UPEI case team comes out on top
UPEI business students Parker Baglole and Ryan Cassidy recently placed first in the ethics section of the 35th annual Inter-Collegiate Business Competition (I.C.B.C.)-Canada's premier undergraduate business case competition. Baglole and Cassidy are the first UPEI students to win a section of the I.C.B.C. case competition.
Entry into this prestigious competition is achieved after a five-page paper submission is reviewed and approved. Over 180 entries are received for the eight events, with only the top six teams for each section invited to attend and compete in the competition hosted by Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.
Baglole recalls the five-and-a-half-hour time limit they had to prepare a PowerPoint presentation on a case they had never before seen, having no access to the Internet for guidance. 'It was a lot of hard work, and I know we wouldn't have accomplished this success without the support from the School of Business, our faculty advisor, Edward Gamble, and our case competition peers,' said Baglole. 'It was awesome to help UPEI be recognized on a national level against some of the biggest schools in Canada and from around the world.'
The ethics case dealt with undisclosed sponsorships in the blogosphere. While currently not illegal and an extremely cheap and effective way to market products, teams had to determine whether or not a particular company should pursue an action like this. If a team were to recommend that the company not market products in this way, which Baglole and Cassidy did, they had to come up with other strategies that would cause no harm to the business or violate any business interests.
The ethics section finalists included teams from UPEI, Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, Saint Mary's University, and the University of New South Wales (Australia). UPEI placed first in the ethics event with the University of New South Wales (Australia) in second-place, and the University of Calgary in third.
For Cassidy, the I.C.B.C. awards banquet the following evening was surreal and memorable. 'It was a tremendous feeling hearing UPEI's name called, and knowing all our preparation and work paid off,' he said.
Edward Gamble, the team's faculty advisor, was proud to witness a first-place finish from a UPEI case team. 'This is the result of focused efforts from our case students, professors, and the Dean,' he said.
UPEI's dean of the School of Business, Alan Duncan was thrilled to hear of the case team's exciting news. 'Congratulations to Parker and Ryan on such an outstanding achievement,' he said. 'This is one of the pinnacles of case competitions, and their achievement reflects their effort, dedication, hard work, and knowledge gained through the business program.'
For more information, visit http://www.icbconline.ca/
