Future entrepreneurs square off in Montreal

While other people were enjoying the holidays,  four members of Concordia University's John Molson School of Business MBA program were going over their lists, and checking them twice. 

They were the organizing team for the 31st Annual John Molson MBA International Case Competition. It brought more than 700 people together in Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel from January 3rd to 8th. Students from  35 schools in 11 countries competed in an event organized to bridge the academic and corporate worlds.

Francois Rheault, an MBA student at Concordia this year, spent the last 8 months with his team, organizing everything from hotel rooms and social activities to finding sponsors. He says he used his background in sales and marketing to put the event on.  And on the third day of the competition he said, "so far, it's been outstanding."   

Thirty-six teams from around the world were registered, however the team from Nigeria could not get their visa's in time to be here.  But teams from seven schools in the United States were here, 14 from across Canada, and 14 from around the world, from places as far away as New Zealand and Singapore.

Teams of four compete, two by two in a round robin and the field narrows. Generally they have about three hours from case presentation to judgement.  More than 200 senior executives participate every year by giving their time and their expertise judging cases that can be fictional scenarios, or real.  

Overcoming jetlag and Canadian winter

The team from Ben Gurion University of the Negev were still coping with the jet lag and change of temperature: they left 15 degrees and arrived in minus 15 in Montreal.  Team member Jeremy Seltzer said they had a major challenge the day before with a fictional case involving a medium-sized bank having a problem with the value of their shares, and the PR challenge all banks face in light of the Occupy movement. 

He said the challenge to them was how they'd advise the bank spend their Corporate  Social Responsibility dollars, to improve the brand image and hopefully improve the stock.

"It was quite challenginging because they had about an hour and a half to solve the banking crisism," Seltzer said. 

Team-mate Itay Gil said they had taken part in a similar competition at home, with  teams from Cambridge, Duke and Columbia, but they had one case to work on over four days.

They were all enjoying the fast pace in Montreal.

Aaron Chui had dealt with four cases over two days.  A physician on a sabbatical year, he is a member of the team from University of Manitoba Haskayne School of Business.  Dr. Chui is a neo-natal intensive care specialist.  He describes it as "a wonderful joy to go back to school and work with people and learn."

"The opportunity to work on a team basis with three other great team-members is just something not easy to pass up, and to be able to go and look at a case and come up with brilliant ideas and hear what others come up with has been pretty fantastic,"  said Dr. Chui.

As for the future, Dr. Chui says, "as physicians become more and more senior they're thrust into adminsitrative roles.  But uniformly, we're not taught how to administer, we're not taught about the business aspect of things."

Mixing business with pleasure

Eugenia Eckhart is a member the BiTS team, that's the Business and International Technology School in Western Germany.  She described the competition as amazing. 

"It's so cool to meet other students, it's a very competitive environment but it's so cool with all the different social things that we're doing," Eckhart said. 

The National Hockey League game where the Montreal Canadiens defeated Winnipeg Jets, 7 - 3 was one of the highlights for her.

At the end of the John Molson MBA International Case Competition, Laval University had placed first, the University of Otago's School of Business, from New Zealand placed second, and the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business placed third.