During the 48-hour RSM Private Equity Case Competition, which was organised by students from RSM’s International Full-time MBA Class of 2015, MBA student teams from leading business schools learned, competed and brainstormed with each other as they assessed and dealt with up-to-date private equity cases. The teams travelled to the Netherlands from around the world to take part in the private equity competition: Columbia Business School, IESE Business School, Cranfield School of Management, RSM, IE Business School, FGV/EAESP, London Business School, SDA Bocconi School of Management, HEC Paris, The University of Manchester, Warwick Business School, HKUST Business School, NYU Stern, INSEAD, Saïd Business School, and ESADE Business School.
RSM was represented by MBA participants Joshua Elzy, Everina Setyawati, Dylan D'Costa and Gaurav Korde. “The biggest challenge for me was to develop knowledge and familiarity with models in new areas that had not yet been explored in any of our other competitions or classes,” said Joshua Elzy, who was also on RSM’s MBA team in the competition. “I learned the tools of analysis, investment standards, and contract issues common to the private equity business.” Elzy added that he was proud to represent RSM both as a competitor and as the competition’s host university.
Private equity investment
For Dylan D’Costa, the most challenging part of the RSM Private Equity Competition was how to approach the open-ended case. His biggest learning point was to look at the case from a private equity investment perspective, and not purely from a positive return perspective. “Analysing the company and market, and putting this analysis into context for the private equity firm’s investment committee was a great learning experience,” he said. Dylan added that he enjoyed the opportunity to interact with students from other top business schools and industry experts.
The competition is judged by a panel of academia and industry experts. The winner of the 2014 RSM Private Equity Competition is London Business School whose team won a €5,000 cash prize. HKUST Business School reached the second place, and INSEAD ended up in third place. In addition to boosting skills and knowledge, the events provides participants and professionals in the industry with ample networking opportunities.
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is ranked among Europe’s top 10 business schools for education and among the top three for research. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam - a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who carry their innovative mindset into a sustainable future thanks to a first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes. RSM also has offices in the Amsterdam Zuidas business district and in Taipei, Taiwan. www.rsm.nl
For more information on RSM or on this release, please contact Marianne Schouten, Media & Public Relations Manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at mschouten@rsm.nl.
