Cornell EMC² Corning Case Competition

Competition Registration:

There is no registration fee for participants.

Registration Deadline: September 8

Compensation travel for finalist upon request.

Round 1 Notification, Case Distribution, and Submission Deadlines:

Team registration applications will be reviewed after the final day of registration. The case will be distributed to you on September 10, via email.

Teams have seven days to work on the case. Teams cannot contact the company in the case, or anyone directly affiliated with the case. Submission details will be provided in the email. Please see below for formatting requirements.

The deadline to submit the case is no later than September 17. If the submission is late, your team will not be considered for finals.

1st place: $6,000

2nd place: $3,000

3rd place: $1,000

*The award is subject to tax withholdings as required by IRS regulations.

Rubric

From the Round 1 submissions, finalist teams will be selected to present their case analysis and recommendations to a panel of judges at the 2025 EMI Conference on November 6, 2025.
The finalists will be chosen by a panel of Round 1 judges who will score the preliminary submissions based on the following criteria:

Content (80%):

Form (20%):

Content (80%):

• Quality of analysis

Teams will be assessed on the scope, thoroughness, and depth of their analysis. Teams should showcase that they have conducted deep research, addressed all key components of the problem, conducted qualitative and quantitative analysis, and addressed major threats/opportunities.

• Quality of Recommendation

Teams will be assessed on the realism and practicality of their recommendations, which should be strategic. Teams will also be assessed on the justification of their recommendations. Teams should ensure recommendations logically tie-in to the analysis and therefore be backed by data. Teams should consider the anticipated impact of their recommendations on the organization and its stakeholders.

• Implementation/Plan of Action

Teams will be assessed on the thoroughness and achievability of their implementation plan. Teams should propose an implementation timeline, address short term and long run considerations, conduct an analysis of unforeseen problems/risk and identify realistic ways to mitigate risks.

• Creativity of ideas

Leaders of the 21st century should think outside the box. This is greatly encouraged in the case competition. Teams will be assessed on their ability to employ out-of-the-box thinking to maximize the value of their recommendation to stakeholders. Teams should move beyond simply processing information and push themselves to come up with unique and innovative recommendations.

Form (20%):

• Handling of questions

Teams should demonstrate forethought and preparation for questions. Teams should be able to defend their position, be persuasive and precise, and be balanced across the team.

• Presentation style

Teams should display great communication skills and professionalism. Teams should thoughtfully manage their presentation time. Presentation slides should progress in a logical sequence and be visually aesthetic. When relevant, teams should try to effectively use infographics to communicate findings.

Winners

1. BITS School of Management, India (Prize of $6,000)
2. IIM Indore, India (Prize of $3,000)
3. Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan (Prize of $1,000)

The 2025 Case

Nearly 1,400 participants took part of this edition, making it more and more challenging. We congratulate the finalists and the winners. The case brought a vaccination company from Africa. The link to download it will be released soon.

Watch the finals and the celebration on EMC²’s YouTube channel.

Chairs and case developers:

• Ayodeji Tolulope Ogunyamoju, MBA ’26
• Zara Rahman, MBA ’26
• Fiorina Siamir, BS ILR ’28

Judges:

Ricardo Buitrago, Maria Amparo Camarero, Juan Alberto Casas, Diego Finchelstein, Jhon Fonseca, Juana Garcia, Andrea Goldstein, Michel Hermans, Boris Kulakhmetov, Andrei Zhuk

Winners

1. Team Famous Five – Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India (Prize of $5000)
2. Team Titan – Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India (Prize of $3000)
3. Team VUCA – Universidad de los Andes, Colombia (Prize of $1000)

The 2020 Case

2020 Cornell Emerging Markets Institute Annual Case Competition was held on November 7th. The year 2020 was unexpected for all of us. Hit by a global pandemic, economies and lives around the world have been impacted, something which none had anticipated. The case competition addressed the challenges that the emerging markets companies, which increasingly rely on a globally interconnected supply chain, are facing due to Covid-19, specifically in the Indian pharmaceuticals industry. Watch the finals on EMI’s YouTube Channel.

Chairs:

• Amanda Ward, AMBA ’21
• Swapnil Gupta

Winners

1. University of Maryland, United States (Prize of $5000)

Winners

1. Georgetown University, United States (Prize of $5000)