A team of University of Alabama students, drawn from signature learning experiences from across campus, won the inaugural Case Competition World Cup, hosted by Management Consulted.
Over 200 teams applied for the competition and 50 teams competed in the early-degree undergraduate track.
Teams were given one week to develop an industry-specific expansion strategy for Amazon Web Services. The team’s solution emphasized opportunities in the healthcare sector for cloud-based data security services.
The UA team was among five finalists who presented to a panel of judges from top consulting firms. Feedback included their ability to clearly communicate complex ideas and how they answered questions directly and persuasively during the question and answer period.
Reflecting on a judge’s question about their proposed go-to-market strategy, Kelby Olson shared, “We worked so hard as a team to prepare the deliverables on a tight timeline.”
“It was important for us to share our thought process and tie our answers to the research we did. I’m proud that the judges saw the critical thinking, creativity, and discipline we put into the case.”
The winning team included (above, from left to right):
- Jack Reinig, sophomore, accounting
- Lauren Geisler, sophomore, mechanical engineering and economics
- Kelby Olson, sophomore, economics and finance
- Gabby Gaston, junior, environmental engineering on the STEM Path to MBA
- Noah Bush, sophomore, management
“Our Undergraduate Case Team brings together students from different academic backgrounds to solve business challenges,” said Quoc Hoang, director of experiential learning at Culverhouse and advisor to the college’s case teams. “I’m amazed by how committed they are to learning as well as representing our college and university. I’m grateful the judges recognized what I get to see every day.”
Watch their final presentation and related Q&A