In this competition, students from Seattle University and St. Joseph’s Institute of Management in Bangalore, India come together in collaboration by creating business solutions for a pressing social problem. Teams are intentionally made of students from both schools to consider the causes, effects, and possible solutions to global issues from a larger perspective. Past topics include the following:
While this competition is co-hosted by St. Joseph’s Institute of Management (SJIM, India) and the Albers School of Business and Economics (Seattle University, USA), the students of all courses/departments/programs/schools at Seattle University and of the St. Joseph’s group of institutions are eligible to join.
The only infrastructure you need is a data connection! After registration, all students will be assigned to teams. Ideally, each team will comprise of a minimum of two students from each country. However, team sizes might vary based on the number of registrations. All students will be given SJIM email addresses and access to SJIM’s online educational infrastructure and may use other apps to collaborate with their team members.
Have questions? Want to know more about the program?
See the SJIM Details page at St. Joseph's Institute of Management's B-Plan Competition
The timeline for the program will be as follows:
Each team has about a month to formulate a 7-10 page business plan. The time demand for each individual may be up to 1-2 hours a week, over a four week period.
For the first round, (due 21 December 2020), the business plan should be submitted in doc/docx/pdf format. All submissions will be passed through anti-plagiarism software. The document should use Times New Roman 12-point font with 1-inch margins all around. The length of the document must be a maximum of 10 pages, excluding any appendices. Judges will read, but not evaluate, any appendices. The required structure of the business plan is below.
The structure listed above is adapted from an article by William Sahlman, Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration (Emeritus) at Harvard Business School. All teams are highly encouraged to read this short article about writing a business plan.
For the final round, the business plan should be submitted in a PowerPoint (.ppt/.pptx) format. The structure of the presentation will follow the broad structure of the written plan. Each team will have 15 minutes to present their plan. After all teams have presented their plan, the judges will give each team a set of questions to answer. All teams will get 10 minutes to discuss between themselves, including the overseas team members, via the internet. The last step will be for the teams to give their answers to the judges.
In addition to needing a virtual infrastructure, students will need to be able to commit about 5 hours a week to the completion of the program, and 1-2 of those hours need to be meeting with the team.
We encourage you to establish unified agreements on communication guidelines, internal deadlines, and division of responsibilities with your team. This way you are able to focus on your business plan, not team communication issues!
Remember, Bangalore will be 13.5 hours ahead of Seattle! So, if you email your teammates at 10am PST, it will be 11:30pm IST for them. If they respond the next day at 10am IST, you will receive it at 8:30pm PST. Timely communication and set expectations for response times will be essential for your success!
*2021-22 Albers-SJIM Virtual Business Plan Competition Sign Ups are cloesd and will open November 8-15, 2021.
