Design the Custom Program — Aurélie Executive Learning

A four-round, advanced executive-education simulation set inside Aurélie Executive Learning, the custom corporate-programs division of a leading European business school near Paris (EUR 24M division revenue, ~40 engagements, a 35% contribution-margin floor). Your strategic anchor client Continentale Energie — a EUR 9-billion utility worth EUR 3.1M over three years — issues a competitive RFP for a flagship program to build 'transformation leadership' in its top 300 managers, with three rivals bidding including a consultancy 15% cheaper. You play the bid team across a four-way squeeze of client fit, contribution margin, faculty availability and time-to-launch, against a EUR 1.8M budget cap, a 16-week launch demand (normal custom design takes 22–26 weeks), two star academics available only 12 days each, and a 20% (EUR 360,000) fee tied to demonstrated behaviour change at 6 months. Round 1 you diagnose the real capability gap from a discovery pack — separating the presenting label ('not strategic enough') from the underlying behaviour gap (mobilising teams through ambiguity, cross-silo influence) and naming target behaviours and impact metrics. Round 2 you architect a blended-learning journey and faculty mix from a modular kit, trading scarce star faculty against affiliates, client-exec faculty and scalable digital, and mapping each component to transfer-to-work. Round 3 you build the engagement P&L against the EUR 1.8M cap and 35% margin, choose how to absorb the 16-week launch (overtime, parallel-tracking, or a phased MVP cohort), and take a position on the impact-linked fee. Round 4 you pitch the CHRO and procurement, defending value and feasibility without discounting the margin away. The math rewards diagnosis-first, transfer-focused, deliverable-faculty, margin-disciplined design and punishes the five classic errors: designing from the brief not the diagnosis, over-promising star faculty, discounting below the 35% floor, saying yes to 16 weeks with no compression plan, and treating the impact fee as a satisfaction bet. Final KPIs track Client Fit, Contribution Margin %, Faculty Feasibility and the committed engagement cost against the EUR 1.8M cap.