Spending nine hours stuck in a room while poring over a case study wouldn’t appeal to most students.
But that’s exactly what a dozen teams of post-secondary students did last Friday, when the Alberta Deans of Business Case Competition took place in Red Deer.
The five-person teams — representing Red Deer College, Olds College, Bow Valley College, Grande Prairie Regional College, Grant MacEwan University, Keyano College, Lakeland College, Lethbridge College, Medicine Hat College, Mount Royal University, NAIT and SAIT — were asked to ponder a complex business problem and make recommendations.
Then they had to present and defend these in front of a panel of judges consisting of representatives from WestJet Airlines, Servus Credit Union and Travel Alberta.
NAIT’s performance was deemed the best, earning the team a $4,000 prize. Keyano College was second and claimed $2,500, while Olds College finished third for a $1,500 payday.
“The kids were really thrilled,” said Jim Beatty, a faculty adviser with the Olds College team.
“We were very pleased. They did a great job.”
Joanne Packham, dean of business and human services at Red Deer College and chair of the Alberta Deans of Business, said she was happy with the event.
“It unfolded very well,” she said, noting that this was the first time in the six-year history of the Alberta Deans of Business Case Competition that it’s been held outside Calgary and Edmonton.
“It was very good for the Donald School of Business.”
Packham added that it was great to see two smaller colleges finish among the top three, and she praised her own school’s participants.
“They did an excellent job.
“They were a contender.”
Each team received the case study Friday morning, and then retreated into their “war rooms,” said Packham. They had two laptops and access to the Internet, and had to provide an electronic copy of their analysis and recommendations by 6 p.m. The next morning, each presented to the judges.
Packham said the case study related to fleet expansion and short-haul routes for WestJet. It was prepared by the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business and was “quite challenging,” she added.
Beatty agreed.
“It’s probably an MBA level of case,” he said, marvelling at the students’ ability to slog through the details and come up with recommendations.
“For a group of four of five students to get their heads together and spend that length of time working on one case, they were exhausted.”
But he and Packham agreed that the participants all learned and benefitted from the experience, including the opportunity to network with their counterparts from other institutions.
“Win lose or draw, they derive, I think, significant benefits from just going through the competition,” said Beatty, adding, “It looks great on a resumé.”
The Olds College team consisted of Rayelle Doolaege, Samantha Bruinooge, Amanada Wolf, Tyler Jenkins and Erika Dowell, with Geoff Stephenson joining Beatty as a faculty adviser. Representing Red Deer College was Taiya Ahola, Kelsie Timmons, Ethan Borle, Michael Nguru and Jordan Weich, with Dustin Quirk the faculty adviser.
hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com