9 hours ago
The third annual Arizona Statewide Business School Case Competition (ASBSCC), coming to Northern Arizona University, provides students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and test their soft skills—communication, leadership, adaptability, networking and collaboration—by placing them in realistic business scenarios that demand quick thinking and effective teamwork.
This collaborative effort between Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and NAU allows students to work across institutional lines to translate theory into practice and to demonstrate how classroom knowledge functions in real-world decision-making environments.
Christine Drake, director of student success at The W. A. Franke School of Business (FCB), said each university selects 20 undergraduate and 10 graduate students to participate in this event.
Ashok Subramanian, Karthik Kannan and Ohad Kadan at the 2025 ASBSCC.“The three deans of the three business schools wanted to do a collaborative event for students to address real-world business problems,” Drake said. “We have two different divisions in the competition. When students arrive, they are divided into teams and spend five hours reviewing the case, coming up with solutions and putting together a PowerPoint presentation.”
Students are given specific elements they need to address as part of the case. These scenarios are related to the region of the state where the host university is located. For example, last year at UA, the students worked on a case related to the supply chain of a semiconductor manufacturing company to decide whether to work with a vendor closer to home or one based in Taiwan. On the second day of the event, the groups present their findings in the first round. The top three teams from each division compete in the final round, which is judged by the deans of the business schools.
“What’s unique about this competition is that we do not compete against schools,” Drake said. “We break up the teams so that there is a student from each university on the team, so it is a collaborative competition. We also try to incorporate networking events and other ways to not only engage students with each other, but also with industry partners and professionals in the field.”
FCB Dean Ashok Subramanian, said beyond the conventional rivalry between the three universities lies a shared mission: impact. “This event is ‘co-opetition’ in action—where the spirit of the game meets the power of partnership to solve for our region,” he said.
To participate, students go through an application process. Drake said they encourage all business majors to get involved so they can glimpse the potential impact they can make on their community.
“We want all students to be able to have an opportunity to really engage in something unique,” she said. “Set a foundation for them that is long-lasting, something that just gets them invested in what they are doing.”
The competition will be held at The W. A. Franke College of Business, Bldg. 81, on March 19-20, and the cases students will be working on will have specific relevance to northern Arizona. Drake said conversations have already started for next year’s event to continue giving students the opportunity to collaborate and test their knowledge and soft skills, helping them prepare for the future.
“We can train students to do marketing or accounting, but these types of events bring it all together,” she said. “It’s taking the knowledge they are getting in the classroom and developing those soft skills, what it means to be professional, how it is to network, all those pieces. We want them to walk away feeling a sense of accomplishment and look at what they were able to do. Having them challenge themselves, build connections and realize they can do the hard things.”
Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
(928) 523-5050 | [email protected]
