The Europe Supplement
Driving Real-World Solutions
Porto Business School’s Business Impact Challenge bridges the gap between academia and industry, empowering students to solve real-world business problems - most recently, a strategic challenge from Delta Cafés.
By Niamh Ollerton
“It's about using knowledge, but also developing communication skills, because they have to stand in front of a group of jurors, and they have to sell that their recommendation is the best recommendation."
Learning by doing, or rather experiential learning, plays a pivotal role in postgraduate education today.
This hands-on method emphasises the importance of active participation and direct experience in truly absorbing knowledge to be applied in the real-world.
Live briefs and business challenges are one such way business schools across the globe incorporate experiential learning into their programmes, and Portugal’s Porto Business School is doing just that with their Business Impact Challenge.
According to Porto, the challenge reflects what defines the MBA experience at the business school: learning by doing, growing through challenge and connecting with brilliant people.
But why are live briefs and challenges important? And what can students hope to take away from these experiences?
The Business Impact Challenge
Up until last year, Porto Business School organised a Business Impact Challenge per MBA - meaning 2025 marked the first year all three MBA programmes (the International MBA, the Executive MBA and Global Online MBA) were brought together to battle it out.
Renata Blanc, International MBA Director says: “This year, we decided to have all the students competing with each other. We had 27 teams and 140 students solving the same challenge.
“Only four teams went to the finals. So, this level of competition is very healthy, and it creates a very good, very positive environment. It's a highlight in the programme.”
Over the course of an intense week, teams worked on a real business challenge set by coffee roasting and packaging company, Delta Cafés: How can a brand grow in line with current market trends while staying true to its core identity?
A lot of things are changing in society, business and the needs of consumers today, but for the sake of the challenge, Delta Cafés wanted participants to focus on the changes to customer preferences today.
“People are very focused on health and wellness these days, and they wanted our students to devise a strategy so that the company could grow within the coffee area. They wanted students to devise strategies for growth while looking at the current customer preference trends,” Blanc tells QS Insights Magazine.
Students must understand the company very well to tackle the challenge at hand according to Blanc, looking not just inside the company, but also the external environment and markets to truly understand the objective.
“Companies have their own DNA, their own culture, their own ambitions. Students have to do thorough research. They have to understand Delta; how the company is organised. What are their strengths and weaknesses?
“What are current market trends? What are customers looking for? What are the solutions that already exist in the market? How is the competition currently targeting these types of challenges? And then identify different alternatives that the company could follow.
“We train our students to follow a structured process of critical thinking. We try to incentivise them to develop their problem-solving skills that, in this case, are applied to a specific company.”
How does the recommendation impact the company operationally, financially, but also in terms of sustainability? Does the company need to adjust? Create a new department with just their current teams? The larger impact in terms of sustainability?
“It's about using knowledge, but also developing communication skills, because they have to stand in front of a group of jurors, and they have to sell that their recommendation is the best recommendation,” Blanc adds.
But how did Pedro Guimarães, Executive MBA student and Chief Business Officer, Érre Group and member of this year’s Business Impact Challenge winning team find the challenge? He tells QS Insights Magazine it was demanding, fast-paced and exceedingly rewarding.
“Being required to complete it under tight deadlines compelled us to think strategically, prioritise well and efficiently work together as a team. It was a gruelling process, especially with the one-week deadline, but also one that brought out the best in our team.
“The fact that we were able to work on Delta Cafés' European expansion design strategy with a new product made the challenge seem rewarding and meaningful.”
Guimarães admits there were a number of key lessons learned from the experience, with team synergy and teamwork being the most important.
He says: “Success came from leveraging each member's strengths and maintaining clear and open communications.”
Secondly, Guimarães notes how important focus and agility are. He says his team had to quickly identify the most promising prospects and be agile in their approach to the challenge at hand, continually refining as new information emerged.
“We [also] realised the importance of crafting a compelling story around our strategic recommendations, which allowed us to sell two businesses within Grupo Delta effectively,” Guimarães tells QS Insights Magazine. In other words, storytelling drives strategy.
And the final lesson Guimarães says he learned during the business challenge? To be data-informed, not data-paralysed.
“Given the time constraint, we had to make firm decisions with imperfect but relevant data, balancing analysis and action. It was a rigorous problem-solving and strategic thinking learning experience.”
The Importance of Live Briefs
In a world where knowledge is accessible everywhere; at the end of our fingertips with a Google search or through the dissection of information from an AI agent, the need for learning by doing to truly absorb information has never been more apparent.
