Giving up essential study time, sleep, and a personal life for the sake of a school competition may have seemed difficult for four students in the School of Accounting and Finance, but according to Alex Daharu, it was well worth it.

For one week in January, Alex Daharu (AFM), Ken Yap (AFM), Mary H.Q. Zhang (AFM), and Scott Warrener (AFM) took on the daunting task of competing in the second annual Odette School of Business' CMA Case Competition held at the University of Windsor. 

The case scenario focused on a not-for-profit school administration organization called Codesser, which administers schools in rural areas. As consultants hired by the board, the group was required to advise Codesser on an appropriate growth strategy given the organizations current situation.

“We received the case on Monday and spent the week analyzing it and preparing our formal recommendation to the board,” explains Daharu. “Given our schedules, we were forced to have our meetings from 6-11p in a tiny study room. Leading up to the competition, we stayed up even later on Wednesday night to finalize the presentation.”

A lack of sleep wasn’t the only challenge to overcome. For first-year student Zhang, the most difficult part was learning and applying the concepts of her business strategy course, which is covered over an entire semester, into a few short hours.

“Quite frankly, when I first saw the case, I was quite baffled - both its length and content intimidated me,” explains Zhang. “As a first-year student with minimal experience in case competitions, I felt like a fish out of water. With the help and guidance of my teammates, however, things became easier as the project progressed.“

“I think every member of our team faced their own personal challenges because of the competition, but we all overcame them valiantly,” explains Daharu.

In terms of the competition itself, Daharu says they were never quite sure how they fared relative to the other teams. Following the first round, judges provided the team with a substantial amount of feedback, including positive comments on their professionalism and passion.  However, not all the remarks were so encouraging.

“They felt that we should have tied back to our SWOT analysis even more. We were quite deflated and unsure of our progress into the 2nd round. Yet we survived,” explains Daharu.

The second round went smoother for the team despite being challenged by one particular judge on their quantitative analysis. Tthe team was pleasantly surprised when they were chosen to advanced to the third and final round of the competition.  Prepared to give it their best shot, Daharu says they watched in horror as the Laurier team recommended a similar proposal to what they had chosen.

“Laurier and our team had both chosen to advise the board not to expand via urban schools and instead change Codesser's core activities to allow it to more actively pursue rural schools. However, I believe that the key differentiator between the two teams was the higher growth rate that we were able to persuade the board they could achieve given their current situation. “

A higher growth rate could very well have been the deciding factor for judges as Waterloo edged out Laurier to win the competition. It’s a wonderful feat for the entire SAF team, but perhaps an even bigger accomplishment for Zhang who needed special permission to enter the competition as a first-year student.

An ambitious and driven young lady, Zhang fought through the challenges associated with a case competition typically geared towards 4B students; gaining knowledge and insight that will no doubt benefit Zhang in the years to come.

“It was a test of adaption. Looking back, I am proud of what I had contributed, and I realize that my learning abilities and prior experience in presentations has surely helped. On top of that, I had learned a lot of things through this experience - both technical skills in analyzing cases and performing different quantitative analyses as well as general soft skills such as communication. From now on, I can draw on this experience and better handle case studies. I have my teammates to thank for this extraordinary experience.”