On the case

On the case: Teams from leading business schools took part in the WBS challenge

MBA students from Warwick Business School orchestrated a case challenge at The Shard this summer that drew participants from five leading business schools.

The event was conceived and executed by the WBS Consulting & Case Interview Club, a group founded and run by Full-time MBA students. It was spearheaded by a student leadership team comprising Kanak Shukrey, Nishant Pati, Siddhant Nag, Apurv Anand and Diego Ramirez.

Club President Kanak Shukrey said: “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.”

Top-tier consulting

With the support of the CareersPlus & Employer Relations Team at WBS, the WBS Consulting & Case Interview Club organised the landmark event for June 18 at WBS London at The Shard.

It gathered together consulting clubs from Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, Manchester, and Warwick Business School to tackle the case prepared by the student leadership team based on ‘The Line’ – the $500 billion smart city stretching 170km across the desert valleys of Saudi Arabia down to the Red Sea.

Participants were tasked with allocating a $5 billion investment, designing a global fundraising strategy for the zero-carbon city and identifying long-term risks – under the scrutiny of a panel of judges which included Alexander Nevolin, a partner at Tata Consultancy Services, and Christian Stadler, Professor of Strategic Management. 

In a deliberate twist, the organisers added new constraints midway through the session – emulating the unpredictability of real-life consultancy work. Each team presented their solution in a seven-minute pitch, followed by five minutes of questioning from the judges.   

Cambridge took top prize in the competition, with WBS and Imperial tying for second.

Consulting committee: (From left to right) Organisers Apurv Anand and Kanak Shukrey, judges Christian Stadler and Alexander Nevolin, and fellow organisers Nishant Pati and Siddhant Nag

Professor Stadler praised the event’s ambition. “The complexity of the case demanded top-tier consultancy thinking. What the WBS club achieved here is truly exceptional,” he said. 

“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,” said Vice President of the club, Nishant Pati.    

“We see C.A.S.E. as the start of something much bigger” said 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.”

 

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