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Sprott Students Win Silver at NIBS Worldwide Case Competition

A team of students from Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business competed against business students from around the globe and won the silver medal in the Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Worldwide Case Competition.

Sprott NIBS Case Competition Team (from left to right): Suvi Chhabra (BCom student), Alex Pham (BCom student), Devin Fraser (faculty coach), Nicole Gluzman (BCom student) and Quinn Cunnane (BCom student).
Sprott NIBS Case Competition Team (from left to right): Suvi Chhabra (BCom student), Alex Pham (BCom student), Devin Fraser (faculty coach), Nicole Gluzman (BCom student) and Quinn Cunnane (BCom student).

Bachelor of Commerce students Suvi Chhabra, Quinn Cunnane, Nicole Gluzman, Alex Pham and faculty coach Devin Fraser travelled to Ireland for the competition, which took place from March 22 to 27 at Technological University Dublin. They were among 16 teams representing universities from 10 countries spanning four continents.

“I’m so proud of the team for the innovative and strategic initiatives that they developed over the course of the week,” said Devin Fraser, faculty coach. “They were consistency recognized by the judges for their excellent presentation skills, thorough analyses, unique strategies, and confidence throughout the Q&A periods while defending their ideas.”

During the week, the Sprott team competed in three divisional rounds against Germany’s Heillbron University, Guatemala’s Universidad del Istma and Belgium’s UCLL University of Applied Sciences, finishing at the top of their division. The team advanced through their semi-final round by defeating St. Mary’s University from Texas. In the finals, they finished behind Heillbronn University to win the silver medal.

“I was so proud of my team,” said Alex, who has a concentration in Marketing. “At each presentation, I could see how we improved both in terms of our solutions and delivery. Our biggest asset is communication. In every case, one of us would play the devil’s advocate, questioning every single point in our solution. The questions and arguments could be intense, but I think they elevated our recommendations, ensuring we considered every scenario.”

“The biggest challenge was the time constraint,” added Nicole, whose concentration is Accounting. “Four hours seems like a lot of time, but it flies by so quickly. We needed to strategically allocate time towards reading the case, doing analyses, collaborating and putting the slides together.”

Sprott School of Business Bachelor of Commerce students Quinn Cunnane, Suvi Chhabra, Alex Pham and Nicole Gluzman presenting their case resolution for Roblox during the 2024 NIBS Worldwide Case Competition in Dublin, Ireland.

During the competition week, while days were dedicated to case cracking, evenings were free to interact with fellow competitors. There were also planned social activities and a full day of cultural immersion where the delegates toured Dublin and learned more about Ireland.

“The social aspect of the competition was a highlight. There was plenty of opportunity to network with other business students from across the globe,” said Quinn, who has a concentration in Finance.

The road to Dublin was not easy. In September, the team began preparing for the qualifying round with the help of their coaches, Professors Devin Fraser and Linda Schweitzer.

Once the team advanced to the championship round, they spent four to six hours a week on presentation-based case cracks with additional specialized training in areas such as finance. Sprott alumni – Rob Curtis (BCom/16), Blake LeClair (BCom/21, MAcc/22) and Adam Prittie (BCom/21) – served as mentors.

Quinn estimates well over 100 hours were spent practicing for the competition.

“It felt so incredibly amazing hearing our school name when they announced the second-place winner,” said Nicole. “It felt like all of our hard work and long hours have paid off.”

“Case competitions are such an amazing opportunity to develop skills like teamwork, interpersonal, communication, time management and more,” said Suvi, who has a double concentration in Accounting and Finance.

Quinn added, “Competitions like these are what make me proud to be a Sprott student. I encourage all business students to get involved with case cracking because there is nothing else like it.”