MBA Company Challenge

During this year's edition of the MBA Company Challenge, students of the MBA used their knowledge in neuroscience and cognitive psychology from their Consumer Psychology class in order to nurture and propose a strategy for a real company. We had a very nice interaction with our partner company, Lindner Esskultur, a very well known traditional Brand of Berlin. Before a jury composed of the company's representatives and Prof. Dr. Erick Behar-Villegas, who taught Consumer Psychology this semester, our students presented a strategy that required leadership and coordination. Students of the Entrepreneurship Project of the two year MBA operated as team leaders of small teams of the one year MBA, adopting the input from test purchases of one of Lindner's Hallmark stores. They then presented a strategy that was evaluated by the jury. The experience was -quite literally- very tasty, as the groups received vouchers to test the products and come up with innovative strategies. According to Professor Erick Behar-Villegas, "understanding the cognitive underpinnings of consumer decisions puts you at an advantage both as consumer and as future manager. Our students have taken some intensive introductory neuroscience topics that helped them understand how neurotransmission -especially in the dopaminergic and serotonergic pathways - lays the foundation for reward-based decisions. We then combine this base with persuasion science tricks that help understand why you buy things you supposedly don't want, why you make decisions that cater to self image, and much more. I think we all had a lot of fun, and I am happy to see how science, business and a yearlong partnership with Lindner Esskultur and our university brings in input for a real business that operates in a dynamic environment like Berlin".