While our application of the Challenge is used to achieve a handful of goals related to prospective students, we believe the true power of the Challenge lies in its adaptability to a wide variety of audiences and classroom settings. At its essence, it is merely a vehicle instructors can use to provide immediately relevant learning and skill development opportunities for their students. The skills necessary for success in the Challenge cut across various business disciplines, including: finance, accounting, risk management, insurance, statistics and management. Therefore, the concept and its application are extremely flexible and can be modified to focus on various skills required in the competition as well as the inherent ability levels of the audience. Additionally, the Challenge does not have to be the “center-piece” of any given course but rather, it can “overlay” the core content and serve as an ongoing game throughout the interaction that repeatedly asks the students to apply specific skills the course is focused on. Some examples that spring mind are briefly noted below.
Far more courses related to pure insurance exist than do variations of risk management courses. The Challenge could easily be adapted to create a hazard environment limited solely to specific types of perils, e.g. liability, and de-emphasize the loss control aspect in favor of risk financing.
While the version of the Challenge that we employ reduces data to summary statistics for our students, there is no reason why the raw “historical” data could not be given to the students and asked to derive their own assessment. This application would provide an opportunity for rigorous application of statistical analysis at a variety of levels. It might also be possible to create a synergy between different classes, e.g. a statistics course and a risk management class, where one refines the data and the other applies the statistics in creating a risk management solution.
Most MBA programs are focused on a broad set of basic business skills, e.g. finance, accounting, economics, etc. It is often difficult to include yet one more course, e.g. risk management/insurance, no matter how compelling an argument can be made. In such circumstances, the Challenge represents a wonderful opportunity to not only introduce risk management as an overlying element, but also require the students to demonstrate the ability to apply their breadth of business skills in a single semester-long endeavor. This conceptualization would be equally viable in an Executive MBA program.
Suffice to say, we believe the potential application of the principles of the Challenge are far-reaching; limited only by an instructor’s creativity and imagination.
