10 Things I Learnt From Winning A Global Case Competition

Jonah Wong, 29, is a one-year full-time MBA student at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and part of the team of students that won the John Molson MBA International Case Competition held in Montreal, Canada, earlier this year, making NTU the first Asian university to top this prestigious business case competition billed as the world’s oldest and largest. He recounts his experience of winning the competition and what he learnt in the process. 

The John Molson MBA International Case Competition is a not-for-profit event organized by the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. The competition is open to top business schools worldwide, and is recognized as the largest case competition of its kind. 

The competition format is a round-robin tournament consisting of seven unpublished business cases. The cases are selected from among the top entries from the annual Case Writing Competition. The highlight of the week is a live case presentation by a major company facing a real-life business challenge.

With three hours to prepare, teams of four students analyze and evaluate unpublished business cases using the skills, knowledge and experience they have acquired from their respective MBA curriculum. Students rely on their own abilities and limited use of Microsoft office software, with no access to the internet. The final product is a presentation in PowerPoint format whereby students’ demonstrate their ability to dig into a problem and develop a feasible solution.

The students then present their detailed plan of action to a panel of  senior business executives. More than 250 executives serve as judges, using their unique backgrounds, experience and perspectives to critically assess the participants’ presentations. Teams are judged on creativity, insight, substance and plausibility of implementation. The winning team receives a cash prize of CAD 10,000.

Here are the 10 things Jonah Wang picked up while fighting to come out top at the 2015 edition of the competition: 

1. The most precious thing in the world is time

Taking part in the 2015 John Molson MBA International Case Competition has shown me that time is everything. We sacrificed sleep, rehearsing our case study presentation until the wee hours and in the midst of preparing for exams and projects. Our mentors at the Nanyang Business School, such as Prof Vijay Sethi, gave willingly of their time. That’s the most valuable thing anyone will ever give you.

2. You’re not the only one who won – others who came before you won as well

We built upon the efforts of NTU teams that competed in previous editions of the case competition. They all came close to winning it, making the semi-finals at the very least, and we learnt from their good work and mistakes. We grew exponentially as a team because we inherited their wealth of experience.

3. You are the smartest person in the room, and everyone has to listen to you

This may sound a little cliché, but it’s very useful to keep reminding yourself of this, especially when you are in a room of about 200 people who come from some of the best business schools around the world. There’s absolutely no room for self-doubt and you better believe in whatever you are selling on stage.

4. The Nanyang MBA teaches strategic thinking extremely well

We used what we had learnt from our modules in strategic management (taught by Prof Neo Boon Siong) and technology and e-business (Prof Vijay Sethi’s legendary classes) to formulate our strategic insights and recommendations for each case study. This became our formula for success as we were able to distill our thoughts very quickly into a focused solution for the judges.

5. There’s always someone better prepared than you

We often asked ourselves if our preparations were ever enough, and we never felt ready to compete. Then, in Montreal, we discovered that some teams had spent nearly a year training for the competition. Our group had all of six weeks of preparation. And we won.

6. “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”

With practice, and more practice, of course. I have been rehearsing giving speeches and presentations since the day I started learning English (it’s not my first language). You could say I’m not a bathroom singer but a bathroom speaker. Practice hard enough and you’ll find success, even on an international stage.

7. Success can be chemically induced

There wasn’t any coffee at the competition venue (other than at breakfast) and we worried our synapses would not fire fast enough without the extra stimulation. Coffee runs became a necessity.

8. Agree to disagree, and support one another

During the various competition rounds, as we worked on the different business cases, we often found our ideas and strategies pulling the presentation in different directions. We debated and challenged one another’s ideas, but ultimately were aligned on what needed to be done. You may not agree with your team mates all the time, but you learn to stick to your story and support them.

9. Each team member has a unique role to play

When Prof Vijay assembled our team, he considered our backgrounds, experiences and personal qualities. Aswathi opened the presentation in a charming way, I was the guy who sold our big ideas to the judges, Cory sewed our points together in a logical manner, Sunitha was the systematic numbers person, and Aswathi came back to round things up. At the competition, we became known for this. Whenever one of us stood up to present, the audience knew what was going on at that point of the presentation.

10. I actually want to be a football team manager

One of the business cases during the competition covered the growth strategy of French football club Paris Saint-Germain. It was pure coincidence that I was playing Football Manager, a football management simulation video game, at that time. Using aspects of this game in our strategic analysis and recommendations made me wish I had a chance at being the next Sir Alex Ferguson. (Article courtesy NTU)

Jonah Wong, 29, is a full-time MBA student at NTU. An adept multi-tasker, he also holds a full-time job in the medical devices sector. In January this year, he was in the team of MBA students that won the John Molson MBA International Case Competition, making NTU the first Asian university to top this prestigious business case competition billed as the world’s oldest and largest.