Concordia University once again is providing an opportunity for business leaders to meet with students at its 3rd annual MBA Case competition.

Top MBA students are in Montreal today through month 28 to test their business skills in front of a panel of judges selected from the corporate community.

This year’s judges are presidents, vice-presidents and other senior executives from over 70 corporations including CP Limited, the Bank of Montreal, Alcan, CN Rail and other top corporations.

The pace of the competition can be grueling. Teams of up to four students have four hours to read, analyse and prepare their presentations. Judges evaluate the written and oral presentations, favouring those analyses which are succinct and well-argued.

Many of the students bring with them hours of intensive training and coaching, making for a stimulating and challenging competition between the universities.
Over the three-day period, each university team solves three cases with a fourth case reserved for the three finalist teams.

The winning team is awarded the Concordia Cup and the first place prize from the Bank of Montreal. Second place finishers receive a prize from Alcan. Last year’s winning team was from Dalhousie University.

But even for those teams that don’t win, there are benefits from participating in the competition. The main one is that the event provides MBA students with the opportunity to meet with top business leaders.

Judges find the experience rewarding as well. Many return enthusiastically each year to sit on panels.

This year 16 Canadian universities will be represented in the competition from as far west as the University of Alberta to as far east as Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Funding for the event is provided by the Concordia Centre for Management Studies. Support for specific activities during the competition is provided by a number of corporations.