Mount Allison Commerce students win case competition
2010-03-19 11:32:25
SACKVILLE, NB — A team of four Commerce students from Mount Allison University’s Ron Joyce Centre for Business Studies won first prize in the Crandall Case Competition. Third-year students Amanda Burns, Lauren MacDonald, Caroline Millette, and Samantha Lebans received a prize of $1,000.
Eight teams from five Atlantic Canadian universities took part in the competition, which has been organized by Crandall University, formerly Atlantic Baptist University, for the past six years. Students from Dalhousie University took second prize and the University of Prince Edward Island placed third.
Mount Allison has taken part in five of the six competitions and received first prize four times. When the Mount Allison students heard about this record, the pressure was on. Particularly as three of the team members, Burns, MacDonald, and Lebans, would be competing in their hometown. The fourth, Millette, is from Sherwood Park, AB.
Dr. Gina Grandy, professor at the Ron Joyce Centre for Business Studies, coached the winning team.
“The team worked hard to prepare for the competition completing several intense practice case sessions on a variety of organizations. On the case competition day they delivered a thorough analysis and an innovative implementation plan for the organization. I was proud of them,” said Grandy.
The entire team will be returning to Mount Allison next year and would like to continue building on this experience.
“This was our first time entering a case competition so we were a little uneasy. Dr. Grandy really helped prepare us and provided valuable feedback that ultimately led to our success,” said Burns.
In the competition, students are assigned a case which describes problems faced by an actual organization. This year the case was based on ‘Holey Soles’ — a Canadian shoe company that makes comfortable light-weight shoes.The students are given three hours to analyze the internal and external environment of the organization, identify the key issues, develop a number of possible solutions that the company could follow, and an implementation plan to carry out these solutions. The students present their findings to a board of directors comprised of industry professionals who evaluate the presentations.
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PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured from left to right are Amanda Burns, Samantha Lebans, Caroline Millette, and Lauren MacDonald.