February 23, 2021

Auburn University to Host 2021 SEC MBA Case Competition in Virtual Format

By: SEC Staff
SECU (Twitter: @TheSECU)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (February 23, 2021) – Auburn University’s Raymond J. Harbert College of Business will serve as facilitator and host of the eighth annual SEC MBA Case Competition April 15-17, the SEC announced on Tuesday. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition will be conducted virtually while still featuring teams from all 14 SEC member universities.

The SEC MBA Case Competition, established in 2013, provides an opportunity for SEC business schools to showcase their students’ skills at solving a simulated but real-world problem faced by a large corporation. Although this year’s corporation will be announced at a later date, previous companies involved in the competition include AT&T, Regions Financial and FedEx Corporation.

“We are excited to host the virtual SEC MBA Case Competition,” said Jim Parrish, Executive Director of Full Time and Online graduate programs for the Harbert College. “Our planning team is ready to virtually welcome the rest of the SEC to Auburn as we all work to invest in the outstanding students from the Southeastern conference.”

As in year’s past, the festivities will begin on Thursday evening with a networking opportunity designed for competing MBA students to meet and share experiences before the work commences the next day. On Friday morning, the teams will receive the case from representatives of the case company, and then they have approximately 24 hours to prepare their recommended solutions – before presenting to a panel of company executives in divisional and final rounds on Saturday.

The most recent SEC MBA Case Competition win belongs to the University of Alabama, whose MBA students took home the trophy in 2019 at the event hosted by the University of Tennessee. [NOTE: The 2020 competition was postponed due to COVID-19.]

“We wanted to win this, and we were willing to do whatever it took, including staying up until 5 a.m., then getting up early to make sure we had our lines down,” said Alabama team member Samuel Greene. “Honestly, I couldn’t ask for a better team. We are all good friends, so it never felt like we were working. We were just having fun.”

The winning team receives an award of $10,000; second place receives $6,000; third place receives $3000; fourth place receives $1,000; and individual division winners for best presenter and best Q&A are awarded $250 each.

For more on the SEC MBA Case Competition, click HERE to view a short video.