MILR student leads Cornell team to national case competition victory
October 29 2007
Anthony J. Figliolini '08 and Johnson School teammates win $20,000 first prize
A Cornell University team led by MILR- MBA student Anthony J. (AJ) Figliolini (third from left) took first place and a $20,000 prize at the nation's first-ever MBA-level competition focusing on human capital challenge.
The National MBA Human Capital Case Competition was held Oct. 19-20 at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. The teams were judged by executives from General Electric and Deloitte, who provided the support and sponsorship for the competition, including the prizes for the winning teams.
The competition pitted student groups from top graduate schools across the country, including Yale, Columbia, and UCLA, against each other in a shotgun-start format to address a real-world human capital issue and present solutions relevant in today's fast-paced global economy. This year's challenge focused on analyzing the competitive and labor market challenges being faced by a global legal services firm and making recommendations regarding talent management practices and their implementation.
Other members of the team, sponsored by Cornell's Strategic HR, Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness (SHRLOE) club, include Puneet Bhatia, Rohit Kumar, Tania Stewart, Rhoda Yap (all MBA ’08), and Javed Singha (MBA ’09).
"The winning teams demonstrated that there are two things all human capital solutions must have—an elegant human resources design coupled with a strong business case," said Neta Moye, Vanderbilt professor and adviser for Owen's Leadership Development Program.
Figliolini said: "We believed that the client's development framework initiative was a step in the right direction toward organizational alignment with their strategy of building international client service. However, we felt that certain aspects of the initiative had to be modified to take into account regional differences and the decentralized nature of the client's organization."
"Also, we believed that implementing the framework in phases with a communications and measurement plan focused on addressing possible risks and resistance was vital to ensuring the success of the change," he added.
For more information on the National MBA Human Capital Case Competition, log onto www.humancapitalcasecompetition.com.
