On May 25, students in the MBA course Corporate Innovation, offered by Sauder's Robert H. Lee Graduate School, were faced with the challenge of competing in the Sauder First Corporate Innovation Competition.
The challenge was the brainchild of visiting lecturer Andrei Guschin, who taught the course. Mentored by Guschin, the 25 students picked industries they were interested in and spent five weeks preparing new product or system ideas for leading companies.
The seven student teams presented ideas for Ford, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Durex, John Fluevog, Telus, Lululemon and Amazon. Each team had ten minutes to pitch, followed by seven minutes of questions from a panel of judges that included Sauder faculty and business community leaders.
Students brought forward a range of ideas, incuding customized beer flavours and limited edition shoes, but Team Amazon, comprised of MBA students Stephanie Claggett, Guneet Singh, Alex Thompson and Tyler Thorne, took the win for their solution to provide the online retailer with a more interactive virtual shopping experience.
