Leading the Future of Consulting - Inside Warwick's First Inter-Business School Case Competition

About the Consulting & Case Interview Club

The Consulting & Case Interview Club, originally founded as the Case Interview Club, has grown into the largest and most active student-led MBA society at Warwick Business School (WBS). What began as a focused initiative to support students with case interview preparation has evolved into a dynamic platform for developing the next generation of consultants.

This year, we officially renamed the club to reflect our broader ambitions. We’ve expanded our scope to explore key aspects of consulting beyond just interview prep, such as strategic problem solving, presentation delivery, and client storytelling. Our sessions are designed to be practical, hands on, and peer led, equipping members with the tools they need to thrive during recruitment and in real consulting roles.

The club now stands as a central hub for anyone at WBS aiming to build a career in consulting, and the momentum continues to grow each term.

Speaking about the vision of the competition, Kanak Shukrey, President said “Leadership is about turning vision into reality and inspiring others to believe in what’s possible. Building this competition was a lesson in clarity, conviction, and the power of teamwork. With the right people around you, bold ideas don’t just stay ideas, they take flight.” 

 

About the team

At the heart of the Consulting & Case Interview Club at WBS is a united and high-performing leadership team that made the C.A.S.E. competition possible. Kanak, Nishant, Siddhant, Apurv, and Diego each brought distinct strengths, working closely together to turn vision into reality.

Kanak brought the strategic vision and creative direction, shaping the initiative to reflect the club’s larger purpose and pushing the team to think bigger at every step. Nishant drove operational excellence. He managed logistics, internal communications, and key strategic inputs for the competition.

Siddhant provided critical direction through his sharp problem-solving skills and industry insight, shaping key decisions at every stage.

Apurv contributed across functions with versatility and thoughtfulness, ensuring smooth coordination and team cohesion.

Diego, led our outreach efforts, managing social media and marketing while curating engaging content and helping shape our public presence.

Together, this team exemplified what true collaboration looks like: Shared ownership, mutual respect, and a relentless drive to deliver impact.

Setting up the Event

The idea for this event was driven by a clear gap we saw in the UK MBA consulting landscape. While most schools focused internally on training and competitions, there was little opportunity for students to collaborate and compete across institutions. We wanted to change that, and create something bold, inclusive, and high impact.

“Managing an event of this scale was an exhilarating and deeply instructive experience, offering invaluable lessons in planning, communication, and leadership that I will carry forward into every future endeavour.” – Nishant Pati, Vice President

We envisioned a flagship event that would not only showcase WBS as a leader in consulting preparation but also bring together MBA talent from the top UK business schools. And so, the first C.A.S.E (Competitive Analysis and Strategic Execution) Competition was born.

Designing the case turned out to be our toughest challenge, far harder than we had imagined. With every team member determined to create something original and worthy of crowning the best MBA consultants, we wrestled through countless ideas, from fictitious islands to time-machine scenarios, before landing on NEOM’s The Line.

Talking about designing the case, Siddhant exclaimed, “An intricate exercise in balancing challenge, complexity and collaboration, to produce a case that was reflective of Warwick Business School’s values and strategic approach.”

Balancing between realism and complexity, with a touch of friction was no easy task. Heated debates, late nights, and a locked-room session at one of our syndicate rooms at WBS finally led us to a case built around strategic ambiguity, real-world trade-offs, and a surprise mid-round twist. It tested not just the participants, but us as a team too.

Everything, from the event concept to logistics, was driven by the club's leadership team. We took a bottom-up approach, reaching out directly to the presidents of consulting clubs at Cambridge (CJBS), Oxford (SBS), Imperial (ICBS), and Manchester (AMBS). We met with them personally, shared our vision, and invited them to join us for a one-of-a-kind competition hosted at the iconic WBS Shard campus in London.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. Every school we contacted came on board, excited not just to compete, but to be part of something new and collaborative. For many, this was the first time their clubs had participated in an external competition like this, and we were proud that WBS led the initiative.

On the Day

The competition day began bright and early at 9:00 AM, with participants arriving from across the UK. We welcomed them with breakfast and an introductory session to set the tone for the day.

“Welcoming top MBA students to The Shard was a rewarding experience. As the only MSc in the leadership team, I gained invaluable insights and growth”, said Apurv Anand, VP, who started his day managing registration process at The Shard.

We briefed all teams on the case and gave them time to ask clarifying questions. They were then given 90 minutes to work on their analysis and presentation. But just as teams began to hit their stride, we threw in a curveball, a surprise twist mid-way through the working session that added complexity to the original problem. This was intentional. In consulting, last-minute changes and pressure are the norm, and we wanted to simulate that environment as authentically as possible.

Each team presented their solution in a 7-minute pitch, followed by 5 minutes of questioning from our esteemed judges. One of the unique elements of our format was the open presentation setup- every team had the chance to watch each other present, creating an atmosphere of transparency, learning, and mutual respect.

The Case, “Balancing Ambition and Reality – Strategic Decision Making for NEOM’s The Line”

At the centre of the competition was a highly ambitious and topical case focused on Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion mega project, The Line, a 170km long, AI driven, zero carbon vertical city.
Teams were tasked with three major challenges:

• Allocating a $5 billion budget across five sectors using an SCM Matrix (Sustainability, Cost Effectiveness, Market Attractiveness)
• Designing a global fundraising strategy to raise $10 billion in capital post 2030
• Identifying at least two major overlooked red flags that could threaten the long-term viability of the project

The case was complex and open ended, demanding a balance of vision, data interpretation, stakeholder thinking, and risk mitigation. It pushed teams to think like real consultants operating at the highest level.

The judging panel included Professor Christian Stadler, who leads the Strategy module at WBS, and Alexander Nevolin, a seasoned consulting partner at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) with nearly 20 years of experience in the industry.

After a close competition, Cambridge emerged as the winner, while one team each from Warwick and Imperial shared the runner up trophies. We concluded the day with a relaxed social at a nearby bar, where participants connected, reflected, and celebrated. What stood out was the shared sense of community, students from different schools and backgrounds bonding over a shared passion for consulting.

Many participants expressed surprise that nothing like this had been done before. Several shared that it was the best student led event they had attended and hoped it would become a recurring tradition in the years to come.

Reflections from the Club Leadership

For us, this competition was more than just a one-day event, it was a defining moment of our year as a club leadership team. It was an opportunity to lead from the front, to build something from scratch, and to bring people together around a common purpose.

We learned how to manage a large-scale project, work across multiple institutions, and deliver a seamless experience from start to finish. It pushed us to think strategically, plan meticulously, and execute under pressure, just like in a real consulting engagement.

Most importantly, it reaffirmed our belief in the power of student led innovation. When we take initiative and back our ideas with action, we can create opportunities that leave a lasting impact, not just for ourselves, but for the entire WBS community and beyond.

We’re proud of what we built through the first ever C.A.S.E Competition, and we’re even more excited about what comes next. At its core, C.A.S.E was about more than solving a case, it was about stepping up, testing your limits, and embracing the challenge to compete with the best, to become the best.

“We see C.A.S.E. as the start of something much bigger” stated Kanak. “Pioneering this initiative wasn’t just a valuable experience, it was an honour to lay the foundation for what we hope becomes a lasting tradition in the UK MBA consulting landscape.”