KeyBank Business Case Competition

One of the best opportunities you have as an MBA student is to take part in extremely engaging extracurricular activities. Whether doing consulting for startups, building marketing plans to rebrand local businesses there is probably something going on that will interest you.

Then there are the case competitions. I was fortunate enough to be a part of a 4 person team representing Tulane at the 6th KeyBank business case competition in Cleveland, Ohio. We had one month to prepare a business case, this year the case was about growing KeyBank’s online banking usage. And last Saturday we had the chance of going head to head against 19 teams from all over the country. There were some big names like Carnegie Mellon, Purdue, Penn State, and Washington State.

The format of the competition is as follows: During the first round, every team presents to a panel of 4 to 6 judges. Presentations last 20 minutes with 10 minutes for Q&A and they are done behind closed doors, only the judges get to hear the first round presentations. Then the 4 best teams are selected for the final round.  The final round is the same format but they are open to the public so other teams can watch. All 4 teams present again in front of 6 KeyBank executives.

The experience is interesting to say the least; KeyBank employees and executives are highly involved and are always talking to teams discussing how the competition impacts their respective areas. Staff keeps everything flowing smoothly; it’s impressive how good the planning was.

The best part of it all is that we won 1st place. It’s the first time that Tulane participates and we took it home. It was a wonderful learning experience that will not soon forget.

Juan