HEC Montréal Among the Navarrese

Four final year BBA students competing in Pamplona, Spain

May 5, 2009

Four HEC Montréal students are leaving today for Spain, at the invitation of the University of Navarre in Pamplona, to take part in a case competition on entrepreneurship, to be held from May 6 to 10. The School’s team consists of four final year BBA students in different specializations: Philippe Bleau Prégent, Management, Aissata Lam, Finance and International Business, Gautier Péchadre, Professional Accounting, and Benoit Pratte, Marketing.

“I chose these students to give the team the broadest expertise possible. I am very familiar with each one’s skills, having worked with them in other competitions,” explains René Gendreau, guest Marketing Professor and the team’s coach. “A competition like this is important for undergraduate students, because it gives them a chance to see how things are done elsewhere and how other universities work.”

The HEC Montréal team, the only Canadian institution invited, will be pitted against seven other universities, including Bocconi (Milan), Singapore, Carlos III (Madrid), Pompeu-Fabra (Barcelona) and Navarre (Pamplona). The same case, written in English, will be given to the eight teams, who will have 32 hours to solve it. Then they will each make a presentation to the jury, followed by the semi-finals, the finals and the announcement of the winning team.

The School’s participation in the first year of this international competition is not just a great learning experience for the competing undergraduate students; it is also a chance to strengthen the School’s partnership links with the Spanish university. Since 2007, the University of Navarre has been associated with HEC Montréal through the International Exchange Program. In 2008-2009, four HEC Montréal students spent an exchange term in Pamplona, while the School welcomed four students from Pamplona.