Developing essential business and engineering skills through case competitions

The intersection of business and engineering is being discussed now more than ever as companies are demanding that new hires graduating from baccalaureate engineering degree programs have a level of business expertise to complement their technical skill sets. Companies also expect business students to have an understanding of technical concepts to be effective working in teams composed of employees with both business and engineering backgrounds. With corporate investment and engineering project funding decisions more reliant upon company financial statements and stock price impact, now more than ever, it is crucial for engineers and business people to be able to share common skill sets to effectively evaluate project investment alternatives. This paper discusses an integrated approach being taken at multiple universities to develop business and engineering competencies in industrial engineering and business students through case competitions. The paper will describe two different approaches and compare and contrast the business and engineering sponsored case competitions.