Unprecedented four winning teams are declared in Live Strategy Case Competition

The industry judges of the annual Live Strategy Case Competition at Towson University normally choose just three winning teams, but this year stood apart. Judges from this semester’s industry sponsor, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, were so impressed by TU students’ analyses that they couldn’t decide on just three winning teams, so they presented a fourth-place winner.

In first place, the team Five Forces from assistant professor Anna Obedkova’s management capstone course took the leading number of points, which included business administration seniors John Elmes, Nick Gordon, Ruby Goldin, Milan Patel, and Sophia Rampolla. A team called the COVID Consultants won second place, while another called the Brain Trust won third and the Fantastic 3 took fourth.

Every semester, the Live Strategy Case Competition requires students from the capstone MNGT 481 strategic management course to analyze the local business climate and propose solutions for an industry sponsor, researched over the course of the semester. The culmination of those were presented over Zoom on Friday, Dec. 4 to a panel of judges representing J.P. Morgan.

Like almost all companies and organizations, J.P. Morgan has adopted new business practices and embraced emerging trends in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study challenged teams of students to recommend which of these measures should continue and answer the question: “How should the bank adapt its business to thrive in the post-COVID-19 world?”

Obedkova said the judges were impressed with a map of Maryland that the winning team created which reflected the density of potential clients in each county.

“The team used an array of public data sources to overlay several maps over each other to provide the level of details that the judges found very useful,” says Obedkova.

Across the board, judges were impressed by this semester’s presentations.

“To see the talent TU has is extraordinary,” says Elizabeth Lenrow, one of the judges from J.P. Morgan.