A team of four Strathclyde Business School students took part in the inaugural Australian Undergraduate Business Case Competition (AUBCC) from November 30-December 5.
Strathclyde Business School (SBS) was invited to take part in the AUBCC which was hosted by the Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane. The competition is a joint initiative between Queensland University of Technology's Business School, the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Business and Economics and the University of New South Wales’s Australian School of Business.
The team - Saltire Consulting - comprised Mark O'Neill, Andrew Grindlay, Matthew McClintock, and Lesley Wynne. Together with their advisor Dr Pratima Sambajee, they flew out to Brisbane to join 15 other teams of students from around the world to take part in the high intensity business case analysis competition.
Sixteen teams of students from universities across the world competed in the inaugural hosting of the competition. There were three preliminary rounds with cases one and two weighted at 20% each and third worth 60% of the final rating. The sixteen teams were split into three divisions of four and no one team competed against the same team twice.
Team spokesman Mark O'Neill said, "Saltire Consulting came fourth in their divisions for cases one and two, however we cropped up to second place in the final case. Given that this is our first time in the competition, we are very proud of our overall performance. This was also recognised by the organisers. We have learnt so much in a week and this is an amazing beyond-the-classroom learning experience. The AUBCC has also given us the opportunity to grow our network at an international scale while also enjoying time in Australia.
"We were excited by the prospect of competing against some of the best business schools in the world. Having developed exponentially to go from placing fourth to placing second shows how quickly we were able to adapt to our competitive surroundings. We were also very proud to have been awarded with the Spirit Award which recognised the team who represented the greatest spirit throughout the competition. The Award was a boomerang which symbolises an invitation for our team to return to future case competitions.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for students to apply their knowledge and theory in real life business cases. SBS students most definitely have the skills and knowledge required to participate in both national and international case competitions and the AUBCC was our gateway to showing what fantastic skills and expertise Strathclyde has to offer!”
The week-long programme gave students the chance to visit Australia, build cross-cultural relationships and tackle real-world business challenges.
The Strathclyde team was the only team from a Scottish university taking part in this competition; one of two teams from the UK, and one of only three from Europe.