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MANAGEMENT Case Competition
Management Case Competition challenges members to analyze a comprehensive business case and present strategic recommendations to a panel of judges. The case may include topics such as financial management, decision-making, business law, sustainability, human resources, organizational behavior, and business development and planning, requiring members to demonstrate leadership, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
OVERVIEW
Division: Collegiate Event
Type: Team of 1, 2, 3 or 4 members
Event Category: Case Competition
Elements: Presentation with a topic
Presentation Time: 3-minute set-up time (no interaction allowed with judges during this time), 10-minute presentation time (a one-minute warning will be provided), 5-minute question & answer time
Items Provided by Competitors: Technology and presentation items for preliminary & final round presentation, Photo Identification, Conference-provided nametag, Attire that meets the Florida FBLA Dress Code.
Items Provided by FBLA: Table for preliminary round presentation and final round presentation
2026-2027 Case Study
The business entity should not be contacted for additional information. This case competition is for educational purposes only, offering a real-world scenario to help FBLA Collegiate members develop critical reasoning and casing skills. These skills can be applied to careers like management consulting, operations leadership, and human-resources management, etc. The case needs to be solved with independent research using publicly available information and your own business acumen skills. This year’s case competition was created in partnership with CaseBasix.
Overview and Background Information
Client: McDonald’s Corporation
Project: Building a Sustainable Frontline Workforce Strategy
Founded in 1955, when Ray Kroc opened the first franchised restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois (building on the original 1940 San Bernardino drive-in of brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald), McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and is the largest fast-food restaurant company in the world. At year-end 2024 the McDonald’s system spanned about 43,500 restaurants across more than 100 countries, roughly 95% of them owned and operated by independent local franchisees. In 2024 the company reported about $25.9 billion in total revenue and roughly $8.2 billion in net income, and it directly employed more than 150,000 people worldwide (about 70% of them outside the U.S.), while close to two million people work across the wider McDonald’s system. The brand is defined by consistency, speed, affordability, and the Golden Arches, and by a long tradition of developing leaders from within, with many restaurant managers and even senior executives having started as hourly crew. That model, alongside programs such as Archways to Opportunity (education and tuition assistance) and its “Accelerating the Arches” growth strategy, depends on continuously attracting and keeping enough of the right people. As McDonald’s pursues its largest U.S. expansion in decades and competes with other employers for hourly and entry-level talent, leadership must decide how to recruit, develop, and retain the workforce that keeps more than 43,000 restaurants running.
Your Task
The CEO of McDonald’s Corporation has reach out to your team to support its People and U.S. Restaurant Operations teams, and work alongside franchise owner-operators.
Most entry-level crew members stay only a few months, quick-service turnover routinely tops 100% a year, and McDonald’s and its franchisees plan to hire hundreds of thousands of restaurant workers while adding roughly 900 new U.S. locations by 2027. Because the company promotes heavily from within, a thin crew base also weakens the pipeline of future shift leaders and managers.
Leadership has asked your team to design a comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy for both frontline crew and the restaurant-manager leadership pipeline that is creative, feasible, and sustainable across a largely franchised system, without eroding the promote-from-within culture and consistent customer experience that define the brand.
Before you begin, take time to understand the sector you will be working in. Click here to explore what the fast-food industry entails and to build the context you will need to create a credible, people-centered recommendation.
Additional Note: Your strategy should draw on McDonald’s publicly available information, including its Accelerating the Arches growth plan, Archways to Opportunity program, franchised business model, and reported scale, and should reflect the company’s heritage of affordability, operational consistency, and developing leaders from within. Recommendations must be realistic for independent franchisees with limited budgets, not only for corporate.
Deliverables
Your final presentation should include:
Crew Member Recruitment & Retention:
Propose creative, low-cost ways for restaurants to expand their applicant pool beyond walk-ins and job boards, especially in tight local labor markets.
Recommend onboarding, training, recognition, scheduling, and support practices that keep crew members past the critical first 90 days.
Address how to fill hard-to-staff shifts such as overnight, weekday mornings, and drive-thru peaks.
Restaurant Manager & Leadership-Pipeline Development:
Recommend how McDonald’s can identify, develop, and promote crew into shift leaders and managers more quickly and reliably.
Propose ways to retain high-performing managers and reduce costly manager turnover.
Suggest how to strengthen the crew-to-manager pathway through mentoring, training, clear advancement criteria, and programs such as Archways to Opportunity.
Sustainability & Scalability:
Identify technology, processes, or partnerships (schools, community organizations, workforce programs) that make recruiting and managing people more efficient across thousands of independently owned restaurants.
Explain how the strategy can scale to support roughly 900 new U.S. restaurants by 2027 while keeping existing locations fully staffed.
Ensure recommendations are feasible for franchisees with limited HR resources.
