2024 Case competition
How to join the next case competition team:
Register for the new family business case competition course (ENT 502) and / or reach out to Francesco Barbera / Janie Goldstein to learn more. Students in the ENT 502 course can learn how to be more effective presenters and the team is chosen from within the class.
Congratulations to the group of Ted Rogers School of Management undergraduate students who came in third at the 11th Schlesinger Global Family Enterprise Case Competition (SG-FECC) (external link)
The SG-FECC prepares participants to understand the critical issues that are unique to family enterprise by applying the knowledge and expertise they have developed in the classroom towards solving complex family business cases. The 2024 event was held in January at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business in Burlington, Vermont and included 25 teams from 12 countries and 4 continents.
Ted Rogers School’s team was made up of Payten Cervini, Jerry Gao, Kieran Gibson and Jack Scanlon. The team was coached by Dr. Francesco Barbera (Academic Director of the FBI) and Janie Goldstein (Strategic Advisor, Family Business).
During the four-day competition, a different case is used each day for teams to analyze and present their recommendations. The first case is given to student teams a week in advance, while students only have four hours to read and prepare the other three cases, and no internet access is allowed.
Each team has 20 minutes to present their analysis and recommendations to a judging panel, made up of family business owners, managers, advisors and educators. This is followed by 10 minutes of Question & Answer.
The Ted Rogers School team placed third in the overall undergraduate competition behind Grand Valley State University, Seidman College of Business (USA) and Universidad Panamericana, Guadalajara Campus (Mexico). For the individual challenges, Jack Scanlon won a Best Presenter Award in the team’s Division, clearly impressing the judges with his presenting confidence and presumably for his quick recovery while presenting during a system malfunction.
Read the story
Team testimonials
The FECC was such a great opportunity! Not only did three of my peers become great friends but our coaches did too. Having the opportunity to bond with classmates and professors in this environment was something I’ve always wished for and the competition made it a reality.
At the competition… I felt like I could be a sponge. I was able to be challenged to a new degree and in a way that I’ve craved. The competition gave a hands-on way to work through something difficult with a group of very intelligent individuals.
I’ve also come to learn that increasing experiences like this case competition allows individuals to get a deeper understanding of what they can do. This case competition boosted my confidence in my ability to become a business professional in the real world. Having this experience showed me another path of something I can do and for this, I will always be thankful. This case competition wasn’t just a challenge but it also helped me find another piece of me, something not all people are privileged to find.
I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the team representing TMU at the SG-FECC. Our team went through an in-depth training period with our coaches in order to adequately prepare for the competition. The competition itself was an excellent experience for me as it improved my skills in various areas, led me to meet some very interesting people, and overall was very fun. Our team was happy to return to TMU with a 3rd place trophy!
Past events
