Beedie undergraduates net top prize at Eller Ethics Case Competition

Beedie School of Business undergraduate students Adrian Guemili (left) and Qaid Jivan took first place at the Eller Collegiate Ethics Case Competition. (Photo courtesy of ellerbuzz.com)

A team of Beedie School of Business undergraduate students have captured first place at the 11th annual Eller Collegiate Ethics Case Competition – the first time in the competition’s history that a team from outside of the US has won the competition.

The team, consisting of Qaid Jivan and Adrian Guemili, and coached by Beedie School of Business senior lecturer Kevin Stewart, earned top spot and a prize of $1000 each after defeating 31 teams from across the US and Canada.

The competition, held at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona from October 24 to 26, exposed students to a thought provoking business ethics case relating to US wellness programs and Obamacare.

“We put a substantial amount of time into researching, as having the topic around the healthcare policy in the US did not benefit us compared to the American teams,” said Guemili. “Good preparation was the key to winning, and the training we received in the Beedie case competition cohort was crucial to our result. It made us strong speakers, and enabled us to stay calm and confident at the final round in front of an audience of 300.”

The competition contained three rounds, the first two of which saw teams grouped into four brackets. Teams were asked to provide recommendations during a 20-minute presentation followed by five minutes of questioning from the judges. The winning team from each group then presented for ten minutes in a final round, followed by further questioning from the judges.

“The Eller Ethics competition was an amazing experience, but the best part was the people involved in the competition,” says Jivan. “The judges, competitors, organizers, my teammate, and my coach were what made this experience as memorable as it was.”

When training for the competition, Guemili and Jivan would revise their presentation every week under Stewart’s supervision, with guest judges from industry brought in to provide extra feedback. In preparation for the presentation, the team focused on anticipating as many questions as possible – a tactic that resulted in them having a backup slide prepared for every question the judges asked during the Q&A.

“The judges and industry professionals were blown away that Adrian and Qaid had actually developed what amounted to a product that could actually be rolled out in the real world without needing to take it much further,” said Stewart. “We are definitely doing something right as a faculty when we are being approached by both schools and industry with praise for our team.”

Both Guemili and Jivan recently participated in the Beedie School of Business Case Competition Cohort, an eight-week intensive case competition training program focusing on skills such as basic presentation, teamwork and case analysis.

Since launching in summer 2012, the cohort has produced some impressive results, including podium finishes at every single case competition entered in the 2013 spring semester.

For more information on Eller Ethics Case Competition, visit http://ethics.eller.arizona.edu/competition/