BHP students Lisa Kao, Ryo Kurita, Robert Ma, and David Yu, competed in the Milgard Invitational Case Competition on Social Responsibility (MICCSR) in Seattle a couple weeks ago. A total of 13 teams from schools across the nation and Canada participated in the social responsibility case competition. This year’s case centered on REI, Inc., specifically focusing on how REI could implement its strategic goals in the shared economy market.
This case was unique in a variety of ways. As a social responsibility case, it revolved around how to further expand and sustain REI’s existing reputation as an environmentally and socially aware company. Teams were also specifically tasked with improving on one of REI’s four business strategy components: catalyzing experiences for its customers. Teams were encouraged to develop a solution to this by utilizing what is known today as the “sharing economy”. Examples of businesses who utilize the sharing economy are Uber, Lyft, airbnb, TaskRabbit, etc.
“I thought [the prompt] was incredibly interesting and freeing – the prompt, let alone the topic of social responsibility, licensed us to think more abstractly and creatively than most cases, hence why I thoroughly enjoyed doing this case competition,” said Ryo Kurita.
The UT team presented a three-pronged solution revolving around utilizing the sharing economy to connect REI consumers around the globe. The solution provided users with the ability to seek and provide REI equipment rentals, lodging near popularly visited outdoors attractions, and touring services in those same areas. The team had 72 to hours to come up with a solution and create a presentation.
“I approached it like I’ve done with every other case. We all looked at the case on our own and came up with our own ideas. Then we came together to discuss ideas and ultimately came up with one that we hashed out,” said Robert Ma.
The case was also unique in that it had a two-weekend timeline. Teams were first emailed the case prompt on Friday morning of the first weekend, were given until Monday morning to develop their solutions and presentations, and were flown out to University of Washington at Tacoma at the start of the following weekend to present their solutions to the judges.
“The two-weekend timeline was definitely an adjustment for me. I had also never had a 72-hour case before, so it was challenging drawing the line between a solution that was thorough and too much detail. Furthermore, it was tough compiling the slides since we weren’t simultaneously preparing our oral presentations yet, as that portion was for the following weekend,” voiced Kurita.
After the preliminary rounds of the competition concluded, each participating team was invited to watch the finalists’ presentations. Although the UT team did not place in the competition, members felt satisfied with the valuable lessons they had gained through working on the case prompt as a team, as well as through their observations of other schools’ presentations.
“It was a humbling experience. I think it showed how other universities prepare their students differently than how McCombs does. Many of the universities have set teams that work together and organizations that teach about case comps and I think it definitely shows,” noted Ma.
The team made sure to take advantage of their time in the wonderful city of Seattle, too. A visit to the famous Pike’s Place Chowder was accomplished on the first day, and the team also visited popular tourist attractions, such as the Gum Wall and the first Starbucks. After befriending students from other participating schools, the team also enjoyed a fun last night out in Capitol Hill.
The team couldn’t wait after getting off the plane; they went straight to sightseeing in the city!
Three of the four team members making their mark at the infamous Gum Wall in downtown Seattle.