MBA students Ian Cruickshank, Ken Lee, and Jason Robertson won third place in at the CA World International Case Competition, held May 16-18, 2010, in Las Vegas. The team was awarded a $2500 cash prize.
CA sponsors this unique, global case competition that brings together 12 teams of top students from Masters of Information Systems and Masters of Business Administration programs from around the world to demonstrate and evaluate the strategic value of IT management for an organization.
A CA customer provides the case challenge based on a real business issue, which is then solved by each team in their own innovative way. Each team is comprised of three graduate students, with at least one student pursuing a degree in information technology (IT) or information systems.
Two weeks prior to arriving in Las Vegas, competing teams were provided with a business case based upon a real-world scenario (this year’s client company was Citigroup). To add to the challenge, the evening before the case competition begins, teams are given a “twist”, a new piece of information that the students must consider in their analysis and presentations. Students arrive the following morning and present their findings to a panel of three judges drawn from industry and academia.
The Sauder team stood out by presenting an innovative solution involving a clever allocation of resources that already existent in the firm. They not only ably provided great guidance; they also presented that guidance in a polished and professional manner. Prof. Ron Cenfetelli was in attendance as a regional coordinator in preparation for next year’s competition. “Ian, Ken and Jason did a fantastic job. They invested a great deal of time and effort into preparing for this competition. It’s notable that they competed against teams from some very reputable business schools from around the world. Ian, Ken and Jason very well represented the Sauder School.”
CA World is the largest global gathering of CA customers, business partners and IT professionals, all focused on the optimal management of the IT environment. The International Case Competition on the Strategic Value of IT Management is sponsored by CA, the School of Business Administration at Oakland University, Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona, and Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.
CA Inc. is a global information technology (IT) management software company that works with the majority of the Forbes Global 2000, as well as government organizations and thousands of companies in diverse industries worldwide. Founded in 1976, CA serves customers in virtually every country in the world and reported fiscal year 2009 revenue of $4.3 billion.