The Burnaby School District (BSD) Case
Competition program was developed by the BCIT School of Business in partnership
with the Burnaby School District. The BSD Case Competition program was targeted
towards students in grades nine to twelve and was customized for the Summit
Program. It consisted of three cases: Prostock Baseball, Burnaby Heights Hats
Off Day, and Canadian Tire Driving School. The program was divided into two
phases: mentorship and the case competition.
The first phase consisted of members from
the BCIT chapters of MPI, MA, and SIFE that went to five different Burnaby High
schools: Burnaby North, South, Central, Moscrop, and Cariboo Hill, for a month to
provide guidance and answer questions students may have about developing a
marketing plan that focuses on an element of the marketing mix: product, place,
price, and promotion. The first case, Prostock Baseball, was a non-presentation
practice case. For most students it was their first time developing a marketing
case, so the focus was on the basics of the case. The second case, Hats Off
Day, was a presentation case and was also the connection to phase two of the
program, the case competition.
The case competition took place on Nov 17th
at the BCIT Burnaby Campus. It was a full day of hard work that tested the High
School students’ ability to work as a cohesive team under tight time pressures.
The students were given 45 minutes of practice before they had to deliver their
ten minute PowerPoint presentations. The second half of the day consisted of a
ten minute presentation from Annika from BC Hydro about sustainability. The students
were then given two hours to develop a ten minute presentation that solves the
problem stated in the case. The winner of the 2012 Case Study Competition was Burnaby
North. Awards were also given out for the best market research, most innovative
idea, and most convincing sales pitch.
My experience as the BSD Case Competition
Event Coordinator was amazing! My main task was the development and
organization of the case competition day for 73 high school students and
teachers, ten BCIT mentors, and four judges. Although I developed the schedule
and knew it inside and out, I did not know what to expect. It was my first time
developing an event of that size with that many stakeholders. I would definitely have to say with the help
of the motivated mentors and BCIT staff it was a great success! I am deeply
grateful for all the effort the mentors and BCIT staff have put into the
mentoring sessions and the competition day. There was a touch of competition
between the mentors wanting their respective school to win. I think that determination was one of the
driving factors that pushed the mentors to carry on through the high pressure
ten hour day. This event definitely would not have been as successful without
the mentors, BCIT Staff, and the high school students and teachers. This was
definitely a rewarding experience!
Jennifer Wong
President | MPI BCIT
BSD Case Competition Event Coordinator
Being a director for the case study
competition was by far the highlight of my time at BCIT. In June, during the
beginning of the planning process I had no idea what to expect for the
competition day and the mentor sessions, as something like this had never been
done before at BCIT. The next five months were filled with meetings with an
excellent team, and lots of emails and sessions with mentors and the high
schools. Once the mentor sessions began in mid-October, the mentors, organizing
team and I knew this event was going to be a success. I think it’s safe to say,
we were all blown away by the amount of interest and hard work put into all the
case work by the students. Their talent was truly displayed when each school
made their first presentation and hurried back to their classrooms to prepare
in just two hours, another case study preparation. The whole event was in large
part a collaborated effort by BCIT, the BCITMA, SIFE BCIT, MPI BCIT, and the
Burnaby School District to get everything organized. But what really tied it
all together were the students and their drive to learn and succeed that
resulted in their incredible performances. I had an extremely memorable time
being a part of this event, because not only was I able to develop my writing,
organizing, and communicating skills, I got to be a part of a special event
that enriched and furthered education in the community.
Ayda Dabiri
Director of BSD Case Competition
BCIT Marketing Association
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