Challenges in Energy Case Competition

Challenges in Energy Case Competition

 
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Description

 

The Energy Management Group (EMG) at the UCLA Anderson School of Management is hosting its seventh-annual Challenges in Energy Case Competition on Thursday, February 27, 2020. The competition will feature teams from MBA schools all over the country that have strong energy programs. The winning team will advance to compete in the overall Think in the Next Innovation Challenge on Saturday, February 29, 2020. For more information on the overall challenge.

Southern California Edison is the platinum sponsor. The case prompt typically relates to either future energy challenges, new technology or entrepreneurship in energy. The prizes for the top teams in the preliminary round total $5,000. The prize for the overall winning team will be announced soon.

Competition Rules and Logistics

 

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

The prompt will be released at 12:00 p.m. PST.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Presentation slides must be sent via email by 9:00 p.m. PST to Chris Stassis at chris.stassis.2020@anderson.ucla.edu and Mayank Gupta at mayank.gupta.2021@anderson.ucla.edu.

During the above time window, the following restrictions apply:

  • Teams may not seek outside assistance from anyone who is not a team member (e.g., professors, other students, etc.).
  • Teams may use any internet and print resources they like to gather additional pertinent information to their case but should not rely on financial models or other calculating tools available online.
  • All external data and information used in the final presentation must be clearly cited in the presentation.

If you have any questions about any of the content in the case documents or notice an error in the materials that may notably affect any analysis, please contact Chris Stassis at chris.stassis.2020@anderson.ucla.edu and Mayank Gupta at mayank.gupta.2021@anderson.ucla.edu.

The prompt writers will review all questions and respond if the matter involves something that is critical to case completion, not available in the existing documents and/or not intended to be an assumption or point of additional research.

Any errors will be corrected immediately, and the prompt will be redistributed to all teams as soon as possible.

Presentation materials should contain the team’s chosen name but must not reference the team’s school affiliation.

Thursday, February 27, 2020

  • Teams must check in no later than 8:00 a.m.
  • At the time of registration, teams should provide five hard copies of their presentation for the judges to refer to during and after the presentations. Supporting materials need not be provided unless a team feels they are critical and it intends to reference specific points during its presentation.
  • Teams will be randomly divided into groups and assigned 40-minute time slots at 8:30, 9:10, 09:50, 10:40 or 11:20 a.m.
  • Teams should plan on making a 20-minute presentation and having a 10-minute Q&A session with the judges afterward. All presentations will take place in UCLA Anderson classrooms.
  • Teams must not reference their school affiliation during their presentations.
  • Teams may not view any other team presentations during the preliminary round.
  • The judges will select a winning team from each group to advance to the final round.
  • The final-round presentations will be open to any nonfinalist teams that wish to attend, and to any finalist teams that have already presented.
  • If a team advances to the final round, it will be given a “twist” in the case to incorporate into its presentation. Teams will be allowed to adjust presentation materials but are not required to do so. However, teams should be prepared to reference the twist during discussion about the relevant portion of the case, and potentially during the Q&A session.
  • Each finalist team will be given the twist 45 minutes before its presentation time.
  • Final-round judges will convene after all three presentations, and the third-, second- and first-place teams will be announced at the cocktail reception following the competition.

Application Instructions

 

Applications are no longer being accepted. If you have any questions about the rules, please contact Mayank Gupta at mayank.gupta.2021@anderson.ucla.edu.