The night before the storm

This evening, the 14 participating schools minus Wharton were in high spirits, meeting each other for the first time before the start of the competition. Wharton was unfortunate with a delayed flight and will be due to arrive tomorrow morning.

But for the rest of the crowd, the night was filled with drinks, appetizers and interaction between the participants and the organizing committee. The reception sponsored by Chevron was a prelude for things to come.

The teams that I spoke with generally had no initial strategy in place but the 2 teams that I spoke with, the Marshall School of Business said their "only strategy was to win". On the other extreme, Queen's School of Business was "hoping for 7 hours of sleep".

As I scanned the room, the teams were formed by people from different nationalities. I asked HKUST what the science was for picking team members. I was introduced to a very organized, intense, internal competition at HKUST to select only the best to participate in this competition at BU. Students who wished to participate in case competitions are required to take a 2 month course where students are exposed to the case method solving, and only students with an A minus and above can participate in case competitions. Team members must further satisfy the requirement of having 1 team member from the People's Republic of China, 1 non PRC Asian team member and 1 American or American educated team member.

Many of the schools I spoke with also received full support from their schools. In particular, Beatriz Guzman Gonzales, Associate Director, was a chaperone to the IPADE team, providing support in person to the team.

Stephen Newman, Ericsson (left) commented that Ericsson is extremely pleased to be involved with Boston University and the Case Competition for the 2nd year running. He expects the participants to take the issues in the case seriously and suggest new perspectives and approaches. It is also a wonderful opportunity for Ericsson to pick up on the issues that are important to young people and find out what do "students pick up and we don't".

Dean Mike Lawson (above) expects to see lots of technical analysis this year and is ready to sit back and enjoy the presentations. During his speech, he emphasized on the "globalized" environment that we live in and how IT can make the world a better place. He was delighted to see so many students from countries all over the world and noted in his 35th year at BU that no other event offers greater pleasure.

The evening ended with a few brave individuals ready for their 1oth (I mean, 3rd drink) at Cornwall's