Participating in a case competition is something everyone should strive for during their MBA program, and I would absolutely recommend MBA students interested in clean energy to attend one.
Case competitions are usually a two-day affair where MBA student teams across the country (or world) convene to showcase their answer to a particular case prompt, often judged by MBA alumni and corporate sponsors. Since team sizes are limited to 3-6 people, it might take a bit of planning with your energy club to secure a slot on your school team (you should also check the eligibility requirements, as some teams require a certain number of first-year or second-year students.). If this doesn’t excite you already, here are five other reasons why you should participate.
1. It’s often free to attend: You might think it’s costly to attend these events due to travel and accommodations, but your energy club will likely cover some or all of the costs of attending the event. If your energy club doesn’t foot the bill, I would check with the student affairs desk for a stipend. When I attended the Ross Renewable Energy Case Competition in 2016, the Kellogg Energy Club covered the cost of our rental car and hotels, which greatly limited my out-of-pocket expenses.
2. You can win prize money: These competitions often have cash prizes upwards of $10,000, so you can win quite a bit of money if you do well. Of course, this isn’t a primary reason to attend, but it may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of holding a giant check.
3. You’ll meet students from peer schools: Case competitions are one of the few ways to meet other MBA students at peer schools and expand your network. Many competitions have dedicated happy hour events to connect and meet fellow alumni. I still keep in touch with several of the students I met today.
4. You can network with corporate sponsors, and may even get a job: Case competitions are sponsored by utilities, energy companies, consulting groups, investment banks…etc. The judging panel will usually include representatives from these sponsors, so if doing well on a case can lead to internship or other job opportunities down the road (I’ve heard of some case competitions offering internships as prizes!). I was lucky enough to keep in touch with one judge at the event I attended, and I reached back out to him for advice when I was deciding between full time offers after graduation.
5. You’ll learn a lot about the industry: Believe it or not, excelling in a case competition actual some in-depth and researching the industry. My case prompt involved learning about community solar and creating a novel business model. We had to brainstorm about potential energy off-take parties, research both retail and wholesale energy prices, and build financial models to evaluate the market opportunity. I learned quite a bit about community solar and the broader energy market while preparing for the event.
I had a fantastic experience attending the Michigan Ross Renewable Energy Competition in 2016. Though we only managed a third-place finish (though I swear we should’ve received first), it really helped solidify my interest in a clean energy career. Here’ s a picture of our team’s victory, and our giant check.
Below is a list of all the Energy & Sustainability case competitions. Some of this information might be out of date, so I encourage you to double check everything yourself. Feel free to contact me if you think I might be missing anything.
Renewable Energy Case Competition (RECC)
Affiliation: University of Michigan Ross
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Time of Year: November
Description: Hosted by the Energy Club at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, the RECC is one of the nation's leading traditional-style energy case competitions that tests MBA teams’ understanding of business strategy, finance and the energy industry.
Commentary: This is the longest-standing of the MBA energy case competitions. I attended this competition in 2016 and had a blast. There’s a fun networking event the night before, so I would try to make it out an evening earlier if you can.
Energy in Emerging Markets Case Competition
Affiliation: Duke Fuqua
Location: Durham, NC
Time of Year: November
Description: The Energy in Emerging Markets Case Competition connects students, academia and industry in pursuit of unconventional business-based solutions that expose unrecognized opportunities with positive social and environmental impact. Fifteen interdisciplinary teams from universities across the nation will compete to address real energy challenges affecting the developing world.
Commentary: If you’re interested in emerging markets, this is the case competition for you! Previous sponsors include Off:Grid Electric, Powerhive, and other sustainability startups focused on emerging markets.
UCLA Anderson Energy Case Competition
Affiliation: UCLA Anderson
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Time of Year: February
Description: Top business schools from all over the country send teams to UCLA Anderson in early February for the annual UCLA Challenges in Energy Case Competition. Teams are given the case prompt several weeks before the competition and then deliver their presentations to panels of judges. Winning teams earn both money and glory, and we wrap it up with a big happy hour and send-off.
Commentary: This is also a popular case competition, and a great reason to visit sunny California in the winter. Southern California Edison was the platinum sponsor in 2020.
