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What is JDCC? A New Stage of your BCom Experience

Telfer students at JDCC

Bobby Wong

by Bobby Wong

3rd-year BCom student

If you’re a Commerce student or a student at the University of Ottawa, at some point, you are likely to have heard about JDCC (Jeux du Commerce Central).

Some of your friends have probably mentioned how much fun they had at the sports games, competitions, or dance ceremonies on their JDCC trip. 

But, what is JDCC?

Jeux Du Commerce Central (JDCC) is a regional business case competition where students from business schools across Canada compete to win. JDCC is organized by the Canadian Association of Business Schools (CABS), a parent organization that works with the business student associations at each Canadian business school.

At these competitions, member schools of CABS select students at their prospective schools to coordinate a delegation. At JDCC, the Telfer School of Management competes alongside 11 other Ontarian schools including Lazaridis School of Business and Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University, Lang School of Business and Economics from the University of Guelph, Sprott School of Business from Carleton University, and more. Every year, one of these member schools hosts the competition, allowing competing students to visit campuses across Canada. Students can compete in either the academics, sports, or social categories.

How the Competition Works

In academic competitions, every school sends a team of three students to compete against others in specific business categories such as marketing, accounting, strategy, human resources, entrepreneurship, and more. To compete, the teams of three have three hours to conduct a case resolution, which they then present to a panel of judges. The presentation component is 20 minutes, and the question period is another 15 minutes.

When all teams have presented, the judges (usually acquired through sponsorship) decide which schools will place first, second, and third for each category. During the awards ceremony, CABS announces the winners for each category and also gives out individual and full-delegation awards.

In the sports competitions, teams of eight compete in an assortment of sports such as basketball and spikeball. In these competitions, points are awarded to delegates for performance and for delegations whose non-sport delegates watch the game and cheer on their fellow teammates.

In the social competitions, teams of four participate in random challenges at different points in the day. These challenges include improvisation, dances, debates, surprise case resolutions, and more. In these challenges, points are awarded for enthusiasm, sportsmanship, and quality of makeshift costumes.

This competition takes place annually in January over four days. The last two locations were the University of Guelph (Guelph, Ontario), and Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario). At the last competition, Telfer brought a team of 46 students, and won three podium awards: Human Resources, Debate, and Wildcard.

VIP cards are individual recognition awards that are awarded to the best presenters. The recipients of these cards are often selected by the judges, and those who possess a VIP card participate in an exclusive networking event.

Outside of competitions, schools also participate in other recreational activities such as social events and dances.

At the Telfer School of Management, the JDCC delegation is organized by the Telfer Competitions Committee (TCCT). TCCT recruits the students, facilitates practices and coaching, and orders merchandise for the team. TCCT also hosts the annual Telfer Internal Case Competition, which is a good opportunity to search for new Telfer JDCC academic members into our regional competitions.

If you are interested in developing your presentation skills, making new friends, and competing to win, JDCC is an opportunity you do not want to miss!

Read more about how Telfer performed at the last JDCC here.

Ask me questions about my experience here.