Next Friday, David Scott will be shut in a room with three people. The group will be handed a package of information to pore over, analyze and break down before coming up with a workable solution.
They will have only their wits, guile and three hours to complete the task, without outside help or reference material.
And then they face a firing squad, assembled to poke, prod and examine the team’s solution.
Scott can’t wait.
The first-year Gustavson School of Business student and teammates Alysha Veenstra, Meg Norlund and Cameron York are into the finals of the school’s RBC Case Competition.
And according to Scott, it’s tense, challenging and “awesome.”
“I love the opportunity. I’m a competitive guy who played sports growing up, and the chance to compete in something like this and test yourself against other students in the [bachelor of commerce program] who are all intelligent is an awesome opportunity,” he said.
It’s also a chance to put some of the theoretical knowledge gleaned from hours of lectures into practice.
“You learn a ton in classes, a lot of it theoretical. … This is a better chance to use it, and by doing that, you get a better grasp of the knowledge,” Scott said.
And this time of year, there are students all over Victoria doing just that. When the cherry blossoms start to pop out in the city, the annual business case competitions start ramping up.
While the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School is in the midst of its annual RBC Case Competition, Camosun College just wrapped up a competition in Seattle and Royal Roads is preparing to host one next month.
“It’s not about the specific business case. It’s not about the problem they solve,” said Rebecca Grant, organizer of the Gustavson school’s competition.
“It’s the process they go through analyzing the problem, understanding it and pulling together what they know to make an appropriate recommendation — those skills are applicable to anything.”
And because it marries the theoretical with the practical, Grant said, UVic requires every first-year business student to compete.
“Teamwork, problem solving and presentation skills — we feel every student needs that kind of practice,” she said.
Katrina Crawshaw couldn’t agree more.
The Royal Roads University bachelor of commerce student recently competed in the John Molson MBA International Case Competition in Montreal and is the assistant coach of the Royal Roads team preparing for that school’s International Undergraduate Case Competition in April.
“I think the case competition has been more relevant to me than most of my classes,” she said.
“It was high stress but the takeaway is being able to think on your feet, learning that it’s not all about studying and memorization but about being able to think and answer in the spur of the moment.”
While the competitions bring a taste of the boardroom into the classroom, it can also work to the advantage of a student’s academic career, said Don Caplan, RRU’s faculty adviser and coach.
“There is a real emphasis on the practical, as the teams have to come up with realistic implementation plans for their ideas,” he said. “But those lucky enough to be on the team are drilled in analysis and communicating effectively — it gives them an upper hand in terms of course work.”
RRU, he said, runs a series of trials to establish a competitive team.
Shari Corrigan, faculty adviser at Camosun’s business school, said competitions like those the college’s DECA Club gets involved with have a profound influence in terms of building confidence, working on analytical skills and offering networking opportunities.
Corrigan said the students have to deal with the myriad problems faced by organizations every day, and the competitions give students a taste of what’s happening in the business world.
Seven members of the DECA group took home awards at the Pacific Northwest Career Development Conference in Seattle in February. Camosun will host the conference next year.
