They Call Me MISTER Case Analysis!

The Third Annual ABU International Business Case Competition is officially over!

Friday marked the culmination of months of planning and days of running around in preparation as the Faculty of Business Administration held its annual case competition. This year the competition was as fierce as ever, with some six teams competing representing the University of New Brunswick (Saint John), Mount Allison University, and Atlantic Baptist University.

First let me say that the day went off without a hitch, thanks in no small way to our Project Manager, Katie McDonald. This has been the first time we've used a PM, and we weren't disappointed! Katie went above and beyond in her efforts to ensure that the event was a success, from fund raising to ordering merchandise to ensuring that the event stayed on track - by all accounts a superior performance!

The competition itself I found quite enjoyable... due to Katie's efforts, this marked the first year I've been able to actually view all of the case presentations in their entirety. It was interesting to see the different strategies adopted by the various teams, and to compare my own conclusions with those of the judges. While the judges didn't call the event exactly as I would have, I was nevertheless relatively pleased with the results, which were as follows:

First Place ($1,000): Mount Allison University (Marco Perico, Candice de Saldanha, and Andrew Nielson)

Second Place ($500): ABU (Nick Ross, Chad Lifford, Emily Reid, and Nathan Dempster)

Third Place ($250): ABU (Angeline Quek, David Freeman, Tyson McGee, and Justin Harrison)

On the whole I was very pleased with our ABU teams this year (including our third team, Amy Merrithew, Tanya Godbout, Kelsey Adair, and Erika Foran). They worked extremely hard in the months leading up to the competition, engaging in practice sessions and subjecting themselves to the best (or worst :o) criticisms that myself and Professor Steeves could muster.

With the hope of not sounding too sugary, I believe that through activities like our case competition students truly shine. What I saw Friday was a little bit of magic, as bright, energetic young people transformed theoretical knowledge into real, workable solutions for the organization in question (which, in this case, was the Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-operative of Nova Scotia). The performances I witnessed helped reinforce in my mind the value of case analysis as a pedagogical tool... as doubtless my strategy students would agree! ;o)