Let the business games begin

L’Oréal, the world’s largest cosmetics company, recently launched its 2009 Business Games season, featuring games that encourage young people to realize their potential, develop their professional skills and discover career opportunities. The 2009 Business Games series has a double objective: a proactive solution for L’Oréal to meet the best young talent from around the world and a once-in-a-lifetime chance for international students to gain a stimulating, multicultural experience with the world’s leader in cosmetics.

The games inject the company’s innovative approach to reinforcing its business model, excellent employment opportunities and global standards as a good corporate citizen to attract students from various disciplines focusing on engineering and supply chain (L’Oréal Ingenius), business management (L’Oréal EStrat), marketing (L’Oréal Brandstorm) and research (L’Oréal Innovation Lab).

Currently, L’Oréal Philippines has launched only two out of the four business games. In 2009, L’Oréal EStrat in the Philippines will be in its ninth year and a first for the Philippines to join L’Oréal Brandstorm.

“The Business Games of L’Oréal aim to provide a professional experience through ‘learning by doing,’” says Tina Ampil, L’Oréal Philippines general manager for human resources.

Each business game will challenge students to provide innovative solutions that create value for the cosmetics industry, from new product development and international marketing challenges to sustainable and efficient production.

L’Oréal EStrat provides an opportunity for students to be in the virtual driver’s seat of a leading global cosmetics company, giving participants a unique professional experience and the ability to discover the beauty industry from the inside.

L’Oréal EStrat, the most popular virtual business strategy competition for undergraduate and MBA students worldwide, lets students develop a long-term strategy for their virtual cosmetics company. Launched in 2000, EStrat is played by teams of three students from the same university, all in their final or penultimate year of study, and is open to both undergraduate and MBA students from universities around the world. After the initial round, only 1,700 teams out of all the registered teams are selected to play the rest of the online business competition, where students take on the role of general manager of a virtual beauty company with an international portfolio of products. The teams will manage the firm for three business years (equivalent to one month in real time).

In the sixth round, only 300 teams will be selected to play the semi-finals where students are expected to draw up a business plan, along with achieving a certain share price index for their virtual companies. Then the top scoring teams from each zone will head to Paris to present their business plan to a jury of senior L’Oréal executives, which will then choose two international winning teams (one undergraduate and one MBA).

Prizes for the Estrat 9 national finals are: first place, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia adventure; second place, overnight hotel holiday; third place, fine dining experience. The international prizes are: first place, 10,000 euros for a destination trip of team’s choice; second and third places, up-to-date gadgets. The team with the highest share price index in the International Finals will get a special prize.

Launched in 1993, L’Oréal Brandstorm targets innovative, creative marketing students worldwide. In 2009, 41 countries are expected to join and this is the first year that the Philippines will be joining L’Oréal Brandstorm. Participants in the competition create a unique communications campaign with global advertising agency McCann Worldgroup and the winning team gets the chance to present to an executive jury in Paris.

Prizes for the national finals are: first place, Paris Trip and the chance to compete at the international finals; second place, local destination trip; third place, Nurture Spa accommodation. International prizes are: first place, 10,000 euros for a destination trip of team’s choice; second place, 5,000 euros for a destination trip of team’s choice; third place, 3,000 euros for a destination trip of team’s choice.

For more information, log on to www.brandstorm.loreal.com, www.estrat.loreal.com. For information on L’Oréal Group, log on to www.loreal.com.