Semi-Final Finish for JMSB at Leeds Net Impact Case Competition

A team of MBA students representing Concordia University's John Molson School of Business returned from the 2012 Net Impact Case Competition at Colorado University’s Leeds School of Business as semi-finalists.

For team members Arhum Nomani, Matthew Fishman, Rabia Khan and Sumit Kapoor, the competition began in November as they took part in a “virtual first round,” which required them to make recommendations to Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.; a company that sought to overcome objections of a fictional small town towards the process of hydrofracking and natural gas extraction. Forty-five teams from across the United States and Canada participated in this round. The team from JMSB was one of only 20 selected to compete in the semi-final round, held in Boulder, Colorado on the weekend of February 18.

The semi-finalists were sent a new case in early February, giving them two weeks to devise a strategy for Encana to:

• Increase demand for natural gas in the United States
• Further develop Encana’s brand
• Provide insight about natural gas as a “bridge” fuel
• Positively impact the bottom line through these efforts

The team arrived in Boulder in the evening of February 17 and was briefed by members of Encana’s management team. That same night, a twist was introduced to the case. The fictional scenario involved a competitor of Encana’s, whose waste water disposal truck had an accident, spilling waste water into a creek near a small town. Teams were asked about how Encana should react to this situation in order to build community trust, and about how to account for the risk of another such occurrence. With their presentation slides due early the next morning, the team worked into the wee hours of the night to finalize their presentation.

“I wasn't able to see them do their official presentation but after the final round announcement they did an informal presentation to me so that I could give them some feedback,” said coach (and JMSB MBA alumna) Carole Charbonneau. “The team did a tremendous amount of research and knew Encana inside and out. They put together an impressive set of recommendations that were complete and strategically sound. It was a presentation to be proud of, and I tip my hat to Sumit, Arhum, Matthew and Rabia for the fine work they put in over the past 5 months training for this competition and the last two weeks working on the case”. 

The five finalists at the competition were the University of Washington (two teams), George Washington University, Columbia University and Duke University. The John Molson School of Business would like to congratulate Columbia University, who were the ultimate winners of the competition. George Washington University finished second and the University of Washington rounded out the top three.

The team would like to thank lead coach Carole Charbonneau for her work preparing the team over the past few months, head coach Tim Field for his guidance and wisdom and the members of the team that represented JMSB at the competition last year for their insight and feedback.

Thanks also to the John Molson MBA Society VP Case Competitions, Matthew Fishman who in addition to being a competitor in this event, handled a number of key logistical issues related to the team’s participation.

Special thanks to Miriam Roland, whose generous establishment of the Miriam Roland Fellowship in Business Ethics made JMSB’s participation in this event possible.