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Ready for the competition 

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The John Molson School of Business MBA International Case Competition, now in its 27th year, took over much of the Hilton Bonaventure Hotel from Jan. 7 to 12, as teams from 36 universities locked horns on business strategy.

Although the competitors came from as far away as China, Europe, India and the United States, three local teams took the honours. The Université de Montréal’s HEC business school came first, Université Laval came second, and Concordia’s own team came third.

The live case, always eagerly awaited, was a challenge facing Costco Wholesale. The company’s vice-president of corporate affairs presented the case to about 150 MBA students, who had only a few hours to hammer out their proposed solutions.

Dean Sanjay Sharma said the smoothly running event was a testament to the JMSB’s dynamism. “It pushes students to be ingenious and apply the theory learned in class. It’s key to the preparation of tomorrow’s business leaders.”

Regarding the undergraduate students competing in the Jeux du Commerce, head coach Mark Haber said afterwards, “I’m very proud of our students who left their ego at the door and embraced a sometimes painful process, and came a very long way in becoming better and more confident in what they do.

“They came back as a real team. We have our student competitions committee to thank for that.”

Haber also thanked a veritable army of volunteers, especially faculty members, who helped coach the students.

Another group of MBA students competed at McMaster University in Hamilton, in the National MBA Games, a relatively new event. They placed third overall: first in strategy case, second in academics overall, and, mens sana in corpore sano, first in dodgeball.