Business Competitions
The Alberta School of Business has a thriving culture which places a strong emphasis on case competitions. Case competitions are an excellent way for students to apply their classroom knowledge, enhance their problem solving skills, and network with other students and professionals in the industry.
Case competition team representing the UofA at CIBCC in Thailand
A business case is a description of an actual situation, commonly involving a decision, a challenge, an opportunity, or a problem faced by a real individual or an organization. Often, in a case competition, students assume the roles and responsibilities of the decision makers which are the individuals or organizations facing the business challenge. Other times, students assume the role of a consultant who proposes solutions and recommendations to the decision makers.
Benefits of Cases and Case Competitions:
- Enhance presentation skills and the ability to sell your ideas
- Connect classroom knowledge and theories to real life applications
- Get involved in the process of solving real world problems.
- Work in a team setting - develop robust listening and communication skills
- Network with other students and professionals in the industry who often attend these case competitions (as judges or sponsors).
- Travel the world (if you formally represent the UofA at an international case competition).
International Commodities Trading Competition
The Alberta School of Business is launching the International Commodities Trading Competition (ICTC). This flagship event is designed to introduce participants worldwide to the complexities of commodities trading.
Click here to learn more about ICTC.
Join our mailing list to receive all updates on case competitions at the Alberta School of Business!
Case Competitions FAQ
In the Alberta School of Business, there are multiple ways that students can get involved in case competitions:
- Case competitions that are organized and hosted by ASB Student Organizations (See below)
- External case competitions (See below)
- ASB Case Competitions Program - Stream A (See below)
- ASB Case Competitions Program - Stream B (Coming Soon)
In the upcoming 24-25 academic year, the ASB Case Competitions Program - Stream A plans to participate in the following case competitions:
Global Case Competitions - Fall 2024
|
Case Competitions |
Dates |
|
NHHICC (Norway) |
September 23, 2024 - September 27, 2024 |
|
BMCC (Mexico) |
November 10, 2024 - November 16, 2024 |
|
CECC (Hungary) |
November 24, 2024 - November 28, 2024 |
Global Case Competitions - Winter and Spring 2025 (Tentative)
|
Case Competitions |
Dates |
|
UNICC (Spain) |
March 23, 2025 - March 28, 2025 |
|
CIBCC (Thailand) |
Dates not confirmed (likely mid May 2025) |
Development Case Competitions: Academic Year 2024/2025 (Tentative)
|
Case Competitions |
Dates |
|
CECC (Arizona) |
October 10, 2024 - October 11, 2024 |
|
AIBC (Jasper-Tentative) |
November 10, 2024 - November 16, 2024 |
|
ANPA/AECC (Edmonton) |
Dates not confirmed (likely mid February 2025) |
|
JMUCC (Montreal) |
February 23, 2025 - March 1, 2025 |
|
McGill Ethics (Montreal) |
March 20, 2025 - March 21, 2025 |
*To participate in the ICBC Final Weekend, students must place in the ICBC Preliminary Round. The ICBC Final Weekend is the only Development Case Comp where 2nd year students may participate.
Discovery Case Competitions: Academic Year 2024-2025 (Tentative)
|
Case Competitions |
Dates |
|
Preliminary round (virtual): September 14, 2024 - October 6, 2024 Finals and semifinals (virtual): November 8, 2024 - November 9, 2024 |
|
|
November 11, 2024 - December 6, 2024 |
|
|
Dates not confirmed (likely mid February 2025) |
|
|
Preliminary round (virtual): Dates not confirmed but likely January, 2025 Final round (Calgary): Dates not confirmed but likely mid-March 2025 |
|
|
Alberta Deans of Business |
Dates not confirmed (likely mid March, 2025). |
Due to the rich diversity and varying levels of competition, we have decided to organize case competitions into 3 categories.
Discovery Case Competitions: Discovery case competitions take place within Alberta or are virtual competitions. These case competitions will not have year of study restrictions, however, preference will be given to junior (i.e. first and second year) students.
Development Case Competitions: Development case competitions are those hosted by universities, and organizations in Canada and the United States. Student travel outside of Alberta, but within Canada and the United States, may be required. These competitions may have participating universities from across the world. These case competitions will be reserved for second to last year and final year students (60 credits or less remaining at the start of the upcoming academic year-September).
Global Case Competitions: Case competitions that are hosted by universities outside of Canada and the United States. Student travel outside of Canada and the United States is required. These case competitions will be reserved for students in their final year of their BCom program. Each student in the ASB Case Competition Program will be limited to a maximum of one Global Case Competition during their BCom degree.The Alberta School of Business will offer 2 streams through which students can improve their case competition competencies; Stream A and Stream B.
In Stream A, students will be formally trained by faculty and will officially represent the Alberta School of Business in case competitions. Stream B will be a self-directed program where students can use online modules and resources developed by the School of Business to set themselves up for success in case competitions they pursue independently.
Stream A requires significantly more commitment and time from the student, and the student may need to accommodate the availability of the faculty member for training sessions. Stream B is more suited for those students who may be unable to fully commit to case competition training, but still want to gain skills and knowledge that will help them prepare for future case competitions, and in related professional skill development such as analytical thinking, presentation skills, audience analysis, perspective taking, and systems mapping.
Stream A is currently in its pilot year. Stream B is still in development.
The application timing depends on how many years of study you have remaining to complete your BCom degree. Given the varying levels of competition, the application deadlines and intakes may be different for 2nd year students and students in their last year.
Note: The applications haven’t been released yet, and therefore the deadlines are not yet announced. However, if you sign up for our mailing list, you will be notified when these applications are released. Alternatively, you can come back to this webpage and check for updates.
You can access a current list of all open applications here.
For most student organizations, case competitions are open to all undergraduate students (including non-business students). However, fees may vary per case competition. This live document features all of the case competitions organized by student organizations.
Is your case competition missing from the list? Reach out via compete@ualberta.ca and we will include your competition.
These are case competitions where you are able to participate independently as an undergraduate student. These competitions are organized by third parties (not UofA student groups). ASB also does not formally participate in these competitions. However, these case competitions are a fantastic way to network with students outside of ASB.
Please see this live document to see the repository of external case competitions.
If you have any inquiries about case competitions in the Alberta School of Business, please do not hesitate to contact the CWIL office at compete@ualberta.ca.