Case Challenge

Google’s Case Challenge is an initiative for business schools in India, designed to attract and engage budding early talent to creatively respond to live and realistic business challenges. This competition will give students an opportunity to stretch their imagination and come up with innovative solutions to the day to day challenges faced by teams across Google. Finalists will also get a chance to work closely with assigned Google mentors and understand Google’s ecosystem better, along with cash prizes for the winning teams.

Case Challenge is open to the participating institutes:

• Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
• Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
• Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
• Indian Institute of Management, Indore
• Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow
• Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
• Indian Institute of Management, Shillong
• Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi
• Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
• Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad
• Management Development Institute, Gurgaon
• Indian School of Business
• XLRI - Xavier School of Management
• Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad
• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai
• Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, Mumbai
• National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai
• Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource development
• Tata Institute of Social Sciences
• SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai

1 year executive programs of the above campuses are also eligible to register as Participating institutes.

Wild Card Entrants

With the endeavour to expand Case Challenge to students across India, we have introduced wild card entrants this year. In this, students from business schools across India can register and participate in the first round (Online Challenge) subject to the rules and requirements of the Competition. Further details will be discussed in the subsequent sections.

The competition will be conducted across four rounds:

• Online Challenge
• Case Study Round
• Cohort Round
• National Finale
  The language of the Competition will be entirely in English and will be conducted virtually.

Evaluation

Judging of all Rounds will be performed by a panel of judge(s) selected by Google. Please note that any entry is subject to and evaluated based on the following broad parameters:

• Structured thinking and strategy
• Originality & Innovation
• Feasibility & Scalability
• Market Intelligence/Data Insights/Consumer Insights
• Presentation Skills
• Q&A Session

Teams are prohibited from communicating with any outside party and cannot solicit assistance from anyone (including staff, faculty advisor, other students) during the time they are participants of the Competition, unless permitted by Google. Google's and/or any judge’s decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered in relation to such decision.

Round 1 (Online Challenge) Registration

• Teams will at the time of registration on or before Sep. 10, 2021 have to opt for the case studies they are interested in participating. The case studies will be in the below domains:
  • Analytics
  • Digital marketing
  • Sales & marketing
  • Human resources
• Teams cannot change their choice of case study post registration.
• Round 1 registrations are open to students of all business schools in India.
• First 5000 registered teams will be invited to the Online Challenge round.

The Online Challenge

• The first 5000 registered teams will receive details about the Online Challenge through their registered email address.
• This 30 minute Online Challenge will assess the team’s critical thinking and logical reasoning and will be conducted on Sep. 18, 2021.

Results

• Atmost Top 5 Teams per campus from the participating institutes will be announced as campus winners, and will move to Round 2 .
• Top 20 teams from the wild card entrants will proceed to Round 2.
• The announcement of shortlisted Teams qualifying for the 2nd Round will be made via an email to the campus and the respective Teams.

Round 2 (Case Study Round) Making a Submission

• All the shortlisted Teams will be administered the case study on their chosen topics at the time of registration.
• The Teams will have to submit a one pager solution and a five minutes video pitching their proposed solution.
• The submission entries should consist of both the solution submission and video pitch, else the team stands disqualified.
• Only one submission per Team will be taken into consideration.
• Teams cannot change their choice of case study.

Submission Guidelines

• The format of the submission will have to be a one-page Google slide converted to a pdf document. No other formats (including zip files) will be accepted.
• Deadline for submission will be communicated to the teams.
• There are no restrictions on font size, style etc. but it should not result in a submission that is difficult to read by the judges.
• The maximum size of the PDF file to be uploaded should not exceed 10MB.
• The naming convention to be followed for the Submission is: CampusName_Team name_CaseStudyChosen. For the 'CaseStudyChosen', mention the type (Analytics, Digital marketing, Sales & marketing, Human Resources).
• We urge the Teams not to wait till the last moment to make their Submission entries. Google or its affiliates’ shall not be responsible for any technical snags that may occur due to high volume.
• No Team may revise, substitute, add, delete, or in any other manner alter their original Submission after it has been submitted.

What we expect from the Submission:

• Originality, clarity and uniqueness of the idea.
• Innovative approach to the given problem.
• Solution must be relevant to the given problem and should have a clear plan of action.
• Solution should be succinct yet self-explanatory.
• Feasibility of implementation, sustainability, scalability and fitment with Google’s vision.
• Tables, diagrams, and charts are permitted on the one-pager, but are not necessary (attachment of an appendix slide is not allowed).
• Relevant assumptions backed by proper rationale.
• References/sources to be quoted where required (as footnotes).

What the Submission should not have:

• It must not be derogatory, offensive, threatening, defamatory, disparaging, libelous or contain any content that is inappropriate, indecent, sexual, profane, tortuous, slanderous, discriminatory in any way, or that promotes hatred or harm against any group or person, or otherwise does not comply with the theme and spirit of the Competition.
• It must not contain content, material or any element that is unlawful, or otherwise in violation of or contrary to any applicable laws.
• It must not contain any content, material or element that displays any third party advertising, slogan, logo, trademark or otherwise indicates a sponsorship or endorsement by a third party, commercial entity or that is not within the spirit of the Competition.
• It must be original, unpublished work that does not contain, incorporate or otherwise use any content, material or element that is owned by a third party or entity.

Results

• The judging panel as chosen by Google will evaluate all Submissions and shortlist Teams for Round 3 based on the judging criteria.
• Top 5 teams per case study (Analytics, Digital marketing, Sales & marketing, and Human Resources) will proceed to the next round.

