The Global Management Challenge came to China 17 years ago and since then it has not stopped growing. Success in Asian lands has been great, with the annual membership now in excess of 2,000 teams to this strategy and management competition.
The year was 1995, when the Global Management Challenge initially arrived in China. Pedro Alves Costa, CEO of SDG, explains that “coming to this country was important in terms of image. China, 17 years ago, was more closed than it is today and was breaking into new ground in entering a market as a real player in the region”. From here the competition broke new ground and arrived in countries like India, Singapore and Australia.
The belief, in this distant country of Portugal, was no doubt correct, since the competition is now a major success on Chinese land. The first edition of GMC began with the modest number of some dozens of teams. Years later, in 2001, entries had increased to over 400 and in its last edition in 2011, had exceeded 2,000 participating formations, a number that has not so far been exceeded and makes China the country with the largest number of teams.
Frank Zhuge, organizer of the Global Management Challenge in China, explains that they have relied mainly on teams of MBA students and postgraduates. The aim for the future is to further increase the number of participating team formations to include executives from companies to actively participate in the competition. Frank Zhuge believes the Global Management Challenge shows how a company works and the interactions that exist between its various departments. The knowledge that transmits between all participants can open doors to understanding the labour market. About this he tells us a little anecdote: «A girl who joined a team went to a job interview with a human resources manager and spoke highly of the management of a company. The interviewer was surprised and asked her if she had ever worked before in an organization. She replied no, adding that she had only participated in the Global Management Challenge. Because of her knowledge she got the job.”
Over the past few years several Chinese teams have won the international final of the Global Management Challenge. Frank Zhuge tells us that ‘”If a team obtains the title of international champion, its elements will have created good future professional opportunities.”
The 2012 Edition of the competition in China has already started and the country prepares to select their champion, who will be in the international final, to be held next year, in Bucharest, Romania, in April 2013.
News published in Expresso newspaper:
https://www.sdg.pt/docs/China_lidera_o_total_de_equipas_inscritas.pdf
Video of Expresso TV:
https://expresso.sapo.pt/ideia-portuguesa-implantada-na-china=f743558
