University News

International Win for Williams School of Business Team

Sherbrooke QC - March 17, 2010

For the fifth time in the  fourteen year history of the Network of International Business Schools (NIBS)  case competition a team from Bishop’s University has taken home first place in  this prestigious and demanding student competition.

From March 7th to 12th a student team from  the Williams School of Business competed against teams from nine other  institutions around the world – including Concordia and Memorial universities –  in the finals of the NIBS international case competition held this year in  Kolding, Denmark. The ten teams had won the right to participate in the finals  by virtue of victories in qualifying rounds in a virtual competition.

The Bishop’s team  –  composed of Stefan Lemieux (Vancouver, BC),  Vicki Schaefer (Cornwall, ON), Elliott Verreault (Quebec City, QC) and Andrew  Willis (Toronto, ON) – went undefeated  throughout the week, defeating  Lahti University of Applied Sciences & Business  Studies (Finland), Helsinki School of Economics (Finland), Dublin Institute of  Technology (Ireland), Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences  (Netherlands), and then a unanimous judges decision in the finals against Memorial  University (Canada). The team was coached by Professor Bill Robson, Professor  Lissa McRae, and Dr. Robert Palmer, all of whom generously volunteer their time  to this project.

“I  was very fortunate to have been chosen to be a member of the Bishop’s NIBS  team, as it was certainly an unparalleled experiential learning opportunity,”  said team member Stefan Lemieux. “It was extremely rewarding to realize that  our team improved with every case match, becoming more confident and definitely  developing into better critical thinkers.”

The  Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) is a group of business schools  from around the world which believe that the internationalization of business  and the globalization of the economy are essential elements in the evolution of  managerial practices.

To  this end they encourage cooperation between universities from different  countries, exemplified by the annual NIBS Case Competition. This competition  brings together ten teams who have advanced through the qualifying process to  compete in the finals. The competition involves teams taking on the role of a  consulting firm advising company decision makers on strategic business issues.  These case matches are judged by a panel consisting of community business persons  or academics.

 “Case analyses and case competitions are a  valuable tool for learning and the NIBS case competition takes this learning  opportunity to a higher level,” states coach Professor Robson. “Competitions  such as this afford the Williams School of Business, and Bishop’s University,  the opportunity to showcase the high quality of our students and acknowledges  the value of a liberal business education delivered by our extremely capable,  dedicated and qualified faculty.”

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