Milgard Invitational Case Competition

Congratulations to the team from Western Washington University for their superior performance in the inaugural Milgard Invitational Case Competition on Social Responsibility.  They did a wonderful job with the case on Fair Trade Cotton and Victoria's Secret.  Congratulations also to the runner-up team, the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington Seattle.  Both of these teams did an excellent job of addressing this complex case. 

Current Participants

Teams

Each team will consist of three to four currently enrolled undergraduate students.  Once team members' names have been submitted, no changes can be made to the team roster.  Once the cases have been distributed, teams may not consult with their advisors for any reason.  Any questions regarding the case must be directed to the UW Tacoma Center for Leadership & Social Responsibility executive director, Joe Lawless.

Teams should be made up of members that posses a diverse set of knowledge and skills, including quantative analysis, marketing, strategy, public speaking, leadership, and presentation technology.

Schools will be listed as they confirm their involvement and submit team members' names.  Deadline to submit the team names is Friday, March 30.

Each member of the first place team will receive a commemorative trophy commissioned from the Hilltop Artists in Residence exclusively for this competition.  The winning team will also receive a trophy to be displayed at their home school.  Every participant will receive a competition t-shirt.

Advisors

We encourage, but do not require, the teams to bring an advisor who is a faculty or staff member of that team's university.   Once the cases have been distributed, teams may not consult with their advisors for any reason.  Advisors will be permitted to observe all of the competition presentations.

Any questions regarding the case must be directed to the UW Tacoma Center for Leadership & Social Responsibility executive director, Joe Lawless.

Schedule 

The business case is given to teams on Friday of the week prior to the competition (4/13).  Teams will have until Monday morning (4/16) to analyze the case, conduct research, prepare recommendations, and create and submit a presentation.  In preparing for the competition, teams may use any reference materials available through the Internet and academic library systems (i.e. UW library system). Teams may not consult on any aspect of the case with any person who is not a fellow team member.

An electronic version of the presentation must be sent to the Center for Leadership & Social Responsibility clsr@uw.edu by 8:00 a.m. on the Monday (April 16) prior to the competition.  Once the presentation has been submitted no modifications can be made. 

After submitting the PPT slides (or other presentation media, e.g. Prezi), student teams may give their presentation before a panel of their peers and faculty members in order to receive feedback on their presentation skills.  No modifications to the presentation may be made after it has been submitted to UW Tacoma.

All team members must be involved in the delivery of the presentation and should be prepared to present even in the unlikely event of media failure.  The team must also bring enough hard copies of the presentation to provide to a panel of five judges. The order of teams presenting will be determined by a random drawing at the time of the case distribution.

Important Dates

• Friday, April 13 - Case distributed via email to participating teams at 8:00 a.m.
• Monday, April 16 - Teams' PowerPoint Presentations must be submitted electronically to The Center for Leadership & Social Responsibility by 8:00 a.m.
• Friday, April 20 - Competition day - see scheule below

Competition Day Timeline

The following schudule of presentation times is final and was assinged randomly.  Other students and faculty are welcom to observe presentations, however once a presentation has started, no entry or exit from the room will be allowed.  There is a 5-minute transition period between presentations.

** Teams who have not presented yet are not allowed to observe other teams' presentations.  Once you have presented, you are welcome to observe.

• 9:30 a.m. - Optional welcome breakfast
• 9:45 a.m. - Team #1
  
• 10:15 a.m. - Team #2
  
• 10:45 a.m. - Break
• 11:00 a.m. - Team #3
  
• 11:30 a.m. - Team #4
  
• Noon to 1:00 p.m. - Hosted lunch
• 1:00 p.m. - Team #5
  
• 1:30 p.m. - Team #6
  
• 2:00 p.m. - Team #7l
• 2:30 p.m. - Break while judges deliberate
• 2:45 p.m. - Team Photos
• 3:30 p.m. - Awards Reception
• 4:00 p.m. - Event Conclusion

The Case

The case study for the competition may be commissioned or selected from a case study library of a major global university.  An electronic copy of the business case will sent to each registered team member (and advisor), along with a information about the logistics of the competition (order of teams presenting, maximum amount of time the presentation can be, etc.). Since the case competition is sponsored by the Center for Leadership & Social Responsibility, an element of corporate social responsibility should be expected. 

What is Corporate Social Responsibility? To understand what corporate social responsibility means, a review of the article Strategy & Society - The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer can be helpful.  The article is most likely available through your School's academic library.

Judges

The judging panel will be composed of up to five Puget Sound business community members. The judges will observe each presentation, ask questions of the contestants, and determine the winning team. The evaluation criteria for the presentation are as follows:

1. Quality of analysis:  includes the scope and depth of analysis and the ability to draw valid conclusions from case data and research.
2. Quality of recommendations:  includes the scope and viability of recommendations as well as their anticipated impact on the organization and its stakeholders.
3. Professionalism:  includes communication skills, teamwork, design of presentation materials, and confidence in responding to questions.

Each team will have a total of 25 minutes before the judge panel. The 25-minute time period will be broken into 2 parts as follow:

1. 15 minutes – Team presents analysis and recommendations in a formal presentation.
2. 10 minutes – Question and answer period with the judges. Students should be prepared to answer questions from the judges about their analysis and recommendations. 

Rules & Guidelines

For a complete list of the rules and guidelines, please download and read the PDF linked below.  All team members will be expected to sign an integrity pledge and agree to having read/understood the rules upon registering for the competition.

Any team found to be in violation of the rules will be disqualified. 

Questions about the rules, guidelines, or case should be directed to the Center at clsr@uw.edu.  

Team Registration Here