October 30 to mid-December: Sign-up of school teams. Teams must be comprised of at least two and no more than five graduate students, currently enrolled at the participating schools. Based upon experience, however, we recommend a team consist of three to five students. The competition is open to all graduate school business, accounting, finance or other students at participating universities, whether they are full-time, part-time or executive track students.
January: Release of the case study via email. While the exact nature of the case will not be revealed ahead of time, the focus of the work will be related to a private equity-type scenario, also drawing on skills related to investment banking and management strategy/consulting.
January: Teams work on the case and prepare for on-campus rounds. Student clubs and faculty sponsors will communicate with your team, as necessary, throughout this process and be available to answer questions (other than related to the case itself). Each team will analyze and present their recommendations and supporting rationale for a complex investment case that requires corporate strategy, finance and valuation skills. Complete details and presentation guidelines will be provided upon release of the business case.
Late January: First round on campus competition. The specific date and time for on campus rounds will be communicated by your respective school. Questions should be directed to those individuals on the School Contact page. The panel of judges will be comprised of executives and professionals from the greater Cincinnati business community who are involve in some aspect of corporate development, investment banking and strategic consulting.
Late February: The finals will include the winning on campus teams from each university going head-to-head, representing their schools. A panel of judges representing private equity and investment banking professionals from the region will determine the winning team as well as the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place prize winners. The total prize pool will be $10,500 with division between each of the finalists: First place is $4,000; second place $3,000; third place $2,000, fourth place $1,000 and fifth place $500.00.
Note that EVERY team making it to the finals will receive a financial prize which goes directly to the students on the team. The winning team will also be awarded the "Cincinnati Cup" trophy with the winner's names engraved on the base. This trophy will be on loan to the 1st place school for the coming year. Date and location of the regional finals is to be determined and will be communicated to teams accordingly. |
