Northeastern Voice

CBA tourney modeled on successful Business Beanpot

Ray Kinnunen / CRAIG BAILEY

Coach K is at it again.

Riding high on years of victories in Boston’s annual Business School Beanpot Case Analysis competition, Ray Kinnunen — “Coach K” to his students — is hoping to roll out his winning formula to a larger group of budding business gurus.

About 10 students are selected by Kinnunen every year to compete in two teams in the Business Beanpot, the competition that has yielded victories for Northeastern students against highly trained competitors for 10 out of its 12 years. Many alumni describe their participation as “life changing.”

Now, Kinnunen, an associate professor of international business and strategy, hopes to tap greater numbers of students — as many as 60 a year —to participate in the newly created Internal Business Case Competition.

Taking a page from the yearly case-analysis tournament that pits Northeastern against Boston University, Boston College, Babson, Bentley, Suffolk and MIT, the internal contenst — the first was held April 12 — promises to be every bit as valuable for developing analytical and critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills, Kinnunen said.

Offered through the Advanced Strategy course, which is taught by Kinnunen and lecturer Joseph Chevarley, the competition invited students to solve a complex strategy case involving a company that had made numerous acquisitions, Kinnunen explained. 

They had only a brief amount of time to prepare a presentation for judges and get ready to respond to questions, Kinnunen said, noting that students first saw their special business “case” scenario on the Friday evening before the Saturday competition, and had only five hours to prepare.

“When you put a student in this situation, you raise their skills to another level in so many areas, from analytical and critical thinking to how to work on a team,” Kinnunen said.

In many ways, performance in a boardroom mimics the experience of an athlete, he said, noting that it was fitting Peter Roby, Northeastern’s director of athletics and recreation, gave this year’s keynote address at the internal competition.

Roby described how the attitudes and teamwork that make up a successful athletic experience, also makes a better business competitor.

“There are many similarities between business and athletics, and certainly I feel that the training one gets while competing in athletics can help prepare someone for success in the business world,” he said. “Just as in athletics, practice and the willingness to accept constructive criticism is key to being successful in business.

“The humility to be self-reflective of one’s performance and to make the needed adjustments to bring about better results is as important in athletics as it is in business.”

Jon Gbur, a judge in the internal competition and a graduate of the business school, said he was “exhilarated” by the competition. A Marine for 23 years, Gbur said he was impressed with the level of self-confidence students showed, and their aptitude for communications.

“Some of the most important lessons learned here were how to communicate, work well as a team, develop self-confidence, organize work and function under pressure,” he said.

Said student Michael Guccione: “I feel very fortunate to have gotten the Beanpot experience. This class, while time-consuming, was one of the best classes I’ve taken at Northeastern.”

Kinnunen’s goal is to broaden the scope of the case competition even beyond the College of Business Administration.

“I envision the competition as a wonderful tool to offer to students in arts and sciences and other colleges,” he said. — Susan Salk