BusinessWeek Student Case Writing Competition Debuts

Posted on May 14, 2004

BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill/Irwin, the business and economics unit of McGraw-Hill Higher Education, has launched a new annual college-level case writing competition for business students. The BusinessWeek Student Case Writing Competition will provide teams of business students with an opportunity to reverse roles with instructors -- by researching and writing a mini case, or critical incident, focusing on a specific business event.

The incident described in a case must be a real situation that impacts the decision-making and future of a particular business. The student teams will also write the teaching notes, including relevant questions designed to prompt additional classroom discussion. Faculty and students will then have an opportunity to use the details in these current issue-based cases to brainstorm options and make business recommendations.

Highlights of the competition include:

The Student Case Writing Competition is open to any undergraduate or graduate student currently enrolled in a business or MBA program at an accredited college or university in the United States.
Each student team participating in the competition must consist of between 2 and 5 students.
Each university campus can select up to three team entries to submit to BusinessWeek.
The final team selections will include 12 honorable mentions and 3 prize-winning teams.
Each student member of the 1st place team will receive $1,500.
The deadline for case submissions is December 1, 2004.

Joining the collaborative efforts of BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill/Irwin on the project will be the Society for Case Research (SCR), a professional organization of faculty from colleges and universities involved in exchanging ideas leading to the improvement of case research, writing and teaching. Members of the society will provide academic expertise by helping establish judging criteria and assisting with the scoring of case submissions.

Barbara Nemecek, President of the Society for Case Research said, "SCR is particularly pleased to join with BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill/Irwin in introducing this new Case Writing Competition. We think this will provide an excellent new learning opportunity for MBA students to apply research skills in the study of the business world, enabling a more comprehensive preparation for future corporate leadership roles."

The BusinessWeek Student Case Writing Competition was recently announced at the Midwest Business Administration Association (MBAA) conference in Chicago. MBAA is the joint conference of a dozen business disciplines, with faculty from across the U.S. coming together in one location to share professional experiences. Winners of the inaugural competition will be announced at the next MBAA conference in March 2005.