The International Marketing case challenges a team of two student participants to think both creatively and strategically in a time-constrained situation. The judges for this event will assume the role of the client in the case study scenario, and will evaluate how well each student team solves the challenge and presents its recommendations.
The Case Scenario
The students competing in this event will be expecting the case scenario to be of an international expansion nature, however, the students will not be given advance information about the company or industry the case scenario is based on. The case scenario will focus on key considerations facing a company looking to expand outside of its current country of operation, usually Canada. The company could also be considering making changes to its current international strategy. The intent of the scenario is to address the realistic challenges involved in globalization, and as such, may present a problem relating to identifying a suitable target market, product or operational changes required, financial considerations, entry strategies, or how to compete effectively in the new market.
General Judging Considerations
The students’ task in this event is to present a recommendation on an International Marketing initiative. They should be able to identify the problem or opportunity the corporation is facing, and clearly describe the environment that the company is operating within (SWOT analysis). They will develop a strategic recommendation with a clear implementation plan. Students should be able to discuss their plan using industry standard terminology.
Event Objectives
To demonstrate the students’ ability to:
- Analyze a problem situation
- Develop appropriate marketing strategies to remedy the situation
- Present the solution in a convincing manner
Eligibility
All participating students must be from diploma-level marketing or marketing-related programs. Post-diploma, graduate certificate or degree program students are not eligible for this event. Repeat OCMC students cannot enter an event in which they have previously participated.
Student Preparation
- Participants should familiarize themselves with the evaluation criteria. Please refer to the case evaluation form below for details.
- Please refer to the case schedules in the program. No changes will be made unless a conflict situation exists.
- Participants will be escorted to a secure preparation room as per the case schedule. Cell phones are not permitted.
- Paper, pens and highlighters will be supplied along with printed copies of the case.
- A Windows laptop with wired 2 button mouse and current version of Microsoft PowerPoint will be provided in the preparation and presentation rooms. A clicker will be provided in the presentation room.
- A maximum of 7 slides are permitted in the presentation deck.
- Students may bring a prepared PowerPoint template into the preparation room on a USB thumb drive (USB A Style). Team branding is permitted.
- Internet access will NOT be available.
- Presentations must be saved on a supplied USB thumb drive which will be retained but the judges.
- Participants have 30 minutes to prepare their solution. Participants will be advised when five minutes remain.
- At the end of 30 minutes, the team will be moved to their presentation room.
Presentation
The presentation must not exceed 15 minutes, and will be followed by a 5-minute question period.
Participants are responsible for managing their time during the presentation (judges will ask the team to stop, if necessary, once the 15-minute timeframe has been reached). Judges will ask questions only during the 5-minute Q&A following the presentation. Students will leave the room following the Q&A while judges complete the evaluation form.
Evaluation by Judges
- Judges will ask questions (challenge the students) at the end of each presentation.
- Judges will not provide any verbal feedback to the participants during the competition.
- Judges will complete an evaluation form with numerical scores and appropriate summary comments.
- Judges will rank each team from top to bottom. In the case of a tie between any of the top 5 teams, judges will re-evaluate those teams to break the tie. There cannot be a tie among teams ranked one to five.
- Judges’ decisions are final!
Feedback
Each team will receive a feedback form from the host College approximately three weeks following the competition.