HISTORY OF THE LOT NATIONAL BUSINESS CASE COMPETITION

In 2002, the chairs of four NBMBAA® chapters (Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Washington, DC) established the Leaders of Tomorrow® (LOT) National Business Case Competition to give an additional sense of urgency and purpose to student participation in local program activities; improve the students’ analytical, writing, and presentation skills; and increase interaction with other students in LOT Programs across the country. The four chapters also wanted to provide an alternative resource for corporate sponsors and higher education institutions to recruit high school talent, and to show the students— and the world— that minority students could demonstrate excellence at the highest levels, even if that meant doing work in high school normally reserved for graduate students at schools like Harvard.

The aforementioned objectives were met during the first competition, held on Saturday, June 22, 2002 at Georgia Power headquarters in Atlanta, GA. Scholarships totaling $400 were awarded to two teams who tied for first place (Dallas and Washington, DC). Moreover, the first competition proved to be an opportunity like no other in America in terms of giving students the opportunity to demonstrate their problem-solving skills, analytical proficiency, and research and presentation abilities in a high pressure environment; in this case, to the corporate executives and professors judging the competition.

As its reputation has grown the competition has developed into a multiday event, where over 100 students from more than 25 chapters from across the United States and Canada compete each year for more $30,000 in scholarship funds. Since the first competition in Atlanta, subsequent competitions have been hosted in Washington, DC, Richmond, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Columbus, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, and Storrs, CT at the nation’s best business schools. Over its ten-year history, approximately 400 students have participated in the competition, and over $250,000 in scholarships and programming support have been provided.

10th Annual Competition, June 24‐26, 2010
Host Chapter: Westchester/ Greater Connecticut in conjunction with Greater Hartford
Host School: University of Connecticut School of Business
Case Topic: Natura
Winners: 1st‐ DALLAS; 2nd‐ CHICAGO; 3rd‐ NEW JERSEY
Other Finalists‐ Westchester/ Greater CT, Toronto

9th Annual Competition, June 25‐27, 2010
Host Chapter: South Florida
Host School: Nova Southeastern University H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship
Case Topic: Wal‐Mart
Winners: 1st‐ DALLAS; 2nd‐ HOUSTON; 3rd‐ SOUTH FLORIDA
Other Finalists‐ Central Florida, Detroit

8th Annual Competition, June 25‐27, 2009
Host Chapter: Detroit
Host School: University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Case Topic: Samsung
Winners: 1st‐ AUSTIN; 2nd‐ SOUTH FLORIDA; 3rd‐ MEMPHIS
Other Finalists‐ Western NY; Washington, DC

7th Annual Competition, June 18‐21, 2008
Host Chapter: Columbus
Host School: The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business
Case Topic: Starbucks
Winners: 1st‐ COLUMBUS; 2nd‐ WASHINGTON, DC; 3rd‐ DALLAS; 4th‐ HOUSTON

6th Annual Competition, June 22nd – 24th, 2007
Host Chapter: Philadelphia
Host School: University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business
Case Topic: Apple Computer
Winners: 1st‐ SOUTH FLORIDA; 2nd‐ PHILADELPHIA; 3rd‐ COLUMBUS

5th Annual Competition, June 23‐24, 2006
Host Chapter: Houston
Host School: Rice University
Case Topic: NBA
Winners: 1st‐ DALLAS; 2nd‐ PHILADELPHIA; 3rd‐ COLUMBUS; 4th‐ HOUSTON

4th Annual Competition, June 24‐26, 2005
Host Chapter: Dallas
Host School: Southern Methodist University
Case Topic: B.E.T.
Winners: 1st‐ HOUSTON; 2nd‐ DALLAS; 3rd‐ WASHINGTON, DC

3rd Annual Competition, 2004
Host Chapter: Richmond
Host School: University of Richmond
Case Topic: EMI
Winners: 1st‐ ATLANTA; 2nd‐ WASHINGTON, DC; 3rd‐ DALLAS

2nd Annual Competition, 2003
Host Chapter: Washington, D.C.
Host School: Howard University
Winners: 1st‐ HOUSTON; 2nd‐ ATLANTA; 3rd‐ DALLAS

1st Annual Competition, June 23, 2002
Host Chapter: Atlanta
Winning Teams (tie): DALLAS; WASHINGTON, DC