UPEI team places second at international NIBS case competition

Case competition teams from UPEI's School of Business continue to make their mark on the 2015 event circuit regionally, nationally, and now internationally.

The UPEI team of Shanice Sproule, Jeremy MacAulay, Luke Gaudet, and Kaitlyn Lord won the silver medal on Friday, Feburary 20 at the prestigious 20th annual NIBS Worldwide Case Competition, hosted by Carleton University in Ottawa.

President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz said, 'On behalf of the entire UPEI community, I congratulate Shanice, Jeremy, Luke, Kaitlyn, and coach Mary Whitrow, on this tremendous achievement. These students truly exemplify UPEI's vision of providing pathways for our students through experiential learning opportunities. I am so proud of their accomplishments at this international competition.'

'Congratulations to Shanice, Jeremy, Luke, Kaitlyn,' added Juergen Krause, dean of the School of Business. 'Their success is the culmination of great effort and dedication by the team and its coach, Mary. UPEI is enjoying fantastic results this season which is a testament to the quality of our Business Administration program and case competition courses.'

This is the third time a UPEI team has both attempted and qualified to compete at the Network of International Business Schools championship event. In 2013, the UPEI team tied for third place in the semifinals, while in 2014 UPEI finished in the quarterfinals.

The NIBS case competition consists of a qualifying round and a championship round. In the qualifying round, students received a business case that they had never seen before, to read and analyze. They then had to submit, within eight hours, a written report that included strategies and recommendations to solve issues facing the business.

Of the over 30 teams from around the world that attempted to qualify, UPEI placed third in the qualifying round and was one of 16 teams that advanced to the championship round, a weeklong series of head-to-head, round-robin style competitions.

During the championship round week, each team was again challenged to come up with the best, strategic solutions for business problems, this time in under three hours. They then presented and defended their plan to a judging panel of professional and academic experts. Though six rounds of competition, UPEI earned their way to the final versus Universidad del Istmo from Guatemala on Friday afternoon.

In the first five rounds, UPEI competed against and defeated Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración (Columbia), London South Bank University (UK), Dublin Institute of Technology (Ireland), Satakunta University (Finland), and Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics (China).

The UPEI team is coached by Mary Whitrow, a recent UPEI graduate and case competition veteran who is now working in the School of Business. Whitrow and the student team members are grateful for the chance to compete at the international level. 'The students dedicated many long hours to secure their spot in the championship round,' she said. 'We couldn't have done it without the support from the faculty, staff, and the entire UPEI community.'

'Participating in an event with other business schools from all over the world was a phenomenal experience,' said team member Luke Gaudet. 'We had the opportunity to learn so much over the course of the week from industry professionals and academics on the judging panel, and we were able to develop so much as a team as a result. On top of that, we had the chance to meet a ton of fantastic people from Carleton and other competing schools. I am very grateful to my coach, teammates, faculty and Dean for making such a week possible.'

Another UPEI case team is currently competing at the international John Molson Undergraduate Case Competition in Montreal, Quebec.