Otago Business School Team Win Int. Case Comp

Otago Business School Team Win International Case Competition

A team of four School of Business students at the University of Otago have made history winning the prestigious Program in International Management (PIM) International Case Competition in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA.

Representing the “rest of the world” category in the competition, the team comprising Brian Casey, Paul Chong, Iain Grant and Hayden Starkey competed against four international business school teams to take out the competition and win $US8000.

It is the first time a New Zealand team has competed in the competition organised by the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flager Business School. The competition involves 53 business schools which are members of the PIM network.

“This is wonderful result in a competition with the best in the world. The PIM schools are world leaders and in this – we lead them!” says Associate Professor Graham Elkin, Director of the New Zealand Case Research Centre and Head of the Department of Management at the School of Business.

“The Case Method is fundamental to business schools and business research. It provides new insights in contemporary real world settings. It allows students to stand in the place of real managers and make real decisions as part of their training.”

The competition featured mainly MBA students making the Otago team’s win even more impressive as each team member is studying at undergraduate level. Paul Chong and Brian Casey are completing Bachelor of Commerce degrees with Honours, Iain Grant is studying towards a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Commerce double degree and Hayden Starkey is studying a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws double degree.

“To do so well against experienced MBA students and managers is wonderful. It validates the utility of the undergraduate programmes at Otago,” says Associate Prof Elkin.

The Otago team entered the competition via a virtual heat run in October. The group presented their case to the international judges via an electronic connection achieving the second highest overall score. The team was accompanied to the US by School of Business faculty members Dr John Guthrie, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing and Virginia Phillips, Lecturer in the Department of Management.

The team also successfully competed at two national business case competitions earlier this year. The team won the regional heats of the New Zealand Business Case Competition in May and went on to compete at the national final in Hamilton in July.

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