Concordia Cup headed down under
The UTS Business School, of University of Technology, Sydney, took top honours at the 32nd John Molson MBA International Case Competition. Held from January 6 to 11 at the Fairmont – The Queen Elizabeth hotel, it is the oldest and largest competition of its kind in the world, and is organized annually by MBA students from Concordia’s John Molson School of Business.
The Concordia Cup, awarded to the competition winners, was presented to the winning delegation at a closing banquet, along with a cheque for $10,000. Another Australian school, Queensland University of Technology, finished second, while McMaster’s De Groote School of Business rounded out the top three.
By most accounts, the highlight of the competition was the “live case.” This is a case presented by senior management of a major firm, whose identity is kept secret until the day of the event. The firm’s representatives communicate to the teams a real business problem they are facing. This year, the surprise company was pharmaceutical giant Novartis, and the business problem involved supply chain management.
JMSB student Rana Beiruti, the event’s executive assistant, marketing, says the teams were impressed to see that the competition had attracted such a high-profile company. “Participants and coaches reacted very positively to the news that it was Novartis,” she says. “We had almost all of our stakeholders in the same room when the announcement was made. You really got to witness how grand the competition is on that day.”
“The live case is one of our signature moments,” says Simon Ainsworth, the organizer responsible for cases, marketing and volunteers. “And having a company of the calibre of Novartis involved in the competition was fantastic. They were so keen to hear what the participants had to say that they brought an army of 11 people in order to attend as many presentations as possible.”
According to Ainsworth, representatives from the firm found the experience valuable. “They were very attracted to the international component of our competition because of the variety of viewpoints that it provides,” he said. “They wanted teams to propose ideas that they could incorporate into their supply chain solution.”
The international flavour of the event is intentional, says Ainsworth. “We have a global economy and our participants really find value in networking across borders at our competition.”
This year’s competition had the greatest level of international participation to date, with 36 teams, representing schools from 14 countries. In addition to the 12 Canadian universities that participated, seven American schools made the trip, as well as 17 schools from outside of North America.
Related links:
• John Molson 2012 International Case Competition
• John Molson School of Business