A team of MBA students from QUT Business School have returned to Australia as third place-winners in a major international case competition.
The team, which consisted of QUT MBA students Justin Bindman, Cameron Jones, Sarah Goulding and Abess Balbarais, travelled to Montreal, Canada, to battle it out with 38 other teams from business schools all over the world in the John Molson MBA Case Competition.
Guiding the Australian team as coach was QUT Graduate School of Business Director of Programs Dr Peter Bevan.
The John Molson MBA International Case Competition, created in the early 80s by Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business in Montreal, is a not-for-profit event open to top business schools worldwide. It is recognised as the largest case competition of its kind, and its main purpose is to bridge the gap between corporate and academic worlds.
The QUT MBA team competed in the round-robin tournament by analysing and evaluating unpublished business cases. They were given only three hours to analyse their cases before delivering a 25 minute presentation to a panel of judges, which consisted of more than 300 business executives.
Using the skills, knowledge and experience they have acquired from their respective MBA curriculum, the teams reached deep into the problem the cases presented to find a creative, substantial and plausible solution.
The QUT team had to overcome restrictions on internet use and multimedia resources as outlined int the competition’s rules, drawing on all of their skill to analyse their cases and present their solutions in a traditional and professional way.
The Competition, according to Concordia University John Molson School of Business, is intended to “provide a learning experience for the students that will encourage healthy competition, professionalism and interaction by our future business leaders, both amongst themselves and with our business community”.
First place went to Memorial University, from Canada, with a team consisting of MBA students Kate Boland, Stephanie Daley, Nick Lane and Greg Piercey, with Memorial University Associate Dean Peggy Coady as coach.
Second place was taken by another Canadian institution, Haskayne School of Business, with the team made up of students Abeer Habibullah, Jeffrey Hall, Kenneth Laurin, Allison Lennox, Lasha Hache and Larry Wood as coach.
