On 4/1, we held an international case competition spotlight event featuring business students who have represented Foster at case competitions from around the world!
Meet the Panelists!
Senior studying accounting
Participated in Netherlands case competition
ABSA officer
Sophomore studying Marketing and Finance
Participated in Case IT – Vancouver, Canada case competition
ABSA officer
Junior Studying accounting, marketing, CISB, minoring in French
Participated in Hong Kong International Case Competition
Sophomore studying Entrepreneurship and IS
Participated in Case IT – Vancouver, Canada case competition
UW Alumni – studied Finance and Economics
Participated in National Case Competition in UT Austin and international case competition at USC
Participated in Case IT – Vancouver, Canada case competition
Q&A
What motivated you to participate in case competitions?
Britney: Started competing in DECA in high school to learn more about the business world which jumpstarted her case competition career in college. She loves being able to take on a challenge, present an idea, and be creative. Location was a motivator as her end goal was to go to the Netherlands.
Amanda: In her freshman year, she did a couple case competitions because she heard a lot of people talk about it. Location was also a huge motivator for her as she wanted to go to Hong Kong.
Iva: She competed in one during her freshman year and wanted to try more because she enjoys unstructured problem solving and taking on challenges.
Kathy: Started doing case competitions in her junior year of college. There was a case competition class in which her friend needed another person, so she went along with it. She came to realize that she enjoyed problem solving and working with a team under pressure.
How do you prepare for a case competition, both individually and as a team?
Khoi: Having a strong mentality of doing your best and having fun! There are many useful tools and knowledge you learn in class reflected when you compete in case competitions.
Amanda: Individually, being able to recognize each teammate's strength is important to delegate tasks efficiently. As a team, building out a structure and ingrained time schedules is helpful to use as a framework to guide how to do the case before doing it.
Iva: Individually, be up to date on the news and global trends as it can help with predicting what the case will be about. Case studies are also a resource. Team wise, know what everyone’s strengths are and build a strong team dynamic.
Kathy: Individual and team practice is very important. There are different types of cases (ex: 24 hours, 48 hours, etc.). Strategy differs depending on the duration of the case. It is important to understand team dynamics and be able to communicate well with your team.
Britney: Working together with high time constraint can get stressful, so it is important to take breaks. In her previous experience working on a 24-hour case, she and her team took a walk outside and then was able to complete the case.
What skills have you developed or enhanced through participating in case competitions?
Khoi: Listening skills and how to be a respectful teammate. The best idea is one that connects eveyrone’s ideas together.
Amanda: First skill is giving and receiving constructive feedback. Everyone is different and being able to ask politely and understand each other is important. Another skill is being able to grind out work and be productive while working under pressure. The third skill is how to make something easy to understand and compelling. Being able to digest everything you learned and explain it in a cohesive way so that judges can understand it.
Iva: Being able to talk through your idea, it is as simple as explaining it to a fifth grader. When working with a team, it is never an equal share of work, because dividing it equally can be counterproductive. She also was able to learn about her teammates and herself through teamwork.
Kathy: Completing your own individual work is important. Being able to take responsibility for the knowledge that you have and share it with the whole team.
How do you handle disagreements or conflicts within your team during the case preparation process?
Britney: For her case competition experience, she has been working with her teammates since freshman year. To handle conflicts, they take walks and breaks together, ask questions, and then reconvene together.
Khoi: In his experience his team was not allowed to leave their room while working on the case. Make sure to take time to yourself and rest.
Amanda: She did not know her teammates well before the competition. Brainstorming and doing research individually, then talking together. Having a structure of discussion helps to walk through disagreements.
Iva: Conflict is helpful because if you rely on one person for everything, there will be a strategy with holes. Getting frustrated is normal, learn to be able to work through that to get a good result.
Kathy: What worked well was to take time to understand that you do not have to be friends with people on the team. One thing to prepare for is to know your teammates and reach a mutual understanding even if it is with different people with different personalities.
Can you describe a memorable moment or achievement from a case competition?
Britney: Her very first case competition. Her team was randomly picked but it worked out well. It was most memorable because that was the first competition they won together, and then they continued to do 3 years of case competition after.
Amanda: Had a memorable teammate (shoutout Gyanu) who had prior experience and would give lots of pep talks. At the Hong Kong competition they were not expecting to make it to the next round so they went to Mcdonalds (which sells boba milk tea) and then they were announced that they made it to finals.
Iva: Walking off stage after presenting their final presentation and saw the judges smiling, laughing, and giving them acknowledging nods.
Kathy: For their case, since they all had to share a room, she offered the bed, but Khoi insisted on sleeping on the coach and then ended up complaining about his back pain. She also met with her coworker and shared funny stories about the case competition.
Thank you for reading! We hope to see you at our next event on Monday 4/8!