Becoming global is nowadays a huge trend. As a result of increasing world digitalization, growing desire for experience and success. Therefore, many companies and universities decided to become global. In terms of being a part of the Global Case Competition. The best example of the University that made Case Competitions work globally isCopenhagen Business School. CBS has been around since 2002 and has proven its success and placement in modern world education. As they expressed themselves: “Every year we aim to create lifetime experiences for students around the globe by facilitating 2 Case Competitions“.
The Organization itself
Organizing a Global Case Competition can be challenging and time-consuming but rewarding for all parties involved. When the organization of such events is concerned, there are many factors to be considered, such as:
The first thing you have to do after you made a decision to organize a Global Case Competition is to state your purpose and goals. Why am I doing this? What do I want to achieve? What is my purpose? Answers to all of those questions will guide you through your whole decision-making process. There are many aspects you can focus on, either it is a talent search or brand awareness.
Your Target Group
At the beginning of every Case Competition planning process, you have to decide the purpose of the contest as mentioned above and the audience you want to target. When organizing a Global Case competition, you have to launch an open application process to attract as many participants as possible.
It is important to give your participants the motivation to be a part of your Case Competition. Some companies offer special prices for the teams with the best solutions to the given case.
The Case
It is up to you to decide, whether you want your participants to solve a new case created on the basis of the problems your company is facing. It is a good way to evaluate how the participants work in the field your company is operating in. The second option is that they will be working on the existing case, which is less common and mostly used for educational purposes to evaluate the knowledge of the students. You have to make sure that the case is relevant and understandable for all parties involved.
The format
When everything is decided, it is time to form the Competition. We suggest you create a timetable. All of the important dates, such as the start and the end of the registration period, the Case launch, Submission date, and Presentation dates should be included.
The registration period should be long enough to allow the participants to register and form their teams before the date of the Case launch. Included introduction to the case is really important in order to show the reason why the case is being tackled.
While organizing a Global Case Competition, you should not forget about the different time zones. There is a chance that some of the team members might be situated in several time zones, we recommend launching the case globally as well as the submission date.
The Social part of Case Competitions & Presentations
With the good marketing and open application process, a huge number of participants is to be expected. It is up to you whether you want all of the teams to present their solutions to the judges or only the ones who will proceed to the final round.
With the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and gathering restrictions around the world, all presentations and ceremonies should be carried out digitally. Some of the teams might not be able to meet and work on the case in person. This can be conducted by Live Video meetings or Pre-recorded videos. To prevent further inconveniences, make sure all of the links or videos will be clearly accessible to everyone.
Platform
As mentioned before, we suggest you create guidelines for all parties involved. You have to have in mind that all of the information, case description, criteria, case launches, and submission dates will be viewed and followed by a huge number of people globally. Here comes useful Software that will assemble and store all of the data mentioned above.
Organizing a Global Case Competition brings a lot of advantages to every party involved. However, the organization process itself requires way more complicated logistics, highly involved administration, and many other factors. Don’t let this lengthy and demanding process discourage you. With our software, we made it easy for organizers, participants, and judges to orientate and work while being part of Global Case Competitions.
Are you looking for innovative ideas that can contribute to your business environment? If you answered yes to those two questions, organizing a Global Case Competition might be the right direction to choose.
The number of participants in Case Competitions is growing every year. As the competitions are becoming increasingly popular, not only between the students, Universities, and case solving teams. But also among companies of any size. The growing popularity comes from use in the hiring process, where participants can show their talents, skills, and ability to work in teams.
Difference between Global and Invitational Case Competition
However, there are two possibilities when hosting a Case Competition. It might be open for participation only for the selected target group, which receives an invitation. Or, On the other hand, by anyone else, who is interested in being part of such a contest. In that setting, the case competition is referred to as open.
What can it bring to my business ?
Being a part of a Global Case Competition brings many positive aspects to the running of your business. From discovering new talent to company innovation and brand promotion.
Talent search
One of the main reasons why companies are being part of the Global Case Competitions is the participants themselves. That means the advantage is the possibility of finding new employees or interns. On the basis of submitted assignments and subsequent defense, you as an employer have the opportunity to see what the students are capable of. As well as their talents, the way they apply their knowledge and experience to the real problem, the ability to work under time pressure, and the way they perform in teamwork.
Make a team work
Working in teams has become an integral part of everyday business life. Some of the companies approach the case competitions as a part of the internal employee’s education. According to Hans Henrick Beck, the co-founder and managing partner of QVARTZ. Many companies struggle with the unnecessarily long solution time for the smaller business problems and assignments, just because they don’t know how to work in teams. The case solving process is an effective tool for teaching your employees to work in teams.
