INTERCOLLEGIATE CASE ANALYSIS COMPETITION AS AN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 21 INTERCOLLEGIATE CASE ANALYSIS COMPETITION AS AN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE S. Kyle Reed, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville ABSTRACT The study of management by the case method is so universal today that it has encouraged regional intercollegiate competition among some of the more prestigious business schools with MBA programs. A team from The University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 1978 won the Southeastern competition for the second year in a row. This paper will elaborate on the selection and coaching of the team in preparation for the competition, the format of the competition, selection of the case, assignment of the case to competing teams, and the atmosphere within which the teams prepare the case for presentation. Selection of judges and criteria for judging will also be included. INTRODUCTION Competitions in the Northeast at Dartmouth and in the Southeast at the University of Georgia have been going on for two years now, and the enthusiasm generated indicates that such competitions will become an annual affair. The Southeastern competition consists of two parts--a case analysis and playing of a management simulation, but this paper is concerned only with the case analysis portion of the competition. CASE TO BE USED I have chosen the 1977 competition as an example, since I want to use the case assigned during that competition. Independent Publishing Company (Intercollegiate Clearing House Case 4-377-062) was used that year, believe it or not, in both the Northeastern and the Southeastern competitions. (Twenty copies of this case are made available for distribution at the ABSEL Conference.) SELECTION OF THE TEAM Instructions from the University of Georgia suggested the selection of a five-member team made up of full- time students in the MBA program at the competing schools. We chose six students, one of whom became the alternate as chosen by members of the team. Every effort is made to have each chosen student represent a different area of concentration in the MBA program. I work very closely with the various departments seeking their assistance in obtaining the top student(s) in each area. The chosen team members are enrolled in a special section of the Graduate Business Policy course, and essentially the same procedure is followed in teaching this section as is used in any other section of the course, except for the fact that much more attention is given to the Importance of oral presentations. COACHING THE TEAM The class meets one day per week for about three hours, and after spending about the first three meetings covering the basic aspects of corporate strategy (using Business Policy by Christensen, Andrews and Bower, Richard D. Irwin, Homewood, Illinois, 1978), most of the emphasis is placed on oral presentations, following instructions from the University of Georgia coordinator. Competition takes place during the Spring quarter. The following instructions were received early in the quarter from Dr. William F. Glueck, coordinator of the case portion of the competition: You will receive the case material when you arrive. We have arranged for the library to be available Friday night should you desire to use it. This approach puts each team under the same constraints. Of course, University of Georgia students have no knowledge of the case to be used or its industry. The presentation will follow this approach: 1. The team will present its analysis and recommendations for twenty minutes. They can hand out any exhibits, etc., they choose which makes their presentation more effective. 2. The judges will question the team on the presentations and its implications for ten minutes (changed to twenty minutes during the 1978 competition). The panel of judges will include: - a consultant who specializes in strategic management policy. - a top executive who makes strategic de- c is ions. - a professor who teaches policy and who is not affiliated with any of the competing schools. None of the judges has any ties to the host school. 3. The competing teams will question the team similarly for ten minutes (eliminated from the 1978 competition). 4. The suggested outline of the presentation is: a. The Corporate Objectives b. Analyses of Current Status of the Corporation (1) Environmental Opportunities and Threats (2) Internal Strategic Advantages and Weaknesses Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 22 c. Alternative Strategies for Improvement of Corporate Performance d. Major Implementation Policies (1) Organizational and Personnel Changes (2) Functional Policies Necessary to Make the Strategy Work (for example - financial, operational, marketing policies). e. How the Strategy Chosen Will Better Ready Corporate objectives The team members were assigned a number of cases to be presented following this procedure, using any combination of the team members in the various presentations. However, each member had ample opportunity to become involved. Since the time constraints in the instructions were so critical, great emphasis was put on the use of effective visual aids which could made a strong point in a minimum amount of time. The oral presentations were video-taped, with faculty members and an executive-in-residence acting as judges. Critiquing of the tapes was one of the most beneficial aids used in the coaching, because the effectiveness of the presentation is just as important as the facts given in the analysis. ON TO THE COMPETITION Competition on the campus at the University of Georgia at Athens took place on May 13 and 14, 1977. Teams from Vanderbilt University, The University of Alabama, The University of Florida, Florida State University, The University of Georgia, and The University of Tennessee arrived at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 13, and after orientation and room assignments were given copies of the case to be analyzed. They were told that presentations would start at 8 a.m. the next morning. At orientation teams were given the following schedule: Needless to say, the teams worked all night long in analyzing the case and getting ready for the big presentation. In the short period of time, it was amazing to see the beautiful jobs done by the students. THE CASE The Independent Publishing Company case involves John Ginn since his takeover as President and Publisher of IPC, a part of the Harte- Hanks Newspaper chain. He had been quite successful until the fall of the first year when the economy in the distribution area of his newspapers in the Anderson, South Carolina, region plummeted in 1975. Harte-Hanks had agreed on goals for Ginn, and had established a bonus system based on whether he reached the goals --$6,800 if he reached the “good” level of managerial margin, and $12,000 