Jon Baguley is full of ideas. And energy. He embarked on his MBA degree in February 2013, trains regularly for Ironman competitions, attends conferences, enters University competitions, and is part of the BSL Student Representative Council.
Obviously, he especially loves a challenge, so when the opportunity of forming a team to compete in the Aspen Case study competition arose, Jon jumped to his feet. He was saddled by fellow MBA classmates, Almendra Salazar, Juan Barbero, and Mischa Liatowitsch, together presenting their recommendations for solving a ‘real-life’ problem faced by a company.
Obviously, he especially loves a challenge, so when the opportunity of forming a team to compete in the Aspen Case study competition arose, Jon jumped to his feet. He was saddled by fellow MBA classmates, Almendra Salazar, Juan Barbero, and Mischa Liatowitsch, together presenting their recommendations for solving a ‘real-life’ problem faced by a company. But as it turned out, it wasn’t their only challenge; at the time of the case study competition, the group had only completed one of the 18 modules for their MBA program. They were up against 27 other teams worldwide, some of which had already completed all their MBA modules, covering areas such as strategy, supply chain management, and even sustainable marketing. Pitted against teams who were made up of classmates who had already spent time getting to know each other’s areas of expertise, Jon, Almendra, Juan, and Mischa were at a slight disadvantage; they had only met once before.
Worst of all, the release of the case study to the competing teams coincided with a three-day module, effectively forcing the four to work day and night the minute their class finished on Saturday afternoon until Monday at 9 a.m. “We had our marketing class over the Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We had to compete with teams who had the whole three days,” says Jon.
Jon and his teammates got together and hatched a plan. “We decided that the only way to compete was to differentiate ourselves by being more radical,” explains Jon, with a glint in his eye, “and create a really clear, simple and easy to read document.”
BSL was one of only five European schools selected worldwide to partake in the MBA competition, along with 22 other business schools.
BSL was one of only five European schools selected worldwide to partake in the MBA competition, along with 22 other business schools.
The topic for the case was the production of palm oil in Indonesia, a story controversially brought about by some bad publicity for Nestlé by Greenpeace. A Kit Kat advertisement ‘gone viral’ triggered Nestlé to go into damage control in response to the accusation that their main supplier of palm oil in Indonesia was decimating rainforests for its production of palm oil, and consequently endangering a protected species of orangutan.
Nestlé had a good reason to address this issue, as it purchases large quantities of palm oil from suppliers in Indonesia and Malaysia for use as cooking oil and a the core ingredient in many of its cosmetics .
Participating teams were asked to design an environmentally sustainable strategy for Golden Agri Resources (GAR), to allow sustainable production to continue but in an environmentally and ethically responsible manner.
Participating teams were asked to design an environmentally sustainable strategy for Golden Agri Resources (GAR), to allow sustainable production to continue but in an environmentally and ethically responsible manner. The interaction of GAR with organizations such as Nestlé, could be built into this strategy.
One main consideration taken into account was that in Indonesia, 40% of palm oil production comes from small holding farms who supply GAR. These farmers, however, were producing palm oil at an inefficient level and receiving very low wages, often living below the poverty line. This in turn only encouraged farmers to clear even larger areas of primary rainforest, in a bid to increase production and their standard of living. To make drastic changes or recommendations to these farmers was unrealistic without suitable support and education. The challenge is how to support GAR to support these farmers, and have them implement more sustainable measures. The motivation for GAR to comply was via Greenpeace, who were placing large amounts of pressure on GAR’s main buyers of palm oil, Nestlé.
Jon’s team took the strategic approach to create a high quality palm oil which can be used in the production of biofuel. The demand for biofuel in Europe was rapidly increasing, the production of which requires pure and clean palm oil. By feeding this market with high quality palm oil sold at a premium rate, the business model could include a tax that the Indonesian government could use to subsidize small holding farmers. This tax would be channeled into a fund called the POSI fund (Palm Oil Sustainability in Indonesia) and be used to support the local ecosystem through reforestation, and support local farmers through education. By teaching farmers about the impact of their industry on the environment, as well as how to increase efficiency and introducing new initiatives for local communities, the POSI fund aimed to give back what the industry had taken.
