Sprott wins Silver at NIBS 2012 Worldwide Case Competition
Congratulations to our Sprott NIBS team who brought home the silver medal on from the weeklong NIBS 2012 Worldwide Case Competition hosted by Rotterdam University of Applied Sceinces in Amsterdam!
The NIBS Worldwide Case Competition is comprised of small groups of students, consisting of the best undergraduate students, working to resolve cases at MBA levels. After a qualifying round in the Fall, the ten best teams in the world are invited to the championship round in the Spring. Each day the teams are challenged to come up with the best ideas and solutions for a strategic business problem. The teams have four hours to prepare a case without outside help. After four hours, each team gives a presentation, which is assessed by a jury. The jury consists of professional and academic experts.
This past week was a busy one for Sprott students Matt Corluka, Taylor Mendonca, Adam Rixon and Zach Levine and their coach professor Robin Ritchie. After catching an early flight from Ottawa and a stopover in Washington, the team finally landed in Amsterdam 10 days ago.
Their first match up was against Belmont U Monday morning. Their case was and Indian bio-pharma/IT firm and talked about mergers and alliances as well as core competencies. They had a strong performance and earned their first win with a score of 8-3.
Tuesday had two cases in store for the team with round two against Rotterdam (hosts) and round three against SE Missouri State University. Their round two case focused on a social media campaign in China. They won this case 7-4. Round three’s case was a small but growing social enterprise in Lebanon and focused on the role of social mission vs. profit. They lost this round to Missouri, who would prove to be their strongest competition.
Wednesday saw them up against Dublin. They came very close and lost this round 5-6. Regardless, they got a chance to redeem themselves in the semi finals, again facing Dublin and Missouri facing Concordia. The semi-final case focused on the Rotterdam Prot Authority and Sprott turned it around with a 6-5 win over Dublin, also earning them the number two spot and a place in the finals where they would again face Missouri on Friday.
Adam Rixon summed up the experience on behalf of the team. “To learn a book is one thing. Then to solve a case is another all together. Then again, how to influence the opinions of judges was the principle life lesson I think we all took from this experience. That’s international business.”
Sprott supporters sent many tweets (#NIBS2012) and #Sprottlove while waiting for the final results. The announcement of the final standings came through Friday night, with Sprott taking home the silver medal! Missouri placed first and Dublin and Concordia tied for 3rd.
Matt Corluka regards the experience as invaluable. “This was an awesome experience. Working with the team and having professor Ritchie guide us pushed me to excel in my presenting skills and to think analytically. Looking back there’s nothing that helps you forge stronger friendship than traveling and competing at a high level. Now I’ve got to somehow convince Sprott to bring me back next year…”
Zach Levine said, “It was the ultimate learning experience…learning how to work effectively as a team under serious stress and time constraints will be hugely beneficial for my career. The interpersonal aspect of the competition was incredible. Meeting people from across the globe was a unique experience for me and the friendships I made will certainly carry on for a long time.”
Congratulatory tweets came in for the team as they landed back in Ottawa this weekend including those from Dean Jerry Tomberlin and professor Leighanne Neilson. Their coach, professor Robin Ritchie concluded with “Hats off to @TaylorMendonca @AdamRixon @justCorluka & Zach Levine on an inspired performance at #NIBS2012. You did @SprottSchool proud, guys!”