Competition Partner Companies

A Solutions-Driven Learning Experience

Each spring and fall, more than 400 senior-level business and accounting students develop proposals and solutions for challenges posed by real companies in the innovative, award-winning Live Strategy Case Competition.

Value, Impact & Benefits

By working collaboratively with our students and Towson University community members, partner companies benefit from:

• Useful, consultative proposals to address real questions and challenges they face,
  Strengthened relationship with Towson University, the fastest-growing state university
• Recruiting opportunities, and
• Positioning as an enthusiastic supporter of local students and applied education (Good PR!).

“ Our VP of marketing took back a whole book full of notes along with the presentations. We definitely gained value out of participating in this competition as an organization. ”

How It Works

The partner company works with faculty members to write a case regarding a current strategic challenge the business is experiencing. The case is presented to students mid-term. Any relevant or necessary data and information is housed on a secure online classroom platform called Blackboard.

Towards the end of the semester, student teams present their findings in their respective course sections. The top teams from each course section go on to compete at the college-wide finale where they present to executives from the partner company who chose the ultimate top three teams.

Expectations for Partner Companies

• Work with faculty members three to five months prior to the start of the fall semester (Aug. 27) to build a one-to-two-page case regarding a current strategic challenge the business is experiencing
• Based on the agreed to case, the partnering organization is expected to make reasonable organizational data (like what would be found in an annual report) available to students as part of background research and analysis
• 1-5 company reps attend the town hall session to answer students' questions (1-2 hours). This session will be video recorded and available for students for research purposes via a secure classroom portal
• 4-6 company reps (some preferably from director level and above) to serve as judges at the competition finale (4-5 hours) to evaluate each team’s presentations, provide feedback, determine and announce the first, second and third place teams
• The judging rubric may include: quality of the formulated action plans; analyses of strengths and weaknesses; quality of data analyses; quality of proposed solutions to identified problems, etc.

What can partner companies expect?

• Quality, polished presentations and proposals with solutions to the case challenge
• Complimentary parking for all company guests when visiting campus for competition-related events and meetings
• Breakfast and lunch for finale judges
• Publicity of the company’s involvement through TU and CBE media channels including the website, social media, magazine and more

Case Requirements

Cases should have a broad strategic focus and raise issues that span across multiple functional areas of the organization (such as, operations, finance, logistics/supply chain, marketing, etc.) in order to meet the student learning objectives.

Learning Objectives

• Strategic Management Process
• Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• External Analysis
• Internal Analysis
• Business-level Competitive Strategy
• Corporate-level Competitive Strategy
• Corporate Governance, Sustainability, and Ethics
• Strategic Control
• Strategic Organizational Design
• Strategic Leadership

Sample Cases

• Regional Growth Opportunity in Cintas’s Catalog Line (PDF)
• Quality Growth for SECU (PDF)

To learn more or submit a case, contact:

Douglas Sanford, PhD
Professor of Strategy and Organizational Leadership, College of Business and Economics
410-704-5820 
dsanford AT_TOWSON