MBA students from Brock’s Goodman School of Business made their mark on an international stage last week, advancing to the semifinal round at the prestigious John Molson MBA International Case Competition.

The team, comprised of MBA students Carson Bender, Braden Day, Ashwani Janagam and Pulkit Modi, was one of only four Canadian business school teams to make the semifinals.

Hosted by the John Molson School of Business in Montreal, the competition attracted MBA students from 36 business schools and 19 countries and took place over an intense six days.

With the competition held in a round-robin format, the Goodman team confronted each of the other teams in their division once through a strictly timed case analysis presentation.

They had up to three hours to prepare for each of the five cases they faced before presenting a detailed recommendation to a judging panel of business executives.

Each time the Goodman team completed a case, they racked up more points and moved up a notch in the division ranking, quickly showing that they had the business acumen and knack for presentations to be successful onstage.

Bender describes the experience as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete, network and learn at the country’s largest MBA competition. The practical learning offered by Goodman is part of the reason why the Calgary native chose to come to Brock. He intends to earn an MBA and steer his career towards business after completing a Bachelor of Science degree in oil and gas engineering from the University of Calgary.

Bender and his team were beaming when they learned the Goodman team was among nine business schools selected to faceoff in the competition’s semifinal round.

“We won both of our cases on the second day against two very strong teams, so we had a good feeling about the semifinal round,” he said. “We had a short-lived celebration before we had to get to work on the next case.”

In addition to their ability to work well together, Bender says the team was set up for success by Goodman’s MBA classes and their faculty coaches, Associate Professor of Marketing Eric Dolansky and Accounting Lecturer Norman Chasse, who mentored and practised with them throughout the whole process.

Despite being edged out of the top three spots before reaching the finals, the Goodman team was proud of its showing.

Goodman School of Business Dean Andrew Gaudes says the team’s success is another example of the development and advancement of students across all of Goodman’s programs.

“We’re thrilled with where the students landed in the competition,” he said. “The fact that they were one of four Canadian business schools in semifinal round speaks volumes to their preparedness and their motivation to contribute and move the dial in the workplace.”