Measurement of Success:
Define the KPIs McDonald’s and its franchisees should track for both crew and manager programs, for example, 90-day retention, time-to-fill, turnover rate, internal promotion rate, employee engagement, and service speed and quality.
Explain how leadership would use these metrics to know the strategy is working and where to adjust
REGULATIONS
State: Each chapter may enter one (1) individual or team composed of two, three, or four (2, 3, or 4) active local members. Participants must be on record in the FBLA-PBL national office as having paid dues by February 1 of the current school year.
When it has been determined that an individual or team will represent the charter at state competition, the appropriate forms must be received by the date specified in the SLC registration packet.
Eligibility
• FBLA membership dues are paid by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on February 1 of the current program year.
• Members must be registered for the SLC and pay the state conference registration fee to participate in competitive events.
• Members must stay within the official FBLA housing block of the official FBLA hotel block to compete.
• Each chapter may submit one individual or team in this event.
• On the state level, each member can compete in up to three different events in the following combinations: three objective tests OR two objective tests and one presentation OR two objective tests and one production or one objective test and two production OR one objective test, one presentation, and one production. Students may enter the Christopher Heider, Rob Kelleher, Who’s Who event, and one Chapter event (Community Service, State of the Chapter) in addition to their above chosen events.
• Only competitors are allowed to plan, research, prepare, and set up their presentations. Advisers and others may not assist.
• Each competitor must compete in all parts of an event for award eligibility.
• Picture identification (physical or digital: driver’s license, passport, state-issued identification, or school-issued identification) matching the conference nametag is required when checking in for competitive events.
• If competitors are late for their assigned presentation time, they will be allowed to compete if the judges allow it. If judges have left the competitive event area, it is no longer possible to compete.
• Some competitive events start prior to the Opening Session of SLC. The schedules for competitive events are displayed in the local time of the SLC location. Competitive event schedules cannot be changed.
• Participants must adhere to the dress code established by the Florida FBLA Board of Directors or they will not be permitted to participate in the competitive event.
EVENT ADMINISTRATION
• This event has a preliminary and final presentation round. If there are less than 15 teams registered, the event will proceed directly to the final presentation round.
• Preliminary AND Final Presentation
o Equipment Set-up Time: 3 minutes
o Presentation Time: 10 minutes (one-minute warning)
o Question & Answer Time: 5 minutes
o Important: Time allocations are exclusive. The presentation must begin immediately after the 3-minute set-up time concludes. Time may not be shifted between segments. Competitors will not interact with judges during the set-up period.
o The presentation is judged at the SLC. Presentations are not open to conference attendees.
o Competitors/teams are randomly assigned to sections.
o Technology Guidelines
· Internet Access: Not provided
· Presentations must be delivered using one or two personal devices (laptop, tablet, mobile phone, or monitor approximately laptop-sized).
· If using two devices, one must face the judges and the other must face the presenters.
· Projectors and projector screens are not permitted, and competitors may not bring their own.
· Wireless slide advancers (e.g., presentation clickers or mice) are allowed.
· External speakers are not allowed; audio must come directly from the presenting device(s).
· Electricity will not be available.
o Non-Technology Items
· Visual aids, samples, notes, and other physical materials related to the project may be used.
· Items may be placed on the provided table or on the judges table, if space allows.
· No items may be left with the judges following the presentation.
o Restricted Items
· Animals, except for authorized service animals.
· Food, which may be used for display only and may not be consumed by judges.
· Links and QR codes, which may be shown but may not be scanned or clicked by judges at any time.
o Research
· Information must be supported by credible, well-documented sources.
· Any use of copyrighted material, images, logos, or trademarks must be properly documented.
o Team Expectations
· In team presentations, all members must actively participate in the delivery of the presentation.
National: If competing at national, see national guidelines: www.fbla.org.
SCORING
• The presentation score will determine the finalists.
• The final presentation score will determine winners.
• Judges must break ties.
• The decision of the judges is considered final. All announced results are final upon the conclusion of the State Leadership Conference.
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA)
• FBLA complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by providing reasonable accommodations for competitors. Accommodation requests must be submitted through the conference registration system by the official registration deadline. All requests will be reviewed, and additional documentation may be required to determine eligibility and appropriate support.
RECORDING OF PRESENTATIONS
• No unauthorized audio or video recording devices will be allowed in any competitive event.
• Competitors in the events should be aware FBLA reserves the right to record any presentation for use in study or training materials.
PENALTY POINTS
• Competitors may be disqualified if they violate the Code of Conduct or the Honor Code.
AWARDS
State: The number of competitors will determine the number of winners. The maximum number of winners for each competitive event is four.
National: The number of awards presented at the National Leadership Conference is determined by judges and/or number of entries. The maximum number will be ten.