GPC 2013

This year’s final was predetermined to be the biggest and best yet with more than 300 company teams from 25 countries and over 1300 participants entering the 5^th annual Global Challenge of The Fresh Connection. After an exciting battle at national level the top 8 teams were selected to represent their company at the Istanbul final. In the end the MIT Scalers representing MIT (Cambridge, USA) came out victorious claiming their number 1 spot with a convincing score.

This year’s challenge was focused on supply chain risk management which had the participants dealing with all types of risk events such as natural disasters, strikes, supplier disruptions, theft, quality issues and high market volatility. In order to cope with these tricky events the teams had to implement risk mitigation and prevention strategies. The teams also had a new tool to help them assess how well their approach was working in general: it was a scenario planner built into the Fresh Connection business simulation. Important elements adding to the complexity of the simulation dynamics at the finals were new assortments and a new customer base, Logistic Service Provider selection and collaboration between the competing teams.

Starting off with the qualifications in January to April 2013 the teams had to prove their performance was fit to enter the competition. Teams that qualified were then divided into 9 country or region pools. Winning the pool either meant direct qualification for the Global Final, or qualification for a national final that had to be won to become one of the top teams. The stakes were high because besides winning the title of Global Challenge Champion 2013 the prize for the winning team was a one week executive supply chain course at the prestigious institute MIT in Boston.

After playing the final round on Tuesday September 24^th the Final results became known and the winner was announced at the award gala on Thursday September 26^th. The MIT Scalers claimed 1^st prize and are the Fresh Connection Global Challenge Champion of 2013.

The MIT Scalers team members:

• Gustavo Escudero
• Nadya Petrova
• Richard Swapp
• Sagar Neel De

The 1^st runner up is the Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte team from Germany and 2nd runner up Fuji Xerox team from Australia. The ranking can be found in the table below.

We would like to thank all teams for being a part of the Global Challenge 2013. Your hard work and motivation has once again made this Global Challenge an exciting and meaningful experience. We are very much looking forward to next year’s event. The theme for 2014 will be: Supply Chain strategy segmentation and optimization of the logistic footprint

We hope to see you all participating to become the 2014 Global Challenge Champion!