Rev. Dr. Timothy Ewest, Associate Professor of Management, Prince-Chavanne Chair in Christian Business Ethics, and Chair of the Department of Management, Marketing, and Business at Houston Christian University (HCU), recently mentored a talented student team competing in the prestigious National Consulting Championship held from March 31 to April 1. Dr. Ewest coached the team through an intellectually rigorous process, offering valuable insights from his extensive academic and professional experience.
The HCU team, consisting of Alejandro Lahoz-Trivio, a Business Administration major, Jasani Selexman, a Business Marketing major, and Wyatt Henry, an International Management major, presented a forward-thinking strategy that addressed critical challenges within the biotech sector. Their work delved into the complexities of pharmaceutical and biotech companies, contrasting the well-regulated and structured pathways that pharmaceutical giants follow with the more uncertain and unpredictable frameworks in the biotech industry. Pharmaceutical companies benefit from stringent FDA regulations that ensure standardized processes for drug development, approval, and commercialization. In contrast, biotech companies frequently pursue innovative, groundbreaking approaches but lack clear, standardized frameworks for evaluating whether their business models successfully leverage that innovation.
This gap between the structured and unstructured approaches to business models creates considerable uncertainty for key players in the sector—including investors, stakeholders, and regulators—making it difficult to assess the potential success or societal impact of emerging biotech ventures. The lack of reliable metrics or benchmarks further complicates decision-making, limiting the efficient allocation of resources and hindering the advancement of groundbreaking ideas.
To bridge this gap, the team developed a comprehensive innovation scorecard that leverages a combination of benchmarking techniques, the SCAMPER method, toll-gate reviews, and expert insights from industry leaders. This innovation scorecard provides a structured, objective evaluation of biotech startups, enabling decision-makers to better assess risks and opportunities. By integrating these tools, the HCU team’s solution offered a clear, systematic way to evaluate the business models of biotech companies, thereby fostering innovation while enhancing investor confidence and ensuring more effective resource allocation.
The National Collegiate Consulting Championship is one of the most prestigious events in the academic consulting world, gathering the brightest and most promising students from across the nation. It’s not just a competition for recognition but a platform for students to demonstrate their expertise, showcasing their ability to tackle real-world business challenges with integrity and innovation. Teams from universities from around the country participated, with a shared goal of transforming the consulting field through exceptional talent, ethical decision-making and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Dr. Ewest’s guidance was instrumental in preparing the HCU team to compete at the highest level, reinforcing the university’s reputation for cultivating thought leaders in business.
As the students from HCU presented their innovative solutions, it was clear that the team’s collaborative spirit, commitment to excellence, and forward-thinking approach not only positioned them as strong competitors but also as emerging leaders poised to shape the future of business consulting.