Imagine being handed a real-life business situation and being told you have 24 hours to develop and present a solution. In addition, the judges of your solution and presentation are working professionals facing the situation you’ve been assigned. Talk about pressure!
That’s exactly what KU School of Business MBA students will be doing on three separate occasions this school year. In previous business case competitions, KU’s teams have performed well and have represented the School of Business and the University in exemplary fashion.
"These competitions require students to apply what they’ve been learning in a practical and real-world situation and to do so in a competitive environment" said Chuck Krider, KU School of Business Professor and Academic Director of the MBA Program.
In January, the School of Business has scheduled a live case competition with a major international corporation in the Kansas City area. This competition involves teams of first-year MBA students. Krider noted that "we try to give as many students as possible the opportunity to participate in these competitions." In previous competitions, presenting corporations have included Payless ShoeSource headquartered in Topeka, Cerner Corporation in Kansas City, and Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita.
The winning team in January’s competition will represent KU at the Big XII Business Case Competition being held in March 2008, in conjunction with the Big XII Conference basketball championships in Kansas City. The KU and Kansas State University Schools of Business are co-hosting the Big XII live case competition, and the Big XII Conference also is supporting it. The competition will occur on Friday and Saturday, March 14-15. Krider said, "Plans are in the making to present the winning MBA team at halftime of the men’s championship game on Sunday, March 16."
In recognition of the skills of KU’s MBA teams, the School of Business has been invited to participate in the CIBER International Business Case Competition for MBAs, to be held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business in April 2008. This competition brings together teams of MBA students from domestic and international institutions for a challenging international business case. KU MBA’s will be competing with excellent teams from other renowned universities -- Wisconsin-Madison, Ohio State, Connecticut, Maryland-College Park, and Washington -- as well as MBA teams from such outstanding international institutions as the Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) and Bocconi (Italy).
In each of these two-day competitions, the participating teams are presented with a current issue facing a significant international company. The issues are presented to the teams during the morning of the first day. The MBA teams then have the afternoon and evening to analyze the issue, develop a recommendation for the company, and prepare a presentation of their analysis and recommendation. On the second day, each team makes a 25-minute presentation to a panel of judges comprising company executives who have specific knowledge and expertise on the presented issue. An intensive question and answer session follows each presentation, and each team receives immediate feedback from the judges on the quality of its analysis, recommendation and presentation.
Krider believes that "these business case competitions are one way in which students can differentiate themselves from other candidates when applying for internships and full-time jobs. And, these MBA students add value to the presenting companies by providing a new and different perspective on a current issue being addressed by corporate executives.”
