The best and brightest square off at 2016's John Molson Undergraduate Case Competition
“We spent 10 months planning, which is great experience for us, dealing with the budget, the media and sponsors,” says Melissa Palumbo, president of JMUCC’s organizing committee. | Image courtesy of JMUCC
The bar is high and the competition is stiff. The John Molson Undergraduate Case Competition (JMUCC) is almost here. The annual event, run by students from the John Molson School of Business (JMSB), begins on February 21.
This year’s edition will welcome 96 competitors from 12 different countries and 24 schools — including six new teams.
“We’re pleased to see entrants from Switzerland and Egypt this year, plus teams from new schools like the University of Washington and Elon University in North Carolina,” says Melissa Palumbo, president of the JMUCC’s organizing committee. “We’re up to five continents.”
A team from the John Molson School of Business (JMSB) — Gabriel Rondos, Stéphanie Groulx, Matias Fontecilla and Ahmed Mustafa — will also compete. They are coached by Christian Bonneau, Dan Silverman and head coach Mark Haber. Last year, Concordia took home first place.
The jurors are an impartial group made up of members of the business community, including sponsors.
Student organizers and volunteers run the show
The JMUCC’s core team of nine organizers and 54 volunteers attend to every detail of the event, handling logistics and sponsorship. They also handle the entry fee, which is $2,200 per team of four students.
There are two new volunteers this year devoted to live streaming the competition’s 102 presentations on the JMUCC website.
“We spent 10 months planning, which is great experience for us, dealing with the budget, the media and sponsors,” says Palumbo, who has been on the organizing team for four years. She graduates in June.
Tourism Montreal is a new sponsor, offering coupons and city tours. “We’re opening a student networking lounge and there will be networking dinners sponsored by Groupe Dynamite, Brother Canada and RBC,” she says.
The competition is an international ambassador for Concordia, with an open-door policy. Everyone is allowed to watch the competitors in action, for free. Guided by an advisory board, made up of many of the same experts since the event’s inception eight years ago, JMUCC is now positioned as a business-school competition benchmark.
Competitive by nature?
JMUCC is one of four major case competitions hosted by JMSB. The MBA International Case Competition is hosted by MBA students for MBA students, and generally runs during the first week of January.
In its third year, the Engineering and Commerce Case Competition (ECCC) unites engineering and business undergraduate students to fuel new ideas. The competition runs from March 8 to 13.
The Van Berkom JMSB Small-Cap Case Competition focuses on small-cap investment and is open to undergraduate and graduate students. It takes place on March 18 and 19 this year.
All case competitions are open to the public and free to attend.
Test your skills by participating in the John Molson Undergraduate Case Competition (JMUCC) public case, also open to CEGEP students. The case topic is released on the first day of the event, February 21, 2016.