Anew angle of view
If you are a company, struggling with your current market share, decreasing sales or you are overcoming any different business obstacles. Global Case Competition might be the right way to get out of this unfavorable situation. Alongside the solutions, new business ideas, recommendations, and suggestions. The participants will provide you with a different sight of the formulated problem. New innovative ideas might come your way. As people from many different cultures and educational backgrounds will solve the given case.
Spreading of the brand
Let’s take a closer look at the word “global”. To attract participants, a well-planned promotion plan is needed. Gaining entrants is one thing done by the plan, but spreading the company’s name to the world, building brand awareness, and boosting engagement on your social media and webpage is also a goal that can be achieved.
Now it’s time for you to consider whether being part of a Global Case Competition is the right choice, but we can assure you that with our Innoflow platform, it will be even easier for you to freshen up your company.
Meet Hasse Holm Thomsen, current president of the Polit Case Competition Organization. The organization was founded in 2014 and consists of students of economics from the University of Copenhagen. Polit Case Competition is an economic case competition in which competitors have an opportunity to apply economic theory to a real-life problem.
In this interview with Hasse, we have talked about his experience as an organizer, his definition of a successful case competition and how did Polit Case Competition manage to deal with the current Covid-19 situation.
Tell us a little bit about your background…
I currently study Economics, I am a Master Thesis Student at Danish Central bank – I am writing my thesis there. I have been studying Economics at the University of Copenhagen for the last 5,5 years.
Prior to that, I lived in Madrid (Spain) with my family.
What is your experience with case competitions? How many events have you organized?
My experience with Case Competitions comes primarily from my knowledge with Polit Case Competition, the one I currently organize. I was a participant a couple of years ago and it didn’t go that well. So I figured, if I can’t beat them, why not join them? {Smiles}
I joined them 3 years ago as an organizer, where I was in a team responsible for funding and partnerships. Then, the following year, I became head of that team and now I am currently the president of the organization. I’ve done a lot of funding and a lot of partnerships, but now I am mainly responsible for the management of the teams and setting the overall strategy of the Polit Case Competition.
Why did you start your career as an organizer?
The reason why I joined was that I was eager to seek out some extracurricular activities at the University of Copenhagen. The organization, even when I started, was very professional, as opposed to other student organizations that people were just joining to get something on their resumes, or just to hang out. People were actually there to build this great event and were willing to sacrifice their time to make it happen. The case competition’s professionalism and ambition were very appealing to me – so that was my primary reason for joining.
What challenges do you usually have when organizing a case competition?
It makes a lot of difference to be a president, as opposed to a volunteer. The challenges I face range from ensuring that everyone within the organization is aligned with the overall mission and that no one feels like they don’t have enough to do, knowing whether a person can handle a task, or if I should delegate to someone else instead. Since it is all volunteer work, what I realized a bit later during the process is that a case competition has to be fun for people to organize. I think that this is the main challenge ensuring that on one side it is fun, but on the other hand, we also have to actually do something and manage to establish everything. That is a challenge sometimes.
How did your case competition deal with the current Covid-19 situation?
In the Polit Case Competition, we shifted everything to be online. Normally we have an event where everyone meets up, which is very typical of case competitions. In the Polit Case Competition, we also had that format.
I remember it was a Wednesday when the Prime Minister announced that everything was shutting down – and our case competition was supposed to take place on Saturday, so we did not have much time to adjust. It was clear that we could not host the event we had planned in March, so we ended up postponing the case competition for almost half a year. Maybe we could have done something in May, but then we were getting closer to the exams and people prioritize exams more than case competitions. Eventually, we decided to postpone everything to October, and initially, we were hoping that we could do a physical event as we normally do, in one way or another, but soon it also became evident that we couldn’t. What we did instead, was to hold everything online – people were solving the case at home and we awarded them with goodie bags and lots of Wolt gift cards.
You used Innoflow for your event. What was your experience with this software?
We were a bit unsure because we thought it cost a lot of money and it was something we wouldn’t normally use: we were unsure what the value was going to be; or if it was just going to be another expense.
However, we were very happy with the format – it made things a lot easier. It was easier to organize everything, to manage when people accessed the information, the submissions, the sign-up – everything. It made things just way easier.
We could have done it without Innoflow, I am sure, but it would have been much more time-consuming and we didn’t have so much time. We were also very happy with all the assistance. In this case – Lasse [Lasse Dam Jørgensen, Business Developer at Innoflow] was helping us, he made a preview of the Polit Case Competition, how the organizer’s page would look like, and we in the competition used that as a stepping stone towards the things that the participants faced.