if he reached the ‘outstanding” level. Naturally, John was shooting for the big pot. In spite of his successes, by early December Ginn could see the loss of all bonus because of the rapid deterioration in the economy. What should he do? (At this point in the presentation there will be a brief analysis of the case. I plan to follow the actual presentation made by the team from The University of Tennessee--using their visual aids, etc.) THE JUDGING The judges did a superb job of questioning the team members of various aspects of the presentation. Criteria shown in Figure 1 were used for judging. THE WINNER At the Awards Banquet the judges were overwhelming in their praise for the outstanding jobs done by each of the teams. Competition was very stiff, and the winner --The University of Tennessee. EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Students who participated in the competition say that they would not take anything for the experience. They feel that it was as near to the real world as it possibly could have been. Here they were analyzing problems of an actual organization in the vicinity of the competition and giving their recommendations the same as they would to the management of their own company-- or as a group of consultants giving their recommendations to a client. RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended that ABSEL encourage this type of competition in other geographical areas of the United States and perhaps make the competition such that regions could compete and a grand winner announced. Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 23 Table of Contents Volume 6, 1979 The Use of Cases with Role Plays in a Research Methods Course Debugging and Implementing the Live-Case Approach to Marketing Research in the Australian Environment Using a Case as the Basis for a Modified Debate Using Cases in Business Communication Classes A Structured Approach to Case Analysis and Reporting Intercollegiate Case Analysis Competition as an Experiential Learning Experience Attributes Germane to Student/Live Case Situations Understanding Dispute Resolution Through Experiential learning Personality Development and Conflict Dynamics: An Experimental Design to Study the Effects of Teaching Methodologies on Conflict Resolution Interpersonal Competence and the Digital PDP-11:40 The process of Writing a Collective Bargaining Simulation: A Case Study in Practical Pedagogy Simulating Negotiations in an Educational Context Simulations as a Technique for Teaching Collective Bargaining Experiential Processing of Differing Managerial Perspectives: The Use of a Game Show Format Individual Self Report vs. Group consensus in Small Decision-Making Groups Effects of Sex-Role Stereotypes on Promotion Decisions: An Exercise Computer Aids to Planning: The Budget and Forecasting Module Use of a Microcomputer in a Decision Analysis for Investment Portfolio Selection A Game of Investment Strategy: Description, Use, Criticism and Modification Coping with Future Uncertainties Through Probabilistic Budgeting Administration and Design of Simulation Materials for a Specialized Management Training Program Managing Stress in Organizational Life Banksim: The Bank Management Simulation Issues in the Organizational Application of Simulation and Experiential material Games Within Games: The Role of the Glitch Experiential Learning from Classroom to Business An Evaluation of the Small Business Institute Program as an Experiential learning Exercise Conversations with Top Management (Simulated) Experience in the Use and Assessment of Simulation in Management Education A Statistical Analysis of Simulation Users: Relationships between Stress and Human Subject guidelines Group Decision Making in a Computer Game Analysis of Demographic and Psychosocial Variables Comparing Performance During Three Managerial Accounting Simulation Schedules Business Policy Simulation and the Intense Course Structure The Use of Intensive Simulation in Executive Development and Academic Settings The Use of Experiential Exercises in the Undergraduate Consumer Behavior Course A Personal Marketing Strategy Approach: Framework and Application Teaching PERT Experientially in Marketing Research Discovering the Majority Fallacy An Experiential Approach to Studying International Business A Demonstration of the Business Simulation Game as a Curriculum Assessment Device Relating Teaching Methods with Educational Objectives in the Business Curriculum The Junior Achievement Applied Management Program as a Compromise Situation Between the Simulation and the Internship Who is Using Computerized Business Games?: A View from Publishers' Adoption Lists Trials and Tribulations in Testing Educational Innovations An Examination of the Perceived Effectiveness of Computer Simulation in a Classroom Setting as Affected by Game, Environmental and Respondent Characteristics Game Administration: A Life Cycle Analysis Research on the Effectiveness of Using a Computerized Simulation in the Basic Management Course Gaming and Attitudinal Change The Teacher-Student Relationship in Experiential Classes and the Student's Perception of Course Effectiveness An Exploratory Study of Student Characteristics and Educational Processes in Programmatic Experiential learning General Incongruity Adaption Level (GIAL) as a Predictor of Risk Preferences in a Simulated Management Game The Cap-Stone Opportunity: Combining Business Simulation and Experiential Learning Incorporating MIS/DSS into Policy Courses Via Simulation Who Benefits Most from Participation in Business Policy Simulations: An Empirical Study of Skill Development by Functional Areas The Use of Program NAMEX in Teaching the Accounting for Nonmonetary Assets The Use of Program CVP in Teaching Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis Experiential vs. Traditional Classroom Approach in the Basic Management Course: A Puerto Rican Experience A Guide to the Successful Use of Business Simulation Games The Dynamic Aspects of Interactive Gaming Puts the Realism into Gaming System Representation of SIMORG The Design of a Database System to Support Business Simulation and Experiential Learning A Data Entry and Retrieval System for a Computer Simulation (DERS) Simulation - An Advantage for Accounting Research Computer-Aided Project Performance Control Simulation: An Interactive Experiential Gaming Technique for Managerial Decision Making Utilization of Manual Simulation Games to Develop Scenarios of Future Events - An Exploratory Study Foundry: A Foundry Simulation Customized Debriefing: The Achilles Heel of Experiential learning? Computerized Business Simulations and Experiential Learning Exercises: An Instructional Interface The Baseball Game: A Group Role Observation, Problem Solving Experience A Practical Design for Experiential Learning Exercises: Roles, Technical Equipment and Alternative Debriefing Formats