SFU Beedie undergraduates triumph in major case competition

Members of SFU Beedie’s victorious team in the JDC West case competition, the most prestigious event of its kind in Western Canada

A team of undergraduates at SFU’s Beedie School of Business delivered another outstanding performance at the JDC West case competition, the most prestigious event of its kind in Western Canada, to be named both School of the Year and Academic School of the Year.

JDC West has run since 2006, bringing together around 600 undergraduate delegates from the leading business schools across BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to compete in a range of disciplines, including academics and debate. This year’s competition took place in a virtual setting for the first time in its history, hosted by The University of Manitoba and the I.H. Asper School of Business, and included events inspired by the theme The Age of Innovation.

The SFU Beedie team won first place in three competition categories (Business Strategy, Business Technology Management, and Social), and second place in a further seven categories (Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Human Resources, International Business, Marketing, and Not-For-Profit).

This remarkable set of results across the board earned the SFU Beedie team the coveted School of the Year, and Academic School of the Year titles, repeating the school’s triumph in the 2019 event, hosted at SFU.

“I am proud to see our students once again excelling in competition with their peers, and congratulate them all on their achievement,” says Peter Tingling, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Program at SFU Beedie.

“We are building a formidable reputation on the case competition circuit, and I am proud to see our students’ hard work delivering results. I believe that standing up in the competitive arena is the ultimate test of our students’ abilities and character, and replicates many of the skills needed to compete in the global economy.”

Case competitions provide an important opportunity for students to apply their knowledge to real business situations, in a setting that simulates the type of complex problem-solving under time pressure that they will encounter in the workplace. SFU Beedie’s consistent success in these competitions reflects the school’s commitment to preparing business-ready graduates who can hit the ground running in their careers.

The team of 38 competing students was led by co-captains Molly MacLeay and Andrew Wong, and supported by faculty advisors Stephen Spector and Anne Macdonald. Competitors were also helped by an executive team of five other senior student leaders as well as many alumni coaches and mentors, who dedicated their time to ensure the team entered the competition with the best possible preparation.