A team of students from the Goodman School of Business at Brock University has placed second in Canada\u2019s largest graduate case competition.<\/p>\n
Goodman Master of Business Administration (MBA) students recently competed in the 2021 MBA Games<\/a> hosted by Universit\u00e9 Laval, which took place Saturday, Jan. 9 to Sunday, Jan. 10.<\/p>\n The format of the competition was altered this year to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions. While the games are traditionally held in person with short timelines for students to prepare a presentation offering a solution to a company\u2019s problem, this year\u2019s competition moved online and allowed teams two months to prepare.<\/p>\n Students from 16 business schools across Canada competed in three categories: spirit, which required teams to prepare a dance video; sports, which involved participants running or walking a minimum of 50 kilometres each; and academic, which had students prepare a three-page report based on a case they were given and then apply judges\u2019 feedback to a live virtual presentation that explained their recommendations.<\/p>\n Goodman\u2019s MBA Games team<\/a> placed second out of 16 teams in the academic case competition category.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really excited and proud of the team,\u201d said Teighan McIntyre, Goodman\u2019s Student Programming Co-ordinator, who was one of two team coaches. \u201cPlacing second in a year like this really speaks to the reputation of Goodman and our students\u2019 standard of excellence.<\/p>\n \u201cTeam members were located around the world in different time zones and most were balancing careers and full-time studies with the competition. Their success has raised the bar for students interested in participating in future case competitions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The academic team was led by MBA students Anna Cherdakova and Manjit Hari as captain and vice-captain, respectively. Other student team members included Murtaza Lokhandwala, Vandhana Parthasarathy, Aravinth Ramalingam, Anushri Sachdeva, Syed Zarif Samdani and Jason Wagner. Shankar Narayanan acted as a student mentor and Jason Barfoot, International Recruitment and Admissions Officer, joined McIntyre as coach. Cheryl Furtado led the team\u2019s efforts in walking and running for the sports category, and Anaida Patankar and Syed Zarif Samdani led the creation of the dance video for the spirit category.<\/p>\n Goodman\u2019s academic team of eight was divided in half, with four students working on each of the two required cases. The first case examined the future of work for an international company: whether its employees should work remotely, at the office or a combination of both. The second case looked at how a Canadian consulting firm could market online events as a high-value solution for its clients.<\/p>\n \u201cWinning was a result of years of practice,\u201d said Cherdakova, who has participated in case competitions since her early days of being a Goodman MBA student. \u201cThe training I\u2019ve received, and my experience working with others to analyze a problem and communicate a solution has made me a better presenter and public speaker. Competing in case competitions has been the best part of my MBA.\u201d<\/p>\n Students drew from their experiences competing in other national and international case competitions as well their involvement in extracurricular programming, such as Goodman\u2019s Consulting Pathway Program<\/a>, which includes sessions on presentation etiquette, case interview skills and competitor development.<\/p>\n