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Cornell Case Competition for Family Ownership

The Cornell Case Competition for Family Ownership offers current graduate students a unique opportunity to examine a family enterprise case up close, alongside the family themselves. Take the collaborative elements of a hackathon, combine the analytical elements of a case competition, and include the top MBA students in the world and you have the Cornell Case Competition for Families Ownership. This is a unique event for students and family business experts to demonstrate their understanding of the issues critical to family enterprise. This event brings together students from leading business schools, select advisors, faculty, and family enterprise leaders sharing their challenges first-hand to receive real-time feedback and ideas concerning the future of their enterprise.

The Cornell Case Competition for Family Ownership was launched in November 2022 and has since been held annually. Our fourth case competition took place successfully on February 13th – 14th, 2026 in NYC. We welcomed eight teams from top business schools, including two international teams.

2026 Participating Teams:

  • Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business
  • Cornell University, SC Johnson College of Business
  • National Sun Yat-Sen University, Center for Strategy and Human Capital Research
  • SKEMA Business School
  • University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School
  • University of Rochester, Simon Business School
  • University of Virginia, Darden School of Business
  • Washington University in St. Louis, Koch Center for Family Enterprise
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The Case

The 2026 case centered on a historic, multi-generational property in the Adirondacks. Students were asked to navigate questions around family dynamics, long-term vision, and how ownership might transition successfully into the future.

There are two parts to the competition. Teams have one week to prepare for Part A, which is presented on Day One of the competition. Part B of the case is presented to students after the first round of presentations is complete. Teams have the remainder of the evening and the next morning to complete their case analysis.

Registration for the 2027 event will open in the fall.

Interested in participating, sponsoring, or judging? Please contact Daniel Van Der Vliet, the John and Dyan Smith Executive Director of Family Business at dgv9@cornell.edu to learn more.