How would you define a successful case competition?
I think a successful case competition, in general, is one where all the stakeholders are happy at the end. Partner organizations, in our case – Copenhagen Airports and BCG are happy with the outcome and feel like they got something valuable for the money they put into it. Also, it is important that what the case participants are solving is relevant, fun, challenging and that they also have the means to solve it. The worst thing that you can do is write a case that people cannot solve. You need to be able to solve it regardless of your level. Lastly, I think it is also important to make sure that the organization behind the event gets something out of it: that they feel that they have been a part of something big, something important. It is crucial in these challenging times of Covid-19 because if you forget the underlying structure of the organization, and if you forget to focus on all those individuals, you end up with something that was good for partners and participants, but what about the people who actually organized it? You have to make sure everyone is happy with the outcome.
What is your best advice for other organizers organizing a case competition?
The most important thing is the case. Make sure you get the case right. Talk to other case competitions, other case writers, what have they done, how do they ensure that the case company or the case organization was happy with the case; how do you make sure that the case is solvable for all the participants. Everything else is also important, of course – for example, having nice food and beverages, hosting the event.. But the core thing is the case. So my advice is to focus on that and then focus on everything else.
And what would be your best advice for people who might take part in your events in the future?
My first advice is just: apply! Just go for it. The sooner you start, the better. Many people are unsure if they are good enough, whether they can do it – and then they might end up never signing up. So my first advice is just to sign up. If you just get going, spend your time, sign up, and see what it is. Seek advice from previous winners or participants, listen to what they have done. Some of them say that you need some slides prepared, I think that is good – to some extent you need to have some slides ready. But I think it is more important that you just approach the case open-minded and make sure that you work fast, and also work all together with your team.
Going digital is not a new thing. However, the history and culture of Case Competitions have been one of the physical events, where teams compete against each other and present on a stage. But the world has changed. Digitalizing your Case Competition is now both a way to solve some of your pains and a way to increase the reach and thereby have an even more significant impact in the world.
With our software, we have helped Case Competitions worldwide with digitalizing their event and have gathered the 5 biggest benefits.
Number 1: Ensuring safe physical distance
It is no surprise that ensuring physical distance is number 1 at the moment. With the COVID-19 pandemic threatening our global community’s health and safety, physical distance is now our most effective weapon against it. The University of Münster converted their event from a physical to a digital one and have avoided canceling the entire Case Competition.
Number 2: Increased efficiency and saves time
Number 2 on the list of the 5 biggest benefits is increased efficiency and time-saving. Having to organize a physical event is a big deal. Food, transportation, hotels, finding rooms, printing documents, and so on all take time. Even when you are a big and competent team, the organizing part takes too much time away from what is essential: Creating a fantastic experience for participants, judges, and sponsors. When you can manage all registration, communication, document administration, judging, and feedback online, you can focus on supporting your stakeholders.
Number 3: Showing a sustainable mindset
RSM Star Case Competition in Rotterdam saved 132 tons of CO2 emission when they transformed their Case Competition from a physical event to a digital one. Flying participants from around the world to your site is not the most sustainable solution. Sometimes it actually presents a paradox that you organize a Case Competition with a focus on solving sustainable problems, but you fly all of your participants in.
Number 4: Transforming participant’s experience
Organizing a Case Competition is all about participant experience. You want to create an event of a lifetime that they all remember and talk about. Going digital has often been associated with less personal experience. Still, with the digital possibilities today, you can create some fantastic digital events, where you engage all of the teams with videos, debates, polls, and so on throughout the event.
Number 5: Increased reach
In 2020, CBS Case Competition had over 3.500 participants from 88 different countries in their global competition. That is only possible when you go digital and use Case Competition software. Reaching that many people brings not only awareness and branding to your competition but also satisfies your sponsors a great deal because they get exposed to a much larger audience than with a physical event.
So, digitalizing your Case Competition has many benefits, but organizing it through a mix of Facebook groups, Teams, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. makes it difficult for both you, the participants, and the judges to navigate communication.
We can help you set up an event, and our team is ready for you. So book a demo beneath and let us show you our solution.
We and our partners use technologies, including cookies, to collect information about you for various purposes, including:
• Functional • Statistics • Marketing
By clicking 'Accept all' you consent to all these purposes. You can also choose to indicate what purposes you will consent to by using the checkboxes below and then pressing 'Save preferences'. You can always withdraw your consent using the link in the footer of the website.
You can read more about our use of cookies and other technologies as well as our collection and processing of personal data by clicking on the cookie policy link at the bottom of this banner.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Recent Comments