The sixth edition of the annual Accenture B-School ‘Next Horizon Strategy’ Challenge 2022 focused on the theme of ‘Modernizing Industries: Reinvention Starts Here.’ 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.
8,400+ students from 16 top business schools in India participated in the month-long competition. 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 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 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.
The finalists were evaluated by a jury comprising industry leaders as well as senior leaders from Accenture. These included:
- Satish Sharma, President – APMEA, Apollo Tyres
- Vijayendra Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Apollo 24×7
- Randhir Singh Kalsi, Senior Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki
- Ranjit Gupta, Founder and CEO, Ocior Energy
- Piyush N. Singh, Senior Managing Director and Lead – India Business, Accenture
- Sanjay Dawar, Managing Director, Global Strategy and Consulting, Accenture India
- Kala Venkatesh, Managing Director and Lead – Learning, Global Strategy & Consulting, Accenture
- Aditya Priyadarshan, Managing Director – Strategy & Consulting, Accenture in India
The team from Indian School of Business (ISB) won the Accenture B-School Challenge 2022. Teams from 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 was recognised with a special jury award. Students from the top three teams from each of the 16 participating business schools have got a pre-placement interview opportunity with Accenture. Additionally, the top three winning teams received prizes cumulatively worth INR 10,00,000 (10 lakh).
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