Pageantry, Prizes, and Pedagogy: A “Tournament Ritual” View on Business School Case Competitions

Case competitions have become a taken-for-granted component of the business school experience in recent years, at both the undergraduate and MBA levels. While existing research has largely focused on content (e.g., the capacity for the exercise to facilitate experiential learning), we lack examinations of the context (i.e., the purpose that they serve within the business school). We therefore propose a complementary conceptualization of case competitions as "tournament rituals"-events that serve solidarity, sense-making, and agonistic functions for business school stakeholders. Using this broader perspective, we can not only examine the purposes of case competitions beyond pedagogy but also uncover potential pitfalls wherein such purposes may contravene the mission of the business school. We identify three such hazards: exclusion, overcommitment, and consequentialism. We propose resolutions for change for business schools to address these challenges, as a means to maximize the value and impact of case competitions for a wider array of stakeholders. We also highlight how the tournament ritual lens opens new areas of case competition research.