xperience in an international case study competition in Montreal during early January. 

Four second-year graduate students in the Masters of Business Administration program, Christina Bills, Jyoti Sharma, Kemilembe Mjungu and Doreen Matthes, were members of the primary team; and first-year graduate Craig Maas served as an alternate, who goes to watch and will participate next year.

Although the team did not place this year, Michael Mayo, associate professor and the coach of the team, said simply being at the competition is a great experience. 

“As the organizers say, just being here in itself is noteworthy because you are up against some of the best universities in the world,” Mayo said. 

Mayo, who has been coach for the past two years, said that even without placing, students are still learning so much about what it is to be a business professional. 

“It provides our students a real world class opportunity on how to manage themselves, have a professional activity in which they manage themselves,” he said. 

Each year, 36 teams compete from all over the world. Kent has participated in the John Molson International Case Competition since 2006.  

This year at the competition from Jan. 4-9, teams were presented with a case and given three hours to prepare a presentation. Each team presented for about 25 minutes and then answered questions for about 15 minutes from the panel of judges. Each team presented five cases over the span of four days. 

Students take a strategy class in the fall semester to prepare for the competition. 

Sharma, who was the alternate last year and a main team member this year, said that the competition is very unique because “you get to meet with a lot of people, because you are actually going to a community where everybody is from MBA.”

Being around other MBA students and professionals gives all teams the opportunity to learn from each other, she said.

“It is very beneficial to go out there and see how other schools are doing, how other students are doing, and what they understand of a MBA program and how they are learning in this program,” Sharma said. 

Not only were students able to network with other students, but they were able to meet with professionals from all over the world. 

The competition arranged for networking opportunities as well such as networking coctails and a hockey game.

Contact at Ellie Enselein [email protected].