Haas Newsroom
MBA Students' Marketing Strategies Catch Mozilla's Eye
December 9, 2008
Two teams of first-year Berkeley MBA students have been selected as finalists in the Impact Mozilla Case Competition from a field of more than 300 entries.
Mozilla, the developer of the Firefox Internet browser and other open source products, asked entrants how to win the loyalty of past and future Firefox users. Tens of millions of people download the software, but many stop using it over time.
One Haas team, comprised of Pejman Pour-Moezzi, Jacqueline Yuen, Ornwassa Siamseranee, and Harvey Villarica, all MBA 10, urged Mozilla to create buzz by positioning Firefox as the socially conscious "browser that does good."
The company could tap into its massive global community to create the Mozilla Open Education platform, which would teach programming skills to students in developing nations. Search partners such as Google would donate more funds as more people use Firefox, and users would actively participate by donating those funds to projects they believe in.
The other Haas team, which calls its plan "Surf on Your Own Turf," consists of Mohsin Afzal, Naveed Alam, Deval Delivala, and Feng Yuan Xu, all MBA 10.
The team argues that Mozilla needs to demonstrate Firefox's advantages by helping mainstream users customize the browser during installation. The team proposes creating a viral marketing campaign showing the diversity of Firefox users and sponsoring browser customization contests among university students, fostering future loyalty.
Winners will be awarded $3,000, plus the resources to lead and execute their proposal.
The ten finalists' marketing proposals are accessible for the public to read online through Wednesday, Dec. 17, at www.impactmozilla.com. The winner will be chosen by popular vote, and will be announced on Dec. 19.
