The case competition is the only one of its kind, focusing specifically on issues related to managing a professional sales force. See this year’s case document for a description of the case and the featured company.
Please keep in mind that the company is a real company but the issues to be addressed in the case have been created solely for the case competition.
A team of two competitors from each of 60 universities that registered for this event will compete in the Sales Management Case Competition.
The ICSC 2023 company for the sales management will be released soon!
While the actual case won’t be handed out until the competition, it might be helpful to know that past years’ cases have focused on some of the following issues:
- Territory alignment
- Opening new territories
- Compensation issues
- Merging of sales organizations when two companies merge
- Introduction of a new product
The case will be handed containing details about the company’s current situation in Orlando at the competitors’ meeting. The rules for the case competition will be reviewed during the competitors’ meeting. Students competing in the case event will also have plenty of time to attend the ICSC job fair. Any points of clarification should be discussed directly with Leff Bonney who will always have a cell phone with him and teams can call with questions.
To get an idea of what a typical ICSC case competition case looks like, there are links on this website of past cases and videos.
Competition Format:
The competition consists of three rounds:
- Round 1A and 1B is the initial presentation of a solution to the case and is set for 25 minutes; up to 20 minutes of presentation with 5 minutes for Q & A from the executive judges. There are 6 rooms with 5 teams presenting in sequence in each room in each round. The top team from each room from each round moves on to the Panel Round.
- Panel Round: Each of the Round 1A and 1B case presentations will be recorded and the winning team presentation from each room will be submitted to a special executive panel for judging in this round. No additional effort is required from the case competitors. The goal of this round is to judge the original presentations of the top 12 teams (winner from each room in round 1A and 1B) to identify the top 4 teams. The panel judges will be divided into 4 cohorts with each cohort judging 3 teams. The top team from each of the 4 cohorts moves on to the finals. This round will take place immediately following Rounds 1A and 1B and finalists will be notified that evening.
- The Final Case Round is meant to be a bit of a surprise round. The top four teams from the Panel Round will be presented with an updated case scenario that assumes that the team’s original recommendations are under consideration by the case company’s management team but there has been a new development that they must account for. In the Final Round, each team will provide an update to the executive team in the form of a 20-minute presentation (15 minutes for presentation and 5 for Q & A). Top team wins.
All presentations will be due to Leff Bonney at the same time so that no team gets extra time to work on their presentation while another team is presenting. The presentation deadline is 7:30 AM on Friday (EASTERN STANDARD TIME), November 3rd via email to Leff Bonney at lbonney@business.fsu.edu.
There is a mandatory competitor meeting at 8 am – see the Agenda for location. The rules for the competition will be reviewed and we will draw for the order of the presentations. The case will be available at the end of the meeting.
Coaching: There is to be no coaching on the part of the university coach after the case has been handed out. The honor system will be used for this rule and each competitor is asked to sign a pledge stating they will seek no outside help from coaches or company representatives in preparing for their presentation. However, teams can use whatever materials they would like in preparing for the case. Free Internet access is available in all guest rooms. Any points of clarification should be discussed directly with Leff Bonney who will always have a cell phone with him and teams can call with questions.
Key Times:
Thursday at 8 am: Mandatory competitors meeting. The case released at the conclusion of the meeting.
Friday 7:30 am: PowerPoint presentations are due to Leff Bonney. ALL COMPETITORS MUST TURN THE PRESENTATION IN AT THIS TIME, REGARDLESS OF YOUR ACTUAL PRESENTATION TIME!!!
Friday@ 7:00 pm, Email sent to all competitors announcing the finalists and information for final round emailed to finalist teams.
Saturday @ 7:30 am, Final teams email presentations for Finals and view live drawing for presentation order…Final Round will begin at 8:00am.