Competing in the Greenwood Business Case Competition

The Greenwood Case Competition is a semi-annual Business competition that takes place at the school. It is used as an assessment for students participating in Grade 12 Business courses and it is also open to some students in Grade 11 Business courses. In each competition, we look at a different company and the problems that they are facing. We must use our knowledge from our Business courses to find the best solution and use that knowledge to justify our final solution.

We get the case in the afternoon before competition day so we have the entire night to prepare, annotate the case, and come up with some suggestions. We find out which groups we are in when we arrive to school on the morning of the competition. The groups consist of people who have participated in multiple case competitions and those who have no experience, to help round out each team. There is also a combination of people from different Business courses so people can learn from one another and work together to find solutions that may not have otherwise been considered.

The case we analyzed in our most recent competition on December 3 involved a Lebanese company called Al Baba Sweets. This company had an investor purchase 51% of the business. Al Baba Sweets now has some money to spend and they have to decide what the best way to use it is to ensure the company's long-term success. Should they expand in Lebanon or expand internationally? If expanding internationally, which is the best country to choose and how should they approach expanding the business there?

When looking at this case, there were many components that tied into different concepts from our business courses such as: financial statements and analysis, promotional planning, expansion planning, implementation planning, opportunity cost and leading an expansion. These concepts tie into the Accounting, Marketing, International Business, Economics and Business Leadership courses at Greenwood.

There were multiple rooms that groups would present in, and each room had a panel of judges including Greenwood staff, alumni, parents and business professionals from the community. There was also a camera recording the presentations in each room so that groups could review their work afterwards and the judges can look at it while marking.

The group that won included Charlie Baillie ‘22, Sara Chapman ‘21, Justin Elder ‘21, and Robin Henshaw ‘21 with a simple and direct solution that was presented professionally and with excellent teamwork. Congrats!