[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/MBAgames.jpg” caption=”Pictured from left are team members, Anita Chetan, Marissa Hishon, Andrew Forster and Anita Misri.”]A team of MBA students from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University claimed top prize in the marketing case competition of the 2006 National MBA Games.

Team members Anita Chetan, Andrew Forster, Marissa Hishon and Anita Misri were given the challenge of coming up with a marketing plan for a London, Ontario business. The business owner sells alternative transportation vehicles, such as the Segway Human Transporter, electronic scooters and trikes. “We had to figure out how to take this technology that has been widely accepted in the US and bring it into Ontario,” said team captain Chetan.

After a brief opportunity to try out the products, the team had just three hours to develop a comprehensive one-year plan month-by-month, a three-year plan year-by-year, contingency plans, and budgets. They then presented their case to a panel of business leaders where based on their analysis, recommendations and presentation, the DeGroote team placed first.

“We focused on the Segway as we felt that it reached a broader target market,” explains Chetan. “We recommended making this into a virtual company instead of a physical store location. In addition to this, a key decision in our planning was to target not only personal customers, but also to target to the business segment. This would involve selling fleets of Segways to different businesses.

“We focused on meeting the needs of most of the customers in our target market who were all seeking the benefits of alternative methods of transportation.”

DeGroote placed seventh in the overall competition.

The National MBA Games are a Canada wide competition that brings together MBA students from across Canada. Almost 500 participants from 15 different universities across Canada attended the 2006 games which were held at the Odette School of Business in Windsor, Ontario from Jan. 6-8.