Round 3 (Cohort Round) Presentation

• The shortlisted Teams will submit a presentation deepening their ideas as submitted in Round 2 and present its business solution (virtually) to a panel of judges.
• Deadline for submission will be communicated to the Teams.
• Teams will be given 12 minutes to present followed by an 8 minutes “Question and Answer” session by the judging panel.
• The Cohort Rounds will be held virtually via Google Hangouts between Oct. 22, 2021 and Oct. 28, 2021.

Presentation Guidelines

• The presentation should not exceed ten slides.
• Case Study chosen during registrations cannot be changed.
• The format of the presentation will have to be Google slides and no other formats (including zip files) will be accepted.
• Additionally, qualifying teams will also have to submit a PDF version of their submission for our reference.
• You are free to select font type, size etc. but it should not result in a submission that is difficult to read by our panel, during the presentation.
• The maximum size of the file to be uploaded cannot exceed 100MB each (slide and PDF).
• The naming convention to be followed is: CampusName_Teamname_CaseStudyChosen. In the CaseStudyChosen, mention the type (Analytics, Digital marketing, Sales & marketing).
• Deadlines will not be extended. If the qualifying Team does not submit the presentation by the deadline, then such Team will be disqualified.
• It will be the responsibility of the Team Leader to ensure that if not all Team members at least 2 members of the Team are present for the presentations on the scheduled day. In the event of at least 2 members are present at the start of the presentation, the Team will be disqualified.

Results

• The top two teams from each cohort round will qualify for the National Finale of the Competition.
• 8 teams in total will qualify for the National Finale.

Round 4 (National Finale) Mentoring

• Shortlisted Teams will be assigned a mentor to guide them for their pitch/presentation.
• Teams will be allowed to make changes to the presentation submitted during the Cohort Round, however the Teams cannot change the chosen case study.
• The shortlisted Teams will only be allowed to refine the solution and make cosmetic changes under the guidance of the mentor, with their permission. Major changes at this stage to the solution, approach, etc. will not be allowed.

Presentation

• The National Finale will be held virtually via Google Hangouts.
• The Finale date will be communicated to the Teams.
• Shortlisted Teams will present the revised presentation to a judging panel, and will get 12 minutes for presenting their idea, and 8 minutes for Q&A.
• At least 2 members will have to be present for the presentation on the given date of the National Finale Round.

Results

• The judging panel as indicated by Google will review the presentation.
• The top three teams will be selected as national winners.

Student prizes

The top three teams at the National Finale will receive the following:

Winners:

• Cash prize of INR 5,00,000/- to the entire team.
• Pre-placement interview offers for internship or final hiring.

Second prize:

• Cash prize of INR 3,00,000/- to the entire team.
• Pre-placement interview offers for internship or final hiring.

Third prize:

• Cash prize of INR 2,00,000/- to the entire Team
• Pre-placement interview offers for internship or final hiring.

Each member of the winning Teams is solely responsible for all taxes, levies and other statutory payments associated with his or her receipt and use of a cash prize received by such member. No substitution, assignment or transfer of prize is permitted. Google will withhold and/or report taxes as required by the applicable law. All prizes may be revoked if a Team is found to have violated any of the rules or instructions of Google or is disqualified. The business and location related to the pre-placement interview offers for internship and final hiring will be at the discretion of Google.

Competition period

The competition will be conducted across 4 rounds:

• Online Challenge
• Case Study Round
• Cohort Round
• National Finale

The language of the competition will be entirely in English and all the rounds will be conducted virtually.

Eligibility Criteria

• A student must be a first or second year student irrespective of their specialisation but enrolled in a full-time management program of a business school in India.
• Students must be Indian nationals. Foreign national students are not allowed to participate in this Competition.
• Every student must have an official user account provided by the business school at which the student is enrolled.

Participation as a Team

• Participation will be through teams of eligible students comprising a minimum of 2 or a maximum of 3 students and enrolled at a business school in India (a “Team”). First year students cannot form teams with 2nd year students and vice versa. A Team can only have team members from the same batch of the same institute.
• All Team members must independently meet the eligibility requirements of the Competition.
• A student cannot be a member of more than 1 Team.
• Students going on an exchange program can participate as long as there are at least 2 students in the Team that are not attending an exchange program and are available to attend the Competition.
• Modification to a Team’s composition or details after registration/communicating acceptance to participate is not allowed.
• Team members who compete at the beginning of the Competition must participate throughout the Competition Period, where the team is shortlisted for the next round.
• Any deviation from the above will result in immediate disqualification of the entire team.

How to enter

The Team must register before it can participate in the Competition.

• To enter the Competition, the Team Leader must complete the registration form and provide required information about the members of the Team.
• The Team may opt for the email address of the Team Leader as a point of contact for instructions on the Competition. The designated email address is necessary as specific communications/instructions regarding the Competition will be communicated to the Team through this address. You are required to keep yourself updated on all emails issued to you.
• The registration starts from Sept. 7, 2021 and will close on or before 22:00 hours IST on Sept. 10, 2021.
• Only one registration per Team will be taken into consideration.
• Any questions or inquiries regarding the Competition should be directed to casechallenge@google.com.

Team Leader and Team Name

Each Team must nominate one member as the Team leader, who may not be changed during the Competition Period (the “Team Leader”).

• The Team Leader is the primary point of contact for the team during the competition.
• Each Team must decide on a name for their team. Your team name must be neutral and brief, without the use of offensive or vulgar language or violate the intellectual property rights of others. Google reserves the right to request for a change of the Team name in its sole discretion.

Verifying Eligibility

• Google reserves the right to verify your eligibility. You agree to provide Google with any proof of eligibility requested by Google and your refusal or failure to timely provide such proof may result in the Team’s disqualification from the Competition.