games and the World Ice Hockey Championship this year, so we couldn’t lose because the Global Management Challenge is the Olympic games for managers! Our dream was to demonstrate our power and confidence to the world.
8. Any other considerations?
In our opinion, looking at the countries that have won GMC, we can predict the development of the world economy. For example, China was champion five times from 1999 to 2005 but then never again. This year, there were 8 teams in the final: 2 teams are from Europe, 2 teams are from Africa, and 4 teams are from BRIC countries. This is a very accurate index for analysing the world economy.