Tepper Cleantech Case Competition
Affiliation: Carnegie Mellon Tepper
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Time of Year: March
Description: The Tepper Cleantech Case Competition (TC3), hosted by the Energy & CleanTech Club at the Tepper School of Business, challenges teams from across top MBA programs to solve strategic cleantech investment challenges.
Commentary: The Tepper Cleantech Case competitions seems to be a new case competition exclusively focused on clean energy. It appears to be held during CMU’s Energy Week, and since 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19, not sure if this ever happened.
Kellogg Energy Case Competition
Affiliation: Northwestern Kellogg
Location: Evanston, IL
Time of Year: April
Description: Kellogg Energy & Sustainability Club is pleased to host our second Energy Case Competition, where teams of MBA students from top business schools in the US and worldwide are invited to converge in Evanston and solve a strategic energy related challenge.
Commentary: It’s a relatively new case study competition, with only two events in history. Since I attended Kellogg, I can’t help but plug this one. It’s also in April so you get to avoid the Chicago winter…
National Energy Finance Challenge
Affiliation: University of Texas McCombs
Location: Austin, TX
Time of Year: October
Website: http://mccombsefg.com/events/
Description: This competition challenges teams from the country’s top MBA programs to address real-world finance issues relevant to today’s dynamic energy industry. Contestants will present their solutions to panels of senior executives representing multiple facets of the energy finance landscape. The purpose of the event is to match executives and recruiters with the top energy-focused MBA candidates from around the country and to provide a unique learning experience for everyone involved.
Commentary: This finance-oriented case competition occurs earlier in the academic year, and is focused more broadly on the energy industry rather than renewables, specifically. Past sponsors have included Chevron, ExxonMobil, Lazard.
Columbia University Energy Symposium Case Competition
Affiliation: Columbia University
Location: New York, NY
Time of Year: February
Website: https://www.cuenergysymposium.com/
Description: The Symposium the largest student-run energy event in New York City, jointly organized by the School of International and Public Affairs' Student Energy Association, the Columbia Graduate School of Business' Energy Club, the Columbia Law School's Environmental Law Society, and the Columbia Engineering Energy Club. Top energy students from across the country will work to solve an integrated energy challenge and win prize money.
Commentary: The case competition is part of Columbia’s Energy Symposium week. It’s not strictly for MBA students, but I thought I’d include it on the list given its popularity.
Kellogg Morgan Stanley Sustainability Challenge
Affiliation: Northwestern Kellogg / Morgan Stanley
Location: Evanston, IL
Time of Year: April
Description: Every year, the Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge invites teams of graduate students from around the world to develop and pitch creative financial approaches to tackle pressing social and environmental challenges.
Commentary: This is a popular and respected event focused on the broader sustainability field. As it’s co-hosted by Morgan Stanley, there’s usually a financial innovation aspect to it.
Smeal MBA Sustainability Case Competition
Affiliation: Penn State Smeal College of Business
Location: State College, PA
Time of Year: December
Description: Since 2008, the Smeal College of Business has been integrating sustainability into its teaching, research and outreach missions. The MBA sustainability case competition is one of its teaching initiatives. Developing the ability of students to make a compelling business case for integrating sustainability into a company’s operations, products, or governance is essential to Smeal’s approach to teaching sustainability. The Smeal MBA Sustainability Case Competition has engaged over 800 MBA students from the nation’s most prestigious institutions.
Commentary: Not limited to energy specifically but sustainability overall. Past topics have included narrowing the wealth gap, social finance, and other sustainability issues.
Patagonia Case Competition
Affiliation: Berkley-Haas / Patagonia
Location: Ventura, CA
Time of Year: April
Description: Graduate students from across the US tackle the interconnected business and sustainability aspects of a current, real-life issue facing the outdoor gear retailer Patagonia. In the first round of competition, interdisciplinary teams submit solutions to a case developed by the Berkeley-Haas Case Series and Patagonia. Senior leaders from Patagonia review all submissions and select finalists to present their solutions to Patagonia executives in person at Berkeley Haas.
Commentary: Again, not limited to energy or MBA students, but an extremely popular event on sustainability. I’ve had classmates attend and they all greatly enjoyed it.