The team from Okanagan College and their instructors, from left to right: Stacey Fenwick, Lathan McKinney, Talasa Larder, Jacob Kuypers and Blair Baldwin.
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February 16, 2017 - 4:18 PM
A trio of third-year marketing students from Okanagan College’s School of Business are back on B.C. soil after placing second at the 12th annual BDC Marketing Case Competition hosted by Vanier College in Montreal last weekend.
The team from Okanagan College was among 34 competing post-secondary institutions from across the country. The College finished just behind the team from College Edouard Montpetit in Quebec and ahead of the third-place team from Ontario’s George Brown College in Toronto.
OC’s team members included Jacob Kuypers, Talasa Larder and Lathan McKinney. They were coached by faculty members Blair Baldwin and Stacey Fenwick.
“I am so proud of our results,” said McKinney. “Just to be able to represent our school at this huge competition was an honour and then the results were incredible. We went into the competition focused on coming up with creative solutions to the cases and we wanted to give our best effort, whatever the results were. To finish as the top English-speaking team was a significant accomplishment.”
The competition consists of two rounds. In the preliminary round all 34 teams are presented with the same case. The teams go into solitary lockdown with no access to the Internet or research resources. They prepare a full strategic analysis and identify key issues and then develop three mutually exclusive marketing strategies, choose one and develop a fully integrated marketing and sales plan including a budget and forecast ROI.
After they prepare their solutions, they present their analysis and recommendations without notes in not less than 18 and not more than 20 minutes to a panel of four judges and then face five minutes of questions.
The top six teams advance to the final round where they are presented with a new case. In the 2017 competition the final case was based on a Vancouver Tourism company that was seeking ways to remain competitive in a saturated market and in the face of new competition from Airbnb and others.
The team from OC pitched the judges on a compelling adventure tourism challenge for the Vancouver company, which would give tourists an opportunity to experience the city in a unique way, giving the company a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The 2017 competition marks the second year in a row that a team from Okanagan College has made it to the final round.
"The effort put in by the students to prepare for the case competition was inspiring,” says Blair Baldwin, co-coach of the team. “The results show how applied learning continues to differentiate our students at the national level.”
News from © iNFOnews, 2017