According to Blanc, people need practical challenges more than ever. Students come to business schools for an MBA, EMBA or Global MBA to get the knowledge, but it has to be applied knowledge. “These challenges are a great way to ensure that students are acquiring the knowledge but also applying it.”
Networking, of course, is a huge aspect to getting an MBA - and during the challenge, Blanc says students' networks expand a lot, everywhere from networking events and presenting to interacting with the 18 top level executives brought in to be judges and jurors.
“Growing their network is something that they are looking for while putting learning into practice.”
But the third important point behind live briefs and business challenges is impact - both on the professional knowledge of participants, and potential impact for the organisations.
Leading With Impact
Attitudes are changing across the globe.
Consumers, investors and board members are increasingly searching for organisations who are more ethically minded and sustainably focussed, and in many instances, are moving away from organisations who do not align with their values.
Leaders cannot ignore this today, which is why leading with impact needs to be at the forefront of organisational decision-making.
And it is leading with impact that Porto strongly believes in, and they are preparing students to be leaders who will create impact in business and society.
“We are creating more and more moments, events and experiences where students can have an impact.
“The Business Impact Challenge is an example when they have impact in business, but we also have two projects for impact in society; projects with NGOs to make sure that our students also have an impact in society, and not just in business.
“Last year, we created a leadership track with the objective to make sure our students become leaders that take care of their teams, that are aware of what their teams need, that are inclusive and know how to take care of diversity inside the company.”
A sustainability lens plays a vital role in leading with impact today, an area that Porto is reinforcing in its leadership track with a separate sustainability certificate should a participant wish to earn one.
“We want to make sure that our students understand that business is much more than profit, it’s taking care of your people, the environment and your community. We are doing well in terms of preparing them for that.”
Real-World Pressure and Active Learning
In real business, outside of an MBA, individuals are not protected by the safety bubble of the programme, and leaders will need to make decisions under pressure.
When thinking about problem solving, for example, Blanc says Porto wants to teach students to really look at the cause of the problems and not just look at the myopia of symptoms.
In companies, we work in environments of pressure when making decisions according to Blanc, and it is the pressure that makes companies or leaders make decisions that aren’t the best because “they are trying to stop the bleeding”.
“With these challenges, we want to mimic the type of pressure and quick response that you have to give in uncertain environments and contexts.
“This is how you have to operate in companies, involving people from different markets and different areas of business to make a decision. So, with the Business Impact Challenge, we mimic what company leaders face in their companies and daily operations.”
Blanc believes these types of business impact challenges are amazing because students feel applied learning, put the learning into practice in an integrated way and feel that their recommendations have an impact on a real business.
For example, in 2024, cosmetics and skincare company, Care to Beauty, was the chosen case study for Porto’s International MBA Impact Challenge, and this year, the company has already put in place two or three sustainability practices because of the challenge.
Students must apply the knowledge learned from all of their courses - finance, marketing, strategy, economics - and put it all into practice during the challenge, allowing for the learning by doing ethos that Porto prides itself on to really sink in.
“It's the experience, it's the challenge, it's the nerves, it's the stress of the moment and the excitement that is involved with the competition. The fact that you are competing and the experience you get is very energising. It really builds up momentum in the programme.”
But how does Guimarães think he will use the experience in his career moving forward? He says the experience reinforced his ability to thrive in short and tight periods of time, think strategically with limited information and collaborate effectively with my team - skills that are essential in any leadership role.
“Moving forward, I’ll carry with me a more structured approach to problem-solving, and a deeper appreciation for cross-functional teamwork.
“The challenge also helped me learn how to present high-impact recommendations and presentations in a timely, compelling manner - something I'll be able to utilise in future,” he tells QS Insights Magazine.
But what advice does Guimarães have for future participants in the Business Impact Challenge? Or similar challenges in other business schools? He says “go all in”.
“The challenge is tough—but that's exactly what makes them so worth it.
“Trust your team, trust the process, and don't be afraid to make big bets. Some of our most brilliant ideas came when we reduced playing it safe and started thinking like real business leaders.
“Don't aim to be perfect—aim for clarity, focus and impact. With only one week, you won't manage to do it all, but you'll get time to do what's most important. Clear your priorities, communicate often and look out for each other as a team.”
But most importantly, Pedro says enjoy the ride. “These moments are rare. You’ll walk away not just with a proposal and a presentation that you’re proud of, but with sharper instincts, stronger bonds and a reminder of what you’re capable of under pressure.”