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The Competition

Student teams will compete against other teams from their college or university on designated days each semester.  Additional information regarding your school's specific competition date can be found under the "Partners" page.

The Case Study will be made available to the participants at each participating college or university at the same time.  Please review your school's competition timeline for exact dates.

Instructions for Teams

  • Your team should assume the identity of an outside advisor. The senior leadership team expects you to provide them with a complete analysis which includes: ethical, legal and financial issues you have identified, an evaluation of whether or not they are meeting their stated goals and recommendations for changes going forward.
     

  • This is a research-based case, and you should feel free to utilize all available outside research. Final judgments about your case presentation will be based upon your oral presentation, depth of analysis, persuasiveness and strength of recommendations that are both ethical and practical in this particular context.
     

  • Remember the identity you are asked to assume (outside advisor) and to whom you are presenting (the company’s senior leadership team). Also, remember that this is not a business plan, but an ethics case analysis. While your presentation should address financial and legal issues, you should focus on the ethical issues in the case.

Defintions
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Definitions

You and your team are tasked with researching the case problem.  Once your research is completed, your team should envision solutions to recommend to the Board of Directors of Gordon Food Service.  Your objective is to advise and convince them that your business solutions are the best alternatives for their customers, employees, partners and stakeholders.

Case Study Defined

Google defines a case study as:

  • a process or record of research in which detailed consideration is given to the development of a particular person, group, or situation over a period of time.

  • a particular instance of something used or analyzed in order to illustrate a thesis or principle.

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The Case

  • The case was written by members of the Gordon Food Service staff as competition sponsor. 

  • The case will be delivered to the teams by email.

  • The case can contain an actual or fictional business situation.

  • The competition may involve one or more topics of business management:  finance, accounting, marketing, human resources, strategy, ethics, policy and international business.  

  • Each team must have one  named facility advisor.

  • All submitted and presented material must be in English.

  • Each team will have until the deadline communicated to them via email to submit their abstract and presentation slides to the judging committee.

  • The case study must be submitted by the deadline.

Deliverable

Deliverable

Your preparation of the case should include two deliverables:

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  • Written executive summary

    • The summary should be no more than two pages in length, using a 12-point font in Times New Roman, with double-spaced, one-inch margins. 

    • The summary will be used to identify which ethical, legal and financial issues that you have identified in the case. Make sure your summary does a good job of blatantly identifying the issues and summarizing your solution.

    • Please place the case title and the names of the team members at the top center of the executive summary.

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  • Presentation deck 

    • Each team should present a color copy of the slide deck you will use in your presentation. 

    • Remember that in your presentation your audience is the company’s senior leadership team. You are persuading them one way or the other.

 

This is a competition so do not share your information with anyone.

The executive summary and copy of the presentation slides must be submitted by the dates listed in your school specific timeline.

 

Presentation Format

  • Each team is required to execute an oral presentation complemented by a presentation of their own design and content. 

  • Presentation time:  20 minutes, sharp

  • Time signals will be shown to presenters at the 10, 5, 2 & 1 minute marks.

  • If a presentation is not finished in time, it may weigh negatively into the judging process and evaluation. 

  • There will be a question and answer period that follows each completed presentation. The questions will be used to examine your knowledge of the subject.

  • A team will not be penalized if their answer is cut due to the time. It is up to the judges to manage how many questions they wish to ask during the 20 minutes.

  • All students are encouraged to participate in the presentation in fairly equal amounts of time.

  • Presentations have to be entirely based on presentation slides. No material other than their slides and handouts to the judges may be used in their presentations. For example, teams are not permitted to show their excel sheets or browser web pages in their presentations or questions and answer period.

  • Presenters must be in appropriate business attire.

  • The content of the presentation slides cannot be changed between each presentation.

  • The content of the presentation can not be changed from the date of submission to the presentation time.

 

 

Directions for Submission

  • Email case materials to with the subject line as “Case Study - Team Name” to CaseStudyCompetition@gfs.com

  • Submitted materials should follow this naming convention

    • Abstract

    • Presentation

Scoring

Scoring

  • A panel of judges from Gordon Food Service and the academic sector
    will listen to and review all submitted information.  

  • Judges may have additional questions following each team’s presentation.  

  • Judges have the final authority in making decisions regarding the prize awards. 

  • Judges will have knowledge of a wide variety of business topics and are considered experts in the field. 

  • Judges will listen to all presentations.  Each presentation will be valued according to the scoring rubric.  

  • Judges will consider value to the business as well as educational value.  

  • Judges will make all decisions and their decisions will be considered final.

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Awards

Awards

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Student | Faculty Advisor
All applicants from the College of Business and Entrepreneurship will be under consideration for these awards:
 

  • First Place

    • ​$500 per student team member

    • $500 faculty advisor
       

  • Second Place (contingent on 10+ teams competing)

    • ​$300 per student team member

    • $300 faculty advisor
       

  • Third Place (contingent on 15+ teams competing)

    • ​$200 per student team team member

    • $200 faculty advisor

Honorable Mentions
 

  • Communication Award (contingent on 10+ teams competing)

    • ​Awarded to the team that has built and presented the most compelling Presentation Deck

    • $100 per student team member | $100 faculty advisor
       

  • Business Award (contingent on 15+ teams competing)

    • Awarded to the team who has submitted the most compelling, complete and persuasive Executive Summary

    • $100 per student team member | $100 faculty advisor
       

School Contribution

Gordon Food Service will make a charitable gift to the school for the same amount of the total given to the winning team. 



"If you make it to the finals, your team will be required to present an 8 minute overview of your plan during the scheduled reception. Finalists will be notified at the beginning of the reception"

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