Case Competitions at B-Schools

This one is specifically for my current school mates and prospective MBA candidates. This article can also be found on insider aka in-house magazine.

CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility, whereby a corporation is accountable for the social and environmental impacts of its activities in the community. Most of us are aware that the Schulich School of Business has been ranked first in the world by Aspen Institute in terms of how well the MBA program incorporates social, environmental and ethical issues into the training of future business executives. With School’s reputation in CSR education, the CSR Case Competition created the noise that it deserved.

Case competitions are the backbone of life at business schools. Some may argue that these competitions are just for those looking for a career in the consulting industry, but I would say that they are beneficial for anyone.

A team of four people was needed to take part in the CSR Case Competition. Once the team cleared the preliminary round, each team presented its findings to the judges.

Most of you will agree that teamwork is generally enjoyable, but it has some drawbacks too. Forming a good and well-balanced team is perhaps the most important aspect. In a good team, work can be distributed among members, based on their strengths and interests. In case competitions, for people taking part for the first time, things probably started off with convincing others to join their team, or they found themselves being hounded by others to join their teams.

In this year’s CSR Case Competition, the case was distributed at 10:00 pm on a Friday, and teams had to submit their deliverable by Sunday noon. They had to sacrifice their weekend to take on this journey, and the short timeframe was a source of challenge as well.

The case based on the CSR case of FIJI Water Company LLC. Specifically, it discussed FIJI’s carbon footprint, and demanded a solution on how the Company should convince the local government and the environmentalist world to continue exporting water from Fiji to different parts of the world. The competition drew a lot of interest, and it seemed that every full-time MBA student was participating.

I personally know some who dove right into the competition, and forgot about their midterm on the following day. Though this is never recommended, it exemplifies the level of interest that Schulich students have in CSR.

Once the teams submitted their deliverable, they were screened by an appointed professor before they could proceed to the final judging round on November 10. Each team was given a total of 30 minutes to get the buy-in from the judges. It was fiercely competitive, but the winning team was determined and awarded the ultimate glory. That’s not all. Winners will represent School at the Leeds - Net Impact Competition in Colorado and the Rotman - Net Impact CSR Competition in Toronto. The winning team would also receive internal training to better prepare them for external competitions. Does it sound like a real perk?

With this, I urge you to get involved in case competitions, as you will take away a valuable learning experience and enjoy the fun that can be had when working in teams.

Hope you guys enjoyed this. Stay tuned for few more interesting articles.