Cracking the Case

C. T. Bauer College of Business student teams went head-to-head to think through and solve relevant business problems at the annual Phillips 66 Global Case Competition held on campus this month.

This year, a record-breaking 15 teams of undergraduate students vied for the top prize of $3,500 in front of a panel of judges from Phillips 66 and Bauer College. The case competition centered around tariffs, tasking the teams to help a shoe startup stay profitable while facing tariffs of 145 percent.

“At Bauer, our goal is to produce students who can solve business problems in real time in their work experiences,” Associate Professor of Management & Leadership Enrica Ruggs said. “Experiences like this case competition that create an opportunity to think about what issues companies are grappling with and how that changes within different sociopolitical climates is important.”

This year’s winning team was a group of sophomores who returned after placing second last year. Team member Grayson Lee said this time they homed in on working collaboratively and thinking about long-term strategy.

“We were dreaming of this since prior to the first time we competed,” Lee said. “It was an amazing experience, not only because we won, but it was a defining moment when we were able to create something well-presented and cohesive with all of us contributing.”

Lee, who is majoring in finance and accounting, believes experiences from this case competition will help him and his team members’ future careers.

“Case competitions are a great way to get your name out there to companies, and they're a great addition to your résumé,” he said. “I've personally had a lot of case competitions on my résumé, and I was able to get a lot of internships as a freshman. It also gives you that collaboration experience that you're going to be using in a lot of project-based work, especially in a corporate setting.”

Several Phillips 66 representatives at the case competition are Bauer alumni. They shared that the company values recruiting from the University of Houston and within the local community.

“It’s been great to be able to come back and see the level of skill and abilities at the college and to also give back to a program that I personally graduated from,” Phillips 66 Representative Krystal Gray said. “We've been able to recruit a lot of top talent. It's a win-win — for the school, the students and us as a company.”

Undergraduate students can learn more about Bauer’s experiential learning opportunities here.