History of the Business Strategy Challenge

The Beginnings

In 2005, Hilltop Consultants hosted Georgetown University’s first business case competition in order to expose students to top-tier competitors from other universities and to establish the University as a leader in business strategy and management education.

The first competition predominately targeted Georgetown and other regional universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, American University and George Washington University. The International United Way was the first competition client, in light of the non-profit’s difficulties in coordinating efforts in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

United Way representatives served as judges for the competition, which was sponsored by the McDonough School of Business, the Student Activities Commission, Bain & Company and Navigant Consulting.

Our Unique Approach

The Business Strategy Challenge was created to further the mission of Hilltop Consultants, and of Georgetown University, to foster the growth of future business leaders who will serve our community. To that end, we invite only non-profit organizations with 501(c)3 statuses to be competition clients. Today, the BSC is the only major business case competition with a non-profit focus.

The BSC's unique approach presents exciting new problems to competitors. With limited resources, different legal requirements and no profit incentives, non-profit organizations challenge competitors to develop creative solutions to tough business problems. The BSC also rewards its competitors with the knowledge that their work will directly serve our community, as their ideas will be implemented and help shape the future direction of the client organizations.