The sixth edition of the annual Accenture B-School ‘Next Horizon Strategy’ Challenge 2022 that focused on the theme of ‘Modernizing Industries: Reinvention Starts Here,’ has been won by the team from Indian School of Business (ISB).
Indian Institute of Management Lucknow and Indian Institute of Management Udaipur were respectively the first and second runners-up of the challenge. The team from Faculty of Management Studies (DU) was recognised with a special jury award.
8,400+ students from 16 top business schools in India participated in the month-long competition, the finalists of which were evaluated by a jury od industry leaders as well as senior leaders from Accenture. The participating schools included Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Indian Institute of Management Indore, Indian Institute of Management Udaipur, Indian School of Business (ISB), Faculty of Management Studies, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Xavier School of Management, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Management Development Institute, National Institute of Industrial Engineering and Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
The challenge aims to identify top talent for the digital economy, put a spotlight on the changing business landscape and the actions leaders need to undertake to thrive amidst the current disruptions. It was divided into four stages: The first round featured a rapid-fire quiz to test their analytical skills, which was followed by a round of business simulation where students role-played CEOs and shared their perspectives on driving business profitability. 160 teams were shortlisted at the end of the second round.
In the third round, the students presented on solving for business challenges across different industries, such as banking, communications, media and technology, consumer goods, retail, energy, life sciences, industrial and mobility to the Accenture leadership team. Out of these, eight teams were chosen to compete in the grand finale. The eight finalist teams were then mentored by Accenture leaders. Accenture also organized a storytelling workshop for the finalists to hone their presentation skills and a masterclass to gain deeper insights on specific industry verticals.
