{"id":77284,"date":"2026-03-15T19:35:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T02:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77284"},"modified":"2026-03-15T19:35:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T02:35:32","slug":"az_business_case_competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/az_business_case_competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Business majors preparing for the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0third annual\u00a0Arizona Statewide Business School Case Competition (ASBSCC),\u00a0coming to\u00a0Northern Arizona University,\u00a0provides\u00a0students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and test their soft skills\u2014communication, leadership, adaptability,\u00a0networking\u00a0and collaboration\u2014by placing them\u00a0in realistic business scenarios that demand quick thinking and effective teamwork.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This collaborative effort between Arizona State University,\u00a0the\u00a0University of Arizona\u00a0and NAU\u00a0allows students to work across institutional lines to translate theory into practice and to\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0how classroom knowledge functions in real-world decision-making environments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christine Drake<\/span><\/b>, director of student success at\u00a0The W. A. Franke School of Business\u00a0(FCB), said each university selects\u00a020\u00a0undergraduate\u00a0and\u00a010 graduate students\u00a0to\u00a0participate\u00a0in this event.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ashok<\/a>
Ashok Subramanian, Karthik Kannan and Ohad Kadan at the 2025 ASBSCC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe three deans of the three\u00a0business schools\u00a0wanted to do a collaborative event for students to address real-world business problems,\u201d Drake said. \u201cWe have two different divisions in the competition. When students arrive, they are divided\u00a0into\u00a0teams and spend five hours reviewing the case,\u00a0coming up with\u00a0solutions\u00a0and putting together a PowerPoint\u00a0presentation.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students are given specific elements they need to address as part of the case.\u00a0These scenarios are related to the region of the state where the host university is\u00a0located.\u00a0For example, last year at UA,\u00a0the students\u00a0worked\u00a0on a case related to the supply chain of\u00a0a\u00a0semiconductor\u00a0manufacturing\u00a0company\u00a0to decide whether to\u00a0work with a vendor closer to home\u00a0or\u00a0one based in Taiwan.\u00a0On the second day of the event, the groups present their findings in the first round. The\u00a0top three\u00a0teams from each division compete\u00a0in\u00a0the final round, which is judged by the deans of the\u00a0business schools.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s unique about this competition is that we do not compete against schools,\u201d Drake said. “We break up the teams so that there is a student from each university on the team, so it is a collaborative competition. We also try to incorporate networking events and other ways to not only engage students with each other, but also with industry partners and professionals in the field.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

FCB Dean\u00a0<\/span>Ashok Subramanian<\/span><\/b>,\u00a0said\u00a0beyond the conventional rivalry between the three universities lies a shared mission:\u00a0impact. \u201c<\/span>This event is \u2018co-opetition\u2019 in action\u2014where the spirit of the game meets the power of partnership to solve for our region,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To\u00a0participate, students\u00a0go through an application process.\u00a0Drake said they encourage all\u00a0business majors\u00a0to get involved so\u00a0they can\u00a0glimpse\u00a0the\u00a0potential\u00a0impact they\u00a0can\u00a0make on their community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want all students to be able to have an opportunity to really engage in something unique,\u201d she said. \u201cSet a foundation for them that is long-lasting, something that just gets them invested in what they are doing.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The competition will be held at\u00a0The\u00a0W. A. Franke College of Business,\u00a0Bldg.\u00a081,\u00a0on March 19-20,\u00a0and the cases\u00a0students will be working on will have specific relevance to\u00a0northern Arizona. Drake said\u00a0conversations have\u00a0already started\u00a0for next year\u2019s event to continue giving students the opportunity to\u00a0collaborate\u00a0and\u00a0test their knowledge and soft skills, helping them prepare\u00a0for the future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can train students to do marketing or accounting, but these types of events bring it all together,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0taking the knowledge they are getting in the classroom and developing those soft skills, what it means to be professional, how it is to network, all those pieces. We want them to walk away feeling a sense of accomplishment and look at what they were able to do. Having them challenge themselves,\u00a0build\u00a0connections and realize they can do the hard things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0third annual\u00a0Arizona Statewide Business School Case Competition (ASBSCC),\u00a0coming to\u00a0Northern Arizona University,\u00a0provides\u00a0students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and test their soft skills\u2014communication, leadership, adaptability,\u00a0networking\u00a0and collaboration\u2014by placing them\u00a0in realistic business scenarios that demand quick thinking and effective teamwork.\u00a0\u00a0 This collaborative effort between Arizona State University,\u00a0the\u00a0University of Arizona\u00a0and NAU\u00a0allows students to work across institutional lines to…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":77285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}