Seattle to Los Angeles: MICC 2018
For the second year in a row, UW Foster sent a student team to compete at USC’s Marshall International Case Competition (MICC) in Los Angeles. The team consisted of Andrew Chan, Bianca Cheung, Karah Hsu, and Michael Kwan. All are members of Foster’s Global Case Competition Club (GC3), a Registered Student Organization dedicated to getting students interested in, and preparing students for, globally focused case competitions. MICC took place February 21-24 and consisted of twenty teams from all over the world. While the UW Foster team did not make it into the final rounds, they had some key takeaways from the experience.
“Participating at the MICC is definitely one of the best memories I had over my college career. My biggest takeaways participating in this case competition is 1) thinking critically using a consulting mindset, and 2) develop global connections. As our team developed the solution, we used many frameworks that we learned in class to help with our analysis of the problem. What I appreciate the most is the ability to apply the knowledge in class in a real world problem. Furthermore, there is an opportunity for teams to think out of the box and find supporting evidence to back a creative solution that has not been thought of yet. My second takeaway is developing global connections. Participating in an international case competition allows one to develop global connections and learn cultures around the world. The activities allow you to engage with one another from different cultures and develop many different friendships. In addition, you also learn how different schools train their candidates for case competition and their presentation style, which is very interesting in nature. Overall, I would highly recommend this experience to anyone who is interested in global business or consulting in general.”
-Andrew Chan ‘18
Andrew relaxes in the California sunshine during MICC 2018.
“The opportunity to travel to University of Southern California to compete in the Marshall International Case Competition was an unique and enlightening experience. In the four days of the competition, I met people globally I would have never had the opportunity to meet otherwise. I learned about different school cultures along with the various ways teams train and prepare for case competitions. Additionally, participating in a case competition of this scale was a great learning experience for me. I saw first hand the different ways of presenting and analyzing a case and how that differed from UW’s style. Moreover, our group received valuable feedback from our judges after the case. Competing in the Marshall International Case Competition was a great experience that I am grateful to have had. ”
-Karah Hsu ‘19
Michael, Karah, Bianca, and Andrew enjoy the closing ceremony of MICC 2018.
“The Santa Monica pier on a weekday morning was uninhabited, save for the occasional street performer and even rarer tourist. While strolling and keeping a lookout for scavenger hunt items, the half-dozen or so students in my group introduced themselves to each other. “Have you been to California before?” I asked someone whose flight to the competition had taken the better part of a day. “Yeah, I did my exchange a couple months ago at USC,” was the response, and we eventually found out that we both knew a UW student currently in an exchange program at his school. Competing in MICC allowed me to make connections with extremely global students. For all the benefits that local activities at UW provide, it also creates an insular community and a performance standard that can sometimes be distorted. In just a couple days, I was able to observe and interact with judges who are experts in the industry and with some of the best teams in the world. I think that the team dynamic needed to succeed in MICC is much closer to reality than the teams in class projects. The extended period of time we spent together on cases led to a more developed team dynamic and more reliance on one another’s strongest skills. And of the classes I have taken at UW, many are more retrospective, but the case taught me by experience to look forward when making decisions. To me, the most valuable aspect of being part of this case competition is how much there was to learn outside of the classroom.”
-Bianca Cheung ’18
“Last month, I was able to compete in the Marshall International Case Competition with a variety of different teams across the globe. This experience was incredible. I was able to network and form connections with students and advisers from all over the world. I learned so much about how certain teams compete and undergo case preparation, from schools such as the University of Hong Kong and the University of Auckland. I think this was an amazing opportunity to expand my viewpoints on both life and business to a more globalized perspective. I realized that it can often be hard to see beyond what lies at the business school here or even in the Greater Seattle area. Business is global and it transcends many different cultures. I was lucky enough to experience this first hand, as a simple interest in case competitions brought together a multitude of cultures and backgrounds. Ultimately, this opportunity has enhanced my learning experience at the Foster School of Business, and I want to thank everyone who played a part in making it happen.”
-Michael Kwan ‘19
Michael gets in the zone on the morning of the competition.
The Global Business Center is proud to sponsor these students and promote international collaboration across the globe. To find out more about case competitions and opportunities to compete in them, follow the Global Business Center on Facebook and check out the Global Competitions page on the GBC website.
