Comic book lovers in “the downtown core of a large Canadian city” have an eight-student team of Ivey Business School students to thank for saving their beloved retail store from imaginary ruin.
The 2016 Business 1220E Case Competition was won by the team of students who solved the case, Comic Sans written by Sean Burkett, that concerned the fate of a specialty retail store that catered to the ‘geek’ culture in light of co-owner personal and professional drama. Members of the winning team included Spencer Ashby, Duncan Bissell, Ibrahim Choudhry, Rita Fan, Kim Anh Khong, Michael Lam, Linda Ly and Gregory Wong.
A total of 36 teams entered the competition. After a preliminary round and a semi-final round, three teams were named as finalists for 2016. The two other finalist teams shared honours as runners-up. The members of the two teams were:
- Kabir Karki, Zahwa Khalid, Steven Lou and Sara Raza; and
- Emily Boucher, Micah Hansen, Noah Klein, Jason Liebovitz, Tyler Rose and Andrew Stobie.
The Business 1220E Case Competition is well-known among first-year students at Western. The competition, created by Ivey faculty, originated in 1978.
Guest judges for the competition were Mark Vandenbosch, Associate Dean, Programs, Ivey Business School; Wendy Outram, Sourcing Director, Canada Bread Company; and Liz Gray, Lawrence Kinlin School of Business, Fanshawe College.