First and second-year BTM students hone real world skills through case@BTM competition

May 15, 2023

First-year and second-year students in the Bachelor of Business Technology Management (BTM) program at the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University hone their real-world skills through the case@BTM initiative. Congratulations to all BTM students who recently completed the 24-hour live caseDeBug competition.

The winning teams were Debug Dynamos, comprised of second-year students Jashan Dhir, Maxwell Landry, Tarun Mullapudi and Bilal Tariq, and Platinum, comprised of first-year students, Abdul-Arham Nai, Sia Sharma, Owen Small, Beatrice Benak and Joshua Damji. Congratulations also to the best presenters in second and first year respectively, Ethan Gardiner, and Owen Hofstetter and Beatrice Benak who shared the first-year award. 

caseDeBug uses case-based learning and skills development workshops to enhance students’ academic program, develop critical thinking skills, and build confidence in formulating and presenting solutions to complex problems at the intersection of business and technology. Participating in case-based learning helps develop important skills in critical thinking and decision-making with limited information, as well as presentation skills and persuasiveness. 

Judging was based on both the quality of the analysis and recommendation as well as the presentation and persuasiveness of the teams. The judging panel was made up of faculty members and BTM alumni who joined the students from across campus and local industry. 

This year’s case featured MetOcean Telematics, a leading global provider of innovative full-spectrum telemetry products and solutions for environmental, marine, defence, and security clients. Written by BTM faculty members Rima Khatib and Josephine McMurray, and BTM alumnus Matthew Raines, it challenged the students to understand the company’s path towards doubling its revenue and asked them to recommend innovative solutions to improve the efficiency and agility of their operations in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. 

We had the opportunity to hear from student and group member, Jashan Dhir, about his experience in the competition:  

“Preparing for the BTM Case Debug competition was fun and challenging. Our teams were announced a week before the competition started, and it was the first time all of us were working together as a group, despite the small BTM cohort. The four of us were all excited to work together. 

“Before the competition, expectations for students were clearly laid out by prof. McMurray which really guided us on the way we should approach this competition. Our group formed a contract where we assigned responsibilities amongst each other according to each member’s strengths and weaknesses. A few days prior to the case assignment, our group selected a theme for the slides which we eventually used for the presentation; this technique helped us stay coordinated and saved time. 

“On the Friday, we decided to meet two hours after the case was released to give each team member time to read the case thoroughly and create a summary or attack sheet. This technique helped us merge the best points from each member’s analysis. 

“During the initial stages of deliberation, we laid out the most important facts and formed our solutions around that. We picked these facts according to their frequency of occurance in the case and by analyzing the situation the company currently was in. We conducted an extensive situational, external, and internal analysis of the company.  

“Within five hours of analysis, we had our decision criteria and solutions ready. As a group, we were able to identify a very important opportunity for the company to leverage for better returns. We gave that opportunity an important consideration and formed our solutions accordingly. Then it was time to do some extra research about the industry and the company to find ways our solution could be implemented.  

“Our research helped us develop a solution we were confident in. The company’s website was of huge help because we went through all their news items from the last four years which provided us with a lot of insights about the company.   

“We were awake for almost the whole night and worked on putting together information on our slides. We made sure we communicated each idea with every group member so that everyone was on the same page and had knowledge about each part of the analysis in case a question gets asked during the presentation.  

“On the day of presentation, we practiced together a few times before presenting to the judges. Each member did their best during the presentation by conveying their argument in a convincing manner which must’ve impressed the judges. We finished our presentation within our time limit of 15 minutes and answered all the questions of the judges with reasons and facts.  

“As business technology management students, our solution involved integration of technology along with other approaches.  

“In the evening, when our team was announced, we were delighted and surprised as all our competitor groups were equally strong, and it was a tough competition. Our BTM peers were so supportive of our group ‘Debug Dynamos’ win – a clear example of the supportive student community at Laurier.  

“While announcing the winner, prof. McMurray also mentioned that our solution was out of the box, and we believe it was possible because we focused on each and every intricate detail of the case and did our research thoroughly. 

Congratulations again to all who participated in this year's case@BTM competition.