Students Create New Strategic Vision for Vision Radiology

What better way to build your resume than to solve a real-life business problem with a team of outstanding students while competing for a monetary prize?

That’s the opportunity forty-eight Deakin Business School students were offered when they applied for the 20204 Bowater Business Challenge.

Celebrating its fifteenth year, the Bowater Business Challenge is an annual event funded by the Bowater Trust with the intention of providing students with real business problems to gain industry experience.

This year’s exciting challenge was presented by Vision Radiology. The task: develop an expansion strategy for Vision Radiology that maintains optimal patient care by fostering a consistent and professional work culture across locations.

Patrick Gallager, Managing Partner of Vision Radiology, presented the challenge to all twelve competing teams. He provided key organisation insights, while Deakin academics Dr Adnan Yusuf, Dr Ha Vu and Dr Margaret Way provided expertise into marketing, economics and healthcare management respectively.

Students soon learnt that this business challenge required complex strategies and winning the prize money would be no small feat.

Teams got to work and spent time developing innovative solutions which were presented to a panel of preliminary judges consisting of Dr Sarah Steen, Alison Cossey, Xin Weng and Faisal Mohammad.

All twelve teams provided exceptional work, but alas only four teams could progress to the finals.

The four finalist teams were chosen for their outstanding work and were each assigned an academic mentor. The mentor guided each team through critical and creative thinking and finetuned their problem solving and presentation skills.

The much-anticipated final round was hosted at the Burwood Corporate Centre. The finalists showcased their impressive solutions to an audience made up of Deakin staff, students and guests.

Master of Ceremonies Dr Wendy Webber acknowledged special guests in attendance, including Laurie Wilson, Bruce Morley and Emeritus Professor Darrell Mahoney, who were instrumental in establishing the Bowater Trust in 1988.

After careful deliberation our distinguished panel of judges Patrick Gallagher, Emeritus Professor Darrell Mahoney and Dr Justine Ferrer decided on the winning team.

Congratulations to the Big 4 who were awarded first place!

We would like to say a special thank you to Jordyn Hearne who engaged Vision Radiology and Patrick Gallagher who provided an exciting and meaningful challenge for the participants.

And thank you to all students and staff involved in making the event a huge success!