Students place in case competition

Last week, a team of Marshall students took second place at the National University of Singapore International Case Competition.  

The competition consisted of three rounds, in which the teams presented two different cases. A company told the teams about problems it was facing and the students brainstormed strategies to address the issues and present those to judges.

The student group comprised seniors Claire Lin and James Yun, junior Caitlyn Huang and sophomore Brandon Kay.

Following the first round of the competition, during which teams had to create a case presentation in five hours, the USC team took last place.

“After we got last place, we were all pretty bummed out honestly,” said Huang, who was also named best female presenter. “So for the 24-hour one, we were just having a lot of fun, and I think we messed around a lot but it was more relaxed and we weren’t so stressed out.”

Before the second round, where teams had 24 hours to strategize and make a presentation, the team said faculty adviser and professor Clark Hansen gave them advice on how to improve their group performance.

Huang said they went into the 24-hour competition with a different mindset and were able to capture first place.

In the final round, the team took second place overall, beating business schools from the University of Pennsylvania and UC Berkeley.

“We were struggling,” Yun said. “We didn’t do too well. Professor Hansen gave us a pep talk. He kind of encouraged us, so we came back way more motivated and driven, and we just killed it on the second round.”

The Marshall Case Team, composed of about 40 students, was chosen last semester to attend the competition. Each week they practiced by receiving a case on Monday and presenting their solutions to fellow team members at general meetings.

After joining the organization last semester, Kay said he has gained real world experience and looks forward to competing more in the future.

“A lot of the interviews for jobs will involve a case interview, so it’s great practice, especially coming in every week,” Kay said. “But also having a new purpose of competing and representing USC at another level — it’s unparalleled to other organizations on campus.”

Huang added that the team has a good balance of different personalities, and each member focuses on certain roles like finance or strategy. Because of their team dynamics, they said that they hope to compete together again.

“Overall, we’re very compatible,” Yun said. “We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and we build upon each other’s strengths.”