Format of the Business Strategy Challenge

** The current format is subject to modification. All participants will be notified before the case competition of any changes to the format and a final version will be presented to each participant before the beginning of the case competition.

Fifteen teams of four students each are selected from the world’s leading business schools to participate in the Business Strategy Challenge. During the competition, each team will be identified by their chosen team name, as opposed to by university.

Teams will receive the written cases at the Thursday Case Presentation Dinner, where representatives from the client will present the issue and answer questions. Teams then have 36 hours to prepare their solutions. The presentations must be submitted by 7:30AM on the date of the first round to presentations@hilltopconsultants.org. Late submissions will be disqualified.

The presentations will entail two rounds - the Preliminaries and the Final Round.

Preliminary Round

In the prelimary round, the 15 teams will be randomly divided into 3 groups. Within each group, the 4 teams will randomly select their presentation order, and each team will have 35 minutes:

• 5 minutes for setup and preparation
• 10 minutes for uninterrupted presentation
• 15 minutes for intensive question and answer from judges
• 2 minutes for uninterrupted conclusion
• 3 minutes for takedown

At the end of all presentation, the panel of judges for each group will select the group finalist, who will then proceed to the Final Round.

Final Round

The finalists will randomly select their presentation order and present their solutions to the complete panel of all judges. Each team will have 40 minutes:

• 5 minutes for setup and preparation
• 10 minutes for uninterrupted presentation
• 20 minutes for intensive question and answer from judges
• 2 minutes for uninterrupted conclusion
• 3 minutes for takedown and exit

After the finalists have presented, the judging panel will deliberate for 30 minutes and select the winner of the competition. The awards will be presented at the Awards Banquet.