Twenty Schools. Four Montreal Companies. One Unforgettable Experience

February 21st to February 27th, 2010: twenty top business schools from around the world descended upon Montreal for the 2010 John Molson Undergraduate Case Competition. Teams of four students, representing each school, were tasked with finding solutions to real world business problems. The reward? An unmatched learning experience, the prestigious JMUCC Trophy and bragging rights as one of the top business schools in the world.

The competition was organized by a group of five undergraduate students, being Megan Bouchard, Jose Garcia, Matthew Parker-Jones, Andrei Sabau, and Mariann Rossi. Their hardworking and dedicated first year representatives, Guillaume Leverdier and Valentine Vaillant, also took part in the organization. JMUCC was divided into two sections: a round-robin format and a gruelling 24-hour research case. Throughout the round-robin, teams tackled case studies on three Montreal based companies: Creaform, La Senza and Le Chateau. Schools were given 3-hours of preparation time, following which they presented their recommendations to top executives from the actual company.

For the research case, team’s had 24-hours to prepare a detailed plan for VIA Rail Canada. Participants were tasked with the daunting challenge of competing against low-cost air travel, all the while attempting to develop a train culture in Canada. Teams then presented to a panel VIA Rail Executives, including Steve Del Bosco, the company’s Chief Customer Officer.

Throughout the process, team’s were given feedback from over 120 Montreal business executives including Tony Loffreda (Executive Vice-President, RBC), Anna Martini (President, Groupe Dynamite), Russell Hiscock (CEO, CN Investment Division), Angelo Bracaglia (Partner, Deloitte & Touche), amongst many others.

“JMUCC benefits both the participants and businesses”, stated Matthew Parker-Jones, VP Academics. “Students have an amazing opportunity to bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world, while businesses hear creative out-of-the-box ideas from the world’s top young talent.”

Participants were also given the opportunity to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of Montreal. Teams wined and dined at some of the city’s top culinary hot spots, such as KoKo’s, Buona Notte, Molson Hall, and Altitude 737. At the end of each long day, participants enjoyed the simple luxuries of the Hilton Bonaventure.

When the dust settled at the end of the week, Royal Roads University of Victoria, BC was declared winner of the 2010 JMUCC after having been crowned the finalist from the Dama Construction Division. HEC Montreal, top of the La Senza Division, came in second and Concordia University was third overall after winning the RBC division. Rounding out the finalists were Carleton University, from the Groupe Dynamite division, and Chulalongkorn University of Thailand of the Bombardier division.

With this year’s competition another unqualified success amongst participants, sponsors, judges, coaches, and organizers alike, only one question remained: Where do we sign-up for next year?