Skip to Content
Purdue Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business logo
Purdue Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business logo
Purdue HR Case Competition & Conference

Preparation for The Competition

The Case

  • All teams will be issued an identical business case on November 1st. Each team’s executive summary and presentation slides will be due by November 5th, 2014, at 11:59 PM EST via e-mail. At the distribution of the case, teams will be notified of how to submit their deliverables. Teams who fail to submit their executive summary and presentation by this due date will be removed from the competition.

  • The executive summary must be no more than 3 pages including exhibits. There is no limit on the number of presentation slides, but the presentation should not exceed 25 minutes. There will be penalties for exceeding this time limit. To ensure neutrality, the name of the school each team represents will not be revealed before the final decision is made. Each team will be referenced by a predetermined randomly assigned team number. Thus, the cover page of deliverables will contain only the name of the case and the name of all team members.Rawls Hall

  • Teams will later be provided an additional hour on campus for preparation time. During this preparation time, teams are allowed to modify their executive summary and presentation as needed. The final deliverables will be submitted through a flash drive prepared by the Case Competition Committee. No supplemental materials will be provided during this time. Using materials other than the case given by the committee will be considered cheating and will result in a withdrawal from the competition.

  • All teams must work independently. Students may not confer with others outside the team to prepare the executive summary. Absolutely no assistance from advisor(s), faculty, volunteers, or others is allowed.

The Presentation

  • Each team member must actively participate in their team’s presentation.

  • Presentations will be judged based on the team’s ability to analyze the information presented in the case, and clearly and effectively communicate a recommended course of action.

  • Each team will have 25 minutes to present their case analysis and recommendations. There will be a 5-minute question & answer period during which time the judges will address questions to the presenting team. Judges may ask questions at any point during the presentation and do not need to wait for the Q&A portion. Plan the timing of your presentation accordingly. No questions will be allowed from the audience. Teams should keep their presentations strictly within the 25-minutes guideline, as there will be penalties for going over the allotted time and teams may be asked to stop presenting.

  • The presentations will be conducted in an open forum where outside audience members may attend. The audience will not participate in the competition or ask any questions to the teams.

  • To ensure neutrality, teams are not allowed to watch the other teams present as audience members, until after they have completed their own presentation. Only the judges may ask questions of the presenting team. Audience members affiliated with a competing team will be asked to leave the room while the judges are Unfinished Pdiscussing any team’s presentation.

  • After all presentations have concluded, there will be an intermission for the judges to determine the performance of each team. The winners will be announced at the conclusion of HR Executive Conference Welcome Reception at Ross Ade Stadium, Purdue University on the evening of Thursday, November 6th.

  • General feedback will be provided by the case competition judges and feedback forms will be relayed through your team ambassador/room monitor following the welcome reception.

  • 1st and 2nd place (runner-up) Team Awards will be distributed at the award banquet following the competition on Thursday, November 6th at the Conference Welcome Reception. The award will be $5,000.00 for 1st place and $2,000.00 for 2nd place/Runner-up.