L‘Oreal challenges, recruits business students
Now on its 8th staging, the L’Oreal e-Strat Challenge gives students contestants on their final or penultimate year of study the opportunity to put themselves in the virtual driver’s seat of a global cosmetics company.
The mechanics are simple enough. Form a group of three from the same school and register online at www.e-strat.loreal.com. Students download the software for free to join the competition. They will act as general manager of a beauty-industry company with an international portfolio of products. The virtual management assignment lasts for two months, but equivalent to three years in real time.
The online game is carefully designed to illustrate diverse yet realistic marketing situations that L’Oreal managers face everyday. L’Oreal was created in 1909 and posted euro 15.8 billion in consolidated sales in 2006 from 19 global brands.
e-Strat participants are asked to make strategic decisions with sustainable performance in mind. They are measured at each round based on their SPI (Share Price Index), which includes brand market shares, the firm’s revenues, the quality of R&D (research and development), as well as consumer satisfaction.
Aside from helping students understand the cosmetics business and industry, the e-Strat Challenge also serves as one of L’Oreal’s most innovative recruitment tools. “Over 250 past participants have been hired by L’Oreal all over the world. In the Philippines, we have hired five past participants — all of them as management trainees and eventually became managers in marketing, finance, and sales,” discloses L’Oreal human resources manager Arvin Crisol.
The competition is a business game with real career opportunities at the end.
“For a good number of students, internships and on-the-job (OJT) training opportunities have been their tools in making the transition from the academe to the corporate world. But not all have had the chance to be an intern or do OJT. And for the few who have had the opportunity, it was not really enough. The e-Strat Challenge allows the students to practice what they have learned. They apply business theories and principles and incur no risk, as they bridge the gap between school and work. No financial investments are needed. They just devote, time, interest, and effort to compete with all the other students around the world. They discover their passion and energy to apply business insights,” Crisol explains.
Since its launch, over 177,000 students from over 2,200 schools have registered and joined the competition. Top Philippine universities have joined e-Strat since its 2nd Edition in 2001, and have consistently reached the semifinals, or the top 300 teams after the eliminations which is composed of 1,500 teams.
For the 8th edition, 1,700 teams will be selected to compete for the semifinal places.
“It takes enthusiasm, strategy, and teamwork to do well in e-Strat. With our students’ familiarity with online competition, business aptitude, and competitive spirit, we have an advantage. If you include the guidance and support of the professors, then we can certainly compete with the best students in the world,” says Crisol.
The L’Oreal e-Strat Challenge is now a recognized international learning tool with CEL (accreditation for teChology-Enhanced Learning) from the European Foundation of Management Development. This accreditation means the online competition is a program that bridges the educational and professional world and provides an innovative and rich learning experience to students who participate in the program.
L’Oreal now makes the competition software accessible to universities and business school professors for class use as part of their business and management courses.
The deadline for registration for this year’s e-Strat is on November 27.
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