The Richard Ivey School of Business’ HBA Case Team finished first in the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST) Citi Case Competition against 18 other undergraduate programs from the United States, Europe and Asia – including three from Canada.
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST) Citi Case Competition Ivey team member Omar Madhany, Steven Robins, Cameron Murphy, and Sean Thunem.
This particular event has been held the past eight years and is considered one of the most prestigious undergraduate competitions in the world.
The winning Ivey team consisted of HBA2 students Omar Madhany, Cameron Murphy, Steven Robins and Sean Thunem. Along with their team mentor, Darren Meister, faculty director, HBA and MSc Programs, the students were welcomed by HKUST and hosted for the week leading up to the competition. Ivey hosts a similarly styled case competition annually.
Each team has 26 hours to review a situation, complete an analysis and provide recommendations to senior management for consideration. During this period, students have to work on their own and cannot discuss the case with their faculty advisor. They are provided with one desktop computer with Internet connection. Teams have to hand in visual materials 45 minutes before the start of their 20-minute presentation. A 15-minute question-and-answer session follows. The winners of each division of five teams then go on to a championship round.
“Their depth of analysis was described by one judge as unbelievable for a group to accomplish in 26 hours,” Meister says. The case this year focused on Cathay Pacific Catering Services.
The victory, coincidentally occurring on Global Ivey Day, marks the second time Ivey has won the competition. Other participating teams came from University of Southern California, Maastricht, Aalto, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser, Concordia, Georgetown and Tsinghua University.
“All the teams that attend this competition are very strong,” says Rod White, Faculty Development & Research associate dean, who led an Ivey team to the Citi Case Competition three years ago. “It is a very significant accomplishment and great to see Ivey rise to the top again.”
Halfway around the globe, a second Ivey team took second place in the Consortium of Undergraduate International Business Education (CUIBE) International Business Case Competition.
This is the first international business case competition hosted by Northeastern University’s International Business Program. Sixteen teams of four undergraduate students from the nation’s leading business schools came to Boston to participate in this two-day event.
Team members included Andrew Rowland, Sean Thunem, Ari Veittiaho, Cameron Murphy, Omar Madhany, Steven Robins, Jordan Robinson and Kristina Lucas.