News Releases

Case Competitions challenge MBA students

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Tradebot Systems is a small, privately held company located in Kansas City, Missouri, and more often than not, Tradebot accounts for 5-10% of the total U.S. stock market trading volume. Tradebot Systems website proudly touts of "beating Wall Street from Kansas City!" KU business grads make a major contribution to Tradebot's success as Tradebot considers the KU School of Business a primary pipeline for employees. The day before the 2010 spring semester started, twenty MBA students met with Dr. Kevin Prine, Tradebot's Director of University Relations, for the first MBA live case competition of the semester. By the end of the semester, KU MBA students will have competed in several case competitions held in locations around the country.

Generally, these case competitions take place over a two-and-a-half-day period, and start with the presentation to the MBA's of an issue or current challenge facing the sponsoring company. The company is unknown to the students until this first meeting. The students, working in teams of four or five, then have the rest of the first day and all of the second day to analyze the company, formulate a solution to the specific issue or problem they've been given, and develop a 20-25 minute presentation. They will deliver the presentation to a panel of judges, normally key executives with the sponsoring company, on the following morning. These intense competitions provide real-life business experiences that add significantly to the education MBA students receive at the KU School of Business.

Dr. Prine, who earned his Ph.D. at KU and was a college professor for 19 years prior to joining Tradebot, told the first-year MBA students about the company's history, philosophy, growth and activities. However, like the skilled and experienced professor he is, Dr. Prine didn't reveal to the students exactly what the issue or problem is that Tradebot faces, but he did give the students hints. As a result, this competition was even more challenging than normal, as the MBA students had to first figure out the problem they were to solve and then come up with a solution for it. They were not given any additional time to do this, as all presentations had to be ready to go in 48 hours.

"We were able to become even more connected to KU's School of Business, see 16 potential candidates, and become involved with a very good program. There were also a couple of good ideas that were shared that we will continue to investigate here in our offices, "said Prine about the competition.

The other MBA case competitions scheduled this spring are a Sony Case Competition at Texas Christian University (March 26-27) and a Big 12 Business Case Competition at Iowa State University (April 22-24).

For more information, please contact Frank Marshall, Assistant Dean, at785 864-1567 or fmarsh@ku.edu.