Business School
Opinion
Why am I writing this blog?
If you haven’t heard of a case competition before, it’s where teams of 3-4 people compete against each other to solve a business problem (a case) and present a solution for this
problem to a panel of judges. I’m mainly writing this to the people who have heard of case comps before and know the general stages of a competition, but aren’t sure of whether they should actually do one. Throughout this blog I hope to share some of my own experiences and insight to give you an idea of what you stand to gain or lose in competing in one or multiple comps.
As for why you should trust what I have to say, I’ve completed over 20 case competitions in my time spanning across domestic case competitions, practice cases, and international cases. I’ve also experienced the highs and lows of case comps, from winning my first one to getting grilled by a panel of judges. I am by no means an expert on the topic, but I’ve had the privilege of learning from some UNSW’s best casers as of recent years and observed the impact of having case competition experience on people’s journey throughout university.
Why should you do them?
There are many reasons for why you should compete in a case competition, or even multiple. I like to put them under 3 main categories: Academics, Professional, and Personal.
1. Academics - Doing case competitions can increase your WAM
You’ll often hear the term “Oh it’s just like a case comp” when people talk about their group assignments and assessments, and this is because the work you do in case competitions will often reflect the type of work you’ll do for your assignments at university (mainly for business students). Having experience with case competitions can help you in a variety of ways such as:
● You’ll have ready-made PowerPoint slide designs / templates which you can use for assignments involving presentations
● The general framework of Analysis-Strategy-Impact used heavily in case comps can be used to help structure your assignments and presentations
● You are more likely to be calmer working under time pressure because of your experience with last-minute submissions
● Your ability to “waffle” and general public speaking skills can come in very handy during class presentations
Furthermore, the problems presented in case competitions are often much more broad and require intense brainstorming to solve in comparison to your assignments, which can make university assignments seem a lot less daunting in comparison.
2. Professional - Case competitions can make job interviews lightwork
Many of the skills developed through case competition experience can provide you with a very strong base skillset when applying for jobs and thriving in a corporate environment. At university, case competitions are probably one of the best ways to
accelerate your professional growth and prepare you for job interviews or intern projects. Especially when applying for your first internship at a company such as one of the big 4 accounting firms, having case comp experience comes in very handy
during the group interview / assessment centre stage. You’ll often be given a case study and be tasked with coming up with a solution as a group - essentially a mini case competition - and having prior experience can make you feel a lot more comfortable and confident compared to other candidates.
Additionally, it’s a very handy and applicable experience that you can talk to for most of the behavioural questions you’ll be asked during interviews, and it often sounds a
lot better than your typical “I once had a group assignment where...”.
Furthermore, case competitions will force you to become proficient in Microsoft PowerPoint, and depending on your role, Microsoft Excel and Figma. You’ll definitely be using at least one of these applications throughout your studies and most likely in your future career, so it definitely helps having some prior experience.
3. Personal - The real treasure was the friends we made along the way
Lastly and probably most importantly, doing case competitions with your friends can really help you grow as a person. I can honestly say I wouldn’t have strived to achieve as much of a holistic university experience whether it be through societies, academics, international competitions, etc, if it wasn’t for the memories and experiences I shared with my case comp teammates. (Shoutout to Carers Consulting for my first case comp win, and JAL Consulting, with whom I started this incredible journey and who continue to inspire me to this day).
The nature of case competitions may seem simple on the surface, however, the world of casing is incredibly vast and delves into an elaborate art form in the way you innovate and perfect methods of presenting ideas effectively and persuasively through your slides, speech, and delivery.
Why shouldn’t you do them?
Case competitions aren’t for everyone and there are a couple of reasons why they might not be worth the time and effort:
● They take up a lot of time and you may not get back in proportion to the work you put in. Oftentimes, keeping up your WAM and staying on top of your course work will be more important than some case competition wins to your name. Furthermore, winning a case comp will often come down to luck as a lot of the time it will simply depend on what the judges are looking for on the day, which will vary for every case
you do.
● Case competitions often have a high barrier to entry for those who aren’t experienced / aren’t involved in societies to know how a submission deck should look. This often results in your submission being culled at the first stage due to the structure of your
slides and not the quality of your strategy.
● Finding the right team to participate in competitions with can often be quite tricky and when the entire team isn’t fully committed and motivated to complete the case, it can be very easy to give up.
If after reading this you’ve decided to compete in your first case comp or potentially start participating in comps again, I do have one request of you. Look to continue fostering the
culture of casing at UNSW by collaborating and learning from fellow casers, whilst also appreciating and sharing the joy of casing. The current landscape of case comps has become rather saturated with many people recycling slide decks and sticking to the same structures that have worked previously. I urge you to innovate and try new things, and look to continually improve upon each case you complete.