“The idea behind it was to create a high demand for the best quality palm oil which would raise the bar for quality across Indonesia and Malaysia,” says Jon.
The team had class until 2 p.m. on the Saturday and they worked on the case until Monday morning, with the exception of a few breaks. “We plugged the laptop in to the TV and worked on the document as a team,” explains Jon, “we found out that a lot of the other teams did their own sections and then tried to match it all together. It takes a lot longer and of course you have to deal with four different writing styles and different forms of communication.”
To combat the onset of writer’s block, the four took regular breaks, they even walked down to the lake at 3 a.m.! “When you are working 36 hours straight, you can get a mental block. We factored in meals, we had a couple of beers while we did it, you know, we had fun, because if you don’t have fun whilst you’re doing it, then what’s the point!”
To combat the onset of writer’s block, the four took regular breaks, they even walked down to the lake at 3 a.m.! “When you are working 36 hours straight, you can get a mental block. We factored in meals, we had a couple of beers while we did it, you know, we had fun, because if you don’t have fun whilst you’re doing it, then what’s the point!”
The team’s case was chosen to represent BSL in the second round, against the best cases from each of the competing schools around the world. The third and final round would then take the top five schools, and fly them out to New York for the final. The BSL team placed in the top 10, earning themselves a very special, ‘Honorable Mention’ and the highest placed school outside of the USA. This year was the first year that BSL was invited to participate and thanks to the success of the team’s case study entry, BSL will be invited to take part again next year. The winning case study came from a team at New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business.
Having graduated with a Bachelor in Building Surveying, Jon worked in London as a project manager within corporate real estate, and later as an independent consultant under his own company. In 2012 whilst working for an NGO in Central America called Raleigh International, Jon had time to research schools for his MBA. He was attracted by the work of the 50+20 initiative, co-founded by Katrin Muff, and liked the teaching philosophy at the school. “The system here is very different, you create an open learning environment where you discuss different topics, and you get to the solution as a team by the end of the module,” says Jon, “and I think that’s a lot more conducive as a learning environment. It’s not a download of information – you’re a part of the solution.”
I’d much rather be in a small discussion around a particular topic, and applying it in the real world in a practical basis
He was also convinced by the small classes at BSL. “I’d much rather be in a small discussion around a particular topic, and applying it in the real world in a practical basis.”
Jon uses an interesting metaphor for ‘traditional’ education; he likens it to a driving test. We prepare for the theory test, and then drive perfectly once for the purpose of passing the practical test. It’s very similar to sitting an exam. “The trick is, you only really start learning to drive once you’ve passed your test,” explains Jon. “On the road in the real world, you realize that 90% of the time, it has nothing to do with what you do or how you dive. It’s being able to adapt to the situation around you. You don’t learn this until you’re out there, and it’s the same in a way with education. It’s all good and well if you can recite everything that’s in the book, but in every industry in the world, experience and practical application counts for the majority of your knowledge. It’s vital.”
Another advantage for Jon of having small classes is that he has been exposed to many more opportunities than in a larger university, and be more easily identified as having potential. “I went to Paris for the GRLI (Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative) General Assembly which was fantastic, I learnt so much. If I went to a school with an intake of 100s of students, I’d have to fight my way.”
He also credits his rich learning experience to his fellow class mates, all of whom have different nationalities and backgrounds. This diversity inevitably comes with different opinions, ways of working, and varied cultural experiences. “We all have work experience to do the MBA in the first place, so you can actually relate what you learn to the real life scenarios that you’ve experienced, real problems, real successes,” says Jon, “because your fellow students are as much a powerful teacher as your professor.”