The BHP team posing with their ambassador, Caroline.
Over Spring Break, BHP Students Angela Morisette, David Yu, Jany Xu, and Sabeeha Islam travelled to Montreal, Quebec to participate in BHP’s first international case competition entry in several years. They participated in the McGill Management International Case Competition (MMICC), hosted by McGill University, alongside teams from 10 other international schools including Shantou University, U. of Portugal, Queensland University, just to name a few. The case competition, which was 32 hours in length, was sponsored by McKesson Canada and revolved around how to shift the strategy of their Hospital Automation Solutions to better equip McKesson for future success.
In the 32-hour case crack period, the team didn’t have access to phones, their personal computers, or any other outside help – the only resources they could use were the internet (no sites with log-ins, though) and two textbooks that they brought. The team first spent some time doing some solo research to get to know McKesson as a company and the Canadian healthcare landscape, then came together to begin creating a strategy solution. The team ultimately decided on branching into remote, home hospital visits via webcam to automate patient visits for low-grade illnesses and patients that simply required referrals to specialists. The team presented twice to a panel of about 12 judges and fielded a total of 20 minutes of questions.
“This was definitely not like a case competition I had ever experienced,” Angela noted. “MMICC really pushed our team to be efficient, smart, and strategy-oriented. I never realized how much a team of peers working together could accomplish in such a short time period!”
But MMICC was so much more than a case competition for the BHP team; it was an international experience. The moment the team arrived at the airport, they were greeted by their loving ambassador, Caroline. Caroline is a Canadian native, and she served as the team’s host for the entire week-long competition. Every night, there were activities planned that Caroline would lead the team to that fostered camaraderie among the different teams.
One night, Team Texas (as affectionately referred to by all participants) would become friends with a team through singing along to Drake with Simon Fraser University. The next day, Team Texas hiked up Mount Royal (Montreal’s beautiful nature park) and made snowmen with Shantou University. The following days leading up to the actual case crack included activities such as an across town scavenger hunt, tours of Montreal’s history museum, and wonderful dinners. The team became friends with those from all universities and learned about different cultures.
“The McGill Case Competition was more like a mini-study abroad experience. Never have I learned so much so quickly, made so many memories, or met so many wonderfully diverse people in such a short time period. This will definitely be one of my favorite memories from McCombs/BHP for years to come”, Sabeeha noted.
As the week came to an end, the team went out one last time with Caroline to Montreal’s famous “Juliette et Chocolat” dessert shop for a sweet ending to a fulfilling week. The team talked with Caroline fondly about the memories they had developed in just 6 short days, and laughs were had by all.
As Team Texas boarded the cab to head back to Austin, they were sad to leave their new friends and such a beautiful city, but fulfilled to have been given the chance to represent UT, McCombs, and BHP. They were also pleased to have spent their Spring Breaks in such a meaningful way meeting international peers from across the world.