International MBA Case Competition

This program was discontinued in 2019.  For more information on current initiatives by the Aspen Institute’s Business & Society Program please see here.

The Aspen Institute Business & Society International MBA Case Competition was founded in 2009 and was inspired by the Walter V. Shipley Business Leadership Competition that the Aspen Institute administered from 2002-2008.

The Competition offered an annual opportunity for students from 25 business programs worldwide to reflect on the significant influence—and potential for good—that a well-managed business can have in society. With a prize pool of approximately $35,000—unmatched in the MBA case competition circuit—Aspen’s program aimed to communicate that social, environmental and ethical issues are not at the periphery of business; indeed, they are central to business growth in the 21st century.

After ten years of producing the International MBA Case Competition, we decided to focus our resources and efforts on other endeavors and discontinue the Case Competition for the time being.

The Case Competition was a significant investment in the co-curricular MBA student experience, and we are proud that over 8,000 students had a chance to participate. Importantly, the competition’s prestige (and prizes) attracted a broad swath of students—not only those already self-identified as interested in social impact. We continue to believe in the power of transformative experiences like the Case Competition to open the eyes of future leaders to opportunities within business for social change, and we are heartened by the belief that there are now more opportunities for students to practice decision-making at the intersection of business and society.

Click here to view a summarized list of finalists and winners as well as the case subject for the competition from 2010 – 2019.

Thanks and gratitude to

  • Justin Goldbach, who fearlessly led the Case Competition for the past ten years
  • Jaan Elias and the entire case writing team at the Yale School of Management
  • The faculty and staff at participating schools who put in the time to ensure students had to opportunity to participate in the Case Competition
  • And of course, our Corporate Sponsors who provided the financial support to execute each year, especially our Lead Partners:
    • AXA
    • Bertelsmann
    • BNY Mellon
    • Brunswick Group
    • IBM
    • Johnson & Johnson
    • Lockheed Martin
    • Motorola Solutions Foundation
    • Newell Rubbermaid
    • SAGE Business Cases