Rotman students from the 2017 Graduating Class are invited to be part of A.T. Kearney’s 19th Annual Global Prize Competition.
For the past 18 years, A.T. Kearney has hosted this prestigious strategy case competition for the world’s top business schools. You and your team will tackle a simulated engagement of a real client challenge, and come up with an actionable strategic solution to enable real value.
Twelve teams will be invited to participate in the competition and 4 teams will be selected to present at A.T. Kearney’s Toronto office. The winning team will then compete in Chicago with winners from other top MBA schools for a chance to claim the regional title and prize. Like all great stories, the best is saved for last, with the battle against the European champions and a shot at bringing home the ultimate reward, The Global Prize.
For details, visit: http://www.atkearney.com/careers/globalprize
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Applications and registrations will open at 7am on September 21st and close at 11:59pm on September 24th.
1. Review the eligibility requirements:
• Teams must contain exactly 4 MCA members
• Each team member must be graduating in 2017 and can be in the Full-time MBA, Part-time MBA, or JD/MBA program
2. Prepare an application package in one document (preferably a PDF) that includes:
• The resumes of each of the 4 team members (preferably in 1-page Rotman format)
• A brief, 1-page description (400 words max), on the proposed approach your team will use to solve the sample business challenge (summarized below). Key questions to consider for your submission: How would your team approach this problem? What data would you want? What analysis would you do with this data (be specific)?
3. Email the application package to: RotmanGlobalPrize@atkearney.com and MCA@rotman.utoronto.ca
4. Register your team by selecting the registration link found on Rotman’s Global Prize page: http://www.atkearney.com/careers/globalprize/rotman
5. Teams will be informed of their selection status the week of September 28th.
KICK-OFF AND CASE PREPARATION:
The case Kick-off is on Friday October 16th. Selected teams are invited to join A.T. Kearney consultants at an on-campus event to receive the case and have any competition questions answered. A.T. Kearney is also planning to deliver a short training seminar on structured communications to help students prepare their slide decks. While all team members are invited, it is recommended that at least one team member attend – please reach out to nicolas.petrera@atkearney.com if alternative arrangements are needed.
One week later, on Friday October 23rd, selected teams will participate in mock interviews. Teams will have 15 minutes to interview three clients, played by A.T. Kearney consultants, where they will have the opportunity to ask specific case questions in order to obtain pertinent data that will aid in developing their proposed solution.
Deadline for submission of the Written Case Presentation is October 30th, which gives participants 14 days over two weekends to prepare after the case is released.
SAMPLE BUSINESS CHALLENGE FOR APPLICATION:
Your team has been asked to develop a performance assessment and new retail strategy for Destin Clothing – a large player in the global apparel industry – to help the firm grow and become more sustainable. Specifically, the company CEO, Amy Jones, needs your help to: identify the best criteria to evaluate top-line and bottom-line retail performance in its five core markets, assess the performance of different branded store formats (owned & operated versus franchised), determine an optimal mix of these two branded store types, and recommend specific actions (by market) that the company should take including how they should implement these recommendations. The company would like to focus on opportunities that improve its retail capabilities so that it can achieve its goal of being a leading apparel retailer. How would your team approach this problem? What data would you want? What analysis would you do with this data (be specific)?
Disclaimer: Students should not pursue outside or additional data to answer this problem statement. Any similarity between the circumstances, characters and information in this case and actual people and/or companies is purely coincidental. The material presented herein is purely fictitious and is intended for use as an educational tool in the A.T. Kearney Global Prize MBA Case Competition.