What happens when four students, inexperienced in case solving, come together with their teacher and coach and in a very short time train intensely with the goal to win the world's largest case competition of its kind?
The annual international case competition of John Molson was held for the 40th time in January 2022. Lund University School of Economics and Management has sent teams to Montreal, where the competition is usually held, for about ten years. The 2022 edition was digital which brought some new challenges. Despite fierce competition, the team did exceptionally well and managed to end up in the top 6.
How do you prepare for this kind of competition? How can case solving help you in a future career? And why is Mats Urde such a good coach? We asked Lum and Jakob from the LUSEM team!
The team
The participating students in Molson often start their training a year before the competition, and therefore know each other well. The four students in our LUSEM team hadn’t been able to gather or work with cases together until only three weeks before the Molson competition. A couple of them hadn’t even met before.
How did you manage to become a cohesive and in-sync team in such a short time?
“We became a full team of four very close to the competition and in mid-December I solved my first case ever when we did some training in Mölle. Luckily, I already knew Sebastian and Dominykas, but I had never met Jakob. However, Jakob knew Sebastian and Dominykas, so it was Jakob and I that had to get to know each other. Fortunately that was super easy. The team worked very well and it was always clear who was responsible for what. We trusted each other and there was harmony in the group,“ Lum says.
The training
The training is a vital part of the process and crucial if you are to stand a chance in the competition. Mats has solid training experience, and has brought teams from LUSEM to the Molson for almost 20 years now.
How did the training and coaching by Mats help you become better case solvers?
“It was a great idea to go to Mölle for two days, isolate ourselves and just concentrate on case solving. Everything else disappeared and we became very focused. It was really intense, but it paid off! It was quite an experience and such a good opportunity for discussion with Mats and the team, get feedback and use that during the next case and learn how to present and work as a team. Ask yourself what you are good at, and what your strength is within the team,“ Jakob says.
“We had very little time so we had to be efficient. We got several cases to solve within the team, and Mats managed to get people from his network to act as judges which was very helpful. We got feedback from Mats on our strengths and weaknesses,“ Lum explains.
He continues:
“We also got connected to the network of previous LUSEM teams that competed at the Molson which was great. They gave us really valuable advice. All this then helped us win four cases in a row!“
The competition
The Molson competition was well planned, according to the students. Except for the intense days of case solving there was also time for networking and some social interaction. Jakob and Lum were also impressed by the other teams, the level of the cases and the judges. Especially the live case presented by Cirque du Soleil was something to remember. The entertainment company asked how they could perform and act digitally. The LUSEM team presented a solution about not trying to transform the circus show into a digital equivalent but transform all that goes on around it instead. Mats especially highlights this as a good presentation.
What was the toughest challenge during the competition?
“Lack of time!“ Lum says.
“That the challenges had such a broad spectrum,“ Jakob says.
Jakob continues:
“That the competition was digital was of course a challenge in itself even if the technical aspect worked out very well. The cases gave us all kinds of challenges that we were supposed to solve related to issues like logistics/last mile delivery, finance, sustainability. Every morning we wondered what could come and what models we were going to use...“
Future career
How can case solving help you in a future career?
“We learn a lot from the actual cases. The other part is that we get to train presentation technique and it is possible to compare the case solving situation with for example a sales situation. This new knowledge about companies, resources and understanding different processes will definitely help me in my future career,“ Jakob says.
“Trying to understand the situation, what the challenges are for the company and so on. It doesn't matter in what direction I go in my future career, there will always be problems and challenges and to learn how to quickly understand, approach and solve a problem is a really good lesson,“ Lum concludes.